Page 22 of Love, Always and Forever
For a second the rest of the world faded away, her reality shrinking down to the small space between them filled only with her breath intertwined with his. Then Mikhail blinked and jerked back as if he’d been burned, the moment over before it ever really got started.
“Sorry about that, Amy. I know we promised we wouldn’t do this again.”
He turned away, staring off into the distance. He muttered something under his breath. It sounded as if he’d said, “This is going to be harder than I thought.”
“What is?”
“Keeping my distance. Like I said, I’m sorry.”
Her temper flared hot, fueled by frustration along with more than a hint of embarrassment. “And once again, you’re shouldering all the blame, Mikhail. It takes two to tango. While the expression might be dated, that doesn’t make it any less true.”
Aiming for a calm she certainly didn’t feel, she jerked her helmet on. “Let’s get back home, so I can work on the plans for your yard. And don’t worry about my greenhouse. I’ll manage on my own. I wouldn’t want to tempt you with all my feminine wiles.”
Whatever response she’d expected, him kicking a rock and sending it flying across the parking lot wasn’t it. When he turned back to face her, his eyebrows rode low over his eyes. “I said I’d take care of the greenhouse, and I will. No arguments. Got that?”
She offered him a mock salute. “Got it. And since you don’t want to be paid with kisses, you’ll have to let me know what kind of cookies you like.”
He swung his leg over the Harley and held out his hand to assist her climbing on behind him. After revving the engine, he twisted his head back long enough to say, “Surprise me.”
Then he gunned the motor and tore off down the road. The man had a temper, but then so did she. He also had a knack for showing her a good time despite himself. Rather than worry about how to handle their increasingly complicated relationship, she held on tight and let herself simply enjoy the excitement of riding double with the sexiest man she’d ever met.
—
The timer chimed, dragging Amy away from the back window. After taking the last tray of cookies out of the oven, she set them on the counter to cool. In the three hours since Mikhail had brought her home from their outing, she’d baked four different kinds of cookies. She hadn’t started out to make that many, but evidently when Mikhail had sent out the call for help, he must have sounded pretty desperate. Not only had Jack shown up with his son in tow, but both Tino and Jay had dropped by, too.
Ricky and Mikhail were doing all the work while the other three lounged around and watched. They weren’t shy about offering advice mixed with an equal share of insults. It reminded her of her dad and brothers whenever they worked on a project together, which had her feeling more than a little homesick.
While she waited for the cookies to cool, she dialed Chad’s number and waited for him to answer. After half a dozen rings, she hung up without leaving a message. Most likely he’d call her back anyway once he noticed he’d missed her call. She could try one of her other brothers, but the twins were probably still at work. Will, too, for that matter. No use in bothering any of them when all she really wanted was to hear the sound of their voices.
Calling her parents was another option, but she limited those calls to once a week on Saturday morning. That had been part of the deal when she’d broken the news to them that she’d put a down payment on her own home. They’d been all right with it until she’d told them that the house was located over a hundred miles away from theirs. There was no telling if their anger had resulted from her only telling them about her decision after the plans were already set in motion or from the fact that she felt the need to put so much distance between her and the rest of the family in the first place.
She hoped time would repair the damage to their relationship, but for now she needed to maintain the boundaries she’d established the day she’d moved out.
Another round of laughter drew her back to the window. The greenhouse looked almost finished. Amazing. Maybe she could’ve assembled it on her own, but she had serious doubts about that. Ricky was busy picking up the plastic bags that had held the screws and other small parts and tossing them in the trash. He’d already cut the huge cardboard box into manageable pieces and put them into the recycling bin. All of the tools had been put away except for the screwdriver in Mikhail’s hand.
Time to pack up the cookies. She’d made enough to give everyone their own supply. Not knowing their preferences, she’d made chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and sugar cookies for Jack, Tino, Jay, and Ricky. After dividing the goodies up evenly, she covered the paper plates with plastic wrap.
That left the ones she’d made especially for Mikhail. The decision to make a separate kind for him might just come back to bite her on the backside. She’d been unable to resist the impulse when she’d happened to see one special ingredient on her quick run to the store for supplies.
Opening the back door, she called Jay’s name. “Can you give me a hand?”
“Sure thing.”
He set his beer on the ground by the lawn chair he’d dragged over from next door and pushed himself up to his feet. Mikhail had been tightening a row of screws on one of the corner pillars but stopped when he’d heard her voice. Maybe it was her imagination that he gritted his teeth a bit that it wasn’t his name she’d called, but she didn’t think so.
The laugh lines around Jay’s eyes deepened enough to let her know that he’d noticed his friend’s reaction. “What can I do to help?”
“Can you give these to Jack and Tino while I bring out the rest?”
“Hey, guys, we just scored big-time. The lady baked cookies for all of us.”
After making the first two deliveries, Jay came right back. Amy held out two more. “This one is yours and that one’s for Mikhail. I’ve got Ricky’s.”
She kept an eye on Mikhail as she crossed the yard to deliver Ricky’s cookies and his check for helping out. As she was about to thank him for working so hard, Tino’s voice rang out from across the yard.
“Hey, how come Mikhail got a different kind of cookie than the rest of us?”
The man in question stared down in puzzlement at the plate Jay had just handed him. Then a slow grin spread across his face as he peeled back the plastic and picked one up. “Because she knows how much I love peanut butter cookies.”
That was an outright lie. She knew no such thing. Besides, that wasn’t the reason for the wicked, wicked smile on his handsome face as he slowly bit into the cookie, holding her gaze captive from across the yard. No, the reason for that was the chocolate kiss she’d baked into each and every one. He’d made it clear he didn’t want one kind of kiss from her, so she’d given him another.
Maybe she’d just prodded a sleeping tiger, even if she wasn’t sure why she wanted to. But one thing for sure, he’d think of her with every cookie he ate.
