Chapter 16

Brianna left dinner to make her way to the Ducks game. She hadn’t asked me to go with her and I was grateful. I hadn’t told her about the kiss, so she still thought Corey and I had said goodbye that day at lunch and hadn’t talked since. I didn’t have the energy to tell her and talk it through. I was sick of thinking about it.

I drove myself home and stood in the middle of my place thinking of what to do with my night. I thought about returning a couple of phone calls, but quickly banished that thought from my head. I was in no mood to talk to anyone. There wasn’t anything on TV tonight that I particularly wanted to watch so that was out. I looked in the direction of my kitchen and smiled.

I made my way in and preheated the oven after turning on my ipod in it’s deck. I pulled out all the baking ingredients I had and got to work making brownies from scratch. While I may not have been an accomplished cook, I was a top notch baker. I popped the pan in the oven when I was done and went to work licking the bowl and spoon. Salmonella be damned, you just couldn’t bake without licking up all the leftovers.

I began to wash dishes and took in the sweet smell of the brownies as they cooked. Suddenly it didn’t feel like enough. Baking soothed me, but I still felt pretty tense. I took all the ingredients out again and got to work making peanut butter cookies from scratch. I shaped the dough into balls and flattened them out with a fork on the cookie sheets. Just as I was finishing that up, the alarm went off telling me that the brownies were done. I exchanged pans and left the brownies on the counter to cool. I got to work licking the next bowl clean as well, along with eating some cookie dough I’d left out.

The cookies didn’t take long and soon I had 3 dozen peanut butter cookies staring me in the face. I scarfed down four of them and suddenly felt guilty. I rolled my eyes at what Hollywood had done to me as I made my way to my bedroom to change into shorts and a tank top. I got on the treadmill in my work out room and spent the next hour running despite the fact that I’d already worked out earlier that day. I hopped in the shower when I was done, spending longer than needed in the almost scalding water.

After I dried off and put on some pajamas I made my way back into the kitchen to put the cookies into containers and cut the brownies to put away. I sampled a brownie and smiled at myself. They were amazing. Still, something didn’t seem right and for the third time that night I pulled out what was left of my baking supplies.

I perused what was left of my stock wondering when my kitchen had turned into a bakery. Sugar cookies popped into my head, and like the other two goodies, I made the dough from scratch. Just after I’d spread a pile of flour over the counter to roll the dough out, I heard a knock on the door.

I clapped my hands together to rid them of the flour as best I could and made my way to the door. I looked through the peephole to see who was there and nearly fell backwards. As if I couldn’t believe my eyes I glanced over my shoulder at the clock and saw that it was definitely him. I wondered if I should open the door for Corey or just let him believe I wasn’t home.

“What do you want?” I asked as I pulled open the door.

He started to open his mouth to respond, but a grin formed on his lips as he started to laugh. I narrowed my eyes at him wondering what the hell was wrong with him. He didn’t say anything as the laugh died down, but I figured it out soon enough when he wiped a finger along my cheek. It came away covered in flour and I couldn’t help but smile.

“It smells good in there,” he commented.

“I felt like baking,” I explained. “You can come in and have some if you want.” I mentally slapped myself for inviting him in.

“That would be great. Thanks.” He walked through the doorway and made his way into the kitchen. “Jesus, Meels, you weren’t kidding!” I laughed as I shut the door and followed him in.

“What can I say? I got a little into it.”

“What have you got going here?” he asked pointing to the giant ball of dough sitting on the counter.

“Sugar cookies. I have to roll them out and then cut them.” He took off his suit jacket and laid it over one of the dining room chairs. Then he rolled up his sleeves.

“What can I do to help?” I laughed at him, but then realized he was serious.

“Well, let me roll the dough out, then you can help me cut them.”

He nodded and stood off to the side until I had the dough ready to go. I didn’t believe in cookie cutters and instead handed him a knife. He looked from the knife to me like I was crazy but then he watched me get to work. I began cutting shapes into the dough and I saw him start to do the same. After I’d placed a few cookies on the sheet I looked to see what he was doing. He’d spelled out his name. I rolled my eyes at him but balled up the remaining dough and prepared to roll it out again.

“Can you dump some more flour on the counter?” I asked as I kneaded the dough back into a solid mass.

“Not a problem.”

It was then that I remembered that he had to have come to my door for a reason other than baking sugar cookies. I was about to ask him what it was when a large portion of the flour dumped out and sprayed up into my face. I opened my mouth in shock and glared at him. His face turned from one of worry to glee. I narrowed my eyes at him as he began to laugh. I got even more annoyed when he laughed so hard he doubled over. I dropped the ball of dough into the pile of flour with a thud. Another cloud went up, except this time it covered him.

“What the hell?” he yelled out jumping back. It was my turn to laugh as I saw flour settling on his face and in his hair.

“Serves you right,” I told him. His eyes started darting around the kitchen and my laughter faded. He was up to something.

“This is war,” he growled as he grabbed the bottle of vanilla extract and squirted it on me. I let out a screech as I tried to dart out of the way.

“I can’t believe you!” I yelled as I found the jar of peanut butter on the counter.

I took off the top in one swift motion sticking my hand in and coming up with a hand full of peanut butter. I lunged at him and managed to smear it in his face. He grabbed my hand and turned it around on me, getting it all over my neck and chest. Before I knew it there was flour, sugar, peanut butter, vanilla, baking soda and powder, and baking cocoa covering both of us and my kitchen.

“Truce!” I yelled as he smashed a brownie in my face.

We both fell laughing to the floor. We leaned up against the cupboards and tried to catch our breaths. I looked over at him and shook my head. He put a finger to my chin and wiped off the ingredients sticking to it. He then promptly stuck his finger in his mouth. I covered my mouth in horror.

“Tastes like chicken,” he joked. I gave him a shove and he caught my arm. “Not nice to beat up the helper.”

“You were more like the destroyer than the helper.” Our eyes locked and I suddenly knew I was in trouble. “Corey, we can’t.”

“Can’t what?” he asked even as his face moved closer to mine.

Our lips met for the second time that week and it wasn’t any less explosive than the first time. I scooted across the floor until I was practically in his lap, never breaking the kiss. I’d thought I couldn’t be any closer, but Corey obviously disagreed. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me into his lap. Somehow I ended up straddling him as the kissing became more frantic.
I pulled away and stood up off of him. I reached down to grab his hand and pull him up too. The second he was on his feet his lips were back on mine. I slid my hands up his sides and brought them between us. I began to unbutton his now destroyed dress shirt as he wrapped his fingers in my hair. He started backing me up and I guided him in the direction of the stairs. I managed to get his shirt unbuttoned before we reached them and I pulled it off of him.

I felt my calves hit the bottom step and grabbed onto Corey’s arms to keep from falling. In one swift motion he lifted me up without breaking the kiss. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he made his way up the stairs. When we reached the top I pointed to my bedroom and he carried me in and put me down on the bed. It never once crossed my mind that we were still covered in the baking ingredients.

“Why did you come here?” I asked between breaths as he rid himself of his undershirt. He fell back down on me and started to kiss and nip at my neck.

“To apologize for kissing you the other day and to tell you it wouldn’t happen again,” he murmured between kisses. I smiled into his lips when they made their way back up to mine.

His hands found the hem of my t-shirt and he lifted it over my head. He sucked in a breath, obviously surprised when he saw that I wasn’t wearing a bra. Since I’d planned on going to bed after baking the sugar cookies I hadn’t bothered to put one on. I moaned as he took one of my nipples into his mouth as his hands found the top of my shorts.

I reached between us and unbuckled his belt. I pulled his slacks and boxers down together and he followed suit by pulling my shorts off. We didn’t need any foreplay. It felt like if I didn’t have him inside of me right then and there I’d die. I let out a cry as he plunged into me and dug my fingernails into his back. His lips never strayed far from mine, only leaving them to kiss along my jawline. I screamed out as I felt my body shudder in pleasure just to feel him release seconds later.

I curled up to him like I’d always done and laid my head on his chest. He placed a kiss on my forehead and smiled down at me. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that we’d have to deal with what had just happened, but I didn’t want that moment to be right now. Instead neither of us said a word. He kissed me one last time before exhaustion took its toll and I fell asleep in his arms.