The 2014 R.L. Mathewson Chronicle Collection Read Online Free PDF Page B

frowned for a second before she finally shrugged and pulled out another delicious tray of brownies, this one with a cream cheese topping that had Zoe licking her lips. “Then give them to your husband,” Amanda said, grabbing a white bakery box from beneath the counter as though what she was suggesting was even remotely possible.
                If her husband, or any Bradford for that matter, found out about this bakery they would terrify this sweet woman, get themselves banned and of course ruin her new bookkeeping business. She had ten clients right now, but if her husband or one of his relatives found out about this place and terrorized this woman with their insatiable appetites, she’d probably lose them all and she couldn’t let that happen.
                She loved running her own business. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world to be her own boss, call the shots, have the freedom to pick her own clients and make her own hours and she’d do anything to protect that freedom. Even keep this bakery that served over two hundred different freshly baked desserts a secret from her husband, a man that she loved more than anything.
                “There,” Amanda said with a satisfied smile as she carefully closed the lid on the box filled with eight, yes, she’d counted them, oversized gourmet brownies. “I hope your husband enjoys them,” she said with that same damn pleased smile as she held out the box to her, expectantly.
                Knowing that she couldn’t afford to insult her newest client, Zoe forced a smile on her face as she accepted the box filled with delicious looking baked goods that would no doubt add ten pounds to her ass, because there was no way that she could force herself to throw such delicious looking morsels away. If she did and Trevor, or any Bradford for that matter, found out that she’d not only held the existence and location of this bakery a secret from them, but also wasted what was probably five pounds of brownies, they would make her life a living hell with all their damn pouting and drama.
                “Thank you,” she said, nearly whimpering when the scent of the fresh baked brownies that she held in her hands teased her senses.
                Amanda waved it off. “It’s the least that I can do after you figured out that I was overpaying my supplier.”
                “I’m sure that you would have figured it out soon,” she felt compelled to say even though she doubted that Amanda would have realized that the company was charging her twenty percent more than they should have since the invoices that they gave her were seriously screwed up and confusing for anyone without a love of numbers.
                Amanda simply laughed it off. “I hope your husband enjoys the brownies,” she said as she started the process of returning the brownies to the display case as Zoe tried to tell herself that this wasn’t going to end with another restraining order and a featured story on the eleven o’clock news, but she knew that she was hoping for the impossible.
    *-*-*-*
                “Sweetheart?” he said a little too loudly before he realized what time it was.
                “ Shit ,” he whispered softly with a wince as he closed the front door behind him, hoping that he hadn’t woken his wife and children.
                It was after one in the morning and he was fucking exhausted. He should have been home hours ago, but he got stuck working an extra four hours to make sure that the charity house they’d been working on, Blanket House, was ready to open its doors on time. He would have been home in time for a late dinner with his wife, but halfway home he received a call from the police about another one of his cousins scaring the shit out of a delivery boy, who made the mistake of forgetting half their order. After that was settled and the delivery boy