Page 82 of The Heart Shot
A laugh bubbled out of her, and I wanted to bottle up that sound and carry it with me everywhere. Grabbing a few different recipe cards from the box I had borrowed from my mom, I spread them on the counter.
Elsie listed them off. “Lemon cookies, toffee nut gingerbread, butterscotch chip crunchies?”
“My mom loved to bake cookies when I was a kid. These were a few of her favorites.”
Elsie flipped through the cards while I turned on some music. She decided on the lemon cookies while I opted for the gingerbread. We each set to gathering and measuring ingredients, and I purposely bumped into her often—taking advantage of every chance to touch her. Elsie appeared to be having a good time, even singing along with Bing Crosby as he crooned about a White Christmas but, as time passed, she seemed to get more into her head.
Every time a smile curled her lips, or amusement and joy lit her eyes, she shut it down, turning it off like a light switch.
I hated it, but I didn’t know how to stop it. It was clear she felt something between us. It was in the way she looked at me when she didn’t think I was looking, the way she brushed against me, lingering a second longer than necessary. How her gaze darted to my lips before she looked away, her cheeks turning pink.
Elsie felt something for me, but that fear Maya had told me about—it was strong. By the time the cookies were out of the oven, cooled, and decorated, all the joy that I had worked so hard to put on her face had disappeared.
Slight change of plans, then. Trying to make her smile was now my top and only priority.
I looked around, trying to think of something, when my eyes landed on the tubes of icing. Without thinking, I grabbed the green one, popped the top off, held it to her face, and squeezed. Green goo smothered her nose.
She froze, wide caramel-eyes meeting mine.
“What—”
And then I kissed the frosting off her nose.
I gave an appreciative hum, licking the sugary goodness from my mouth, satisfied when her eyes tracked the movement.
“Did you just…squirt icing on my face…then lick it off?”
“Ikissedit off,” I mumbled, smacking my lips. “But yes.”
Come on, Elsie. Play with me.
Elsie froze for another second before she lunged for a different tube and squeezed it onto my face with a smug smile. She didn’t just aim for my nose but slathered it all over.
I pursed my lips and gave her a fake glare when she finished. “Areyougoing to lick it off now?”
Fire burned in her eyes. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” she retorted.
I stepped closer. “What if I would?”
Come on, Elsie. I know you feel this too. Get out of your head.
Her gaze flicked to my lips, chest heaving as tension built between us.
And then she did the last thing I expected from her.
She jumped—literally jumped—into my arms, wrapping her arms around my neck and her legs around my hips and kissed me.
My arms circled her waist, holding her tight as I set her on top of the counter. Her fingers scraped against my scalp, and I dug mine into her waist. Her lips tasted like frosting. She leaned into the touch, pressing harder against me.
I could get used to this—the way she kissed me, her skin on mine, her fingers in my hair. The scent of her floral shampoo and cookies in the air.
I never wanted to let her go.
There was something different in her movements, in the way her mouth crushed into mine. Something almost…desperate. As much as I didn’t want to stop, I forced us to slow, cupping her face in my hands. I gave her one last lingering kiss before pulling back.
Elsie’s lips were covered in the red frosting that was still all over me. Her stomach gave a fierce rumble, her cheeks warming beneath my hands.
“Is it time to gorge ourselves on cookies?” I asked her, nodding toward the counter full of terribly decorated cookies. Instead of cute Christmas trees and Frosty the Snowman, they looked like a toddler had squeezed globs onto each cookie and hoped for the best. Elsie wasn’t any better than I was at decorating, and I secretly loved it.
