Page 7 of Baked

“Why does Luke know where I live?”

“It’s a small town, baby.”

“Seriously?”

His lips twitched. “Seriously. You want me to pull up a map?”

“Oh, now you’re funny?” Despite herself, she felt her own lips tip up.

He didn’t answer. Not that she noticed. She was too busy drowning in darkness. Wondering what the texture of his hair would feel like through her fingers. It was shaved so close to his head, but it always looked so soft. Such a contrast to all the hardness. At six foot five, with a body made up of pure muscle, he reminded her of a sexy action man. One her body very much wanted to play with.

Control yourself, woman.

“Honeybun”—his voice was like deep velvet—“not yet. Soon. But not yet.”

What was he talking about? Whatever it was, it broke the spell and forced her to look away. Shake her no-good thoughts right out of her head.

In turn, he took a step back. “I’m gonna order us food. Anything you don’t like on your pizza?”

Pizza sounded good. So good, that for a moment, she forgot to be mad. “Uh, no anchovies please.”

She still felt dazed even as he disappeared back into her hallway. Damn. Had she just agreed to let him move in with her? When did that happen?

Also, was he about to kiss her? Was that what he was talking about? This wasn’t a good idea.

Not for the first time today, she cursed her dumb dad.

***

The first night withher new roommate was interesting to say the least.

Luke didn’t stick around after dropping off Hunter’s things, which was probably a good thing. Luke was the moodiest of the bunch. The kind of man where you had no idea if he loved you or if he was secretly scratching your name onto a hit list. She was obviously hoping her name hadn’t made the list, but again, it was hard to tell.

After Luke left, they ate really good pizza in front of the television.

But after that, things went downhill. It got awkward really quick when Hunter decided to strip off his shirt and walk around her apartment for a solid twelve minutes before getting into the shower.

How did she know it was twelve minutes, you ask? Well, she timed it. It was the only thing she could think of doing to distract herself. And get her mind out of the gutter.

She already knew he was ripped. It was obvious even through his shirt. But come on, did she really need to see his actual bare chest? Muscles upon muscles, chiseled abs, and an actual V shape pointing all the way down to the holy land.

Give a girl a break. How was she supposed to think when he was flashing that thing at her? Hadn’t she suffered enough?

“God damn, it smells good in here.”

Talking of a shirtless Hunter, she started the clock again as he sauntered into the kitchen. She may have gotten up a little earlier today and decided to bake. She couldn’t sleep, but it definitely wasn’t down to sexual frustration or anything. Definitely not. She just wanted to make muffins. That’s all.

“I put some muffins on the counter for you.” Her finger pointed to the edge of the floating marble surface where she kept two powder pink stools. “I wasn’t sure which flavor you liked, so I put a few out. There’s triple chocolate chip, blueberry, and lemon poppyseed.”

“Thank you, honeybun.” Hunter then did the unspeakable and bent down and kissed her cheek. The brush of his lips was enough to make her freeze in place, hand still as it hovered over the muffin tray. “And for the record, I love them all.”

She heard him drag up a stool. All the while, she was yet to move.

Am I having a seizure?

“You sleep well?” he asked.

What was this ... a conversation? That’s it. Shewashaving a seizure.