Page 77 of Laken's longing

He wasn’t competitive—alright he was. How the hell did she manage that?

“Right, now comes the fun part. Take hold of the trays and don’t worry about spilling the chocolate because that’s what we want,” Erin explained, grinning happily while picking up an empty tray and demonstrating holding it upside down and shaking it. “Hold it over the greaseproof paper because we’ll be using that chocolate after.”

Isley was already doing as he was told, except not all his chocolate landed on the paper in his enthusiasm. It splattered the marble counter, too. “Isn’t this fun.”

Laken hadn’t quite reached the fun feeling, when his clothes were getting in a mess, but Isley’s happiness was infectious so he leaned closer and whispered in his ear, although the chances were high no one would hear him with the laughter and excited chatter surrounding him. “The fun bit will be licking off all the chocolate you have smeared on you.”

The marble counter they were sitting at was in the shape of a horseshoe with a gap for Erin to stand in the middle to do the demonstration and offer help when needed. There was enough of a gap between them all to move easily.

“Do you need a hand,” Erin offered when Laken was the only one not doing as he was told, too busy staring at Isley.

Is it hot in here?Must be the steam for the water making his cheeks burn. “No, I’m fine, thank you.”

Laken carefully picked up his tray and flipped it slowly, then heard the pristine woman mumble, “this can’t be right?”

He glanced sideways and his lips quivered at the unholy mess down the front of her. No longer pristine, there were big brown splatters dripping down the apron, onto her jeans and over the toes of her white sneakers. Laken quickly looked away, biting the inside of his cheek as he carefully moved his tray, watching the chocolate like a hawk watches prey to ensure he didn’t look like his neighbor, who was now cursing wildly about appearing to have what looked like dog poop on her feet.

Erin, bless her, pretended like the woman wasn’t having a personal meltdown.

“Now, take the blade and run it down the front of the tray, holding it at an angle to scrape off any excess chocolate, then we’ll chill the trays. We will be peeling off the chocolate on the paper and putting it back into the pan to re melt it.” She wassmiling in such a way, Laken suspected she was wincing on the inside, taking trays with big globs of chocolate stuck to the edges and trying to rectify the mess.

More laughter came as folks worked to get the hardened chocolate back into the pans and over the steaming water.

Laken was struggling to hold on to his laughter when the woman next to him peeled chocolate from her apron and jean legs, putting it back in the pan and trying hard not to be obvious, but failing. Erin added a couple of extra scoops of chocolate to her pan.

Despite the time it took to get the chocolate to the desired heat of forty-two degrees, Isley never lost his grin. He didn’t say much, concentrating instead on what he was doing.

“Perfect, Isley, now you can start the cooling process. Only this time, we add the chocolate drops I asked you to set aside. They give the chocolate a velvety texture. Just add a few at a time, great.”

“Have you decided what fillings you’re putting in your chocolates?” Isley questioned when Erin said it was time to pick, a furrow developing between his brows as he looked over at the shelves holding the choices. “I want coconut for sure. Cherry too. Maybe some nuts—”

“I’ve got some nuts you can havewith your chocolate,” Laken said, without thinking about his audience.

The lady on his left clearly heard what he’d said and choked out a cough, doing her best to look anywhere but at Laken, who was sure his face was heating to the same color as hers.

“Tempting.” Isley gave him another of those flirty winks. He was so much better at this than Laken.

Flirting in public was hard, and it galled him to admit he’d need advice on that, too. Forgetting the chocolate smeared hands, he ran one through his hair. The feeling of stickiness alerting him to what he’d done, he cursed under his breathand acted like there was absolutely nothing to see. If he could manage a billion-dollar company with his brothers, he could fucking do this.

An hour later, he looked at chocolates that looked decidedly less like the shiny, perfectly round, delicious looking pieces fit to grace any top chocolate shop sat in Isley’s box. The weird, misshapen blobs—because he’d clearly overfilled them even though he’d done his best not to—were… Laken didn’t actually have a word that fit. The best he could hope for was edible, and even that might be a stretch.

“You’ve got chocolate in your hair,” Isley pointed out, giggling as they got back in the car.

Laken’s eyes narrowed on the cheeky imp, and Laken pulled out his phone to snap a picture. He held it up for Isley to see, just raising his eyebrows.

Isley licked a finger and rubbed blindly at the smudges on his cheeks and chin.

“Hey, stop that! I told you that’s my job.” At the speed in which Isley dropped his hand, Laken cracked up laughing.

“Then why are we sitting here wasting time?”

They hit all the traffic lights making Isley complain bitterly. Laken couldn’t remember a time where he laughed so much, or felt so young and carefree. If he had, the memory was long buried under trauma.

He barely had time to collect their bags and carry them into Isley’s apartment with how Isley was hurrying him. Once the door was shut, Isley stripped off his clothing, throwing them on the floor while Laken’s breath caught at the sexy eyes watching him. Isley came and dug into the bag that held his chocolate, bringing out the bag that held the remnants of the melted chocolate they had formed into a small bar. He took it out of the wrapper, which followed the clothes to the floor. Isley held it between his hands, making his intention clear.

Laken’s hands trembled as he took off his own clothes, dropping them where he stood. He seldom left anything lying around, not liking mess, but a naked and aroused Isley squeezing chocolate between his fingers to make it melt was all he could focus on.

When those sticky brown hands ran down his torso, one stopping to coat his cock, Laken wasn’t sure his heart was going to survive the way it rocked against his ribs. He made a dive for Isley who took off running, infectious giggles peeling out as Laken gave chase. A tiny part of him was horrified at the mess they were making as he passed lumps of chocolate. Only there was not a thing on earth or in heaven that was going to stop him.