Cuffing The Law Book 2 in The Willowbrook Series

Chapter 3

Daisy

I don't have my brother, Logan's dog Hector today. Usually, I go pick him up in the morning and he comes to my shop with me for the day. Out the back of the shop I have a nice deck area and a good space that leads to some woodland secured with fencing. Courtesy of Logan, putting up the fencing that is. Since he can't very well take Hector his Airedale into the doctor's practice with him, although I'm pretty sure none of the patients would mind, in fact isn't having an animal around supposed to be good for stress and soothing? And, Logan does own the practice.

Anyway, after my breakfast coffee with Lottie and seeing Deacon which left me blushing when he came to say, hi. Honestly, you'd think after knowing him most of my life, I'd have grown out of this only I haven't.

In all honesty, I have crushed on Deacon since I was a kid wearing braces and long pigtails and braids. Any excuse I could, I'd be hanging around Logan who has always been Deacon's best friend. Actually, Logan has two very close friends, Deacon being one and Abe who runs and own the Lazy Duke's bar is his other best friend.

Those three were like the musketeers growing up, where one was the other two would be close by. Usually with knee scrapes or mud on their faces. They couldn't stop getting into trouble with trees, tarmac from skateboard falls or just generally being boys. My mom used to despair of Logan when he'd come home with yet another bloody knee. It makes me smile.

Then, when I hit around fourteen I had a serious crush on Deacon. With his dark hair that he now wears close cropped due to being the Marshal, but back then it was longer, down to the nape of his neck and the way it used to curl, that definitely was sexy as hell. He still looks sexy, sexier than any one man should be allowed. Honestly, if he were on the front of a GQ magazine, he'd not look out of place. I've seen what he packs under that uniform of his and it's HOT. HOT. HOT.

I shouldn't really be thinking of his six pack or the way he has that whole V thing going on leading down to what I can imagine is definitely a girl's orgasmic night but I can't help myself as I slide the key into the lock of my shop's front door. Needless to say, when Logan merely hints at a pool party out back of his cabin or a night in the hot tub and BBQ, I am there like a bee to a honey pot because I just know that Deacon, if he's not on duty will be swanning around with his muscular chest and biceps on display and trust me ladies, they sure make me swoon not to mention making me all hot down there.

The door to my shop opens easily. Good job since it was jarring not that long ago and Logan had to come over and take the damn thing off its hinges and give it a good greasing. I step inside onto the rustic oak flooring and close the door behind me.

Inside I am greeted by the two walls on either side of me to my left and my right of shelves and racks of fabric from every color under the sun. I have them in color coordination starting with blacks through to greys, whites, reds, pinks, purples, blues, oranges and yellows. It's so pretty and magical, I could spend all day and night in here. I even have fairy lights set up for the winter months to add a bit of sparkle and charm.

In front of me is an archway that leads to my small kitchen area with all the appliances I need, coffee machine being the most important, microwave because I'm a lazy person and prefer to just heat my food up, even though Sage keeps on telling me I need to be more invested in my health and choose healthier food options. To be honest, I'm rubbish at cooking, whoever steals my heart for real one day, that is if I never get to be with Deacon, okay so I'm guessing that means nobody is ever going to steal my heart because he already has it and how could I ever be with anyone else when I'm in love with Marshal Deacon? I sigh. Microwave food for me then for the rest of my life.

To the left inside the arch is a door that leads to the bathroom area, it has a shower, not that I use that but it came with the property and I saw no point in ripping it out, a sink and the toilet, naturally. It's painted a petrol blue with daisies stenciled on the walls. They're my favorite kind of flower and my mother's hence why she called me Daisy. I do love roses but only the blush kind, I find the others way too dark for my liking.

Placing my battered leather bag down on the counter, I flip on the lights and the whole place lights up. I went for the industrial stainless steel lighting that you'd see in a factory unit, in my opinion they work well with the old wooden, oak beams. Apparently they come from a ship's hull. They're striking and when it's a bright sunny day, they have an almost honey like glow to them. My shop makes me feel peaceful and content, it's like stepping into your most comfy slippers.

My pale blue, Singer sewing machine takes pride of place on the right of the shop on my metal and wood sewing table. It was a present from my folks when I decided I wanted to go it alone and open my own sewing shop. We sometimes hold workshops here for the locals and guys turn up too. On a Tuesday night, I have just the retired folk in who love to come and chin wag with each other, I lay on some bottles of wine, Whisky for the hardcore ladies and of course coffee and tea. No men allowed on a Tuesday night. Us ladies like to gossip about the town's men.

Mom usually bakes the cakes and scones and it's just a lovely evening to be had by all. Lottie joins us and she is an absolute scream and keeps us abreast of all the new happenings with any fresh young men coming into town. There is a reconstruction of the old mill going on and there is no shortage of young guys coming in to fix it up. Apparently the owner is making it into a lodge since Willowbrook is very close to Snowshoe Mountain and it's a hot tourist spot for skiers in the season.

The first thing I do is go through to the back and make sure my machine has water in it and start to busy myself prepping my nice strong coffee. I take out my mobile and place it on the side then grab some skimmed milk from my fridge.

Whilst I wait for it to do it's thing, I go back to my sewing machine and make sure it's set up for the prom dress I'm making for Janice, who is Barbara's granddaughter. She's a pretty little thing and so damn cute and polite. I know for sure that this emerald fabric she has chosen is going to look like a dream on her with her red flaming hair.

The machine makes a beep noise to let me know my caffeine fix is ready. Once I'm all set up and ready to go, I lay the fabric out and check the measurements I have for Janice.

I love nothing more than to create and together with her ideas and my vision, we've come up with something stunning. It'll be in the fashion of a 1950's full skirted prom dress with a sweetheart neckline. It's always exciting to start something fresh. I'm so excited for Janice's first fitting.

As I glance up from my sewing machine, I catch Deacon passing by. He stops at one of the windows, I catch my breath willing him to pop in and just you know, chat. But he doesn't and I feel a little deflated.

I'm going to have to take Lottie's advice and give him some strong old hints.