Lord of Rain (The Dragon Demigods #5) - Charlene Hartnady Page 0,113

Candice.” I kiss her softly. When I look up, Emily is giving us the evil stink-eye.

“We’d better go before we get into trouble,” Ash says. She obviously caught Emily’s expression.

“I’ll fire her if you want.” I’m grinning.

“Nah,” Ash laughs. “I like her.”

“I thought she scared you.”

“Oh, she totally scares me, but she’s great at her job.” Emily decided to get the media to do a piece on Buns and Breads. How the local community is helping save the Newfolk local bakery. How I came to the rescue of my girlfriend and her family. Everyone is chipping in to get it repainted. It looks like the paparazzi are loving it.

“We’re paying you back,” Ash says as she gets out of the car. “Every last cent.”

“We’ve had this conversation. I only wish you’d let me do more.” I put my arm around her.

“No,” she shakes her head, “you’ve done plenty. Our front-of-house is bigger, and it’s going to be gorgeous when it’s finished. We have a bathroom for our customers. I’ve bought great furniture.” She reaches up and kisses me.

“You could do with more equipment and—”

“Stop!” She sticks her fingers between my ribs on my side, and I bark out a laugh. It turns out that I’m ticklish. I never knew.

The paparazzi have their cameras trained on us. I hear the whir of clicks as they lap up our affection for one another. Emily isn’t giving us the stink-eye anymore.

“Mr. and Mrs. Shaw,” I say as we arrive outside the bakery. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tri make a face. He has a paintbrush in one hand and a blob of paint on his cheek. Stephanus and Night are too busy painting to pay attention to me. They’ve already done a whole section of the wall.

“Call me Janet,” Mrs. Shaw says. I hug her, and she giggles.

I let her go and see my mother walking through the open bakery door. “You came?” I smile broadly.

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it. I went to check out the bathroom. It’s lovely.” She beams when she sees Ash. “Hi, sweetie,” she says, and they hug. “I hope my boy is taking good care of you?”

“He most definitely is,” she says.

I hug my mom, as well. “And are all of you still coming for lunch tomorrow afternoon?” She looks between Ash and me, and Ash’s parents.

“Looking forward to it,” Ash says.

“Can’t wait,” Ash’s dad chimes in.

I hold out my hand to him. He has a huge smile on his face as we shake. “Did it arrive?” I ask.

“Did what arrive?” Ash narrows her eyes at me.

“Hush, hon’,” Ash’s dad reprimands her. “This is talk between men.”

“Oh, really now?” She looks between the two of us. “What’s going on?”

My dad points through the Buns window, which is much bigger than it was before. It’s been widened to let in more light. I see the coffee machine under plastic on a table in the corner. “You didn’t!” Ash gives me a dirty look when she spots the machine too.

“It’s my old machine,” I say, holding up my hands. “I got a new one and was going to throw it out.”

“Right,” she says, the start of a smile lifting the corners of her mouth. “You were chucking that out?”

“Yes.” I shrug. “I don’t need two of the things.”

“Exactly, Ash.” Her father looks very serious. “You’re still going to show me how to use it, son?” Mr. Shaw asks me.

“Absolutely.” I nod

“That’s naughty,” Ash whispers to me.

“My middle name.” I wink at her.

“I thought it was Willa.” She sticks her tongue out at me.

I choke out a laugh.

“I need to talk to you about our new menu, Ash. There are a couple of things I want to add,” her dad says, smiling.

I want to laugh because Ash seems to be having the opposite problem with her father now. At first, he didn’t want to change at all, and now he wants to do too much all at once.

“We can definitely talk about it, Dad. We’ll do that tomorrow at lunch?”

Her father nods. Ashley resigned from the Zeus Group. My girl feels that it would be inappropriate to work for any part of my organization. So uppity! Thing is, I know that she loves being a pastry chef. Buns and Breads is where she belongs. She’s taking a business management course while Buns is being revamped. She’ll start on a greatly reduced salary, which is fine because she’s agreed to move in with me. It’ll save her