Page 24 of Stranded for the Night

I pulled a long face at her, and she tugged at my arm again like a child.

“Come on,” she whined. “It could make for a fun day.” She shimmied her shoulders. “And what else are you going to do all day? Journalize and mediate?”

I grabbed another orange squeezing it over the juicer. “So, your idea of fun is day drinking?”

“No. Our idea of fun is day drinking.” She winked. “Don’t make me do it on my own, I’ll be climbing up the walls going crazy.”

You could be climbing up something else. Just as my cock registered the thought, I swatted it away. No. “Do you ever spend much time with yourself?”

She seemed taken aback by the question and considered it thoughtfully. “Not as much as I probably should,” she admitted.

I felt uneasy with her response, almost guilty for asking such a direct question. And besides, I could always work in the afternoon; I supposed it wouldn’t kill me to have one drink with her. “So day drinking it is, sweetheart. I’ll message Lori for some cookie recipes. We should have most of the ingredients here.”

She squealed again, jumping up and down. “Thank you, thank you!” She laughed and gave me a hug. Her little arms squeezed tight, barely able to reach around my chest. “You won’t regret this!” She pointed a finger at me as she sauntered over to her bag. As soon as she left me, I fought the urge to pull her back. To properly embrace her. Instinctively, it felt like she needed a hug much more than I did. Behind her smiles and charm, I was certain she was escaping something. But maybe this was the most I could do for her—oblige in her day-drinking, cookie-baking fun. For now.

Chapter 13

Cassidy

Two hours later and one champagne bottle down, I’d discovered the upmost betrayal. “You didn’t tell me you had vodka in the cupboard,” I challenged, mimicking that I was offended. I’d just finished my solo performance to the Spice Girls, ensuring that Eric was thoroughly entertained. I realized with satisfaction, that my over-the-top self actually tempted him to break out into a half grin—sometimes. Other times, he’d rolled his eyes at me, but I knew deep down, he was having fun too.

He went to take a mouthful of the liquid breakfast. “Ah!” I pointed at him. “The way we practiced.”

Eric grumbled his complaint but with a comical glare, he raised his pinkie ever so slightly showing his sophistication. I was certain the only reason he did it was because of how much it elicited fits of laughter from me. A guy his size posing like a lady with pinkie poised was everything I’d missed in life. I needed it printed somewhere on a shirt or it needed to be created into a meme.

“Having fun?” he challenged, pouring almost the last of the ingredients into the bowl. “Or would you like to come and join in on baking these cookies?”

I swatted him away with a smile. This had now been the third time I’d fluttered off, distracted by something else in the kitchen. “Right, sorry.” I grabbed for the sugar in the cupboard, like he’d instructed me to find a moment ago. Another wave of Spice Girls hit, the urge to use the whisk as a microphone coming in strong.

“Okay so we put all the ingredients together and scramble it right?”

He cocked an eyebrow at me. “Scramble it?”

I bit my bottom lip, containing the laugh. That gentle smirk toyed with his lips. It was distracting and delicious all rolled in one the fact that Eric still hadn’t pulled on a shirt since waking up. And who was I to stop a good thing? He’d caught me a few times eyeing him, reminding myself of the celibacy I’d sworn.

“Read the next instruction,” he commanded. He’d given me the lead role on reading out the ingredients from his cell. Under careful instruction, by way of the step by step points Lori had sent through, we threw ingredients in and when it came to the mixing part, he handed over the reins. With absolute glee, I took another mouthful of mimosa as we scuffled around each other, cautious not to touch. On my way past, I grabbed Shadow’s face, smooshing it in my hands and rubbing furiously as I baby talked to him, and he absolutely loved it. Eric, not as much.

As I began to whisk, Eric chopped the block of dark chocolate into small pieces. We didn’t have choc chips, so we’d improvised.

I stared at the chocolatey goodness. For the most part, I had a restrictive diet and watched everything I ate. But we were making cookies after all, shouldn’t I enjoy the process and the ingredients, just to sample the product? Eric was looking at me and then the chocolate. “Would you like a piece, snowflake?”

I smirked. “Eric, you might just be a mind reader.”

“I doubt it’s mind reading when I can see you salivating for a piece.”

I grabbed a piece and plonked it in my mouth. The smooth, velvety swirl danced along my tastebuds, an odd mixture with the orange juice and champagne.

I grabbed another piece under his watchful glare. “Catch.” I said without warning, throwing the piece into the air. He caught it with his hand. I pouted and snatched the piece back. “Not like that. With your mouth.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “But why would I…”

I arched an eyebrow and crossed my hands over my chest.

“Fine,” he gritted out and looked as if he was attempting to brace himself, with knees lowered. I laughed as I threw it up. Both him and Shadow looked hopeful as they both watched it fly through the air. The chocolate piece landed on Eric’s tongue.

“Victory!” I shouted. “You’re so good at it.” I nudged him with my elbow.

“Well, I am used to putting other things in my mouth,” he growled. My lower abdominal flooded with heat, and I looked up at him, almost startled that he’d said that out loud.

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