Page 286 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

The next morning, Islept in a little later than I meant to. When I woke up, there were a few texts on my phone.

Reuben: Are you awake?

Reuben: Come downstairs when you’re ready. We need to talk before you start packing.

Oh my God. This is it. He’s mad and he wants to break up.

No he doesn’t. That’s not a thing. He wants me to move in. Not every “we need to talk” is a bad “we need to talk.”

Maybe he changed his mind and he’s mad at me.

I scrambled out of bed, throwing on a hoodie and some sweatpants, and practically running down the stairs. I found Reuben in the kitchen with Sophie, listening with a faint smile on his face while Sophie stirred something, talking softly and stuttering through an explanation.

He looked so confident and big and scary standing there in his element, wearing a pair of dark jeans— he owned jeans? —and a WCU t-shirt, a dish towel hanging from his belt. And the way he was looking at Sophie with so much admiration made me want to hate him and fuck him at the same time.

So many fucking feelings were going through my head and my body that when he looked up at me and raised an eyebrow, I just said, “Fuck you!” and went to go find coffee.

A few shots of espresso, some toppings, and about nine sugar cubes later, I made my way back to the kitchen, ready to apologize for my early morning outburst. He was scrubbing a pan while Sophie talked about chocolate and bacon and why they were so good together.

“You know what else is really good together,” I said, walking in and hoping my confidence and adorableness made up for me being a bitch.

Reuben gave me that cocky eyebrow raise. “Besides my hand and your ass?”

Ignoring his flirt, I looked at Sophie. “French fries, and mayonnaise.”

Reuben sighed and said, “Alice, you nasty little slut.”

Sophie looked embarrassed.

I continued, ignoring her awkward reaction to Reuben’s effort to get my attention. “I don’t know, dude, there’s just something so yummy about it. Fuck ketchup, I’ll take mayonnaise any day. Gimme that white, creamy, salty goodness.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Reuben scrub the pan more aggressively, but he didn’t say anything.

“I think it has something to do with the acid,” Sophie whispered. “Alex doesn’t like ketchup on her fries either because it’s too acidic. But she likes gravy.”

“On fries? Eww.” I sipped at my coffee, ignoring my Dominant, who was now standing directly in front of me with his arms crossed, looking a little pissed that I was ignoring him. “You know what else is really good?”

“Watching you cry,” Reuben muttered under his breath.

“That yummy caramel sauce that Cat makes for the espresso machine. I feel so much better! Ooh, and that homemade whipped cream is amazing.”

“It’s my mom’s recipe,” Sophie whispered, smiling. “She always made it on Thanksgiving, and she added a little splash of vanilla extract.”

“Ooh, you know what else you could do with whipped cream?” I grinned evilly.

Sophie dropped the dish rag she was using and said, “I need to go to the restroom,” and left the room as quickly as possible.

I laughed as I watched her escape, and finally turned to face Reuben. His face was a blank mask, but his eyes were bright.

“Oh, hello Sir.”I took another sip of my coffee, letting the whip cream on top press into my face.

“You’ve embarrassed your friend, you bad little girl.” He reached out and swiped his finger across my cheek, catching a dollop of whipped cream off my face and placing it on my bottom lip. I let it rest there, resisting the urge to open my mouth to his finger. “Clean up your mess.”

I bit his finger.

His eyes flew wide and he yanked his hand back in surprise, looking down at his finger in shock. I couldn’t help but laugh. Sipping the rest of the whipped cream off the top of my coffee, I set it aside and smirked at him.

“Sorry I was a bitch this morning,” I said. “I was in a mood, and also panicking.”

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