Stud Muffin (Donner Bakery #2) - Jiffy Kate Page 0,41
recently in the UFC circuit,” I tell her, realizing it’s the first time I’ve talked about it in a while. The only person I’ve even skirted the topic with is Hank.
Her eyes go wide again. “Wow, like one of those guys who fights in the cage?” She smiles. It’s small at first and then goes wider. “Like a cage fighter? Cage the cage fighter?” Her laugh is contagious and I can’t help but join in, even though I’ve heard this joke. It’s different coming from her. I don’t mind it. Anything that brings a smile to her face like this, I’m good with, even if it is at my expense.
But I can’t let her get her jab in without one in return. “Okay, Sundance Kid.”
She tips her chin up in a challenge, eyes narrowing. “Did you really just go there?”
“Oh, yeah,” I confirm, nodding my head. “I mean, that’s what friends are for, right? Just keepin’ it real.” We enter into a minute-long staring contest before I go in for the kill. “It’s rather fitting, you know? What with your run-ins with the law.”
When her jaw goes tight and her full lips pull together, I’m afraid I’ve overstepped my boundaries, but then she quirks an eyebrow. “Oh, it’s go time.”
She starts punching the air around me, putting to use the forms I’ve been teaching her and doing a pretty damn good job, but the way she’s zipping around me like a little hummingbird makes me laugh. I try to hold it back, but I can’t.
When her jab misses the air and makes contact with my arm, it shocks us both. She stops, her hand flying up to her mouth, eyes going wide. “Oh, my God. I’m sorry,” she laughs. “I was… I mean, I’d never…” Her laughs overtake her and before I know it, I have my arms wrapped around her, holding her arms down to her side and tossing her over my shoulder.
The melodic tone of her laugh continues to fill the air, bouncing off the concrete walls and it’s fucking music to my ears. When I finally set her back down on her own two feet, her hair is wild, falling haphazardly out of her ponytail, and our breaths are coming out in short spurts. We share the same air for a second, maybe more, and our eyes connect.
My body tells me to kiss her.
And for a moment, I think she wants me to.
It feels like minutes or centuries pass between us as we stare into each other’s eyes, but it’s probably only mere seconds. Tilting my head even closer, I lick my lips, swearing I can already taste her on them before we even make contact, but I don’t get the chance. She goes rigid in my arms—eyes going wide with the realization of how close we are, bodies touching—and surprises me by pushing hard on my chest, creating distance between us.
Smoothing her hair back out of her face, she straightens. “I, um… I’ve gotta go. I just remembered that I have a… meeting… with the, uh, realtor. I’m selling my house. We’re selling the house. Asher…” She pauses her rambling to look at me, bending down to retrieve her bag. “I’ve gotta go.”
One second she’s here, and everything is great—fucking amazing—and the next second she’s gone, walking so fast, she’s disappeared far enough down the sidewalk that I can’t see her any longer. Poof. Gone. And I want to punch myself in the face.
What the fuck was that, Cage?
Running a hand down my face, I turn and begin to pace the room.
Yeah, I fucked that up.
Shit.
Chapter 11
Tempest
Walking into the pantry, I peruse the shelves, looking for the necessary ingredients and then trying to decide on what I’m throwing in with them to make today’s Muffin of the Day.
I’ve already decided on my song—The Fightin’ Side of Me—so now I just need to think the recipe through. Sometimes, I get an inspiration for a muffin and match it up to a favorite song, but sometimes, like this morning, I have a song in mind and work with it to come up with something delicious. I’ve had failures, sure. But most of the time, they’re a hit.
Letting my mind wander and my taste buds do the talking, I decide it will be a dark chocolate muffin with bacon crumbles. Those are literally the two things I couldn’t go through life without, and they’re always fighting for dominance.