Page 116 of Saddle and Scent
Both of us breathing hard from exertion and something much more dangerous.
Flour dusts his dark hair, making him look younger, more playful than I've ever seen him.
But his eyes are pure heat, focused on my mouth with laser intensity.
"Juniper," he says, my name rough and wanting on his lips.
And then he's kissing me.
Hard and desperate and with ten years of pent-up longing behind it.
His mouth moves against mine with devastating skill, his tongue tracing the seam of my lips until I open for him with a soft gasp.
I can taste flour and sweetness and something that's purely him.
My hands fist in his shirt, pulling him closer, needing more contact, more pressure, more everything.
He responds by pressing his hips against mine, letting me feel exactly what this is doing to him. The hard length of his erection grinds against my center, making me moan into his mouth.
"Fuck," he breathes against my lips. "Juniper, I?—"
But whatever he was going to say is cut off by the sound of Ray's voice from the front of the bakery.
"Beck! Where the hell are you? The afternoon rush is starting and I need help with the register!"
Reality crashes back like cold water.
We're in his workplace.
Making out like teenagers while covered in flour and berry juice.
With his employee calling for him just one room away.
Beckett pulls back immediately, running a hand through his flour-dusted hair and taking several steps back to put space between us.
"I have to—" he starts, gesturing toward the front of the bakery.
"Go," I say quickly, trying to catch my breath and smooth down my hair. "I'll clean up here."
He nods, but doesn't move. Just stands there looking at me with such intensity that I feel like he's memorizing every detail.
"This isn't over," he says finally.
It sounds like a promise.
Or a threat.
Maybe both.
"Rain check on the private cooking lesson?" I ask, proud of how steady my voice sounds despite the fact that my entire body is still thrumming with unfulfilled desire.
His smile is slow and devastating.
"Absolutely. Though next time, we're doing it somewhere Ray can't interrupt."
He starts to head toward the front of the bakery, then pauses in the doorway.
"Oh, and Juniper?" He turns back to look at me, his eyes dancing with mischief and something darker. "I'm not going to let Wes keep one-upping me."
