“Be polite,” she hissed. King could see his staring was giving Willa the wrong impression, but he hadn’t worked with women most of his life without knowing how to handle them.
“I’m sorry I was staring, Willa, but it’s just so refreshing to see a stunning woman with such natural beauty.”
As Willa turned bright red, King thought she would high-tail it away, but instead, she began asking him questions about Queen City.
“What did you do there?”
“I ran several businesses,” he responded gently.
“That sounds interesting. I get tempted every so often to open a bakery, but I really don’t want to be tied down to working in one every day. I already have enough to keep me busy.”
“I may have a solution. Now that I’m living here, I’m thinking of opening a restaurant with a bar, and I would certainly be willing to buy your desserts for our menu on a regular basis.”
“I would like that. I could create a few things just for your menu.”
They continued to talk until King noticed Willa turned pale when a large man came into the picnic yard with a group of five children. He noticed her hands shake as she tucked her hair behind her ear. Even Evie noticed her behavior, giving King a concerned glance.
As the group grew closer, King saw the man look over at them. He had a pleasant face, but the look in his eyes told King he was presenting a façade. He was proved correct when he saw Willa and moved toward their group.
“Hello, Evie, Willa.” He nodded his head genially in King’s direction, yet he didn’t take his eyes off Willa. “I thought you said you weren’t coming to the picnic. You had a big order due; that was why you couldn’t come with me.”
“I did—I do.” Willa’s voice shook. “I was just delivering one of the orders here. I stopped to say hello to Evie and King before I left to make the other deliveries.”
“Oh.” The man’s accusing eyes didn’t soften.
“Lewis is an employee at the factory.” At Evie’s introduction, King extended his hand to him, which Lewis shook before turning his attention immediately back to Willa who was trying to unobtrusively leave.
“You’re a lucky man to have so many children. You and your wife must be very proud.”
Lewis’s mouth tightened. “They aren’t all mine; two are my sister’s.”
Evie looked up at King, explaining, “His sister used to be an employee of ours before she died.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” King offered his condolences.
Lewis shrugged, turning once again back to Willa, stepping closer to her. ”You going to come back after you make the deliveries?”
“No, I need to get started on the orders for tomorrow,” Willa said, taking a step backward.
“Willa, be careful,” King tried to warn her, but the jumpy woman was trying to get away from Lewis and wasn’t paying attention to where she was backing up. She collided with Lucky who was carrying a large plate of the cupcakes, mashing them into his chest. When he tried to catch himself, he took a half step backward, bumping into Rider, who dropped his plate onto the ground.
“What the fuck, Lucky? Watch what you’re doing!” Rider said. King put out his hand to steady Willa, helping her to regain her balance.
“I’m so sorry.” Willa took the plate of cupcakes away from Lucky.
“You always were clumsy,” Lewis said, taking the plate of cupcakes away from Willa and thrusting them toward King, who automatically reached out to take the plate.
“Here, let me.” Evie took the plate instead, stepping to the side and setting it down on the table before grabbing a handful of napkins.
One of the children with Lewis bent down to pick up one of the cupcakes Rider had dropped and began eating it.
“No, Chrissy. That’s dirty.” Willa tried to take the cupcake away, but the little girl shoved her hand, making her hit Rider in the balls. Willa jerked her hand away as if it had been scalded.
“Chrissy, put that cupcake down right now!” Lewis yelled.
The little girl started wailing, throwing the cupcake at her father who dodged it, so it hit Willa instead.
When Willa’s bottom lip began to tremble, King grabbed her, pulling her to his side, laughing. “I told you everyone would be fighting for your desserts.”
Chapter 26
Evie closed the door to her house behind them. “I think I have cupcake in my hair,” she said, giggling as she stared at King.
“You have no reason to complain. I have to get a shower. I feel like I’m covered in chocolate.”
“You are. Come on; let’s go take a shower.”
King hesitated. “You sure?”
Evie stopped on the bottom step. “It was really sweet what you did for Willa. I didn’t know you could be sweet.”
“Did it give me brownie points with you?”
“Absolutely.” Evie grinned, holding out her hand to him.
They continued up the steps to her bedroom. She had decorated Beth’s old room in peaches and greens, going for a calming oasis and succeeding in making herself one. They took their clothes off, careful to bundle them up so the cupcake crumbs wouldn’t fall onto her new carpet.
“I’ll throw them in the washer in the morning,” she told King as he started the shower, pulling Evie in with him. “Ugh. This is an old house; it takes time for the water to warm up.” She hated cold showers.
Once the water had finally warmed and they were able to wash off the sticky chocolate, King’s shoulders started shaking with laughter.
“What?” Evie asked.
“Did you see Rider’s face when she hit his dick?”
“Willa’s was worse.” Evie started laughing. “Lucky looked like he was going to cry over those cupcakes, too.” She laid her head on the shower wall. “It’s not funny; I thought Willa was going to cry. And Lewis was so jealous, he was about to have a stroke. I don’t think she likes him, though.”
“You think? When she tried to go to her car, he and all five kids followed.” King put his hand on the shower wall as their merriment filled the room.
“Did you see how mad Lucky was? When he tried to get Lewis to back off, one of those kids actually kicked him.” Evie was laughing so hard she was hiccupping.
A serious expression crossed King’s face. “I think he’s been harassing her from the way she acted.”
Evie nodded her head in agreement. “I’ll stop by her house my next day off and see what’s going on.”
“Good idea. Something tells me it’s not a good situation.”
“Me, either.” The gravity of Willa’s situation enabled Evie to regain control.
“I missed you, King. Somehow, when I’m around you, I feel like laughing again.” She rinsed out her hair then, reaching out, pulled him under the showerhead with her. “I don’t want to be lonely anymore,” she admitted.
“God, Evie. You think you’ve been lonely?” He tugged her out of the shower, drying her off carefully before rubbing the towel roughly over his own body. He then picked her up and carried her into the bedroom. Sitting down on the bed, he placed her on his lap. “For the last thirty years, I’ve spent my life not becoming close to anyone. I even gave my daughter up, thinking I was protecting her. It was myself I was trying to protect, though; I didn’t want to lose someone again after losing my sister. Instead of straightening my life out, I hid in a life that wasn’t worth living. I have a lot of sins to atone for.”
His tortured eyes made Evie want to cry. She reached out, cupping his cheek. “No one could hurt us worse than what we’ve done to ourselves.”
“When you left, a part of me left with you. I thought that drive back to Queen City, leaving Lily behind, was painful; but when you left, you took my soul with you. I’m never going to let you leave me again.”
“I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about that because I’m not going anywhere.” When she leaned upward to kiss his mouth, her tongue licked his bottom lip then tugged it until he opened to her
. Her hands went to his shoulders, pressing him backwards onto the bed. She placed her legs on each side of his hips, sitting on his stomach, bending down to explore his mouth.
Evie raised her head to catch her breath, and King said, “Did anyone ever tell you you’re an exceptional kisser?”
“A time or two.” Evie rose up on one hand, reaching back with the other to place his cock at her opening. Wiggling her hips, she let the tip of his dick barely enter her. Her hand then went down between her thighs, rubbing her clit.
“Would you like me to do that?” King brought his knees up and Evie leaned backwards, placing her weight on them.
“That’s okay. I’ve got this,” she moaned, letting another inch of him slide inside her.
King arched under her, driving himself fully inside her.
“That wasn’t fair. I wanted to go slow.”
“I didn’t.” As his hands gripped her hips, sliding her up and down his cock, Evie was surprised he was able to lift her weight. Correctly reading her surprise, he said, “I work out.”
“Yes, you do,” she moaned, rubbing her clit harder and thrusting herself down on him.
King arched, groaning, and then stopped moving. “Evie, is that a stripper pole by your closet?”
“Yes.”
“Why is there a stripper pole in your bedroom?”