Page 20 of Do Me
“My niece and nephew spend some weekends here, which is why two of the bedrooms are decorated.”
She thought back to him dancing with the teen. “Was your niece the one you were dancing with at the wedding?”
“Yes. Tonya is fifteen going on twenty-five. My nephew, Jared is twelve. I try to give my sister and brother-in-law a break so they can have some time away occasionally.”
“That’s sweet. Do you have any other siblings?” Londyn moved over to the other counter when he’d placed her bags and started unloading.
“Just Debra. She’s three years older and, when she’s not acting as if she’s my second mother, she’s pretty cool.”
Propping her hip against the counter, she smiled. “At least you had a companion. Try being the only child of two doctors.”
“Now I don’t have to wonder where you get your brilliance.” Braxton leaned over and peered inside the cooler she had just unzipped.
“They are definitely brilliant. They sold their practice last year and are currently spending a month in the Bahamas. What do your parents do?”
“Both are retired—dad from engineering and mom, education. So are you going to finally tell me what we’re having?”
Grinning up at him, she said, “I guess I can tell you what I’m making.” She pointed to each one as she spoke. “There’s dough for both a peach cobbler and a loaf of French bread, sweetened peaches and the mixture for homemade vanilla ice cream.”
His eyes lit up. “Homemade ice cream? I don’t have an ice cream machine.”
Londyn winked at him and held it up. “Not to worry. I brought my own.” She placed it on the counter and lowered the cylinder containing the mix inside. She gently squeezed his biceps. “Yep, good muscles. You’re going to need them to crank the machine.”
Throwing back his head, Braxton roared with laughter. “You are something else.”
The sound of his deep laughter made her belly quiver. “And so are you.” Slowly, his laughter faded. He stared down at her, not bothering to hide the passion in his eyes. She tilted her chin and wasn’t disappointed when he covered her mouth in a sweet, gentle kiss that stirred not only her body, but her heart. She wound her arms around his neck as he pulled her closer. His hand caressed her spine, moved down to her hips, then found its way around front to her center. The thin cotton crop pants she wore were no match for his skillful fingers as they slid back and forth over her core, creating a pulsing that increased by the second. Londyn moaned and widened her stance as liquid fire spread through her. He deepened the kiss as his fingers sped up their movements. An orgasm hit her without warning and her knees buckled. She cried out as spasms shot through her body. Only his tightened grip kept her from sliding to the floor. At length, he lifted his head, but didn’t release her. Londyn’s body continued to tremble and her breathing came in short gasps.Incredible!If he could make her come just from touching her on the outside of her clothes, she didn’t want to think about what would happen if they were both naked.
“Now, that’s my kind of cooking,” Braxton murmured. “But I think we’d better focus on the real cooking before we get into any more trouble.”
She opened her mouth to tell him if he could promise more of this kind of trouble, she was all for it, but he placed a finger on her lips.
“It’s not time yet, baby. I don’t want either of us to have any regrets,” he said, cradling her face in his palms.
“I won’t regret being with you, Braxton.” She wouldn’t she realized, but she continued to harbor lingering fears and she didn’t want them to interfere with their developing relationship.
He ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “Can you tell me with certainty that you’re ready for us to take this to the next level?”
Londyn sighed. As much as she wanted to say yes—because it had been a long two years since she’d shared her body with any man—she knew in her heart she wasn’t quite ready. “No.”
Braxton smiled and pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead. “I didn’t think so. We’ve got time and when it’s right we’ll both be ready.”
Where had this man been all her life? Most others would have had her in their beds and naked—particularly since she could feel his throbbing erection pressed against her—but Braxton appeared to be from a throwback era of men who took time to court a woman. Maybe that’s why it had been so easy for her to let her guard down. In that moment, Londyn fell a little harder. “Thank you.” She backed out of his embrace.
“There’s a bathroom right down the hall you can use. I’ll be right back.” Without another word, he spun on his heel and strode out of the kitchen.
Still trying to get her breathing under control, Londyn cleaned up and made her way back to the kitchen. The heated interlude had left her throbbing everywhere and it took a few seconds to remember what she’d been doing.Oh, yeah, the dough.When he came back, she picked up their previous conversation. She needed to say something to distract her from what just happened. “Now that you know what I’m making, it’s your turn to share.”
“I decided on surf and turf. You mentioned having trouble with steaks, so I’m going to make you one that’ll melt in your mouth.” He pointed to two large lobster tails that had been cracked with the meat resting on top of the shell and skewers packed with vegetables—corn, mushrooms, green and red bell peppers, and zucchini. “We’ll have these brushed with an herbed butter. All of it will be done on the grill. And since you’re making French bread from scratch, I’m going to leave those store-bought ones I have in the freezer.” Braxton kissed the tip of her nose. “Oh, and because you seem to have this thing with purple, for drinks, I’m going to whip up a Purple People-eater. The ingredients are a secret, so I’m not telling.”
Her mouth watered and she’d concede him that one. “I think I just got hungry,” she said with a smile. “While you make the ice cream, I’m going to get the cobbler and bread ready.”
“Doesn’t the bread have to rise a couple of times? Or at least that’s what my sister always says when I beg her to make rolls.”
“I did the first rise overnight in the refrigerator to save time and took it out to bring to room temperature about thirty minutes before you arrived. It should be ready to bake in about an hour.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Braxton took the old-fashioned crank-style ice cream maker out to the deck, layered the ice and rock salt, sealed it and rotated the arm.
Londyn stood there watching the play of muscles in his arms flex and bunch with each revolution. He glanced up, caught her staring and grinned. “That man’s smile is going to get me in so much trouble,” she muttered, spinning around and going back to the counter. After finishing, she opened the sliding door. “How’s it coming?”
