“It’s not for a lack of trying.” He leaned back in his chair. “Growing up my meals were always cooked for me, and by the time I moved out, I tried to cook, but I’m just not meant to do more than use a microwave and toaster.”
“How did you live till your twenties with someone always making your meals for you?” I wished I had that. By the time I was thirteen I had discovered that I was a better cook than my mom, and we both agreed that I would cook.
“Uh, well, we had a cook.”
I smiled. “So did we. It was me.” I wiggled my eyebrows. I stirred the sauce in the pan. Abe was quiet, and I wasn’t sure what had just happened. “So, what kind of food do you survive on now?”
Abe cleared his throat. “Can we go back to me telling you we had a cook growing up?”
I shrugged. “If you want to. Although, I must say it’s pretty damn cool.”
“I’ve never told anyone that. At least not since I moved to Mark’s Corners over ten years ago.”
“I guess I should feel honored then,” I laughed nervously.
“I wanna tell you everything, sweetheart.”
“Maybe we should save everything for the second date?” I was just getting used to the man being in my kitchen. Perhaps we could save the soul bearing talk for another time.
He chuckled. “I don’t have hideous secrets. I’ve just never told anyone about the real me. I tend to stick to the surface details.”
“Well, I guess that’s reassuring.” I cleared my throat unsure of what to say next. I drained the last of my wine, and set the glass down. “Did you want more?”
Abe stood up and grabbed the bottle from the table. “I got you.” He filled my glass to the top, and topping off his own. He leaned against the counter, and grabbed my hand. “Did I scare you away?”
“I’d be lying if I said I was fine, but I’m not scared away. Just a bit taken back.” No one had ever wanted to tell me everything. Didn’t everyone have secrets? Whether they were small or big, we all had them.
He pulled me over, and positioned me in front of him, standing between his legs. “Good. I didn’t want to have to leave before we had dinner.”
“Or cake,” I added.
He nodded. “Definitely not before cake.”
“What are we doing, Abe?”
He rested his hands on my waist. “Getting to know each other. Finding out if we want to spend more time together.”
“Uh, so what’s the consensus so far?” I knew where my head was, but I had to wonder what he was thinking. Was this one night? A couple of nights?
“I like you. I knew I liked you the other day in the bakery.”
“Pretty sure I spoke maybe ten words, and most of them didn’t make sense.” I cringed just thinking about it.
“You were damn adorable.”
“That’s exactly what every grown woman wants to hear. Adorable.” I stuck my tongue out.
“Now, now, sweetheart. I also thought your ass looked amazing when you turned around.”
I slugged him on the shoulder. “You’re such a man.”
“Pretty sure that’s one of the main things you like about me.”
The water boiled over on the pasta, and I pulled away from Abe. “You may be on to something.” Being a man was on the list of things I liked about Abe. I mean, if he were a girl, I wouldn’t be cooking him spaghetti in my apartment right now. I tested the noodles, and dumped them into the colander. “You ready to eat?” I pulled the garlic bread out of the oven, and slid it onto a plate.
“I’m starving.”
He helped set the table, and I laid the sauce, noodles, and bread in the center of the table.
“You forgot the cake.”
I rolled my eyes, and grabbed the cake. “You’re making me think you are here only for the cake.”
We sat down, and filled our plates.
“Gotta tell you. You make the best cake I’ve ever had in my life. So, yeah, knowing you made a cake is fucking amazing. Add on the fact I don’t need to share it with any of those fuckers at the fire station makes it even more amazing.”
I twirled some noodles around my fork. “How long exactly have you been buying out the case in the bakery?”
He wiped his mouth with his napkin, and took a sip of wine. “Um, for about a year.”
Holy crap. He had been coming to the bakery, my bakery, every other week for a year, and I had no idea. “Seriously?” I really needed to get out of the back.
“Yeah, and for that whole year Karen and Anderson have been dancing around each other. It was about time he got off the pot and asked her out.”
“So he’s a good guy?”
“One of the best I know.”
That was reassuring to know. Karen was on a date with him right now, so hopefully she wouldn’t be calling me later crying about what a dick he was.
“How did you get into making amazing cakes?”
Hmm, I guess it was question time. I took a bite. “Well, I’ve been cooking and baking since I was ten, and by the time I turned thirteen, I was doing all of the cooking. It was only natural that my first job was a dishwasher at the local diner.”
“Ren’s on fifth?”
I nodded. “Yup. Ren’s mom was the one who took me under her wing, and taught me all her baking secrets.”
“I’ll have to stop in and thank her, although I have to think you’re just a natural when it comes to the kitchen. This spaghetti rivals Mario’s.”
I blushed under his praise. “I think you might want to slow down on the wine.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I just know good food when I eat it, sweetheart.”
“Now it’s your turn to tell me how you became a firefighter.” Time to turn the tables on him. “How does a man with a personal chef become a public servant?”
“Now you’re just making it sound a bit dramatic. I wasn’t the crowned prince of a country or anything.”
We ate in silence for a bit while he gathered his thoughts.
I finished most of my food, and pushed back the plate. “I’m waiting for my story, Abe. No cake until you spill.”
“I thought you weren’t ready for everything?”
I shrugged, and swirled the wine in my glass. “We’ll call it getting to know each other.”
“It’s not some grand story, sweetheart. I wanted a job where I felt needed.”
“What did you do before?”
“I worked for my father.”
Hmm, now we were getting somewhere, but it was like pulling teeth. “So, what does your father do?”
“He owned a few businesses, and I managed one for him. He passed away, and my mother and I decided it was best to sell them off.”
“I’m sorry, Abe.” That took a turn I wasn’t expecting.
He shrugged. “My father was a hard man to work with. While he provided a good life for me growing up, he expected things from my mother and I that were hard to fulfill.”
“You mom lives here?”
“No.” He shook his head. “She lives in California in the house I grew up in. I’ve tried to get her to move to Mark’s Corners, but she likes the warm weather and her friends are there.”
“So how did you end up halfway across the country?” California was a good ways from Mark’s Corners.
“I just moved around for a couple of years, trying to find out what I wanted to do with my life. Being a firefighter kind of fell in my lap, and I was good at it.”
“What did you mean when you said you only show people what’s on the surface?”
“No one knows about my father, what I did before I moved here. They don’t know I don’t need to work a day in my life if I didn’t want to.”
Well hell. That was impressive. “But yet you still work.”
“Living the spoiled rich kid life isn’t my style. While I’ve always had money, I always worked hard for it.”
“So you live the life of a firefighter while sitting on stacks of money at night.”
&
nbsp; He threw his head back and laughed. “Not exactly, sweetheart, but that is funny to picture.”
“You look like Uncle Scrooge in my head. Diving into your piles of money.”
He shook his head, and pushed back his plate. “Now there's a picture. Perhaps you’ll need to come over, and see if that’s true.”
“Maybe.” I grabbed our plates, and dumped them in the sink. “I need to make the caramel drizzle for the cake. Did you want to find something to watch?”
“I planned on watching you make that caramel, but I guess I can try to find a movie.”
I pointed to the entertainment center. “You should be able to find something in there. Although, I will say that the majority of them are chick flicks.”
Abe grimaced. “You trying to put me to sleep?”
I grabbed a saucepan from the cupboard and shook my head. “I’ll just cut you a big slice of cake to get you all sugared up.”
“I like the sound of that.”
Twenty minutes later after Abe moaned and groaned over all of the movies, he finally settled on watching Overboard.
“I have to say I’m surprised you settled on a classic.” I had all of the Fast and Furious movies, and figured he would have picked one of those. While they weren’t chick flicks, they had an over abundance of eye candy which automatically made them chick movies.
I handed him the huge slice of cake drenched in caramel. “Damn, sweetheart. Did you save any for yourself?” I did a bit more than a drizzle on his piece.
It was a pretty big slice. Abe had a quarter of the bundt sitting on his plate, and I had a piece a quarter of his size. “If I ate that much cake you would have to roll me through the door.”
He sat back on the couch, kicked up his feet on the coffee table, and forked a huge bit into his mouth. “I’m not a religious man, sweetheart, but this cake has got me wanting to pray to God that you make me cake for the rest of my life.”
“You’re crazy, Abe.”
The movie started playing, and I sat next to him on the couch. He was much to into his cake to notice anything but his fork. Somehow he managed to eat his huge piece of cake before I finished mine, and he set his plate on the coffee table. He looked over at me and smiled. “You have a hell of a lot more control than I do.”
“I’m surrounded by it daily. It’s a miracle I can look at a cake anymore without hating it.” I set my plate down and tried to watch the movie. I could tell Abe was staring at me out of the corner of my eye. “Um, is something wrong?”
“Yeah.”
Uh oh. “And that is?”
“You’re way too far away from me.”
I looked down at the two feet between us. “Really?”
“Yeah, really, sweetheart.” He pulled me to him, laid down with his back to the couch, and left me no choice but to lay down next to him. “Much better,” he rumbled.
My head was resting on his outstretched arm, and I was laying on my side facing the TV. “What just happened?”
He stuffed a pillow under his head and draped an arm across my middle. “We got comfortable.”
I didn’t know what to do. I was stretched out on my couch with a gorgeous man who actually wanted to be there with me. “Abe, I don’t … is this…”
“Shush, Brynn. Watch the movie and try not to think too hard.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. He didn’t really give me much chance to do anything but that. After I counted to ten, I opened my eyes to watch Goldie Hawn fall overboard, and fell asleep in Abe’s arms.
***
Abe
“Wake up, sweetheart.”
She stirred in my arms, and turned to look up at me.
It was half past eleven, and Brynn had passed out in my arms a half an hour into the movie.
“Hey,” she rasped. “What time is it?”
“Almost twelve.”
She sighed and closed her eyes. “Gah, I have to be up in three hours.”
Damn, that sucked. I worked around the clock when I was on shift, but I did tend to get decent sleep as long as there weren’t multiple calls in the middle of the night. “Let’s get you in bed so you don’t wake up with a kink in your neck.”
She snuggled into me. “Good here.”
“Babe, you should-.”
She reached up and pressed a finger to my lips. “Shh. I need to sleep.” She relaxed into my arms, and was sleeping again in thirty seconds.
Now that was impressive. Being a firefighter we had all learned to sleep when we could, but Brynn just put us all to shame.
I grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch, draped it over us, and managed to snag the remote she had tucked by her side.
Who was I to argue with a sleeping woman?
She slept, and I enjoyed the feel of her body next to mine.
Chapter 5
Brynn
“Wait a minute. He spent the night?” Karen’s jaw dropped. “And he’s still up there?” She pointed to the ceiling above her.
“Um, yeah.” At least I figured he was. I hadn’t heard anyone moving around upstairs, and he hadn’t walked out the door.
“Damn, girl. Even I sent Blake home at one last night.” She packed up the last order of cookies for the day, and stacked the two boxes by the swinging door to the front. “So what are you going to do with him up there?”
“You act like I’m keeping the man captive! I woke up at three, managed to free myself from his hold, and came down here to work. I wasn’t going to kick him out at that time of the morning.” I grabbed two sprinkled donuts and a cheese danish.
“And just where do you think you’re going with those?” she nodded at the pastries in my hand.
“I thought I would take breakfast up to him while I wait for the bread to rise.”
Karen smirked. “Try not to get tangled up with him for too long.” The bell dinged up front. “You better come back with details, woman.” She pushed through the swinging doors, and shouted a greeting to the customer out front.
I tossed my apron on the counter, and slowly climbed the stairs. I could have woken him up when I got up, but I liked him laying my couch. He looked like he belonged there.
My head was in my own thoughts when I opened the door at the top of the stairs and came face to face with Abe shirtless in my kitchen.
Holy hell.
Not what I had expected to see when I opened the door, but I wasn’t going to complain.
“Morning, sweetheart.”
I choked on my words. “Mor … morning.”
“I helped myself to a shower. I hope that’s okay? You know that kink I warned you about last night? Well, I woke up with one instead.”
My tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth, and all I could do was stare at his chiseled chest. It was like the man was made out of marble with his perfectly defined abs and all the other delicious small valleys and hills of his ripped body. My eyes traveled lower, and I lost all brain function.
The perfect ‘v’ into his jeans where the top button was undone did me in.
“You okay?”
I managed to rip my eyes off his body, and looked him in the eye. Not much better to help me regain speech. Now I was lost in his green eyes. “V.” Kill me now. My brain was still stuck on the perfect ‘v’ that invited me to finish unbuttoning his pants and discover just where that ‘v’ pointed.
“Sweetheart, you can’t look at me like that right now.”
I blinked slowly. “Huh?”
“You’re devouring me with your eyes.”
Couldn’t get anything past him. “Shirt.” I was rendered to one word sentences. They made sense to me, but all Abe did was laugh.
“You want me to put a shirt on, or take yours off?”
Wait, what?
He stalked toward me, and grabbed the pastries from my hand. He tossed them on the table, and pulled me into the living room. “I’ll eat those later. Right now there’s something I need to do,” he mumbled.
He fell back onto the cou
ch, and pulled me down on top of him. I straddled his waist, and splayed my hands on his bare chest. “Wow.”
“Not gonna lie, sweetheart. You looking at me, and appreciating all the hard work I put in at the gym makes it all worth it.”
My hands roamed over his chest, feeling his soft skin yet hard sculpted body was something I had never felt before. I could sit here for hours and not get tired of touching him.
His hands went to the hem of my shirt, and his eyes connected with mine. “I know you gotta get back to work, but I need to know if you taste as sweet as you look.”
I raised my hands over my head, and pulled my shirt off. His hand instantly went to my bra clad breast and squeezed. A low growl ripped from his lips as he pulled one of the cups down, and moved his thumb over my nipple.
I hadn’t even kissed the man yet, and he had his hand on my breast. This was so backward, but it felt so good. “Abe?”
“Yeah, sweetheart.” His eyes didn’t leave my chest.
“Can you kiss me?” So bold, but I couldn’t go another second without kissing him.
He delved his fingers into my hair, and pulled my head down. His lips connected with mine, and everything fell into place. My hands continued to roam over his body, and his hand palmed my breast, squeezing and kneading.
I had found heaven in Abe’s arms.
***
Abe
Nothing had ever been like this before.
I had never felt the need to give up everything I had just to have another second with a woman. Brynn was all that and more. She could bring a grown man to his knees and beg for mercy.
Her taste on my lips, and her warm, lush breast in my hand was all I ever needed.
“Abe,” she gasped against my lips. “How?”
“How what, gorgeous?”
“How are you doing this to me?” she whispered.
“I think I could ask you the same thing, sweetheart.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck, and her fingers delved into my hair. “I really need to get back downstairs, but I don’t want to.”
“Then don’t.” My lips claimed hers again. Soft, responsive, yielding. She was giving it all to me.
Burn Me Anthology Page 83