Love Makes the Difference (Sully Point Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

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disturbance that didn't come from within, but from someone outside herself.
Sam. Thoughts of him were intruding into her private place.
    She began to paint with a vengeance.
     
     

Chapter 2
     
    The alarm woke her with the radio coming on and blaring
loudly in the still-dark room. Stumbling across the floor to turn it off, Anna
stubbed her toe and hopped the rest of the way over to the table. She'd spent
the night in the loft on the old couch. It was surprisingly comfortable for
sleeping.
    Deciding to take a shower at the loft rather than going
home, she was glad she'd left a clean uniform in the closet, a pale yellow one.
The uniform was Holly's idea. She felt it gave a clean, tidy look to the
bakery. Anna thought it would look just as clean and tidy if she wore jeans and
a t-shirt, but Holly could not be convinced of that. In the end, Anna and Kayla,
the high school girl who helped out, wore a variety of pastel colors in
polyester. Anna was pretty sure they resembled cupcakes in their uniforms.
    She hurried through her shower, getting ready quickly because
she was dying for a cup of coffee. Somehow she had run out of coffee here. The
bakery had the best coffee, anyway, due to the expensive coffee machine.
    She ran a brush through her hair and wondered again why she
didn't just cut it off to a shorter length since it always ended up in a
ponytail or bun.
    The mirror in the bathroom was tiny compared to most bathroom
fixtures. She glanced at her face and decided there really was no point in
makeup--she was plain and she always would be. She stuck her tongue out at the
mirror and then whirled around to leave.
    Running to the bakery, she made it with plenty of time to
make bread loaves and rolls. After drinking a cup of coffee, she was ready to
tackle the donuts just as the sun started to come up. The bakery wasn't a donut
shop, but every morning it carried one or two flavors. Anna's favorites were
the cinnamon sugar-apple cider donuts she made in the fall, but today's batch
would be pretty darn good--chocolate with chocolate frosting.
    She got a phone call from her father around six a.m. right
after she put blueberry muffins in the oven. After reassuring him she'd spent a
peaceful night at the loft, she began organizing trays of baked goods for the
day.
         During all her activity, she determinedly did not think
of Sam. Granted, it took some effort to ignore those thoughts, but she
accomplished it. She figured if she stayed busy enough, she wouldn't fall into
any stupid fantasies about the man. So it was with a sense of surprise and also
inevitability that she saw him walking up to the front door of the bakery when
she took down the closed sign. What is he doing out at that house of his,
lifting weights? You can see his abs through the t-shirt he's wearing. It
seemed to her a bit unfair he looked quite so delicious this early in the day.
    She opened the door, waving him inside. "Come on in,
Sam. The muffins are still warm from the oven and the donuts are scrumptious
today."
    Sam stepped inside and stopped, taking a deep breath. "This
place smells...heavenly. I want one of everything."
    A giggle escaped her lips and Anna clapped a hand to her
mouth. She never giggled. Sam laughed and then, after a few seconds, so
did she. He always seemed so comfortable and at ease. She found her guard
coming down just being around him.
    He walked over to the trays of baked goods and seemed to think
hard about what his choice would be. Finally she said, "How long are you
planning on being in Sully Point, Sam?"
    He met her gaze. "I'm not sure yet, but at least six
months, I think. Why?"
    "Well, if you're going to be here that long, you'll
have time to sample everything we make. You won't miss out if you don't try it
all today."
    He laughed again. "You're right. It isn't quite so
momentous a decision, is it? Okay, I want one of those blueberry muffins. And
what the hell, give me one of those sinful-looking donuts. I can see I'm going
to