“How much longer until I can start?”
Jade stopped wiping down the counter and peered over her shoulder at him. “An hour probably.”
“Are you gonna help me?”
She laughed. “Nice try.”
“Why not?”
She faced him. “A, I didn’t see you in here the past two and a half hours helping us. B, you seem to have forgotten the ‘we’re not to occupy the same place and are supposed to actively ignore each other’ rule. C, well, there is no C presently, but I’ll probably come up with one the longer you stand there breaking rule number one.”
Tobin grinned. “You are Little Miss Rule Follower, aren’t you?”
“Yes. This is where you tell me that you aren’t big on following the rules.”
“Actually, I’m totally a by-the-book guy.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Does that surprise you?”
She found herself saying, “Yes,” almost automatically. “So as long as you’re here, Mr. By the Book, check out the schedule on the fridge.”
Tobin pushed away from the counter. “A schedule for what?”
“When GG plans to eat with you and me, but she isn’t dining with us at the same time at all, nor is she letting us dine together.”
“This is just plain damn ridiculous.”
“Maybe if you hadn’t been so argumentative and antagonistic since the moment I arrived, things would be different.”
“I’m taking the high road and ignoring that comment, which is also proof that I can follow the rules. But I’ll forgive you for your rules breach if you stay and help me frost these damn cupcakes.”
She smiled. “You wish.”
“Not fair to deny me a taste.”
Her focus went straight to his mouth and she managed, “What?”
“You must’ve had a taste, because you have batter on your face.” Tobin’s hand slid beneath her hair and he pressed his fingers against her neck, letting the rough pad of his thumb glide across her jawbone.
Jade didn’t move; she couldn’t breathe as he gently rubbed on the spot. The heat from his body hit hers as if she’d opened the oven door.
“I got it off,” he said, his deep voice gruffer than normal.
“Ah. Thank you.”
He dropped his hand and stepped back. Then he jammed his hand through his hair. “So, uh, yeah. I’ll . . . ah . . . be back in an hour.”
Then he was gone, leaving Jade to wonder what had just happened.
Tobin was fucked.
Seriously fucked.
And not because he’d almost fucking kissed Jade in the kitchen two hours ago.
Goddammit. He’d immediately gotten hard when he’d touched her smooth skin and her hair had brushed his knuckles like the finest silk. When she’d parted her lips and a sexy sigh had escaped, just a quick hitch in her breath that sounded like an invitation . . . he’d forced himself—and his cock—to stand down.
He oughta get a cupcake for not devouring her.
Focus, man.
Keeping in mind Jade’s comment about not embarrassing Miz G with, oh, just plain old sprinkles on the cupcakes, he’d actually attempted to be creative. Using the banana-shaped candy and two of the orange-shaped hard candies, he’d tried to make a bird with a curved beak.
So his first tray of cupcakes looked like an erect dick and balls.
Fucking awesome.
He hadn’t fared much better on tray two. He’d nestled two gumdrops side by side, placing a dot of icing on the center of each gumdrop to make them look like a pair of eyes.
Except . . . they looked like a pair of tits.
That’s when he grabbed a beer out of the fridge. Miz G would blow a gasket when she saw the X-rated decorations that he’d constructed.
He powered through with tray three when he found a cookie mold and pressed the shape into the frosting, which allowed him to outline with icing. Then he filled it in with colored sugar and sprinkles so they resembled flowers.
Tray four—and beer two—he fashioned the pi symbol out of the hard candies on each one. Hey, educators always claimed kids never had enough math.
He was on a motherfucking roll for the last tray. Slicing the licorice whips in random lengths and poking them into the cupcakes so it resembled a porcupine or something out of a Dr. Seuss book. Add in some rainbow sprinkles . . . and ta-fucking-da. Done.
Jade pushed through the swinging doors. “Oh. You’re still decorating?”
The woman had the worst poker face ever; he didn’t believe for a second she wasn’t checking up on him. “I just finished.”
“Mind if I have a look?”
“Knock yourself out.”
She smiled at the flower tray. Laughed at the pi tray and said, “Pi on cake. Clever, cowboy.”