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What is this boy getting me into?

When he took my hand, I wondered how I would ever be able to return to a place where I couldn’t enjoy the feeling of his palm in mine.

Ryan didn’t stop moving until he led me through an open door inside the community center. Wire shelves across the far wall housed crockery, stand mixers, and food processors. Stainless steel appliances scattered across the floor with wooden work stations attached, full of cooking ingredients and fitted with an electric stovetop.

There were two other couples that had already claimed their seats, and a person in a chef’s jacket bustling about the space. I nervously tightened my grip on Ryan’s hand. “A cooking class?”

He nodded, leading me to a workbench with as much privacy the room would afford us.

“I…” He paused, taking a breath. “I’ve cooked a lot of meals over the years, but I only know Caribbean food, and how many chicken nuggets to throw in the oven to feed eight…” Ryan trailed off, turning his gaze to his feet.

I scanned the ingredients behind him. There were chocolate chips, baking powder, sugar… but front and center sat a bag of flour with a big red label on it: gluten free. “You did this for me?”

“I don’t want you to change your life to fit mine like you did with your parents. I can adapt to yours.”

My heart felt ready to burst. I don’t know why that silly bag of flour changed things, but it did. It made me realize that this whole thing wasn’t just a challenge to him. He wasn’t simply playing the game to seduce the straight man. He really cared about me.

“Ryan, I… I mean, after last night I thought…”

“Baby…” And that word alone shut me right up. “Forget about last night, and you don’t have to say anything. Just enjoy this with me.”

When Ryan spun around to study the supplies on the table, finding a bottle of vanilla extract particularly interesting, I decided that I was done being scared.

With a deep breath, I stepped forward and put my hands on Ryan’s hips. I hadn’t realized I wasn’t breathing until he leaned into my touch.

It was our last night away, and I wanted to make the most of it, nerves be damned.

I wanted Ryan, and I wanted him now.

“You’ve never made chocolate chip cookies before?” I asked, nuzzling into Ryan’s neck.

“I have…” he said, voice quavering. “From a tube.”

When Ryan turned away to grab one of the stand mixers, I held him in place by my arm around his waist. “No way,” I said. “We’re not cheating with a stand mixer.”

Instead, I grabbed a glass mixing bowl and set it in front of him, directing him as I massaged his hip, grateful for the tall workstation that granted us a touch more privacy.

“Jason, you don’t have to do that,” he whispered, struggling to measure a cup of flour with his shaky hands.

“I want to, trust me.”

Surprising even me, I tickled my hand over the swell of Ryan’s ass—causing him to drop the stainless steel measuring cups. They smashed into the glass bowl, the clatter peeling through the room. No one did more than chuckle.

Ryan brushed the flour off of him as best as he could, then snapped his hand down to trap mine in place as I teased over his thigh. “We’re in public, Jason,” he muttered.

“Oh, that makes it all the more exciting.” Who the fuck am I? “You’d better be quiet before someone catches on.”

Curling my large hand over his thigh, I gave the sensitive area a gentle squeeze. “I keep thinking about last night.”

“I told you to stop that,” he said, a quaver in his voice as my hand rounded his leg, creeping higher.

Palm flattened on his stomach, I stilled the hand that held the spatula.

“Don’t do that,” I instructed, blanketing my hand over his. “Your cookies will come out like hockey pucks, and all the chocolate chips will sink. Fold them in—gently, like this.”

Ryan held the bowl steady with his left hand while I guided his right. The anxiety churning my gut earlier was nowhere to be found.

“I freaked last night, but that’s not what I’m talking about. It’s that smart mouth of yours.” I was desperate to lose myself in the man in front of me, but I wanted him to lose control, so I kept my defenses up in case someone was watching.