Page 72 of You Cake My Breath Away

I laugh, and she walks over and slinks her hands around my waist, resting her head on my back. She does this when she wants comfort but isn’t ready to be touched yet. I’m slowly learning what type of touches make her draw away and which are comfortable for her. Her touch starvation is a minefield we’re both tiptoeing through, but it’s worth it to ease her into familiar touch again.

“I sat across from you at breakfast study group for an entire year. I’d have to have amnesia to not remember your pile of ten pieces of bacon with syrup.”

She chuckles and pushes against my arm, her signal she’s ready for touch. I pull her to my side, dropping my head to kiss her. She tries to deepen it, but I swat her rear end and laugh at her yelp. The last thing I need is her to get burned by some popping grease. “Go sit down and I’ll bring you some.”

“Aye aye, captain.” She salutes me and snags the cup of green tea I made her.

Having her in my space, walking around my house in my clothes, getting to wake up next to her, almost feels like a gift I’ve been waiting years to unwrap. I’m still in shock at what’s finally transpired between us, and I know there’s so much we need to discuss, but I’m not ready to make waves in our steady sea as we get to know each other like this.

As she gets comfy at the table, I bring her a massive plate of bacon accompanied by a set of pancakes and eggs. We stare each other down over the rims of our mugs, both eager to see who is going to reach for the food first. Primly, she sets down her cup and lays her palms on the table. Confused, I tentatively reach for her hands.

“I’ll pray,” she says.

I bow my head and close my eyes, listening to Tilly pray.

“Thank you for the beautiful day, for the amazing creation that is bacon, and thank you for the sexy man who made it. Amen.”

I snort, nearly causing coffee to shoot out of my nose. “Amen.”

She draws her lip between her teeth, eyeing me across the table as she reaches for a piece of bacon. That singular look has my appetite ramping up for something else. Something I know will fill my heart more than my stomach. I’ve always thought of sex as a means to an end, a release until the next time, but with Tilly it’s a need. I crave her body, her mind, her essence, like it’s life-giving water.

“Are you ready?” she asks, pulling me back from my daydreaming.

“For?”

“To bake, silly.”

***

When Tilly told me she needed help baking for the local shelter, I thought she meant we’d make a pie or something together, not two hundred coconut-grapefruit sugar cookies and a large German white chocolate cake. Standing in front of the island covered in flour, Tilly places the finishing touches on her sugar cookie icing before turning to me with a wide smile that steals my breath.

“What do you think?” she asks, using the back of her hand to push her hair back. A dollop of coconut icing drops onto her cheek, and I leanover to lick it off. She giggles and dabs my lips with the icing bag before reaching on tiptoes to steal it back with a swipe of her tongue.

“I think you’re gorgeous…” I plant a kiss at the corner of her mouth. “Funny.” Another one on the slide of her neck. “Talented.” I pepper kisses down her jawline until I reach her chin and tilt it up. “Mine,” I rasp out before my hand snakes into her hair, and I devour her sweet tasting lips.

Tilly drops the icing bag onto the island and wraps her arms around my waist, moaning when my hard as steel erection brushes against her stomach. A groan rumbles in my chest when she presses close to me and grabs the hair at the nape of my neck, deepening the kiss.

“Yours?” she asks, out of breath and panting.

My heart ramps up, grunting like a caveman at the thought of her truly being mine. Of her laughs, her kisses, her smiles being only for me. Cooking dinner for her, watching her as she bakes and dances around the kitchen, relaxing on the couch with her after a long day. I’ve wanted all that with her for longer than I can remember, and it’s all within my grasp.

Not if you get the job and leave.

The thought barrels into me and sours the cookies in my stomach. Tilly notices when my arms go slack around her, and the middle of her brow crinkles in confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

I try to shake off the thought, to bring myself back to the present instead of the future by gripping her tighter and nuzzling into her neck. I can’t bear to look at the questions in her eyes when I don’t have the answers yet. “You’ll always be mine.”

“What happe…”

My phone ringing on the island stops whatever she was about to ask. I can’t say I’ve ever been thankful to hear from my father, but in this moment, I’d rather take whatever verbal abuse he’s about to give than figure out what to tell Tilly about what just broke my concentration.

“I’ve gotta take this.”

“Okay.”

I give her one last kiss and reach for the phone. Walking into the living room, I stand in front of the picture of me and Seb hanging on the fireplace, willing him to give me strength to handle this conversation.

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