Page 30 of A Soldier's Destiny
Chapter 11
Rori woke just before her alarm went off. Disappointed that Jasper wasn’t still in bed with her, she couldn’t blame him. She’d only asked him to stay until she fell asleep. It was probably for the best considering her dreams had been filled with him. They’d made love in the bakery and were covered in chocolate frosting. It’s no wonder she’d looked for him the moment she opened her eyes.
Glancing at the clock, she’d already wasted ten minutes daydreaming about her sexy stud muffin man. It was time to get busy or she would be behind all day. After showering and getting dressed in record time, she quietly snuck past Jasper’s door to get to the kitchen and make the coffee. It felt like a Hawaiian Kona type of day and he’d said he didn’t care as long as it was coffee. Hopefully, he’d enjoy her favorite bean.
“Good morning.”
“Morning,” she answered as she turned toward him with a smile. At least he hadn’t snuck up on her.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yes, but that was going to be my question.”
“I slept fine. Thank you for staying with me.”
“You are so adorable when you sleep, Angel. I hated to leave, but I needed to get some work done.”
“Did you come up with anything?”
“Not yet. But I have Chase and Alex working on some things. With any luck, we’ll turn up something we can use. We’ll catch the asshole, don’t worry.”
She wasn’t worried about him catching the person, it was what would happen afterward. It was how his job worked. Assignments wherever they had clients. Lily was lucky that Alex was the computer geek, so he stayed put in Willow Haven. But Jasper wasn’t the stay put type. Would she just be another job to him after it was over?
“I’m not worried. Ready to head downstairs?”
“Yup.” She handed him his coffee and grabbed hers then headed for the door. It felt so normal for him to be there and it had only been one day. How would it feel after a week or longer if they couldn’t catch whoever was stalking her?
As they stepped outside the floodlight came on and startled her. She’d forgotten he’d installed it, but now she knew it worked. There was no way anyone would sneak up on her in the dark. It was practically daylight it was so bright.
“That is really bright.”
“It’s supposed to be. I don’t want anyone being able to surprise you. I put some cameras in too.”
“Cameras, like surveillance?”
“Yup. I figured then if someone tosses another rock or brick or decides to have fun with spray paint we’ll have them in living color.”
“Where did you put them?” she asked as she unlocked the back door of the bakery.
“One back here, a couple in the front of the shop, outside the front, the hallway going up to your apartment in case they actually get through the door. Then at least you’ll know who is outside of your door before you open it. I set up the monitors in my room, I need to set up the ones inside the bakery today.”
“Don’t you think that’s overkill?”
“No, sweetheart, not where you’re concerned. I don’t want you to be afraid.”
Not knowing what to say, she got to work. It was always a tight schedule to get everything done before she opened at six. The bread dough came first, followed by the different pastries and rolls. Then it was on to finishing the croissants, she’d started the day before. The routine was so ingrained in her she didn’t have to think about it.
“What can I do to help?”
“Want to learn how to knead bread?”
“Need bread? I love bread, but I don’t need it.”
Laughing, she grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the breadboard. “This is what you do. You knead it with your knuckles like this. Then rotate it, knead again, fold it over, and knead it again. Then you put it into those pans and cover them with the clothes. Think you can handle that?”
“Yeah, no problem.” He washed his hands and went to work. She watched for a bit and stopped him from mutilating the bread a couple of times before he got the hang of it. It was nice being able to move on to tackle the next thing on her list. Six a.m. arrived quickly and once again she had a line of customers waiting outside the door.
“Did I tell you they were coming to install the new window?
