Page 23 of Laying it Bare on the Run

Chapter Five

~Cannon~

“Look, it’s a deer with her fawn.” She pointed about fifteen feet ahead of where we stood stock still. “I’ve seen them before. I’ve just never been this close to one.” She whispered.

I pretended to fuss with my shoe so that she wouldn’t wonder what I was doing crouched down. I didn’t want to alarm her since there was no reason to be panicked. Taking in a steadying breath, I slowly rose, while I focused on getting my heart beat to return to a normal rhythm. Thinking about the new guy had me jumping to conclusions. And I didn’t want her doing the same thing. She was just starting to feel a little at ease. I didn’t want to ruin that for her, especially if my gut was wrong. Time would tell and I could protect her without getting her all worked up over the possibility of being followed.

We remained motionless for a few minutes, observing the two eating leaves from the smaller shrubbery. Then a scurrying rabbit or chipmunk rushed through the fallen brush, startling the two and they raced off.

“If we can be still and quiet, you would think the other animals would know enough to do that too.” Harper twisted to beam up at me.

I couldn’t resist hugging her to my side. “Apparently they didn’t learn that part in school.” Dropping my hand down to take hers, I led us out of the trees. “Do you want to swing for a little bit?”

“I’m curious to check out this baking thing you have going on.” She shot me a teasing grin. “We can swing later. I can’t wait to see this. Although you make freaking amazing pancakes so this really shouldn’t surprise me.”

“Oh, you won’t be watching. You will be helping.”

“I’m okay with that.”

The two of us marched up the few steps and into my house. After leaving our shoes at the door, we headed into the kitchen. Once again, she rummaged through the areas she could reach while I retrieved supplies from places she could not and we got everything ready. The cookie trays were piled on the other side of my oven while we mixed up the cookie dough. Following the recipe I had scribbled on an index card, Harper and I combined the wet ingredients in the metal mixing bowl. After that, we mixed in the flour and baking powder. When it was thoroughly combined, Harper tossed in the chocolate chips, sneaking one of the morsels into her mouth on a giggle.

I set the bowl in the middle of the bar and then placed the trays along its edge. After lining the trays with parchment paper, Harper scooped up a blob of dough and plopped it onto the tray.

“What are you doing? You have to roll them into balls so they get puffy.”

She started giggling. “Oh my gosh. You take this very seriously. And you really know what you’re doing. I thought maybe the pancakes were some fluke but no, I think you are really talented. Well, I’ll leave the final decision for after I taste them.” She shot me a teasing smirk.

“You will be awestruck by my cookie baking ability. Don’t you worry.”

The two of us rolled the dough into balls and placed them on the trays. Harper glowed with excitement like she was really enjoying herself. We had a great system going with getting the cookies onto the trays and then in and out of the oven. But in the next moment, the air surrounding her that had been charged with light and fun seemed to grow dark and distressing. A solemn expression and a faraway gaze took over her features right before her face fell and her eyes grew watery.

After wiping my hands with a paper towel, I lightly took her face in my palms. “What’s the matter, Harper? Is everything okay?”

“I’m sorry. I just all of a sudden remembered baking Christmas cookies with my mom and sister. I got really sad because I won’t be able to do that anymore.” Some tears rolled down her cheeks.

“We can do that here. I know it won’t be the same. And I don’t necessarily bake for the holidays because I’ve never had a need but that’s not to say that I couldn’t. I like to bake. And then when my family drops in I’ll have some cookies or I can take some to work or give them to the neighbors because I don’t know that we’ll be able to eat all of them. I’ll just tell the guys I got them from my sister so they won’t give me shit.”

She gave me a curious look.

I knew what it was for. “When this is all over, and it will be someday, I would like you to stay. Even if you don’t stay here in my house, although I would like that very much, I’d like you to stay in town so I could continue seeing you.”

“Wow. I wasn’t really expecting that. I’m really a mess right now. And I can’t even put my thoughts in logical order. But I have a little bit of time to think about that. Right now I’m just taking one day at a time. That’s all I can do right now.”

“That’s okay.” At least she wasn’t saying no. I could work with that.

More tears crawled down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. This was supposed to be fun and I’m being all sad.”

“But you are sad. Memories are great but sometimes they hurt. And I’m glad you are talking to me about them. That will help you heal too. And warm fresh from the oven chocolate chip cookies help too.” I gave her a lopsided grin, hoping to get a small smile from her before picking up one of the cookies and offering it to her. “Warm gooey goodness always brings out the smiles.”

Snatching the cookie, she gifted me with a half-smile and then took a bite before moaning in delight. “Mmm, this is really good. And gooey. You do know what you’re doing with baking too.” A glob of melted chocolate dripped onto her bottom lip.

The noise that had left her lips had my dick hardening. And before she could lick away the dab of chocolate, I took the pad of my finger and swiped it away. Then I licked it off of my finger before putting my lips where my finger had been and giving her a soft kiss. Just a little nibble but she tasted even better than fresh from the oven cookies. Her lips were warm, soft, and succulent. And when I pulled away a moment later, I gazed at her stunned expression. Yeah, I couldn’t believe I had done that either. Man, I had wanted to but I really didn’t think I would act on it. “Was that okay? If that was out of line, please slap me.”

Her expression remained dumbfounded. “I thought you were just comforting me.”

“With the kiss?” Well hell. I did do it right after she had been sad because of reminiscing over time with her family. I was a real genius.

“No.” She shook her head as if she were trying to dislodge something. “All of the other stuff. The hugs and touches, the sitting in your lap last night.”

---