Page 40 of Crash

I’m reluctant to admit my perception of him was wrong. Yes, he was a mean jerk to me, but I wasn’t much nicer to him either. He’s definitely not the spoiled rich boy I had painted him out to be.

I can hear him now. He’s in the basement with Jake and Troy working out. Tristan, Travis, and Emma are in the living room playing a card game, but they keep complaining about Travis messing up the cards.

“Aunt Sandy,” Emma says, pulling Travis by his hand. “He keeps messing up the cards.”

“Come here, munchkin,” I say as I pick up Travis. “You want a cookie?”

He starts to kick his legs and clap. “Cookie! Cookie!”

“You know what? Let’s make some cookies.” He gets excited and follows me around while I get ingredients to make sugar cookies.

“So,” I say, turning my attention back to Sandy, who is pulling ingredients out of the fridge. “What do I need to do?”

“Nothing. I only need you to show up and have fun. It’s all being handled. The housekeeper will be here Friday to clean. The caterers will be here, along with the servers later. All you need to do is enjoy yourself.”

“Have fun? How do we do that?” We both laugh because whenever my aunt throws a party, it’s all hands on deck. We’re so busy working that we hardly have time to enjoy ourselves. “And who are you?” I tease.

“I’m Mrs. Clark, sweetie.” We burst out laughing again as I measure flour and cut butter. I have Travis pour the flour in the mixing bowl, and he pours half of it on the counter. Before I can move him away, he swipes his hand across the spilled flour, throwing a good portion of it on the floor. He claps at his handy work, clouds of flour everywhere.

Minutes later, I hear heavy footsteps as Jake and Luke approach. Luke’s bare-chested again, a sheen of sweat glistening on his skin. He’s wearing a pair of black shorts that come to his knees.

Jake goes right to his wife, pins her against the fridge, and kisses her as if he hasn’t seen her in days. She says something to him, and he goes and brings her mixer from the pantry.

“What are you making, baby?” he asks.

“Cheesecake for the office potluck tomorrow.”

“Potluck?” Luke asks. “That’s your Christmas party? How cheap are those doctors you work for?”

“They actually have a party the same night as your office party, so I can’t go but we do the potluck every year,” Sandy says.

“Yuke!” Travis says, when he finally notices his uncle. He runs to him and hugs his legs. Luke lifts him up and kisses his cheek before hugging him. “Cookies!” he says, pointing at the mixing bowl. “Yiyi make cookies!”

“And Travis makes a mess,” I say.

Jake grabs several bottles of water and hands them to Luke.

“Back to our workout. Dee, don’t lift that mixer. I’ll put it back for you later. Are we still going to your sister’s for dinner? The snow is only going to get worse,” he says while looking out the kitchen window.

I look out the window and notice it’s snowing lightly, but the forecast predicts several inches.

“We live in Boston, Jacob. Your truck can handle the snow, but Tash canceled. Chris isn’t feeling well, so I’ll make us something.” She rolls her eyes at him, and he slaps her on the ass. I turn my attention back to the mixing bowl as they start whispering to each other.

As I add an egg to the mixture, Luke comes and stands beside me. He’s standing so close that our bodies are touching. I freeze when I feel his warm hand on my thigh, gently stroking it, causing an immediate need for a change of panties.

“You want some help?” he asks as his fingertips graze across my skin.

“Travis and I have it under control.” Sandy and Jake now have their backs turned to us, Travis in Jake’s arms, as they continue their quiet conversation. Luke takes that as an opportunity to put his hand on my ass. I freeze while mixing only to have him squeeze my butt.

As if it never happened, his hand is quickly gone. Emma and Tristan run into the kitchen and offer to help, but when Travis sees his brother next to the mixing bowl, he practically jumps out of Jake’s arms and pushes his brother out of the way.

Tristan gives up, and says he’s going to work out with the guys, while Emma offers to help Sandy.

“Are you two coming back down?” Troy yells. “Let’s finish so I can get home.”

The guys return downstairs and we continue with our baking, but I can still feel Luke’s hand on my ass.

“Vivienne, I’d like to see you in my office when you go on your break,” my boss says as he passes by my desk the next morning. I haven’t seen him since he inhaled half the cookies Travis and I baked yesterday. He went home, and I went to my room. Well, first I went to straighten out the bathroom we share, but he had already done it, leaving behind his smell.

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