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Much longer, and so as soon as Halo is secure in his strong bulging arms, I step away, bunching the sling in my hands and saying, “Callie and Reed aren’t here.”
He looks away from Halo, who’s smacking her palms on his jaw. “I can see that.”
“So you wasted a trip. You should go. I’ll tell them —”
I’m cut off by the shrill sound of the timer, alerting me that my cupcakes are done.
So I abandon the conversation, as important as it is, and dash over to the kitchen. I pull out the fourth batch of my simple vanilla cupcakes and, whirling around, put them on the island. And of course, he’s here.
In the kitchen.
Standing on the opposite side of the island.
His eyes taking in the state of things.
Fuck.
I don’t want him seeing what he’s seeing. In fact, he’s the last person that I want seeing these things about me.
First of all, the kitchen is a disaster. Every inch of the space is covered with something, either baking sheets or baking ingredients or baked goods. There’s a heap of cut-up strawberries on the island and of course there’s spilled juices like drops of blood that I forgot to clean up. There’s also a big bowl of baby pink frosting sitting just by it, and somehow I’ve used like, three different spatulas to ice my first few batches of cupcakes. That are also sitting on the island. Plus there’s spilled flour on the counters and on the floor; discarded packs of cream cheese and butter; sprinkles of sugar everywhere.
And then there’s the fact itself that I’m baking.
That I bake.
Something I never told him. Or rather something else I never told him.
Mostly because I’m self-taught and I don’t do really complex baking. Just simple comfort baking like vanilla cupcakes, brownies, apple pies and so on. Plus he already has a sister who’s a master baker. In fact it was one of the things that we’d bonded over, Callie and me. Anyway, I just didn’t want to be compared and found wanting.
And the fact that he’s yet again discovering another one of my secrets is freaking me out and I want him out of here. Not to mention, I told him that we should stay away from each other only yesterday. But before I can say all of this to him, he does something… crazy.
He reaches out with his free arm, grabs one of my cupcakes and pops the whole thing in his mouth.
In one go.
Just like that.
“What are you doing?” I ask, my voice high.
He takes his time chewing and swallowing. Then, “Eating a cupcake.”
“You can’t eat a cupcake.”
In response, he grabs another one and pops that into his mouth as well. Again in one go and just like that. When he’s done swallowing that down too, he goes, “Apparently I can.”
I exhale sharply. “These are not for you.”
He goes for a third cupcake as he says, “Yeah?”
“Stop eating my cupcakes,” I demand.
He doesn’t, of course, because the third one goes into his big freaking mouth as well. Then, “Who are they for?”
“For your sister and my brother.”
And another one goes into his mouth. “Why, what’d they do?”
I reach forward and slide the tray away from him before he can grab a fifth one. “It’s a thank you gift. For letting me babysit Halo.”
He gives me a look. “Yeah, no. I think it should be other way around.”
“I don’t —”
“Besides, my sister can bake cupcakes for your brother any time he wants. So this,” he goes for the bowl of frosting this time, “is mine.” With that, he dips his long finger in the frosting and scoops it out before popping it in the mouth and going, “Strawberry, huh. Very nice.”
“Oh my God, now that whole batch is ruined and —”
I swallow my words when he goes ahead and dips his finger again, scooping another dollop out. But this time, he goes for Halo who eagerly opens her mouth and licks the whole thing, smearing her mouth with pink frosting.
“Are you crazy?” I squeak out, rushing over to Halo with her burp cloth. “You’re not supposed to feed her solids yet. And sugar at that. What are you thinking?” To Halo, I say, “I’m sorry, honey. Uncle Ledger is crazy. I don’t know what he’s thinking.”
Halo grins down at me though, flailing her fists, smacking me in the jaw as I wipe her face, going, “Da. Da. Daaaa.”
“You can explain to Callie when she comes back how her daughter has tasted solids for the very first time and it happened without her…”
I trail off because when I look back at him, I find that he’s already watching me.
And that would’ve been okay if he wasn’t doing it with such single-minded focus. Or with so much intensity and God, hunger.
That’s what that is, in his eyes.
