Connected Read Online A.E. Murphy (Broken #2)

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Angst, College, Dark, Drama, New Adult, Romance, Young Adult Tags Authors: Series: Broken Series by A.E. Murphy
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Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 138541 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
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Oh shit. “Was there a problem with it?”

“I don’t know, but the guy is smoking hot.” She fans her face dramatically.

“Okay.” I ignore her ‘smoking hot’ comment and quickly wash my hands. I’m covered from head to toe in flour and other ingredients. I look ridiculous, but I don’t care. I’m here to work, not play.

Valentine doesn’t offer me any input on how I should handle this. Great.

I inhale a deep breath and let it out before stepping out of the kitchen with a nervous smile on my face. Elle points to a man sat at a table in the far corner. He has a hot drink in one hand and his phone in the other. His hair is blonde, almost like golden silk, cut only a couple of inches from his scalp and mussed, like he’s just rolled out of bed. It really suits him. I make my way over to him, anxiously biting my lip. “Umm… hi.” I give him a small wave to get his attention and he blinks up at me with shining hazel eyes.

“Hi.” He grins and stands. He holds out his hand and I check my hands once more for flour before shaking it. “You’re the person who made the Jack Daniels cake?”

I nod and gulp all at once. “Yes. Was there a problem?”

“Yes.” He seems reluctant to admit as his eyes sweep me up and down. “We found this baked into the bottom layer.” He pulls something from his pocket.

Oh my god. “Oh my god!” I squeal and snatch it from him, my eyes burning. I’m going to lose my job. I almost lost my ring. Somebody could have choked! But my ring…

I look at my left hand and back to the simple diamond ring that I hold in the palm of my right hand. How could I not have noticed that it was missing?

“Are you okay?”

“I… was anybody hurt?” I hope nobody bit down on it and broke a tooth.

“Fortunately not. Perhaps you should take jewellery off before you bake.” He suggests, his eyes twinkling with humour. “It’s not a big deal; I just figured you’d want it returned.” He tilts his head, his eyes questioning my distraught state. “And considering the way you’ve reacted, I’m glad to have made that judgement.”

“I’m sorry.” I wipe at my eyes and close my fist around the ring. “I’m sorry for losing this in your cake. I appreciate you returning it. I’ll go and get my boss.”

“Hey, you don’t have to do that. It’s honestly not a big deal.” He watches as I slide the ring back onto my finger. It doesn’t fit; I’ve lost too much weight since Caleb died. Even during pregnancy I didn’t put on much.

I shake my head. “I’m so sorry.” How could I not notice? “I’ll make you something special, on the house.”

He frowns slightly. “Now I feel terrible. I hate it when girls cry. It breaks my heart.” His smile is endearing, but his words completely rupture my heavy heart. More tears fall, along with a few unattractive sobs. Caleb used to say that about crying, but about me specifically rather than girls in general. Oh my god. I’m completely humiliating myself. “Should I hug you? I feel like I should hug you.”

I start giggling through my tears, trying to push away the awkwardness of this situation, “I swear, I’m not usually this emotional. This ring means a lot to me.”

“Ah, I’m guessing you’ve been looking for it.”

That’s the problem; I didn’t even realize it was missing. I’ve been so focused on Nathan and Dillan that my mind has hardly been on Caleb as of late. “Yeah.” I lie and chew on the inside of my cheek. “Do you have time? I’ll make you something and I swear this time it won’t have anything other than the proper ingredients in it.”

He glances at his watch and shakes his head. “Unfortunately I don’t.” A smile lights up his face. “Rain check?”

“Sure, just come on in and ask for me,” I tap my name tag. “I’m Guinevere, but call me Gwen. And thank you, for not making me lose my job.”

“Great, I’m Eric. Just call me Eric. Or bastard.” He jokes. “You know, for making you cry.”

“Trust me, they were happy guilt tears.” I wince. Why am I such an idiot? Why do I say stupid things?

His smile widens; it’s charming and handsome. Good lord, he has dimples. I’m a sucker for dimples. “I should be going. It was nice to meet you, Gwen. I’ll pop by soon for that something special.”

“Sure, I’ll look forward to it.” I lower my face, my cheeks heating as he stares at me for a moment longer.

“See you around, Gwen.”

“Oh… thanks for not getting me into trouble and for being so kind about it. If it makes you feel any better I wash my hands like a crazy person.” Shut up, Guinevere! Just shut up! “Bye.” I dart under the counter and hide in the kitchen before I can say anything else to humiliate myself.


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