The kiss had been good for two things. One, he got to feel those plump lips on his, which was more than fine by him. He wanted to kiss her a hell of a lot more. Two, distracted from the kiss, she’d forgotten all about her purse.
A gentleman wouldn’t look inside. But Ava wouldn’t tell him her full name.
Walking beside Hunter, he opened the purse and flicked it open.
Hunter had his cell phone out with the flashlight.
Ava Sinclaire. Well, he was going to get to know everything there was to know about this woman.
“Club pussy or just some fun?” Hunter asked.
“Time will tell.”
Pocketing her purse, he listened to Hunter bitch and moan all the way back to Ryan’s Place.
Several of the cars had already disappeared from the parking lot. The club’s presence had a tendency to do just that. They had the power to send people running. Load of pussies.
Entering the bar, he saw Ryan cleaning a couple of glasses.
“You know why I’m here,” he said.
Ryan put the glasses down. “I know, and I got everything for you in the back.”
Kinky was already rounding the bar, grabbing Ryan by the scruff of his neck. “Then why don’t you show us?”
The rest of the clientele left. Rumors would be running rife, but if everyone knew what was good for them, they’d keep all the real details private.
Chapter Two
Ava wouldn’t panic.
She’d keep the smile on her face and pretend everything was fine.
Women lost their purses all the freaking time. It was no big deal.
The purse had her driver’s license. Bank cards. She’d even written down a couple of passwords because she hadn’t had the time to memorize them yet. All of that was now in the hands of a potential thief.
Just keep smiling.
She’d gone to the bakery, and it was only as she was looking through her bag for the keys that she realized her purse was missing.
Damn it.
The details of last night were a little hazy to her. She hadn’t drunk a lot. Tequila wasn’t even a drink she’d enjoyed in the past, but last night had been special.
Now, she was cursing everything.
Smokey.
He was the only person she remembered from last night. She didn’t know if their conversation actually happened, or if she made it up, which fucking sucked.
She handed out fresh cream cakes, lemon pies, and cookies. Her gingerbread men were pretty special, and kids loved them.
Decorating was something she’d been learning for many years. All those hours of being stuck home alone, waiting for her ex to arrive, she’d taken all that time to learn how to bake and decorate cakes.
A couple of builders from the local construction yard came in for their sandwiches. She was a bakery that offered sweet and savory treats. With the breakfast wave over, she leaned back as the oven pinged to let her know the fresh batch of cookies was done. It always surprised her how much sweet stuff she sold in a morning.
Her little bakery was proving to be a treat she hadn’t seen coming.
Still, no matter how often she thought about her success, it didn’t detract from the fact her purse was still missing.
She’d have to go to the bank, cancel all of her cards. Who the hell did she need to alert about a missing driver’s license?
So much to do.
She was never visiting Ryan’s Place again. The tequila was great, but the morning after was proving to be something to juggle. This was supposed to be stress-free.
This was anything but stress-free.
With the cookies cooling, she returned to the main store.
Several items had already disappeared off the shelf, and she quickly rearranged, removing the cards to neaten it up.
The morning continued to be busy, leaving her only short ten-minutes spots of no customers. She really did love staying busy.
However, she was close to tearing her hair out just before the lunch rush. She was going to have to close the shop to go to the bank. She couldn’t handle the pressure of not knowing where her purse was.
She was about to find the closed sign when the doorbell rang. “I’ll be out in a second,” she said.
She didn’t have the patience to find the sign. She wrote Closed! Back Soon on a piece of paper. Grabbing the sticky tape, she headed to the main desk only to come to a stop.
Smokey stood on the other side of the counter, a smile on his face, with two of his men from last night.
“Hi,” she said.
“Well, hello. This is a small world.”
She looked at his men who were glancing at the goodies on offer. “What can I do for you?” She frowned. “Did I tell you I owned a bakery?”
“No. You didn’t, and I have to wonder why. Everything looks so good.”
She smiled, feeling her cheeks heat. Were the compliments he’d paid her last night real? She wasn’t used to men saying nice things to her or about her.
“Er, thank you. I hate to ask you to leave but I really need to get to the…” She stopped as Smokey held up her purse for her.
“Missing this?”
“You … how?”
“You dropped it last night. You’d already gone into your house, and well, I didn’t want to send it through the mail when I could see you in person.”
“You wanted to see me in person?” she asked.
“What do you think?” He still held her purse.
Her heart had stopped pounding.
She put down the sign she’d written and reached out to take the purse. “Thank you. I’ve been freaking out about this all morning. I didn’t know where it was, and yeah, thank you.” She held on to it and smiled. “Can I get you anything? On the house. I don’t know if that’s the right term for baked goods.”
“What do you have in mind?”
Ava pointed at the displays. “Have a look and tell me what you want. I’ll be right back.” She rushed toward her small office. Pushing the purse into the bag, she glanced at herself in the mirror. With baking, she had to put her hair into a net, but once all the baking was finished, she needed to serve customers. Hygiene was very important to her. Did she want her hair down?
No, she wasn’t going to go crazy for a man she barely knew.
As she stepped back into the main shop, Smokey’s gaze followed her.
“Did you decide?”
“He hasn’t decided, but I have,” a large man said from the right. “Three of those cookies, please.”
“Coming right up.”
“Hunter’s paying,” Smokey said.
“Dude, she said it was free.”
“No, she said what I’m having is free. You pay, Hunter. As do you, Kinky.”
She looked at the disappointment on the men’s faces. “Er, if they want…” Smokey looked at her. “Or not.”
“They can pay their way. You don’t need to be out of pocket for them.”
The guilt was there though.
The freebies were on offer for Smokey, but she didn’t mind extending it to his friends. “I honestly don’t mind.”
“You’re running a business, Ava. They will pay their way.”
“Lady, it’s sweet, but you don’t want to argue with the boss.”