Page 55 of Cupcake of the Month
Being with her like this was too damn dangerous. He stirred his dry ingredients, willing himself to find inspiration for the frosting. Anyone could make maple or vanilla to go with the whiskey. Even Anthon. He needed something spectacular.
“Peach cobbler,” Jordan said. “In a cupcake. Do that. Now. My mouth is watering thinking about it.”
“I love your mind. When all else fails, just add peaches.” Josh gathered the brown sugar and cinnamon, along with a mason jar of canned peaches.
“What can I do?” Jordan asked. “I can’t sit here and watch you do all the work.”
“You could strip and watch while you’re naked.”
“I’m not really into exhibition unless we’re talking softball.” Desire flashed in her eyes behind the lens of her glasses. “I might make an exception.”
He responded by swiping his finger into the already-mixed batter dripping over the side of the bowl and smearing it near her upper lip. “Batter up!”
She giggled while she tried to dodge and swatted at him. “That was bad. Funny. But really bad.”
He handed her a napkin and turned back to the frosting.
She pinched it between her fingers, her eyebrows drawn down like he had handed her an avocado slicer and a turnip. “What’s this for?”
“It’s for…” he pointed to the mixture on her face.
“This is the best way you can think of to get this off me?” She angled her face toward him.
His body was instantly alert and eager to touch her again, but he swallowed and stared at her lips. Her full, inviting, pretty strawberry lips. “Hell, no.”
He leaned down, and she wrapped a hand around his neck. Instead of rewarding him with the soft sensation of her mouth against his, she smushed her cheek along his face, smearing the batter as she went.
Then she handed him the napkin. “You’ve got someschmutzon your face.”
He’d take it if it meant her cracking a joke. He wiped away the smeared batter.
The timer went off for the cupcakes, and Jordan left her place at the island to stand guard at the oven with all the eagerness of a six year old about to get a pony ride. “Oh, man, they smell good. When can we frost them?”
He grabbed a hot mitt and put the cupcakes on the counter. “They have to cool.”
“You’re so mean.”
“I live to torture you.” He combined the peaches with the other ingredients and the kitchen fell into a peaceful companionship. And things felt…right. It all felt right. The heat between him and Jordan managed to take the edge off the restlessness he carried with him since he turned over evidence against Clint and his mom. This was what he could have had if not for them. And it was right.
Soft footsteps sounded in the dining room, then paused for a minute before someone called out. “Hello?”
Jordan peeked into the pass-through window and went into the dining room to greet the guest that had wandered downstairs. “Good evening, Ms. Halbert. You’re up late. Is everything okay?”
The hum of voices came through the window, but Josh tuned them out. He found jam in the pantry and used that to make the frosting. He knew the moment Jordan came back into the kitchen by the charge in the air, and he took a moment to drink her in.
By the time the cupcakes had mostly cooled, Mrs. Halbert was in the kitchen, firmly parked on a stool at the island. “I came down to the dining room to do some work, but the smell is incredible. Midnight cupcakes. How decadent. This wasn’t in the brochure.”
“They might be once Brandi and Wendy find out Josh is more than just a pretty chef,” Jordan said.
He flashed her a quick look. Midnight cupcakes meant being here each night, away from Zach. There was no way. He made quick cuts in each dessert, then filled the centers with the peach cobbler mix and finished it up with the frosting.
Jordan’s eyes gleamed as he handed her and Mrs. Halbert cupcakes on a plate. Jordan raised the dessert and studied every dip, every swirl of the frosting. She breathed deep and closed her eyes, as if blocking out her other senses, and her tongue darted out to wet her lower lip.
By the time she actually licked off the thick cream, Josh’s cock was throbbing in his jeans.
“Oh. My. God,” Jordan breathed. “This was worth the wait. Holy cow, Josh.”
“Damn, this is good.” Mrs. Halbert had closed her eyes and was slowly chewing. “I have to go get my sister. She was razzing me about working right as I’m about to retire, but I bet she’ll eat her words now. Literally.” She slipped off the stool and headed toward the dining room.
