Read Online Dressed in Yellow: BBW Contemporary Romance by Karina Ashe - Free Book Online

loyalty, knowing she would have a hard time giving up such autonomy- even just on a job. Her parents loved her growing up, and her brothers, but the men of her family were overbearing, always insisting that a woman of the old country needed to marry young, produce babies, work hard and ask her husband for permission to pursue her dreams. Aiva didn’t want to ask permission- didn’t want to be just another good girl from a good family who did as she was told. Wanted to prove to her parents that they could count on her strength as much as they could her brothers- and not just as a domestic goddess.
    Leon showered her with gifts, brought her mother a trio of pricey organic hothouse tomato plants for the small kitchen garden, slipping chocolate into the older woman’s apron with a kiss to her knuckles. If he was trying to charm Aiva, it was working. Especially since he’d managed to talk her parents out of the chaperones. Though Aiva wondered about that from the too blank expression on Andrew’s face. She’d have to make sure to watch over her shoulder to see if she was being tailed. Aiva envied Leon’s schedule that he seemed to be able to show up to escort her home and take her out so often. As much as she loved the eating out, plays, and movies, she wasn’t managing her workload well.
    “I’m sorry, I need to work tonight,” she told him when he came to the shop one evening, nearly two weeks into their courtship.
    He leaned on the counter, unperturbed. “Sure. I’ll help you.”
    She shook her head. “It’s paperwork type stuff- I’ll do it from home. You wouldn’t know what-”
    His frown silenced her. “Aiviana. I run a major international corporation. Do you really think any of the paperwork you have to do I couldn’t figure out?”
    She glared at him. “Okay. Well, let me rephrase it. It’s my work. My responsibility.”
    Leon sighed, straightening. “Alright. We’ll eat in tonight, I suppose it’s not a big deal. You can endure my cooking for one evening.”
    Aiva stared at him in astonishment. He tugged her ponytail, laying artfully over one shoulder.
    “What? I’ve been getting better. I can make pasta, at least. And salad.”
    Well, she had really intended on working alone… but the temptation of watching him cook…
    “Besides, Aiva, what better than a quiet, normal evening together to help us get to know what married life would be like?”
    “You make it sound so reasonable. Fine. Meet me at my house.”
    He kissed her. “I’ll stop at the store first, then be home soon after.”
    His words jolted her heart. As he left the shop she stared after him. For some reason, it really began to sink in that the man wanted to marry her. A simple sentence, but packed with all the casual intimacy she’d witnessed so often between her parents over the years. She took a deep breath, shut down her shop, and went home.
    ***
    They spent the next few days in falling into an after work routine so seamless Aiva had to remind herself they weren’t actually husband and wife. That and her bare ring finger. It… disturbed… her. If he wanted to marry her, why hadn’t he formally proposed? What was he waiting for- or was he one of those men who said they wanted to marry, but were really in no hurry to tie the knot? And he certainly wasn’t pushing her for sex. Oh, they had times when she just knew he struggled to pull away, to leave her. And there were times she damn near begged him to forget whatever code from the old country he thought he was honoring and just take her, damnit. But knowing how traditional he was underneath the flash of his modern clothes and causal personality, she hesitated. Because she didn’t want him to think less of her over something as silly as sex before marriage.
    Friday evening he broke the routine, however, bringing a large white box with him when he came home from work.
    “Another present?” she asked, wiping her hands on a towel. She’d just finished putting fresh rolls