Page 93 of Almost Love

Their lips brushed, stealing soft kisses as smiles formed. The scents of freshly baked cakes filtered through her office and he sighed.

“You spoil me, you know. Teaching me how to bake, kissing me stupid. I’ll expect this a lot.”

She traced his mouth with a finger. “If you’re up at five everyday, you can have this a lot.”

“Is that all it takes?”

“For now,” she whispered and kissed him again. This time when he pushed in for more, she was sliding off his lap with a smug grin. “We should do what we came here to do.”

“Remind me again what that was.”

“Something with frosting?” she said as she walked out. He got to his feet and adjusted himself as he calmed down. Then grabbed a napkin as he walked back into the kitchen.

“One last step,” Clementine told him as she split the containers between the two of them. He watched what she was doing and did his best to copy it exactly. Spreading frosting around the soft cake was oddly satisfying. It took him a little longer, but they stepped back to admire the colorful cakes and he smiled.

“You ready to taste?”

“Yes, chef!”

She cut slices off from each cake and set them on plates. He handed her a fork as he bent over the counter and dug into the first one. As the chocolate and carrot flavors exploded on his tongue, Oakley groaned and was surprised that he had something to do with that. Beside him, Clementine was making similar sounds.

“This is really fucking good,” he said, mouth full of the next one. Chai and blueberry was the most unexpected combination and somehow it worked. He tried the honey and lavender next and smacked his hand against the counter becauseholy shit. “I’d get married right now, if I could have any of these cakes at my wedding.”

“The things you’d do for food.”

“No, melor. The things I would do foryourfood. Your desserts, specifically.”

She dusted off her shoulders with one hand and licked her fork clean at the same time, making him narrow his eyes. He grabbed her waist and tugged her towards him, mouths collidingin a buttercream flavored kiss. Her tongue flicked out and swept around the outside of his lips.

When she pulled back, she fluttered her eyes at him. “Stray frosting.”

“I bet,” he mumbled and leaned in for another swipe, but the clock chimed loudly, startling them. He looked up and saw that it was already seven, which meant he had three hours before he had to be at work. Three more hours he could be with this woman. But something in her face told him that wasn’t the case.

“My staff are going to start trickling in any time now,” she admitted sadly. “I told them to come in late, so we’d have the kitchen to ourselves.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I had a really good time.”

He wrapped his arms around her and she rested her head against his chest. “Thank you for helping me out this morning.”

“It wasmyabsolute pleasure.”

“Maybe you can cook for me again tonight?” she asked, tilting her head back.

“You got it.” He dipped his head and kissed her softly. “Thank you for the best morning ever.”

“Oh,sweetheart, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

He growled and stole another kiss as the back door swung open and Clementine’s staff spilled into the kitchen. They stopped at the sight of them and instead of hanging around to make polite conversation, he kissed her again and then stepped back with an awkward wave. His heart raced with every step he took towards his Jeep.

Obsession. Addiction.Love.

1 This translation of “melor” is from the Sindarin dialect of Elvish.Source:https://realelvish.net

CHAPTER 26

After a week of early mornings and late nights with Oakley, waking up in a motel room without him felt strange. Daisy was asleep in the other bed in the room and all Clementine could think about was how much she missed her cuddle buddy. When she rolled over in the morning, she texted him as much, knowing full well that he wouldn’t see it until he woke up in a few hours.

She was in Middletown for Frankie’s wedding, thirty minutes away from the man who had her distracted for the last few weeks. It was a miracle that she’d been able to research and make the pies that were going into the wedding tower. While she’d met him briefly at their Christmas party, the first time she spent time with Milo at length was when they were finalizing the pies a week ago. Now she was on location as a friend and maker of their wedding pie, ready to watch Frankie and Milo get married in a beautiful backyard wedding.

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