Page 18 of A Lesson In Beginning

He crossed his arms over his chest, eyeing me with an intrigued smirk of curiosity and approval. I hated to admit that I felt myself blossom under such a stare.

“Are there any aprons here?” I glanced around the room, hoping to find one tucked away somewhere, but found none.

“There aren’t, but I’m sure we could change that if you wanted.”

“No matter. I’m happy to work without one. It’s not an article of clothing that’s necessary, just a little more sanitary sometimes.” I gave him a small, shy smile, and he chuckled, coughing lightly into his fist as though a thought had occurred to him he wasn’t willing to share. I paid him no mind as I focused on the task at hand.

I closed my eyes, letting my hands run over the counter for a moment while I thought about what I wanted to bake. We were making cookies, though I had a thought to change it up slightly. I turned to the cabinet that held the spices, grabbing a few other items and ignoring his handsome, curious gaze.

My surroundings faded away as I let the flour run over my fingers, combining first the dry ingredients then the wet in their time and in their turn. I added this ingredient and that, combining everything together while the noise of the club faded in my mind, giving way to nothing but the light sound of music that played in my mind. I barely noticed I had begun to hum along with it.

With the dough formed, I took the metal scoop and made perfect dollops onto the greased tray. The oven beeped moments later, signaling it was preheated and ready for the trays. I slid two of them onto the racks, setting the egg timer on the counter before turning around and beginning to clean up the mess I had made.

I was a fairly clean baker, knowing enough to clean up as I worked as much as possible to cut the workload down at the end of the process. Just as I finished wiping up the last of the flour dust from the metal countertop, I noticed Joel had moved from his perch in the corner back to the counter to join me.

“You lied to me.” His brow furrowed, and he looked every bit the disapproving man with his arms crossed over his broad chest. I would have believed it to be true, were it not for the signature smirk playing at the corners of his full lips. Lips I should not be paying such close attention to. Quickly, I lifted my eyes up to meet his gaze, blushing under his intense stare, as though he knew exactly what I had been thinking.

“Excuse me?” I asked, kicking myself for my mutterings. Mother had taught me better than to mumble and mutter my words.

“You don’t just enjoy baking. You embody the act as though it is your true calling.” His scrutiny, while approving and kind, was increasingly uncomfortable.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Did you know you hum while you bake?” I tried desperately not to watch as his thumb toyed with his lower lip, his eyes roving over my face as though I were a puzzle he was trying to solve.

I said nothing, choosing to lower my gaze to the counter top I was still wiping at, though nothing was there. I busied myself under the guise of cleaning in order to have a reason to not meet the gaze of those deep blue eyes.

“You’ve got something… just there.” He reached over towards my face, hooking the knuckle of his finger under my chin and turning me to meet his eyes, his thumb — that same thumb that had been fiddling with his lower lip — brushed over my cheek where flour had been left swiped over my skin. He brushed it away gently, softly — so softly it was a caress. Butterflies erupted in my stomach and I had to lower my eyes.

The sound of his groan surprised me, pulling my eyes back up to his. Gone was the look of curiosity, and in its place was a stare so heated it took me utterly by surprise, halting any words from forming in my brain.

Our eyes locked on one another, neither of us looked away until the loud ringing of the buzzer went off moments later. I jumped back in surprise, smoothing the fabric of my skirt in a familiar gesture. I scoured the kitchen for a moment until I found the potholders.

“The um… the cookies are done.” I pulled the trays from the oven, quickly taking a glass, flipped over, and swirling it around each cookie until they formed perfect circles.

“I’ve never seen anyone do that before. That’s quite interesting.” I envied the steadiness of his voice, seemingly unaffected by our shared moment. Quickly using a spatula to remove the cookies from the tray and placing them on a cooling rack, I took comfort in having reason to busy my hands.

Idle hands are the devil’s playground, Adah May. My mother’s warning rang through my mind like a bell.

“Christ, those smell good.” I glanced over as he removed one cookie carefully from the cooling rack, slipping a bite into his mouth. He hissed at the overly warm temperature of the not yet ready cookie, but then groaned in delight. “What the hell are these? They are so good.”

That groan had my core clenching in a way I had never felt before. I blushed, so befuddled I didn’t know how to answer. Luckily, I Ruth saved me by opening the door to the kitchen, interrupting our moment.

“About ready to go, Adah?”

“More than you know.” I muttered under my breath as I brushed off my clothing. With a quick goodnight to Joel, I hurried out of the room and towards the upstairs offices behind Ruth.

“How did your first night go?”

“It was… an experience.” That was all I could manage, but it was the truth. Tonight had been an experience.

CHAPTER 7

I tossed and turned that entire night after leaving The Temple — after leaving Joel. Finally, after too many failed attempts at sleep, I rose from my bed. I crept out of my room, down the hall, and towards the office, which was located down from the kitchen. I don’t know why I didn’t realize the light was already on as I made my way down the hall, but I nearly lept out of my skin when I rounded the corner into the office to see Leviticus sitting in the chair behind the desk, clicking away at the laptop that sat atop the large desk.

“Lord have mercy!” I yelped, my hand clutching my chest as I tried to settle my rapidly racing heart.

“Adah! Are you alright?” Leviticus gasped, jumping as I had. As I clutched my chest, he stood from the desk, rounding it and walking towards me with a look of concern etched on his face.

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