Page 80 of Theirs to Treasure

“So, noted.” She gave him another kiss. “You know, I love it here. I love how clear the air is and all the different shades of green.” Josie’s hand floated over the soft, feathery leaves of grass next to her yoga mat. “In summer, do you go swimming in the lake?”

“All the time. The water is still pretty cold, but on hot days, it feels like heaven.” They watched as the mist slowly burned away from the lake’s surface, and Josie reluctantly rose to roll up her mat.

“Let me.” Sam stilled her hand and rolled up her mat for her, then picked up her bag and ushered her to her car. “I forgot to tell you, a bunch of folks are meeting for dinner at Dolce Vita tonight at six. I know that’s kind of late for you, but would you be up for it for a while? Kara and Lola will be there, and those damn firemen.”

“Yeah, that sounds good…especially knowing the firemen will be there,” Josie said demurely. Sam helped her into the car and buckled her seat belt. “I really like it when you do that,” Josie admitted.

“I really like taking care of you. And I really, really like it when you let me care for you. I know you don’t have to, so I appreciate you’re giving me that gift, Josie.” Sam leaned in and gave her a warm kiss that she felt down to her toes. “Drive safe, Baby.”

By the time Josie showered and dressed for work, the smell of cinnamon rolls and donuts permeated the shop. They were four deep in customers and she was surprised to find Jace among the crowd. She stepped out from behind the counter and asked if she could help him, knowing that it must be important to take him away from the diner during their busiest time of morning.

“Lola’s been craving chocolate donuts, and she’s flat out cranky about it, so I decided to make a quick run.”

Josie went around behind the display counter, got a bagful she had readied, and handed it to him. When he raised an eyebrow, she waved him off. “We’ve had a run on chocolate donuts lately, so I’ve been prepacking them. They’re on the house. Now get back to cooking.” She didn’t explain that for the last three days, Kara had sent Walter, the busboy, over for her fix. Josie hoped that this meant Kara’s hopes had been realized and she was going to be a mom.

Four o’clock came around fast, so Elise, Rob, and Josie closed up. For most of the day, she and Elise stayed in the back cranking out special order cakes, and even though she enjoyed the work, she hated missing out on all the fun in the front of the store. Standing also made her back hurt a lot more by the day’s end. Although Chance and Sam hadn’t complained about the fact that she was putting in fourteen-hour days, she could see it worried them. More importantly, it was beginning to worry her. Even with the addition of Rob, her bakery was bringing in forty percent more profit than she had projected, so working this many hours was foolish. She’d kick her sister’s asses if they were doing something like this.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she placed a call to Fate Harbor’s newspaper’s classifieds and posted a help wanted ad. Then she made her way to Chance and Sam’s house, the house she was beginning to think of as home.

Chance opened the door for her as she walked up the steps. “Sam’s at basketball practice. He said he’d meet us at the restaurant.” He swooped in for a lingering kiss.

“So, how do you plan to occupy our time before we have to leave? As if I didn’t know.” Josie smiled.

“Zee, I’m hurt. I don’t always think with my penis. We’re going to have a fashion show. I did some internet shopping a few days ago, and we have some great choices for you to wear tonight.” He pulled her down the hall to their bedroom.

“Chance, you really are out of your damn mind. I have only worn three of the ten outfits that are currently in that closet, as it is.” She saw four dresses spread out on the bed, each one prettier than the last.

“I’m not out of my damn mind. Spoiling you is something that really makes me happy. I love seeing your eyes snap as you think of all the reasons you shouldn’t accept the presents. Then I love to see how you melt a little because I just know, you’ve rarely gotten presents, and deep down inside, you like getting them.”

He was right, that was exactly how she felt. Josie walked over to the bed and trailed her fingers over the dress closest to her. It was a caramel halter at the top that faded into a soft white gold at the bottom. It intimidated her a little, because it looked so formfitting. Her eyes flitted over to Chance.

“You’ll look beautiful,” he assured her. “Let’s get you in it.”

He’d placed a tray with strawberries and white wine on the table near the window. “Sit down on the bed,” he said while bringing her a glass of wine. As she took the glass, Chance knelt to take off her shoes. He acted as her personal valet, while feeding her strawberries and sips of wine.

Her defenses collapsed into giggles as the costume changes progressed. He’d made one really wrong choice. The bright green wrap dress clashed with her skin tone, but the other three made her feel gorgeous. She chose to wear the golden halter dress with a brand new cashmere coat in the same lush caramel tones that made her warm copper eyes command attention. By the time they were done, they had just enough time to make it to the restaurant on time.

“Tomorrow afternoon, I plan to be thinking with my penis,” Chance promised her as they walked out to his car.

“How appropriate, because my vagina had already penciled in some time about then for thinking about your penis.” She smiled cheekily at him. “See, it’s right here on her calendar app!” Josie flashed her cell phone at Chance, baiting him. She was truly happy that she had placed the ad for additional help at Sweet Dreams.

At the restaurant, they joined a group of fifteen people, and Josie recognized over half of them. Sam greeted her and took her coat, his hand drifting over the halter of her dress. “I see Chance has been shopping again,” he murmured.

“Hey, I’m a girl! I might have gone shopping,” Josie protested. When Sam just stared at her, she sighed. “I think he might be a shopaholic. There has to be some kind of rehab program we can enter him into.”

“Nah, as long as he has such good taste, he doesn’t have to go to rehab.” He brushed a kiss against her cheek, and then drew her over to the table. “I want to introduce you to everyone.” Chance came up on her other side, and as she approached the table, the conversation paused.

“This is our Josie,” Chance said.

“Don’t I know that.” Dane laughed good-naturedly, as he rubbed his jaw.

“Josie, you know Ian and Joshua, and you remember Dane and Eric Johansen and their sister, Kara. Well, this gentleman is their brother, Leif Junior. You remember their parents, right? Isla, Leif Senior, and Conner Johansen.”

“I think I can remember that Leif belongs with every other Johansen,” she grinned. Every single one of the Johansens were crowned with the white-gold hair of their ancestry.

“Yeah, Josie, nobody ever gets the last name wrong,” Conner agreed. He, Leif Sr., and Leif Jr. all stood to shake her hand. Sitting next to Isla were Elise and Ed. The last man to take her hand was Caleb Samuels he was a handsome black man whose large hand swallowed Josie’s and his gaze lingered in appreciation. She felt Sam’s arm close around her shoulder possessively.

“Samuels, it’s good to see you again. I didn’t realize you were retiring,” Sam said.