Page 45 of The Spark Between Us

The smirk on his face threw me. Was he just toying with me because I’d audaciously promised he’d like them? Or did he want something? Was he...flirting?

Well, that’s just plain crazy talk.

Guys like Braden—beautiful larger than life heroes with medical smarts who put their lives on the line to save people—didn’t flirt with their normal scientist roommates in the kitchen. They had no shortage of excessively hot women to fill their every sexual want or need, women like Kelsey. If voluptuous, young women were his type, I was not.

Nevertheless, I didn’t shy away from a dare, so I tipped up my chin and challenged him.

“Well...what do you want?”

“Hmmm...” He pretended to be considering the question, but I knew he had something in mind. He grabbed a spatula from a ceramic jar of utensils and began spinning it in his hand. “If I find that your brownies fall even a little bit short of your lofty promises, you have to agree that I will drive you to and from work every day unless our schedules don’t match. “

That made no sense. “So you’re going to add insult to injury if you don’t like my brownies by adding chauffeur to the already-long list of favors you’re doing me?”

He shrugged. “It’s my compensation if these things are anything short of fantastic.”

“I think you’ve got it backwards—I should owe you something if I lose.”

“Those are my terms.”

“Fine. It probably won’t come to that. I feel pretty confident in my brownies.” I pulled a couple sheets from the paper towel dispenser and laid them on the countertop. I nodded to Braden, and he carefully lifted one square onto each paper towel.

“How about you?” he asked, eyes still flashing.

“How about me, what?”

“Is there something you want if I decide your brownies do live up to the hype?” He winked. The damn fireman was flirting.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What’s your game, mister? You’re the one who’s in charge here. You get to lay down a verdict once you taste these things,” I said, pointing to the squares in front of us. “You want me to wager something, just so you can find a tiny bit of fault with my recipe and assure I don’t get it?”

He took a step closer to me, and I could feel the heat radiating from his large, muscular body. Maybe that was his intention, to throw me off. It was working. My heart started beating so fast I could feel it in my throat.

Two could play at that game. I took a step closer to him so we were almost touching. I had to tilt my head back to look him in the eye, which emphasized how tall he was, easily over six feet.

“I’d never do something so underhanded.” His eyes met mine and moved briefly to my lips before returning to stare me down. His closeness made my body ache with desire, a warm flush spreading under his gaze.

Maybe that’s why I blurted out the first thing that came into my head. “Fine. If the brownies are as good as I say, you have to kiss me.”

I saw the surprise register in his eyes for a split second before he recovered. His shock was nothing compared to my own.

Where the hell had that come from? I swallowed hard and steadied my gaze at him, unwilling to back down.

His smirk returned, and he nodded at me, taking one step back.

“Fine. Deal.”

We shook on it.

I immediately wanted to take back my wager. Not that I didn’t want him to kiss me, but I was a person who clung fast to my plans so I could feel in control. As I veered off course from putting all kissing on hold until after I’d gotten tenure, all my life goals felt endangered.

“Actually...” I started to backpedal, but Braden held up a hand. He picked up the paper towels with the brownies and handed one to me. He even went so far as to clink brownies in a chocolate toast.

“Best of luck to you.” He paused to take a whiff of the brownie, blinking hard. Then he took a generous bite. I was so fixated on watching his straight teeth bite through the chocolate and his lips wrap around the bite he’d just taken that I forgot I held one of my favorite desserts in my hand.

The planet may have stopped spinning in real time and begun moving in slow motion, just so I could see the muscle in Braden’s jaw pop as he chewed the bite, and his stormy gray eyes fix on mine until he finally closed them.

When he swallowed and licked his bottom lip, it was almost like he’d licked me. I went limp. “Oh my God,” he moaned, eyes rolling back.

I barely heard his words amid the whole-body orgasm I was having. But something about the heated look gave me told me I’d succeeded in wooing his tastebuds. “Verdict?”

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