Page 34 of Devil's Valentine

Amber has been amazing and I’m so glad I didn’t wait any longer to hire her. She’s made my workload so much more manageable and has done an amazing job with my recipes. I know I was hesitant to hire anyone for so long because I wanted to know the success of Crescent Sugar was because of me.

Now, I see that I also need to learn how to delegate and trust. I’ll only see good things because of it.

When I walk out of the kitchen, I’m glad to see that there aren’t any customers at the moment. All the custom orders have already been picked up and the display cases are almost empty. My heart soars because we baked a lot of goodies today, almost doubling what I normally bake since I had Amber working with me.

“Phew,” Valerie dramatically wipes her brow and winks at me, “it was a madhouse out here, but no one seemed to mind waiting and only had glowing reviews.”

I grin at her before closing the distance between us and giving her a hug. “Thank you,” I whisper.

“Always,” she promises.

When we pull back, there’s a beat of silence between us before we both start giggling. I couldn’t have done this without her. She’s been steering the ship that is the front of the house since we opened and without her it probably would have fallen apart.

“How are things with the boys? Do you know when they’ll be joining you?”

I breathe out while my heart yearns for the boys to be home. They are my brothers, but I never really doubted that. The DCFS investigation didn’t take long. My father made it all too easy for them to prove the abuse he rained down on my brothers. I’m sure having the urging of the DSMC helped matters as well.

Dean asked me if I wanted to meet my father, but I have no interest in doing that. At this point, I don’t trust myself to meet him. How could he beat and scar two children? How could he abuse them mentally and psychologically?

Some of the reports I’ve gotten about the boys and what they endured make me sick. He tortured them with words and action.He made them feel useless and alone. They only had each other and he would even threaten that.

No, I don’t want to meet my father. He can rot in hell for all I care. Knowing the DSMC, I’m sure they plan to make sure that happens sooner rather than later and I’m not going to try to stop it.

“It shouldn’t be too long. Things are moving quickly, much faster than they would in normal circumstances. Having the DNA test prove that I’m their sister has helped a lot.”

“You would have fought for them either way,” Valerie asserts, and I nod.

“I fell in love with them the moment I saw them. They might have been filled with anger, but I could see the pain underneath it.”

My chest aches as I remember the look in their eyes that morning. It tore through me and then to find out that they’re my brothers and I was being used to make them feel that pain? It was almost too much to deal with.

Amber walks out of the back right then while wiping her hands and grinning. “The last of the dough is in the fridge and ready to be scooped out tomorrow.” A look passes between Valerie and Amber, one I can’t place. “How about you let me open tomorrow and you take the day off?”

I open my mouth, about to protest, but that’s when the door chimes and Dean walks in. He looks damn good today, but something is different. He’s wearing his jeans, but today he’s in a button up shirt and his cut. Don’t get me wrong, he’s always looking like sex on a stick, but in a button up with rolled up sleeves? There’s a real possibility of swooning.

“Did you convince her to take tomorrow off yet?”

Amber chuckles and I look between the three of them. “Not yet, I had just started,” Amber huffs with annoyance.

Dean grins and then locks eyes with me even though he’s talking to Amber, “Don’t worry, I’ll convince her. I have my ways,” he teases with a smirk.

Valerie and Amber giggle, and I feel my cheeks heating. I’m not embarrassed though, not even a little bit. I’m turned on.

I put my hands on my hips and sass him, “You think so?”

He winks at me and closes the distance between us. “I know so, Sugar.”

There’s no reason to fight him on it, or anything really. I trust Dean. With my life, my body, my heart.

I melt against him and eagerly kiss him back when he presses his lips to mine. A throat clearing is the only reason I pull back. With a sheepish smile, I tell my employees, “I think it’s time to close up. No one’s here and we’ve worked hard.”

“Sure,” Valerie teases, “that’s why.”

I roll my eyes and stick out my tongue at her, but then we all work together to get everything cleaned up and shut down, including Dean.

When Dean helps me onto his bike so we can head home, I take a deep breath and just feel. I feel everything. The way all the destruction had me on edge, the surprise of Dean walking into my life, the welcome warmth of finding a family amongst the DSMC, the turmoil of meeting my brothers, and the fierce desire to protect them and show them what family truly means.

I lean with my man as we head back to the clubhouse. At this point, I’ve practically moved into his house, our house. With Valentine’s craziness, I figured I’d finish up moving after today and let my place go. This is where I want to be.

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