Page 14 of Fixed Up Ever After
Javi recognized that deep-golden skin—he’d spent days remembering those curves and the way her ass swayed in the tight pink dress she had worn. He remembered the way she felt around his cock and the way she moaned for him. A warmth shot through his body, reminding him exactly what she did to him.
Standing only feet away, was Lola—the woman he had a one-night stand with six months ago and could not stop thinking about since.
CHAPTER8
Lola
When Mona first asked her to read a picture book at the bakery’s event, Lola envisioned a handful of kids with a few adults on their cellphones. What she walked into was quite the opposite. The bakery wasn’t big by any means, but it held about thirty people, according to the plaque on the wall set forth by fire regulations.
Six circular white tables and a long bench seat holding another four tables made up the seating in the bakery. Each table was full of children, ranging from toddler size to around seven or eight. Lola loved kids and hoped she would one day have a family of her own. Just not now. Now, she needed to focus on her dream of reopening the bookstore.
When Mona called her name, Lola took a moment to straighten out her shirt—a pastel pink V-neck with ‘Mattea’s Bakery’ embossed across her left breast. She paired this with dark-wash jeans and open-toed sandals to show off her painted toes.
Mona’s arms wrapped tightly around Lola, as if she were greeting her back from a month-long excursion, rather than the two whole minutes they were apart. She loved that about her best friend though, her unbridled passion and need to show her love for others through physical acts. It was something Lola wasn’t accustomed to.
Her family rarely showed outward displays of emotions, though her dad was known to give a hug or two on special occasions. Her sister and mother on the other hand? It would be a cold day in hell if they ever showed their affection like a normal family. Touching her might result in gaining extra pounds through magical osmosis and they simply couldn't have that.
“Knock their little socks off, bestie,” Mona whispered into her ear. She then left to rejoin Mattea behind the counter, leaving her alone with dozens of eyes glued to her every move.
Lola had never been a shy person, which was probably due to years of standing out. When one went to the most elite of prep schools and everyone looked as if they just walked off the runway while her left thigh was the size of their torso, it gave little room for shyness.
She plastered on a smile from years of experience attending her family functions and doing business dinners for her father and his clients. She had perfected the smile over the years, making sure no cracks peeked out of her armor. Showing signs of weakness was the fastest way for anyone to home in on one’s insecurities and pick them apart until they were left bleeding all over the floor. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Seeing the excited expression on the children’s faces made her own smile more genuine. “Hello, friends!” She heard Mona snort behind her because yeah, she might be laying it on a little too thick, but she just couldn’t help it. She was surrounded by cuteness overload.
She perched her round ass on the stool provided for her, taking another sweep around the room as she said, “I’m so excited to be reading to you today a book about—” But her words got lost in her throat. Everything seemed to come crashing down around her as her eyes locked on a man she had never expected to see again. A man who had rocked her entire world in one single night. A feat her past boyfriends could not do even after months of dating.
Javi.
Holy fucking shit—Javi is here.
After their time together, she had awoken to find him gone the next day. Sure they were only sharing a single night together and she had not expected him to stay long, but it would have been nice if he had told her goodbye. Instead, she had woken up late the next morning with a delicious ache between her legs and a bed that still smelled like him.
This is not what I need to be thinking about right now!
Her internal freakout almost made her miss the beautiful Latine woman next to Javi. She was curvy, not in the way Lola was curvy, but in a straight-sized curvy kind of way. She was beautiful with long wavy brown hair. The woman was hovering over two children, a boy and a girl. One looked like he may still be in diapers and the other one was old enough to be in school. Kindergarten maybe?
Which begged the question: did she have sex with a married man? And did he lie about it when she asked if he had a partner?
Her cheeks heated, anger coiling low in her belly. There were pieces of shit, and then there were pieces of shit who cheated on their spouses, which made them even lower than the lowest scumbags.
Javi continued to look at her, in much the same way she was looking at him, like they were Scrooge fromA Christmas Carolseeing the ghost of Marley for the first time.
A not-so-subtle cough snagged her attention and Lola turned her head to see Mona giving her ‘what the fuck’ eyes. Apparently, she had been silent for too long and the audience was beginning to wonder if she needed medical help.
She needed help, alright, but there was nothing she could do now but ignore the sinfully hot man staring right at her.
A sinfully hot man with a fucking family! She had to remember that part of it.
Pushing all thoughts of Javi away—far, far away to the deepest crevices of her mind which she wrapped up with extra strength, heavy-duty chains—Lola turned her attention back to the children. They were the reason she was here, after all.
“This is a story about a young boy getting ready for his first dance recital,” she said, not missing a beat and picking up where she left off. “He’s very nervous about his performance, but his family helps him through those big emotions.”
She could use help getting through her own big emotions right now, but she remembered the calming techniques her former therapist taught her when her anger or sadness threatened to overwhelm her. That was easy enough when she focused on the sweet children’s book. She changed her voice for each character to give them all different personalities.
As a young child, her abuelita would read her bedtime stories each time she spent the night at her house. It had been one of her fondest memories as a child and the reason she became so invested in reading as an adult. Her abuelita would create silly voices and act out the books she read. Most of them had been in Spanish, and since she never learned Spanish fluently, she didn’t ever quite understand what the stories were about. That hardly mattered because she knew how they made her feel. Now that she passed, Lola wanted to continue her abuelita’s fun storytimes with others.
When the story came to a close, Lola took in the captive audience as the bakery burst into a friendly round of applause. Before she could appreciate the situation, Mona magically appeared next to her, leading another round of applause. “Wasn’t that thebest?” Her bestie beamed, getting vigorous nods from the crowd. “There’ll be plenty more of that once Ms. Lola gets Phoenix Books up and running again. Make sure to check back periodically for updates and follow Phoenix Books on social media!”
