Page 40 of Cabin Fever Baby
I picked up one of the piping bags and she gave me a startled look. I shrugged. “I worked in a bakery for a summer.”
“You did?”
“I like all kinds of drawing. You’d be surprised how piping can give you endless patience.” I slid the green bowl in front of me and began filling the game. The set was a cheap one from a craft store, but it would do the job. I found the smallest nozzle and twisted it on. “Mind if I play with a few of the Gingerbread men?”
She shook her head.
“Can change to the speakers if you want.”
She craned her neck to look over my shoulder. “You come in here and plan to show me up, pal?”
I turned and sneaked a kiss. “You want me to leave you alone?”
“No.” She frowned and took out the other earbud. She went to her phone and fiddled with settings. Suddenly, Kelly Clarkson’s throaty voice filled the kitchen.
We worked in companionable silence for a while. The songs rotated through old standards and pop holiday songs. It had been a damn long time since I’d had a bag in my hand, but the rhythm of it took me back to easier times.
She kept stopping to watch me and she even added colors to my collection. I was so focused on the Spiderman version of a cookie that I didn’t notice she’d put another two cookie sheets of gingerbread and sugar cookies in to cook, then to cool.
I straightened and winced. I’d been crouched over the counter for so long my back was screaming at me.
“I didn’t want to interrupt,” she said quietly. “I’ve never seen anything like that except on social media videos.”
I looked at my hands dotted in royal icing of every color in the rainbow. “This amazing guy named Walter taught me how to decorate—how to make the icing and all that. But then he taught me how to do the flood cookies and I’d been a goner.”
“I don’t know how to make flood icing.”
“Oh, you don’t want me making those cookies. I’ll never come back up for air.” I put the bag down and reached for her, dragging here into my arms. “I have limited time with a certain beautiful woman.”
Her eyes lost a bit of that sparkle.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m having a good time.”
She tried to wiggle out of my hold, but I kept my grip firm. If she really wanted to get away, I’d let her of course. But I didn’t want her to hold anything back from me. “Ocean.”
She lifted her chin, giving me a taste of that defiant, bold woman who’d taken me on a ride since our game of Uno. “What’s there to say? We’re having fun, right?”
“I thought we were.” I reached up and brushed my thumb along her lower lip. Her eyes were that depthless blue I’dsearched for in each release she’d offered me earlier. “But if you’re not, we can stop.”
She touched my arm. “I don’t want that.”
“Good. We’ll just call it a super long first date.”
Her lips twitched. “I don’t usually sleep with someone on the first date.”
I’d had a feeling the bravado during the game was the real Ocean. I wasn’t sure why she wanted to shield me from that side of her again. Or maybe it was because the connection between us had been so complete in so little time. There was sex, and then there was whatever we’d been doing for the last ten hours.
“Maybe you do,” she said quietly.
“I don’t.”
“Mr. Chicago.”
“Mr. Syracuse,” I corrected. “I’m from right around here. Middle class all the way. If I was a big shot, you think I’d be driving a Versa in a snowstorm?”
She laughed. “Okay, you have a point. But Eden Advertising is anything but small change.”