by Kyle Autumn
“Oh, sweetheart,” he sighs before flexing his cock inside me. “You tell me what leads me to that hopeful conclusion.”
I clamp my walls down on him to show him who’s really in control here.
He laughs lightly as he closes his eyes. Then he opens them when I let go. As he eases out of me, he says, “Actually, it’s because I bought that whole box”—he points to the condom box still on the bed—“just for us, so we have our work cut out for us.”
I pull him back down to me before he can get away. “And you know what?”
“What?” he asks quietly, his lips brushing mine.
“I’m up for that challenge,” I tell him. Then, before he can get any closer, I playfully push him off me.
As he gets off the bed, he says, “Ah, you’re a dream come true, Meli. You know that?”
Luckily, for his sake, he’s in the bathroom, running the shower, before he notices how flat he knocked me on my ass with that comment. There’s no more oxygen in the room anymore as I shoot out of the bed like my ass is on fire. Unfortunately, my clothes are in the bathroom, so I have to quietly inch inside and snatch them from the floor. Then I hastily throw them on and leave as silently as I can while in a rush.
Once I’m outside, I expect to be able to breathe better. I’m away from Jeremy, Danielle, the secret we’re keeping… But no. In a world full of oxygen, I’m slowly dying from a lack of it.
“You’re my dream come true.”
Danny said that to me once. And I don’t think all of these reminders are accidents. If I’m ever truly going to get over this—over him—and be able to give myself to anyone, I’m going to have to talk about it. And it’s not exactly first-date material.
So I have no idea how Jeremy’s going to react when I tell him about my husband.
Chapter 10
Jeremy
“You can’t be serious,” Meli says to her sister when I walk into the bakery later that afternoon.
Even though she’s scowling at Cass and clearly upset about something, my heart stutters in my chest. Just looking at her, especially while she’s in her element—her hair back, her apron on, a towel on her shoulder, surrounded by cupcakes—is enough to stop me in my tracks. Everything about her screams gorgeous, independent, and sexy. I love it. I love—
“I’m dead serious,” Cass tells her, bracing a hand on the counter and putting the other on her hip. When she looks at me, she shoves a hand in my direction. “Tell her I’m serious, will you, Jeremy?”
When I recover from my temporary Meli paralysis, I clear my throat and smile. “I guess Cass is serious.” Then I notice a little girl playing with a toy truck on one of the bakery’s tables. With no one else in the bakery now that it’s closed, I assume she’s Cass’s daughter, so I go in her direction to keep us both occupied while the sisters have it out.
“But she can’t be,” she says to me, “because I can’t possibly watch Aria tonight.”
I hold my hands up in a surrender position to stay out of the whole thing.
Meli continues. “I have to stay late here and fill a last-minute order for a customer. I could be baking all night.”
“Well, I don’t know what to tell you.” Cass gestures to her daughter. “She needs to stay here. I need a date night with Derek before I lose my ever-loving mind, and remind me of how many Saturdays I have been here to help you out?”
Meli scoffs, her jaw wide open. “Oh, that is so not fair.” She slaps the towel from her shoulder onto the counter and storms through the door to the kitchen.
Cass turns to me, a look of is she for real? on her face. But I shrug and go back to playing with Aria and her toy truck. In the middle of a sisters’ fight is no place for the boyfriend-to-be.
As Aria shows me what her truck can do, Cass heads our way. When she reaches us, she takes a seat, so I do too.
“Hey. You’re good with her,” she points out, a sly gleam in her eyes.
But I see right through her game. “What are you and”—I think back to remember the name she dropped—“Derek?”
“Yeah. He’s my husband. The proud father of this bundle of crazy.” She laughs as she gazes lovingly at her daughter, but I hear just how stressed she is.
“What are you guys doing tonight?” I ask, taking the small plastic person Aria’s handing me. Then I make it hop along the able over to Aria, which makes her laugh.
“We’re supposed to get dinner and a movie, but honestly?” She sighs long and loud. “At this point, I’d take a hot bath and a nap next to my husband.”
“That first part sounds similar to what I thought I had planned with Meli,” I admit, my hope for a first date shriveling and dying. If she’s not watching Aria, she’s baking tonight. Unless that was an excuse, but with all the banging around going on back there, it certainly sounds like she’s busy.
“Oh god,” Cass says, covering her mouth. “Is that why you’re here? Were you picking her up?”
I nod, lifting my eyebrows in an oh well kind of way.
“Aw, geez. I’m sorry to ruin your date,” she says, leaning back in her chair.
Shrugging one shoulder, I say, “That’s okay,” and give Aria her toy person back. “Looks like it wouldn’t have worked out anyway.” I nod toward the kitchen.
As if on cue, a huge crash comes from the back of the bakery. Then Meli gives a frustrated scream that has me rising from my chair. I wait for more noise, but nothing else happens. Still, I hold a hand out to Aria.
“Want to be my date tonight?” I ask her. “We can supervise while your aunt makes a big mess in the kitchen.”
“Ooh, yeah!” she says, beaming at me and taking my hand, her truck forgotten. “Maybe we can eat whatever she’s making too!”
I help her down off the table, and when she’s on the ground again, Cass smooths a hand over her hair.
To me, she says, “Seriously? You’re okay with that?”
“Oh yeah.” I wave her away. “I’m gonna stay no matter what she says in there, so I can keep an eye on her. Just let me know when you’re gonna pick her up and I’ll let you know if we’re still here.”
“Oh my god, I could kiss you. You’re a lifesaver!” She bends to say goodbye to her daughter. “Be good for Auntie Melia and Jeremy, okay?” She kisses Aria on the forehead. “Like, really good. Pretend like this is a castle and you can’t touch anything without asking the king and queen first.” She brushes Aria’s hair off her cheeks. “Did you hear me?”
“Yeah, Mom,” Aria giggles. It’s deep and a little scary to hear coming from a young girl, and it gives me the chills, if I’m being honest.
All of a sudden, I’m not sure what I’ve gotten myself into. But, if it’ll help Meli get ahead tonight and give Cass have a moment to breathe, then I’ll do it. I mean, it can’t be that bad, right? We just won’t feed her all the leftover cupcakes and it should be fine. One look at Cass as she glances up at me makes me second-guess that thought, but it’s too late now.
“Love you, sweetie,” she says before kissing her daughter on her cheek. When she stands, she puts a hand on my shoulder. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“Get on outta here before I change my mind,” I joke.
But she takes me seriously and rushes to grab her purse. She waves as she speeds out the door. “Four hours tops. I promise.”
Then the bell above the door chimes and she’s gone. Aria waves out the window at her mom and then goes back to playing with her truck, zooming it all over the table and crashing it into her little toy person. Her laugh, which is more like a cackle, sends a shiver down my spine, so I ready myself for the challenge.
Until another crash and another shout come from the kitchen. Then I ready myself for that challenge.
“Hey, Aria. Let’s go see what Auntie Meli is doing back there, okay?” I extend my hand to her so she’ll take it and follow me.
She reaches her hand for mine, tucking her truck under her arm. “It’s Auntie Melia,” she stresses, correcting
me as we walk together to the back.
“Oh, okay. Auntie Melia. Got it,” I chuckle when we go through the door to a scene filled of flour splashed across the silver stainless-steel counter and appliances in the kitchen.
“Shit!” Meli shouts, tossing a bowl full of some kind of batter into the sink. She leans over the basin, bracing her hands on the ledge.
“Oh!” Aria gasps. “You’re not supposed to say that word, Auntie Melia. Mom says that’s a bad word.”
Meli’s shoulders slump forward and shake, and for a moment, I think she’s crying. But she straightens, takes a deep breath, and rinses the bowl out. Still, I can tell she’s upset, so I set Aria up with her truck in the far corner of the kitchen. Then I run to make sure the door’s locked before coming back to the kitchen and going to Meli. When I reach her, I put a hand on her back as she washes the bowl.
“What can I do?” I ask close to her ear.
Once that telltale shiver—the one I love so much—finishes running down her spine, she shakes her head. “What can’t you do? You’re already doing enough.” She tries to wipe her forehead with her forearm to avoid getting herself all wet, but that just smudges flour everywhere.
I attempt not to laugh, but when I grip her arms to spin her toward me, the image before me won’t let me fight it. With a tender touch, I brush the flour away, though it’s hardly any use. She has it everywhere else too. So I lower my hand to her cheek to wipe more flour off her skin. When I move to her nose, I lean closer to her. As my fingers fall to her chin, I bend more. Then I touch her neck, my lips inches away from hers.
The whole time, she stays still. Her chest rises and falls with her breathing, and the speed increases with each new place my fingers land. By the end, she’s breathing a little too hard. All I have to do is lean a little bit closer to shut the gap between us. To take a kiss from her perfect lips on the night that should have been our first date.
Before I can do that, Meli says, “Hey.”
“Hey back,” I tell her, my breath coating her lips.
She stares into my eyes, her fingers coming up to my cheek. I lean into her touch, wanting to close my eyes and memorize the way it feels when she touches me. Her warm skin on mine, how soft her fingers are against the stubble on my face. I want to steal that kiss from her, press my lips against hers, and make all of her frustration and irritation go away.
But Aria’s toy truck smacks the ground with a force no girl her age should have and we jump apart.
Meli smooths her hands down the front of her clothes and steps away from me as we both remember the little girl we’re supposed to be watching.
“Do you want me to take her somewhere so you can bake tonight?” I ask, hoping she’ll want us to stay.
Her forehead crinkles as she frowns. “This isn’t how tonight was supposed to go. I’m sorry.” She sighs. “I was going to call you, but I don’t have your phone number, and I couldn’t exactly tell Danielle to tell you I wasn’t going to make it on our date, so…” Through her lashes, she stares up at me. “Maybe this”—she waves a finger between us—“isn’t something we should—”
I snatch that finger from the air and pull her toward me. “We’ll tell her when the timing is better. Don’t not give this a chance because of that.” I wrap one arm around her and keep her pressed to my front. When I feel her phone in her back pocket, I pull it out and plug my number into it before replacing it. “You have a missed call, by the way,” I tell her with a grin. Then, with a finger, I tip her chin up so she’s looking at me. “Us? Please?”
Her breasts push against my chest with her heavy breath. But she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she nods in short movements. Then a slow, gorgeous smile spreads across her face.
That smile stays there until the hint of a frown mars it. I don’t know what to attribute it to except for stress and Aria’s loud banging. But something tells me that there’s more to it than that.
For now, though, with her in my arms, even with Aria’s loud banging, I couldn’t care any less about what that something more is.
∞∞∞
Amelia
When the last of the special-order cupcakes have been properly stored in the fridge, Jeremy slings an arm over my shoulder and leads all three of us out of the bakery. I lock up behind us while Jeremy gets Aria’s car seat situated in my car. Then I approach them, about ready to drop dead from everything I’ve done—and felt—in the last twenty-four hours.
“Let your sister know that we’re taking Aria to your house,” he says before he gets in his car. “I told her I’d let her know where we were so she’d know where to get her.”
Tears threaten to pool in my eyes because of his thoughtfulness. He does and thinks of everything, and I couldn’t have done this without him.
“I will,” is all I’m able to choke out before I give him a small smile and slip into the driver’s seat.
I’m hoping Aria will pass out on the ride back, but for now, she peppers me with questions. Mostly about Jeremy.
“Is he your new boyfriend, Auntie Melia?”
“Is he taking you on a date?”
“Do you want to play trucks with him when we get to your house?”
I do okay with them, answering her the best I can—until the last one. When she asks the last one while I make a left turn away from the bakery, with Jeremy right behind me, I lose my breath as I stare in the rearview.
“Do you love him?”
She asked so innocently, but that question is anything but innocent. That question is everything I’ve been asking myself since I left his house this morning. A date doesn’t equate to love, but most people who find love start with a date. Yet we’ve started this thing in the opposite way, so does that doom us from the beginning? Will the secrets we’re both keeping—because I know he has at least one skeleton lurking in his closet—destroy us before we’ve even gotten started?
None of that is going to be answered by sitting in the car, but I don’t realize that until my back door opens and Jeremy scoops a sleeping Aria out of her car seat. Then I snap out of my thoughts and turn the car off.
I rush to the door, my keys in my hand, and unlock it so he can take my niece inside. He goes straight down the hall to the spare room like he’s memorized the floorplan of my house, but I don’t complain. Once he’s shut the door behind him a minute later, I’m thankful. She’s asleep and we have a moment of peace. That’s all I need right now. Some time to clear my head for a second.
On the couch, I plop down, not even bothering to take my shoes off. But, when Jeremy finds me in the living room, he takes one look at me and gives me a defeated smile.
“This is as good as it’s gonna get tonight, isn’t it?” he laughs, taking the space next to me on the couch.
I don’t even have the energy to nod, so I hope he understands my implied yes in my gaze.
He seems to as he reaches for my feet and pulls my shoes off for me. “That’s quite all right,” he says when he places my feet in his lap. “Any time spent with you works for me.” He smiles while he kneads my sore soles with his thumbs.
As my eyes slide shut, an unexpected moan escapes my lips. I wrench my eyes open when I feel his hot gaze on me, and a smile curves my mouth. “Sorry, but that feels so good,” I tell him.
“That’s the point,” he says, a sexy grin on his lips. “Relax. Breathe. You have nothing else do to right now but enjoy this.” He deepens the pressure on the balls of my feet.
I nearly orgasm from the pleasure of his hands on my skin. But then he works his way up to my calves, kneading and rubbing my legs, and that feels even better. When he sits back down and keeps my feet on my lap, things take a more serious turn.
“We should talk, huh?” he asks.
“As long as I can still relax and breathe,” I say.
His grin crinkles his eyes. “Always.” He readjusts, getting more comfortable on my couch. “So, how did you get started baking?”
“My grandma,” I admit, a w
armth flowing through me as I remember mornings spent making breakfast with her. “I don’t think she was purposely instilling it in me. I liked to watch her as she worked in the kitchen. Then she taught me the basics at an early age.”
“You didn’t go to school for it, did you?” he asks, still kneading my feet.
I shake my head, putting my legs over the front of the couch and sitting up. “I didn’t.” Then I put one of the throw pillows on his lap and lie down, my head on the pillow.
He strokes my hair off my forehead. “I didn’t think so. Talent like yours isn’t taught.”
My cheeks heat as I tuck my palm under one of them.
“Think you’ll stick to one location?” he asks. Then he grins. “Or do you have plans for world baking domination?”
I let out a small laugh and answer without much thought. “I’d love to open more.” Then I zip my lips. What?
His brow furrows. “You sure about that?” he laughs.
I purse my lips and stare straight ahead. “I guess I hadn’t thought about it before, but it sounds like a good idea. Being able to feed more people. Sounds…business-y, but I think I can do it.”
“Of course you can,” he tells me, confidence in his tone.
I turn another shade of pink and feel the need to change the subject. “What about you? What do you do?”
“Besides working at NatEx?” he asks.
I nod.
He trails his fingers down my arm as he speaks. “Well…” His elbow goes to the arm of the couch and he puts his head in his hand. Then his fingers still on my skin. “I honestly don’t know.”
Leaning my head back to look at him, I find frustration marring his brow. “What do you mean? NatEx isn’t working out?”
“Oh, it’s working out just fine,” he says, staring at the floor. “It’s just not what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
“That’s okay,” I tell him, resituating my head on the pillow. “Not everyone figures that out early on in life.”