Tasha turned around with a big, forced smile on her face. "Don't worry about it, Kaden! I'll just make more."
Alisha was the one who saved me from myself, suddenly pointing her finger at me and nodding. "Kaden Barlow! I do know you - you're the quarterback at Reinhardt, aren't you? I read in the newspaper that all the big colleges are fighting for you - is it true?"
I nodded. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, that's me."
Alisha gave Tasha a look. One of those raised-eyebrow looks that women give each other when one of them has shown up with an impressive male companion. Then she turned around to leave, wishing me good luck with football before she did.
"Thanks," I called out after her, still wishing the kitchen floor would open up and swallow me whole. As soon as she was gone I took Tasha by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes, almost getting distracted by her long, black lashes before I managed to say what I needed to say.
"I'm sorry," I told her, again. "Tasha, that was really dumb of me - it was just so goddamned good and I guess I just assumed you made the whole thing for me."
And then, to my horror, Tasha's eyes began to well up. What the fuck? Was she crying? That was literally the last thing I wanted to happen. I immediately went into panic mode.
"Shit. Shit. Tasha, please don't cry, I - I'll make you more cornbread, OK? I'll-"
"Kaden, it's not that," she said, swiping at her eyes and taking a deep breath. "It's not the cornbread. And I'm not crying. I'm just - I'm tired. It's been a long week. It's been a long year."
"Has it?" I asked tentatively, not entirely convinced she wasn't upset about the cornbread.
Tasha looked up at me, blinking against the threatening tears. She turned away before allowing me to see them spill over and tried to flee - her usual tactic - but I caught her before she made it out of the kitchen.
"Tasha?" I asked, looking into her eyes. "Tell me what's wrong."
She took a couple more breaths. If I hadn't been so worried I would have found it adorable, the way she was so determined not to give in to her emotions. "It's like I said, Kaden. It's just been a tough week. My mom-"
Her voice squeaked on the word "mom" and that was it, she put her face in her hands and started sobbing silently. I pulled her into my arms without thinking and held her against me tightly as a maelstrom swept through my own heart, shocking in its intensity. Tasha's mom. Had someone hurt Tasha's mom? The instant rage at the mere thought of it was so strong it surprised me.
She let me hold her for a few minutes until she could speak again and then, with her forehead resting on my chest and not looking up at me, she mumbled: "My mother is sick."
I didn't have to ask if it was serious. I tried to pull her back into a hug but Tasha turned her tear-streaked face up to me for a few seconds. Then she reached her arms up around my neck and kissed me, hard.
Maybe I should have tried to resist, tried to understand that she was vulnerable and emotional. I knew, though, even as her full, soft lips opened against mine, begging me, that any attempt to pull away would have been useless. I remember the way she kissed me that night. Desperate, needy little kisses that didn't stop when I slipped my tongue into her mouth and sat down on one of her family's kitchen chairs, pulling her down onto my lap.
"Kaden..."
She was breathless. That was almost too much. Just that sweet little sound of her gasping my name when I ran my hands down the warm curves of her body created a surge of desire so strong my cock was like granite, straining at my jeans. I slipped one hand up underneath her top and she arched her body back, inviting the touch, exhaling quickly when I pulled her bra down under her breasts and ran my finger around her nipple.
I was no virgin at that time. In fact, I was probably more experienced than most thirty-something men. But what I could feel in Tasha, that unstoppable hunger, was new. She shifted her body forwards at one point, so my hard-on was pressed against her thigh, and the sound that came out of her throat, I swear to God I almost came in my pants.
"Kaden," she whispered, pulling me against her, grinding down against me as if she was trying to merge her body with mine. "Kaden, take me back to out to the hills, OK? Right now, let's-"
It was at that moment that we both heard the front door opening - and the front door was only feet from the kitchen. Tasha jumped off me and frantically started trying to smooth down her clothes as I made a clumsy attempt to push my stiff cock down one of my pant-legs.
"Hey Tash, I-"
A male voice. Probably her brother. He walked into the kitchen, looked back and forth from Tasha to me a few times and then shook his head slightly, more than aware of what he'd walked in on. Thankfully, he didn't seem to be the type of older brother to get all macho and confrontational. After questioning me on how old I was and where I went to school he visibly relaxed.