Maizy the Bear Charmer(Diving Creek Ranch 16)(56)
Cody stole a piece of the sweet dough as she cut it into strips and managed to make her smile and then he said, “So we should just pack it up and call it quits? Throw in the towel before we even know how things would work for us?”
She looked at him in surprise and a little shock. “No. I mean, that’s not what I want. Is that what you want, Cody?”
“No,” he murmured easily and shook his head. “What are you really scared of?”
“That something terrible will happen like me getting fired and I’ll lose you in the process before I even really know what it’s like to be with you. Losing on both sides. I’ve been teaching there for six years. I’m a good teacher and I should be allowed to continue teaching. I guess I want it all. I want what I see my brother and my friends enjoying and I’m afraid to find out that I can’t have it.”
Cody skirted the counter and stood behind her. He squeezed her upper arms and kissed the top of her head. “Baby, stop.”
She looked down at the flour on her hands and the rolled out dough. “What am I doing? I was supposed to make the filling first.”
He slid his hands down her arms and stilled her shaky hands as she gathered the scraps together. “Stop.”
“I messed it all up, putting the cart before the horse.”
“Stop. Do you know how happy I am that you’re here? How happy we all are?”
She looked from him to Heath and then back at Cody. “It’s not like me to be this scatterbrained. I can’t believe I screwed up your dessert. I wanted to do something nice for you—”
Cody turned her and crushed his lips against hers. She moaned and squirmed against him, panting through her nose a couple of times before she went limp in his arms. Her hands fisted the material of his shirt, leaving white, floury marks at the shoulders, and she clung to him as a rosy blush grew in her cheeks. When he finally released her she was breathless and her eyes had that sexy, dazed quality Spencer liked so much.
Cody smoothed the curls away from her face and said, “You’re here. That’s what we’ve wanted all day. You set to work without even noticing the changes around here. You must’ve been pretty worked up, huh?”
Maizy took a deep, tremulous breath and let it out. “I guess I was.”
“You’re not used to having someone to lean on, are you?”
“I’ve been on my own a while.”
Cody gently kneaded her shoulders. “You’re not alone anymore. You’ve dealt with the school and any issues on your own but now you have three men who…who are coming to care a great deal for you, angel. We won’t leave you to fend for yourself against people like Mrs. Dumphrey.”
“But you—”
“I know that if she has anything to say to you at school that you’d handle that on your own, but, baby, if we give you enough reasons to fight for what we have, you can handle her.”
Heath removed a baking sheet from one of the kitchen cabinets and started laying the pastry strips on it. As he got the sugar bowl and cinnamon and started sprinkling both over the pastry, she said, “What are you doing?”
Heath grinned at her as he popped a piece of the raw dough in his mouth and said, “Making pie cookies while you take a long, sexy bath.”
“While I what?”
Spencer smiled and said, “We’ve been working all day. We have a surprise for you.”
Cody poured sangria in a glass filled with crushed ice and handed it to her while Heath placed the baking sheet in the oven and set the timer.
“Come with us,” Cody said as he took her hand and led her to the hallway.
“You got more painting done. My goodness, did you work the entire day? You must be exhausted.”
“Not only did we get more painting done but we got your tub installed and ready to use.”
“You did?” she asked incredulously. “My tub?”
Heath came up behind her and caressed her ass cheeks and chuckled when she squealed. “Yeah, baby. You didn’t think we got that tub so the three of us could luxuriate in it together, did you? That’s yours. Now if you want company, we’re all on board with that plan.”
Cody said, “Matter of fact, we shopped for it with that idea in mind.”
“Well, I did notice it was a very large tub. Did you actually get into it all together?”
Cody grinned and nodded. “I guesstimated the size we’d need and we tried it out, with our clothes on, here after it was delivered. We figured there’s just enough room for all of us in there if you lay in our laps.”
“Oh,” she murmured and squirmed a little as her cheeks grew rosy. “That sounds so sexy. I could play musical chairs…with my bears.” All three of them were surprised at her use of that term and she looked apologetic for a second. “You don’t want me to use that word? I kind of liked it but if you don’t I’d—”