Page 14 of Falling for Famine
“Sure you didn’t,” I teased.
The thought of Mary always made me want to both smile and cry. She’d been the mother I never had, and I missed her every day. Felix did, too. I was worried he’d never open his heart again, so the fact that he had was a dream.
If I died, at least he’d have Maude.
My throat was tight, and I had to blink away tears after turning my head just enough so he couldn’t call me out on them. In my periphery, Ghost watched. He was still silent, his face impassive, but his head had tipped slightly.
I wiped at my eyes and got to work frosting Felix’s batch of cinnamon rolls. I was much faster than Felix, and I’d have the entire batch ready before he did. I worked faster than I ever had, hoping to be of use to him in the ways I knew how.
His gaze would slip over to me every now and again, sensing something off, knowing I was hiding things, but he didn’t pry. Felix never did.
After the last batch of cookies came out, it was nearly three in the afternoon and I’d all but forgotten about Ghost. I searched the room, worried when I didn’t see him. Ignis bounced on top of the oven. Glacies was on our fridge, apparently knowing where they’d do the least amount of damage.
Ghost appeared next to me, his head canted to one side, staring down at the chocolate chip cookies I’d removed from the oven to cool. Felix had gone to the front to help Clara put some of the baked goods we’d made together in the display, and it was just the two of us.
I leaned in. “Want one? Or do you pull a full ghost and it looks like a cookie is levitating and being consumed by air?”
His lips twitched, but otherwise his expression stayed in place. “I don’t need to eat.”
A smile crept across my mouth as I lifted one. “But you can?”
His eyes went to mine before he leaned in to take a bite. My pulse reacted with a little too much enthusiasm. I expected him to take it, not eat it directly from my hand. And he didn’t take a small bite. It was a good half of the cookie that went into his mouth.
I stared a bit too closely as his tongue swept the chocolate from his lips, his expression still not giving his inner thoughts away, but the way he bent in for the rest told me enough.
A shocked breath left me as his mouth closed around my fingers and his tongue licked the rest of the cookie from them. My skin prickled with sensation and a jolt raced my spine. I didn’t breathe the entire time his tongue lapped gently at my fingers. When he pulled away, my face was on fire and I didn’t have any hope of hiding it.
Holy shit. That was hot.
“It’s good,” was all he said as if he hadn’t licked my damn fingers of every bit of chocolate. Who knew eating a cookie could be so fucking erotic?
Thanks for the new fantasy, Ghost.
“Uh,” I murmured, at a loss. “Want another one?”
I was shameless, but in my defense, it wasn’t every day a girl had a sexy Horseman licking cookie off her fingers. In my humble opinion, it was a damn shame that I hadn’t experienced it until this point. Seemed like such a waste when I’d been baking for years and a gorgeous guy hadn’t come to clean my fingers with his tongue.
I stared at his mouth, but Ghost’s eyes went to the door. I went rigid when I heard someone come inside and pause.
“Nomi? Who are you talking to?” I heard Felix ask.
I twirled around, hiding my hand behind my back like it’d give me away. “No one. Myself. You know, rambling as I do. I was just thinking about this scene I read last night. Super hot.”
My Old Man’s face twisted, and the garbled noise that got stuck in his throat made me laugh. “I keep telling you to keep those blasted novels and their fanatical love stories out of my ears.”
“Why? Don’t you want some new moves to try on Maude?”
The heat in my face was all but forgotten when Felix’s became redder than mine was. I looked around for Ghost, but he’d taken to the corner again. It appeared I was the only one who’d been twisted around by that little moment between us. But of course. I was just the soul he was meant to protect.
I reminded myself that over and over as I helped Felix put the rest of the food into the display.
Chapter Seven
Nomi
Idid manage to tell Felix I loved him before leaving. He gave me another concerned look, but he didn’t press the issue. After getting home, I made Ferguson his usual meal.
Ghost had been relatively quiet most of the day. Other than the cookie incident, he hadn’t done anything else. No demons or angels either. It was a quiet day. Almost uncomfortably so if you thought about how I’d been told I was being hunted by supernatural monsters.
