I pull away, smiling on the inside at his smug expression, and start carefully measuring the ingredients for the pastry.
His arm snakes around my waist again.
Crap. Why do my knees go wonky every time he does that?
Stop it, I command. They don’t listen.
He kisses the side of my neck.
Don’t even think about it, I warn my knees.Be strong.
He nips my neck in a teasing move.
“Hello, trying to work here.”
“I know. And you’re incredibly sexy when you’re working.” He kisses my bare shoulder and traces his fingers down my arm, releasing a trail of goose bumps in their wake.
I reach for the curry powder.
His hand moves to my stomach, and two fingers creep below the waistband of my panties, hidden under my sundress.
Even though several layers of clothing are sandwiched between his flesh and mine, that doesn’t stop the heat rushing to my core.
I will not moan. I will not moan. I will not…
His fingers inch farther south.
And I moan.
The sound isn’t loud enough for the others to hear, but it is loud enough for Jayden to catch. He chuckles in my ear.
Which sets off a small round of fireworks between my legs.
I mentally attempt to extinguish them, and open the curry powder. I don’t bother measuring it. I dump what I’m guessing is about a teaspoon into the mixture. If I added too much, Jayden has no one to blame but himself for distracting me.
“Are you going to help me at all?” I ask, grabbing the handheld mixer from the counter. “Or am I the little woman who you’re expecting to cook and clean for you?”
I scan the room and the other couples hard at work—since Jayden and I are supposed to be keeping an eye on Caroline. We’re not here to actually learn how to createflamiche.
And we’re certainly not here for Jayden to distract me from doing our job.
That thought is a hard kick in the gut. Is that what he’s trying to do?
But that doesn’t make sense. He might not want me to be a member of Liam’s team, but he would never do anything to jeopardize a mission.
Caroline is busy mixing her pastry, her concentration one hundred percent focused on that…and not on her husband rubbing against her from behind.
She bites her lower lip as if that’s the only thing grounding her—and preventing her from twisting round to make out with him. Even from here, I can tell she’s pressing her teeth hard into her lip, fighting to keep her concentration on the task.
Several other couples, like Caroline and me, are attempting to assemble their pies. In the case of Blake and Virginia, both of them are working hard at their task, although she seems to be enjoying subtly touching him as much as possible.
Jayden kisses my other shoulder.
And just like that, the final pieces of the puzzle fit together. “You’re trying to seduce me. That’s why Gabrielle wanted to talk to you guys in the hallway?” I turn around to face him, eyes narrowed. “You’re supposed to distract us while we’re making the pies?”
He shrugs, a lazy grin on his face. “She told us couples who cook together stay together, especially when flirting is involved.”
“I’ll be sure to cross-stitch that and frame it in our kitchen.”
