“You have a job for her?”
“It can be at the clubhouse, I think.”
Ava nibbledon her lip. “You know Larissa’s not like those other women that hang out there.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll talk to Jonah first and see what’s going on. I will protect Larissa. She is a good woman.”
Ava breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.I don’t— She is so sweet. Seeing her crying today. That was horrible.”
He could imagine. He didn’t even want to think about little Larissa crying. He’d seen that young girl grow up, and she always had a smile on her face. She was a breath of fresh air, and he did feel protective of her.
“I’ll handle it.”
“Thank you.” Ava sighed and once again, he saw hernibbling on her lip. He had to wonder why.
“So, you called Harlow today.”
Shit.
Fuck.
He’d called Harlow and he’d asked for the conversation to be kept private. Abriana had also been there, and he’d talked to both women about his plans for Christmas. Both of them were excited and more than happy to help out.
In fact, Harlow had already been grocery shopping and had stopped by that evening to start dropping stuff off.
What he didn’t like was the fact Abriana had said she would attempt to cook a pumpkinpie. How she had found a recipe and knew she could do it.
Smokey had to wonder where hisballs had gone that he couldn’t tell the other woman to stay the fuck away from the kitchen. No wonder Ugly Beast was constantly going to the toilet. The poor bastard didn’t know when to tell his woman how bad she was at something.
“It was nothing. Something for Big Dick, I can’t remember.”
He let go of her hand, hating lying to her but knowing the surprise would be worth it.
“Is Big Dick not in town?”
“Oh, he is, but he was busy doing something for me. Club stuff.” It wasn’t a total lie.
He twirled his fork into his spaghetti and shoved it in his mouth. He also reached out for a piece of garlic bread and shoved that in too. His mouth was full to bursting. Lying to his woman was fucking horrible. He had never cared this much about anyone in his whole life.
Ava was his world. His reason for fucking breathing.
“It’s fine. Did you manage to go up to the attic?” Ava asked.
“Nah, it’s on my list ofjobs to do. Don’t worry, I’ll get it done.”
“Do you celebrate Christmas?”
“Yeah, of course, I do.”
Ava nodded.“With everything going on, between Umberto’s birth, and then Raven, it has been a rushed affair, and I normally get everything ready. I had to wonder.” She kept pushing her food around her plate, and he wanted to tell her everything he had planned, but that would spoil it.
All the guys were working hard to make this work for him.
“How was the bakery?” he asked.
“Great. Apart from Larissa, everything else is fine. We’ve put a date for the last of our orders, and Harlow and I have agreed on how we’re going to decorate the baskets and stuff. It’s going to be fun. We’ve even made one up and placed it in the shop window so customers know what they’ll be getting. We had multiple orders today.”
“Do you think you’re doing too much?” Smokey asked.