Free To Do List by Lauren Dane Page A

some patients and to run errands. Working side by side, Rafe and Belle cleaned the kitchen and that’s when he noticed the change in his cabinets.
    “Minx. My organized little beauty.”
    “Now you can find your spices. I made a list of the things you needed more of. Some of that stuff is really old. I also took the liberty of tidying up your silverware and cutlery.
    You know if the knives are all loose in there without being in any order, they’ll hit the blades and get dull.”
    She looked so serious, he kissed the tip of her nose instead of laughing like he wanted to. “Thank you.”
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    Lauren Dane
    “I hope you don’t mind me doing that.” Her voice had a hesitance and he shook his head.
    “I love that you did it for me. I want you to be at home here. And it’s not like I’m complaining that you cleaned stuff up.”
    “I like being here. I like being with you. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings yesterday by leaving to deal with work shit.” She swallowed hard and shook her head. “It wasn’t even important. He just yanked my chain because he could.”
    Anger washed through him at that. “Why would he do that?”
    “It’s all a power play. Dominance games. It’s normal in some firms. It is with mine.”
    “Belle, I don’t want to be judgmental but is that what you want?” He shoved a hand through his hair, annoyed that anyone would toy with her that way.
    “I want to take a shower. Can we do that together or do you have someplace to be?
    We can talk about this afterward. I’ve been thinking and I have more thinking to do but I really just want to be clean right now and to be with you.” The way she asked was so sweet, so vulnerable it nearly broke his heart. For all that strength and ambition, there was a woman in there who faced some big changes and she was scared.
    Even if he had to be somewhere he would have tossed it aside to be with her when she asked. He was so in love with Annabelle Taylor his world canted to the side for a moment.
    “I don’t have to be anywhere but with you. Go ahead on and get the water hot, I’ll be in with towels right after you.”
    She hugged him briefly and he watched as she jogged away, all her best parts jiggling a bit.
    She’d stepped into the now hot spray and tipped her head back, letting the water warm her and wash away the morning’s run. She wished it could wash away her doubts too.
    Every moment she could remember, she’d known what she wanted. She’d made a plan to achieve it. She worked through it and made it a reality and moved to the next 58
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    To Do List
    thing. Her life was one big to do list and she crossed off achievement after achievement.
    That’s how the universe made sense. Whenever anything felt out of focus, she had her lists and her charts.
    But her job was not what it needed to be. God, she actually let that asshole David treat her like shit the day before. For no other reason than that he could.
    She hadn’t gone to school and worked her ass off to lose contact with her family, work every waking moment and get treated like shit. Especially when she excelled at what she did. She knew she was a damned good attorney and HPG was lucky to have her.
    She had a great condo with a spectacular view. The kind of view people dreamed of when they thought of living in San Francisco. But what good was it when she never saw it? Her beautiful furniture and art, the gorgeous sunrises and great neighborhood restaurants were all just a fantasy to her because she was always at work.
    Her dream was dissolving and she felt as if she were clinging to smoke. The only real thing in her life was Rafe. When had she fallen in love with him? And it was love, she knew that for sure. She supposed it happened day by day and once something romantic unleashed between them, all that love she already felt simply shifted into the spot that’d been waiting for him and only him.
    “Mmm, it’s Christmas day already.