Page 12 of Ryder
Chapter 6
Ryder
“That’s not how you measure flour.
I freeze, cup of flour hovering over the bowl. “There’s a wrong way to measure flour?” Dana makes a sound somewhere between a laugh and a groan. “You have to spoon it into the cup, then level it off. Not just… scoop.”
“That seems unnecessarily complicated.” But I can’t help grinning at her exasperated expression. She’s got a smudge of cocoa powder on her nose that’s doing dangerous things to my heart.
“Baking is science,” she says primly, taking the measuring cup from my hands. Our fingers brush, and electricity zings up my arm. “Precise measurements matter.”
“If you say so, sugar.” I lean against the counter, watching her demonstrate the apparently vital art of proper flour measuring. “Though I notice you don’t measure your cinnamon rolls that precisely.”
Her cheeks go pink. “That’s different. That’s… intuitive.”
“Intuitive, huh?” I step closer, drawn by the way she’s flustered. “Like how you intuitively know exactly when I’m going to stop by the bakery?”
“I don’t—” She spins to face me and nearly collides with my chest. “That’s not… I just… you have a routine!”
“Do I?” Another step. She backs into the counter, flour puffing up between us. “Or do you just like having fresh cinnamon rolls ready when I come in?”
Her eyes narrow. “You’re trying to distract me from your terrible flour-measuring technique.”
“Is it working?”
Instead of answering, she grabs a handful of flour and tosses it at my face.
The shock of it makes me stumble back, sputtering. When I can see again, Dana’s doubled over laughing, her dark hair dusted white.
“Oh, sugar.” I reach for the flour bag. “That was a mistake.”
Her eyes go wide. “Don’t you dare—”
But I’m already moving. She shrieks and ducks, but not before I get her with a solid handful of flour. She retaliates by grabbing the cocoa powder.
Five minutes later, we’re standing in the disaster zone that used to be my kitchen, both of us breathing hard and covered in what looks like enough baking supplies to stock a small store.
“Your hair is gray,” Dana giggles, reaching up to brush flour from my face. The gentle touch of her fingers makes me forget how to breathe.
“Yeah? Well, you look like you got in a fight with a chocolate factory and lost.” I catch a streak of cocoa powder on her cheek with my thumb. She goes still under my touch.
The kitchen suddenly feels very small and very warm.
“We should…” Her voice comes out husky. “We should clean this up.”
“Probably.” But I don’t move my hand from her face. Can’t, when she’s looking up at me like that, all flour-dusted and beautiful.
“Ryder?” Her tongue darts out to wet her lips, and my brain short-circuits.
“Yeah, sugar?”
“You’ve got…” She reaches up slowly, brushes something from my bottom lip. The touch sends sparks shooting through my whole body. “Cocoa powder.”
The air crackles between us. She’s so close I can smell vanilla on her skin, can see the gold flecks in her hazel eyes. If I just lean down a little…
A timer dings, making us both jump.
“The cookies!” Dana ducks under my arm, leaving me standing there like an idiot with my heart pounding.
