to hang on to his broad shoulders, he kissed me so hungrily I leaned into his big hard body and rubbed up against him like a cat in heat.
Grant pulled back, breathless and grinning like a fool. “We could always buy up the supply at Bread Box and spend the evening upstairs?”
Yes, please. “You think you’re the first parent who’s thought of that? Mara is prepared and you won’t like it, I promise you.
He dropped his forehead against mine and groaned. “So we’re baking?”
“Yep, we are. But if you’re a good boy, you can be dessert.”
At those words, Grant stood a little taller and squared his shoulders with a wide grin. “At your service, Ms. McKenna. Anything you need.”
“An apron, maybe two, to protect our clothes.”
Grant tugged his t-shirt over his head and tossed it on the kitchen table before he disappeared down a short hall and returned with a checkered apron. “Done. What’s next?”
I licked my lips at the sight of a shirtless Grant, smooth honey brown skin rippling with pecs and abs, and a few war wounds that served as a reminder of why he was so fit. But good lord, the man was fit! He had muscles everywhere and each movement made one bunch and the other flex. I licked my lips again and sighed.
“Keep that up and these cookies will never get made.”
“Sorry,” I blinked, stealing one final glance before I pulled out my phone and searched the recipes I saved last night. “Baking. We are baking cookies for a fundraiser, not getting naked for fun.”
“Not yet, anyway.”
“Cookies first and then nookie, maybe. Maybe.”
“All right,” he said reluctantly and leaned forward to steal another kiss, this one much too short to do anything but tease me. “Tell me what you need.”
You. Right now. Buried deep. “You can put those muscles to good use by creaming together butter and sugar.” I dumped in the amounts the recipe required and pointed at the bowl. “Mix.” Grant got busy and I couldn’t look away from the way his shoulders and arms bunched and flexed as he whisked the butter and sugar, making it look much easier than I knew it to be.
“I guess with Mariana around, I should learn how to bake?”
“If you plan on this becoming a tradition, sure. My granny baked all the time but not much for school.”
“Yeah but it’s not just fundraisers like this, is it? There will be birthdays and other celebrations for when she scores her first soccer goal, makes the honor roll or lands the lead in a school play. All of that requires congratulations desserts, don’t they?”
I stared at him for a long moment, feeling my heart race against my chest as alarm bells sounded a warning on the edges of the walls around my heart. He wasn’t just looking forward to a lifetime of baking, he was planning to celebrate every event, big or small. How could a girl not fall for a guy like that? “You are a good man, Grant. A really good man.”
He set the bowl down and rolled his eyes in dramatic fashion. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, woman!”
He had been, but his actions were a much better indicator than his words. “And now I see just how good you are.” He was too good to keep pushing him away, so good that another woman would snatch him up before I got my head on straight if I kept this distance between us. “I like what I see, Grant. I like it a lot.” More than I should.
“Then my evil plan is working.” He winked and went back to mixing the butter and sugar, tempting me beyond all reason for the next two hours. “Hey, I think we did pretty good.” Grant eyes the cookie sheets, plastic containers and cooling racks filled with cookies and cupcakes. “We make a good team.”
We did. “You are an excellent assistant, maybe there’s a future for you as Mara’s sidekick.”
“Yeah, maybe,” he agreed, barely holding back a laugh. “I’m more concerned with my future with you.”
“You want to be my sidekick?” I laughed but his gaze was serious and focused on my mouth. I licked my lips and a second later, Grant’s lips were on mine, attacking and devouring every inch of my mouth until I submitted to his wicked kisses that took my breath away.
“You can call it a sidekick, but I don’t think sidekicks kiss like we do. Or do other things, like we do.”
“Other