I decided not to question her as long as she had a hot cookie sheet in her hand, plus I was dying to try one of these. I had already made out chocolate chip, chocolate chocolate chip, and dear God—oatmeal raisin. And since I'd passed on food all day at the clubhouse, I was suddenly starving.
"I'm going to eat one of these," I warned her a second before I snagged my first one and popped the whole thing in my mouth in case she said no.
"Good. That's what I made them for. Those anyways. The rest we are probably going to have to take to the clubhouse, so I don't attempt to eat them all."
After taking a moment to savor the heavenly experience going on in my mouth, I accepted the glass of milk she handed me to wash it down. "Wow. Those are good."
"I kind of guessed they might be your favorite since you had all the ingredients for them in your cabinet. Not a bad choice actually. They are my second favorite."
He laughed. "Let me guess. Your favorite is chocolate chip."
She smirked. "How'd you guess?"
She was smiling amidst dozens and dozens of cookies and I didn't know what to think. This woman was nothing at all like the one who'd pushed me out just this morning. That one had been falling to pieces, and this one …. I guess baking her stress away wasn't the worst thing she could have done. Although standing there looking at her bare legs gave me different ideas on what we could have done with all of that excess energy.
I tried to stop that runaway train, but it was impossible. This Mandy reminded me so much of the one I remembered. She even had her hair up in a ponytail, no make-up on, the booty shorts that reminded me of the cheer shorts she'd worn so often. My cock was hard, and there wasn't a thing I could do to stop it.
"How long have you been at this?" I asked, reaching up to brush a spot of flour from her cheek. She sucked in her breath when our skin connected, and my brain short-circuited, forgetting all about the question I'd asked or all the others I had from this morning. All that mattered was the rise and fall of her tits as she tried to take in a breath. And her warm breath fanning across my skin.
"I don't know. I didn't keep track. Maybe a few hours or so." Considering there were enough cookies to feed a small army, I imagined she'd been baking for a lot longer than she realized.
"Do you feel better?"
She nodded, her eyes dilating. "I had to do something, and I wasn't sure if going out for a run right now was the smartest thing to do. I'm still not clear on security."
"I'm glad you stayed inside. Security here is state of the art, but I don't like seeing you at any risk, no matter how small."
"Oh," she squeaked when I brushed a lock of hair that had gotten loose behind her ear.
"I have to ask, Mandy," my own breath increased as I backed her slowly against a vacant wall.
"Ask me what?"
“Why did you leave?”
Her mouth opened and closed as if she wasn’t sure how to answer that, even though we both knew exactly what I was asking and how important the answer might be.
“Ididn’t leave.” She hesitated, her breathing growing ragged as I stroked my thumb along the column on her neck. When my fingers reached her jawline, she turned and nipped them with her teeth.
My nostrils flared at the sudden rush of arousal she inspired shot through me. But I still needed an answer that made sense.
“I’m going to need you to elaborate because one minute, we were planning our future, and the next, you were gone. Just tell me the truth.” My voice came out raw and broken as the memory of that day filled my head. The pain of betrayal…
"I wouldn't lie to you. I may be a lot of things, but a liar isn't one of them."
I narrowed my eyes. "Isn't that exactly what the government trained you to do though? Lie."
"What I do professionally and personally are two very different things. Was I good at my job? Yes. Do I regret the lies I told on the job? Not really. I always had the greater good in mind in everything I did. My only regret is how it ended."
Some of the arousal between us waned as anger blossomed once again. "Stop avoiding the question and just answer. I'm not sure we can continue to work together until we clear this up. What I overheard on that phone was both enlightening and confusing. So, before I go off halfcocked and do something I regret, answer. The. Fucking. Question.”
“I did,” she said, shoving ineffectually against my chest. I had her pinned and right where I wanted her.
"You can't push me away that easily this time. Until I get a real answer, neither one of us is going anywhere."
"You are such a stubborn ass. For someone who does the kinds of things you do, living in the gray areas of life, you sure as hell only see black and white when it suits you."
Her voice rose, and I hoped we were getting somewhere.