Page 52 of Why Not Now?

She smiles as her arms slide around my neck as soon as I’m close enough. I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her against me where she belongs.

“I don’t know,” she says with a teasing look. “I’m kind of interested inyourplans now.”

I nip at her lip and she sighs, melting against me.

“We can get back to my plans later,” I say, placing a kiss on her lips. “You’re here early. I wasn’t planning to start the night for another three hours. What might we possibly do with all that time?”

“I can think of a few things,” Ava says. “You’re not expecting anyone else?”

“No, sweetheart. I don’t want anyone except you.”

I don’t wonder if she hears the absolute truth in that statement, the fact that I could have easily finished it with the wordsever again. I just lower my lips to hers.

Before we return downstairs, I give Ava sweatpants and one of my t-shirts to wear so she can be cozy and not get her clothes messy while baking, and I immediately understand why Spencer is always making Lis wear his clothes. Seeing her in them mostly makes me want to take them off her, but it’s also like I’ve got my name written all over her. On our way down the stairs, I ask what she wants to do first, bake cookies or decorate.

“Cookies, obviously. Then we can eat them while we decorate. What kind of cookies are we making?”

“They’re called snickerdoodles.” I grab the recipe and scan the steps, pulling the dry ingredients together. “She made these once a while back when Adalie was upset about something her brother did. They’re pretty amazing. Hopefully, we can get them as good as she made them.”

Before I begin, I call to my smart speaker to play my Christmas playlist and the song “River” by Joni Mitchell starts.

“So what’s your plan here?” she asks, standing next to me. “Put me to work to make me love Christmas? Not sure how that’s going to work for you.”

I nudge her shoulder with mine. “We’re doing fun things at home today. Baking cookies, decorating, movies. I admit, sex is not exactly Christmas themed, but it was fun.” I pause. “I wonder how to make sex Christmas themed. If I could do that, there’s no way you wouldn’t love Christmas again.”

“Cure my grinch-ness with your magic cock?” she asks.

I wink at her. “Absolutely. Here. Measure the flour.”

We set to work, laughing as flour gets everywhere and I have to wipe it from Ava’s cheek. Abyss wanders in to see why we’re so close to her food bowl without putting anything in it then takes up a spot on a chair in the dining room where she can supervise. Lis brought me a hand mixer, and I set it too high, making sugar fly out of the bowl. Hopefully not too much that it’ll cause a problem. Ava cracks the eggs like a pro and as I mix them in, I say, “I would have totally gotten shell in this if I’d tried that.”

Her hand traces up my back under my shirt as she leans into me. “I know. Why do you think I said I’d do it? I remember the time you tried to make me breakfast.”

“Took you out for breakfast after that. I’m a much better cook now. Just can’t crack an egg to save my life.”

Once the wet ingredients are ready, Ava pours in the dry ingredients then places her hand over mine before I can start the mixer. “Remember our lesson from the sugar.”

I laugh and lean down to kiss her. Which was a mistake, because I let go of the mixer completely to deepen the kiss and it falls out of the bowl, making a bigger mess. We laugh more as we clean up.

I mix the cookie dough and Ava preps the cinnamon and sugar topping. We roll the cookies in the topping and put them in the oven. By the time I’m done tidying up, the kitchen smells like cinnamon and sugar and the first batch is ready to come out.

“Moment of truth,” I say. “Lis is going to be pissed if I didn’t get this right.”

Ava snorts. “I’m sure she’ll be fine as long as you don’t tell anyone you used her recipe.” She picks up a cookie and bites into it, her eyes widening in surprise before closing in bliss. “Oh, my god, these are so forking good.”

“Oof, language, sweetheart.” I take a bite of one as well. It’s hot, but Ava’s right. We did well on these. I grab a container out of the cupboard and place three inside.

“Who are those for?” Ava asks as she grabs a second cookie.

“One for Lis to show her we did a good job, and two for Lacey since she couldn’t come tonight. Though I’m kind of glad she didn’t because if she had,Iwouldn’t have been able to come tonight.”

Ava laughs again. It’s nice to hear the sound, to see her so relaxed. “What about the rest of your friends?” she asks around a mouthful of snickerdoodle.

“Fuck them. Let them make their own goddamn cookies.” I pull her close until her body is flush with mine. “I don’t like to share my sweets.”

The air becomes charged. Ava sets her cookie down and runs her fingers into my hair, pulling my head toward her until our lips are a millimeter apart. “Neither do I,” she whispers.

Our mouths crash together, the kiss a frenzy of lips and teeth and tongues. It’s been less than an hour since we had sex and I want to take her again right here in my kitchen.

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