“How do you want to pass the time?”
Not ten minutes later, I finish tying an apron around his midsection and give his ass a squeeze before I step back. Coming around to face him, I tap the tip of his nose while grinning like a loon. “Do you know how sexy this would be if you were shirtless?”
“You mean how much sexier this would be?” He tugs at the apron’s waist, but then his eyes lift above my head when the kitchen door swings open. I step back from him, putting the metal worktable between us when my mom walks in. She clasps her hands together in delight. “I see Lauralee has recruited you to make cupcakes for the festival.”
“I’m at your daughter’s beck and call, so she can do whatever she wants with me.” His eyes dart to me. “How can I be of service?”
He’s so naughty that I roll my eyes, but when I look at him again, I kind of soften to him. Baylor is trying. He’s here for me without any expectations of what we are or what we were when we parted last hanging over our heads. I wouldn’t call him perfect, but he’s pretty close to it in my book right now.
She says, “Five hundred should cover the first two days.”
He looks at me. “How many are made?”
I hold up a big fat zero with my fingers. “I was planning to make them this afternoon.”
Not deterred in the least, he says, “Well then, let’s get to it.”
CHAPTER 15
Baylor
“Ride with me,”I say, taking a large cupcake pan out of the oven and setting it on the rack behind me. “To the ranch. I’m staying here anyway. I can bring you back to your car or . . . you can stay.”
I peek over at her. She’s leveling the batter in the last pan to go into the oven by tapping the metal to the counter several times. Her hair is nested on top of her head, and flour is dusted across her cheek, or maybe it’s sugar. I’ll need to taste it to verify.
Tasting hasn’t been an issue with her cupcakes. I’ve practically eaten my weight in the small peach cakes. It’s still tempting to take another just to check for quality and all that good stuff.
As soon as she turns toward me, she asks, “Sorry for the banging. I didn’t hear the last part.”
The banging conjures images of her bent over this very worktable or spread across it naked for me. I would lick her nipples free from the powdery mess we made before making her come under some stellar and hit-the-right-spot fucking. I adjust myself over the apron. We were so fucking close to having sex earlier. Hours later, I’m caught in another obligation—heading to Rollingwood to spend time with the fam.
It wouldn’t normally be a negative, but I’d much rather act out some fantasies with my sexy little baker than eat potato salad in a hundred-and-three-degree temps.
“Baylor?”
“Yeah?”
She smiles, but the emotion dancing around her irises tells me she knows where I disappeared to. When she crosses the room, I open the oven to set the pan inside, closing it right after. She doesn’t rush away. In fact, she comes closer than she’s been all afternoon and rubs her hand along my side. “I think you were inviting me to stay with you tonight. Or am I making that up?”
Her mom’s voice travels through the crack of the swinging door from the front of the store, where she’s been serving customers while we bake. It’s a reminder that pushes Lauralee to move away from me.
“Not making it up,” I reply in a lowered voice, not wanting her mom to hear us talking. “I want you to stay with me tonight.”
Her smile grows, but she still tries to temper it. “How would we do that?”
“Easy. We just come back together, and you stay.”
Glancing at the door and then back at me, she leans forward. “No, I mean, what would I tell my mom since she knows it’s rented out? That kind of forces me to stay at home.”
I lean forward, wanting to kiss her, but whisper, “You tell her you’re a twenty-nine-year-old woman, and you’re having a sleepover with me tonight.”
“Ironic because every time I’m with you, there’s no sleep involved.”
“You can tell her we’re having sex, if you prefer.”
She bursts out laughing. “Um, no, thank you. That’s not a conversation I’m up for having tonight or any other time, for that matter.”
“Look,” I say, resting down on my forearms, which puts me almost eye level with her standing. “I want to see you and spend time with you. Whether that’s in the bedroom or outside of it, I want that. It’s a busy weekend for you, so I understand that you don’t have a lot of time to give. But if you find yourself with a few spare minutes or want to stay over, I’ll help however I can.”
