Chapter Ten
124 days left
“Honey, I’m home,” he sang out as he entered the flat. Hearing the whirs and clangs of her electric mixer against the raucous bagpipe melody of “The Spicy McHaggis Jig” by Dropkick Murphys, Xan doubted she’d even hear him with a megaphone.
He tossed his gym bag by the door and inhaled the heavenly scents of vanilla and sugar deep into his lungs. It was a damn good thing he had willpower the size of a Mastodon or the only thing he’d be fighting next month was the Battle of the Bulge.
Usually he arrived home before Sophie so he had the chance to shower off the stench from his day. No way did he want to greet her smelling like a gym rat. Hopefully with all the racket she was making in the kitchen, he could make it to the bedroom before she knew he was back.
He walked the few feet out of the foyer and continued on past the living room. Xander had every intention on not looking back to catch a glimpse of her, but it was no use. He couldn’t knowingly be in the same room as her and not seek her out. She was a visual addiction that only got stronger with each passing day.
Knowing he’d need to change his immediate plans to a cold shower, he turned at the threshold to the bedroom. Even if the flat had been wall-to-wall with people, his gaze would have locked in on her as easily as a heat-seeking missile to a volcano. Leaning against the doorframe, he crossed his arms and watched her dance in place as she worked.
She faced away from him, her right hand turning the bowl on the counter as her left arm swirled her hand mixer around the inside. Bouncing to the heavy drum beats of the Irish bar music, her emerald-green ponytail swished back and forth over her shoulder blades which were mostly bare thanks to one of her favorite skimpy camisole top things—a penchant he wasn’t about to suggest she break anytime soon, or ever for that matter. As for her bottom half, it was barely covered in a pair of tight black cotton shorts that sported white handprints on each cheek like someone had reached around and grabbed her gorgeous bum. The cheeky phrase “Your Hands Here” was stamped on the waistband. Instructions he fully intended on making use of after his shower.
Ogling her as he was, Xander didn’t notice the mixer had stopped until he heard an excited shout over the music. “You’re home!”
With a practiced tug and yank, Soph whipped off her apron as she rounded the breakfast bar and ran barefoot in his direction. Uh oh. He held his hands up, hoping to stop her before it was too late. “Babe, wait. You don’t want to—”
But apparently she did, because with a girlish squeal she jumped into his arms. He caught her up against him as she wrapped her legs behind his back. Xander groaned at the way his cock nestled perfectly against her sex in this position. His groan was joined by her moan as she took his mouth in one of the best kisses of his life. The fact that every “best kiss” that ranked in the top for him all happened to be in the last two months from Sophie was no coincidence. The woman had a wicked mouth and even more wicked tongue.
When at last the kiss broke to allow them full breaths, he realized she’d washed her makeup off for the day. No heavily lined eyes with fake lashes or lips stained her signature bright red. He loved both looks—the sexy pinup and the fresh-faced imp—but knowing that this look was something she didn’t show the world, that it was his alone, warmed him in ways he couldn’t explain. And though he made it a point not to examine it too closely, he knew it struck him in an area located much higher up than his cock.
“That,” he emphasized, “was most assuredly the best homecoming a man has ever received. I’m glad I didn’t make it all the way to the bedroom before you noticed me.”
Sophie pretended to pout, her lush pink lower lip sticking out and begging for him to nibble and taste until he turned it red. “You tried to get past me?”
“Only because I stink to high heaven.” He opened his arms wide, but she remained attached to him at the waist and neck, making him laugh and resign himself to wrapping his arms around her again. Oh, the sacrifice. “I’m surprised you’re not clamoring down to get as far away from my man-stench as possible.”
She hitched a corner of her mouth and eyed him like he was nothing more than a piece of meat. He must have died and gone straight up. Lord, have mercy.
“Now why would I want to do that?” she asked, dragging her nose along his jawline from chin to ear. The sharp sting of her teeth nipping his lobe had him hissing in a breath and rocking his pelvis into her. “I like it when you’re sweaty,” she whispered against his neck. “You smell so virile and manly. It reminds me of how strong you are. How hard you work to keep this body so hard and sexy.”
Fucking hell, but this saucy woman knew exactly how to undo him. Spinning around, Xander stalked into the bedroom and over to the far side of the room for the full bath. He planted her ass on the edge of the counter and leaned into her. “Then you’d best hang on tight, gorgeous, because I’m about to show you just how hard I really am.”
Sophie grabbed the hem of his T-shirt and dragged it up. “Don’t let me stop you, baby.”
He dutifully raised his arms and let her whip it off and toss it to the floor. Their lips crashed together. Hands roamed. Mouths moaned. Timers dinged.
Wait, what?
“Shit! My truffles!” Sophie gave him a quick, hard kiss before jumping down, abandoning his balls in the process. “Hurry up and shower, because I need your help and want to show you what I’m working on, ’kay?”
“Why don’t you set them out to cool, bring that tight arse of yours back here”—he grabbed his cock and balls over his jersey shorts and adjusted himself blatantly for her stare—“and I’ll show you what I’m working on.”
Brushing his hand aside, the minx grabbed him in the same fashion and gave him a light squeeze that made him grunt as fire shot through his veins. “Because I can get this working any time I want, but mine can’t wait. So hurry up like a good boy and I promise I’ll make it up to you later.”
With a devilish glint in her eye, Sophie lowered herself until her face lined up with his cock and her warm breath permeated the fabric of his shorts. Then she placed a searing kiss on the sensitive head and whispered, “Down, boy.”
“Fucking Christ, Soph.”
Before he had the chance to recover, she walked away with an exaggerated swing in her hips, peering back at him over her shoulder like a cat that ate the canary.
“Oh, you’re so going to pay for that later.”
She’d already made her way into the bedroom where he could no longer see her, but she made sure he could hear her just fine. “Promises, promises…”
Xan couldn’t help his strangled chuckle. He shook his head as he set the shower spray to balls-freezing temps. It was either that or taking himself in hand, and he had no desire to do anything with his cock unless it involved his sexy baker.
After the quickest shower of his life, he donned a fresh pair of shorts and padded out to see what had Soph so excited. “All right, you saucy wench, what is it you’re up to out here?”
He took a seat on a stool at the breakfast bar and thanked her for the bottle of water she placed in front of him.
“Okay, so you know how the bakery hasn’t been doing great the last couple of years because of all the crazy-compulsive-health-nuts—”
Xan raised a brow and cleared his throat a tad dramatically.
A slight blush crept into the apples of her cheeks with her wincing smile. “I meaaaan,” she dragged out while rethinking her words, “because of all the positive life changes people are making?”
He couldn’t help the chuckle at her expense as he raised the bottle to his lips and took several long drinks. “Much better. Go on.”
“Well, I started wondering if maybe I shouldn’t use the old if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em tactic and try to come up with healthier recipes that stay true to the flavors Grams created, but are less of a diabetic’s nightmare.”
He stopped mid-gulp. “Healthy cake balls? Can you do that?”
“Cake truffles. And not ‘healthy’ exactly, but definitely ‘healthi-er’. I’m not under the illusion that I can make some kind of magical sugar-free, calorie-free dessert of the gods. But I’ve already made adjustments to my standard white cake recipe and nailed something that tastes almost just as good and only has a fraction of the calories and almost no sugar.”
She grabbed a cupcake from the cooling rack and placed it on a napkin in front of him like she was offering him a golden chalice. “Here, tell me what you think.”
Xander stared down at the mini dessert with equal parts fear and anticipation. Sophie was obviously determined to make this work, but he wasn’t sure something like a cupcake could still taste good after removing all the bad stuff that made it taste good in the first place. And what should he say if he didn’t like it? He knew he’d have to be honest, but the last thing he wanted was for her to be upset at something he said.
Deciding he couldn’t stall any longer, he broke off a bite-size piece and put it in his mouth, hoping like hell it tasted—
His eyes widened as his gaze snapped up to meet hers. “This is really fucking good.”
“Yes!” She bounced on her toes with a happy squeal. “I knew it! I mean, I knew it was good, but it’s hard for me to gauge because I’ve been eating Grams’s recipes my whole life, so nothing else tastes as good to me, not even other cupcakes. But you’re a Sweet Spot virgin and a clean eater, so you were the true test.”
“You definitely passed this test with flying colors. I’m right impressed. Truly. What are you working on now?”
“Well, now that I have my standard white cake recipe, I want to work on a variety of frosting flavors. Then, as time allows, I can work on perfecting the other cake flavors to go with them.”
“Makes sense.” He glanced around at the multitude of bowls, ingredients, and various utensils that covered every inch of counter space. It rather looked like the bakery had launched an air strike in his kitchen. “How many frostings have you got so far?”
“Technically?” Sophie’s eyes traveled the same path as she turned in place, calculating her progress. Facing him once again, she said, “None.”
He raised an eyebrow. “None,” he repeated in disbelief.
“None that are good enough. Not yet, anyway. But I have a few more ideas on how to get the sweetness up without raising the sugar levels.” She clasped her hands in front of his chest and batted her eyes. “Wanna help me?”
Xan crossed his arms and absently scratched at the day’s beard growth, pretending to weigh the pros and cons. “Will you be naked?”
She grinned. “No.”
“How about naked, but wearing your apron?” he tried, nodding to the white one she’d discarded earlier.
The grin grew into a smile. “’Fraid not.”
“Can I be naked wearing nothing but your apron?”
Laughter burst from her and warmed his chest. “Be my guest. Just keep your hands where I can see them, you big hornball. This is a sanitary operation.”
She turned from him and started arranging things on the island that she needed, his joke all but forgotten. She doesn’t think I’ll do it. He shook his head. Still so much to learn. It took him less than five seconds to pull the apron on, tie it in the back, and shuck his shorts. Then he crossed to the other side of the kitchen to wash his hands.
He didn’t turn to look, but he noticed all sounds halted behind him. Then he heard her mumble what he thought was something about quarters. He tore off a paper towel and dried his hands as he finally faced her again. Doing his best to keep a serious expression, he asked, “Sorry, love, what was that? I couldn’t hear with the water running.”
“I said I could bounce coins off your hindquarters. You know your ass is ridiculous, right?”
“Ridiculous as in good or bad?”
“Oh, ridiculous as in good,” she confirmed, nodding slowly in a trancelike state. “Very, very good.”
“Well, now, doesn’t that just take the biscuit?”
Her eyebrows shot north. “Who took a what now?”
“Take the biscuit,” he said with a lazy grin. “Means nothing could be better than that.”
That earned him an eye roll. She picked his shorts up and pushed them at his chest. “Put your shorts back on before you start tenting in my apron.”
Speaking of arses, Xan swatted hers with the flat of his hand and then changed as instructed. For the next couple of hours, they worked on coming up with the right flavor combinations that used healthier ingredients.
“I can’t wait to hear what your grandmother thinks of the new recipes.”
Sophie didn’t say anything as she picked up a spatula and began folding the pureed strawberries into the white frosting. A process she’d done literally thousands of times, could probably do in her sleep, and yet she focused on her task as though it was open-heart surgery. Her grip tensed on the mixing bowl, draining her fingertips of color from the pressure.
Xan moved behind her, wrapped his arms around her middle, and tucked her against his chest. She melted into his embrace as he dropped his head and kissed the bare skin of her shoulder. “Tell me what’s bothering you.”
“It’s just that I want her to try them because her opinion matters so much to me. But at the same time I’m afraid all I’d be doing is setting myself up for disappointment.”
Stopping her hand, he turned her to face him and used his thumb and forefinger to tilt her chin until he could see the soft brown of her eyes. Sophie swallowed thickly and blinked back the tears springing from the well of raw vulnerability she always kept sealed. Though he admired her strength and understood why she held on to her brave front, eventually, everyone needed someone they could lean on and trust with their fears, and Xan wanted badly to be that person for her.
He framed her face with his hands and caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. “What would ever make you think that?”
“Because she doesn’t even know who I am anymore. Doesn’t remember the bakery.” Her despair finally spilled over her lower lashes. “Every week I bring her two cupcakes—one she eats while I’m there after her lunch, and the staff gives her the other one after dinner. She calls me ‘that sweet cupcake girl’.”
“There, you see?” he said softly. “She does know who you are.”
She gave him a sad, watery smile that was more of an attempt to humor him than anything else, but he wasn’t trying to be funny. It was a rare moment, he knew, but everything about Sophie seemed to force him to feel things deeper than his typical surface-level shit. “Ah, lass, though her mind might not remember you, her heart couldn’t possibly forget. You are her heart. You know that. And you also know that she can tell a good cupcake when she tastes one, which is why it makes perfect sense to ask her opinion.”
“I want her to meet you,” she whispered. Her eyes widened the slightest bit as though she hadn’t meant to say it out loud. Then resolve settled over her features and she spoke again, but with a surety that wrapped itself around his chest and squeezed. “I want her to meet you, Xander.”
Using his fingers, he tucked the loose tendrils of jade hair behind her ears and cupped her jaw. Slowly, he brought his lips down to kiss hers with all the tenderness he possessed. For her, only for her. He didn’t understand how she did it, but Sophie brought out things in him he didn’t know were possible. “I would love to meet your grandmother, Sophie, as long as you’re sure it’s what you want. I know you cherish your dates with her, and I don’t want to intrude on that.”
“No, it’s not a big deal at all,” she said, backing out of his embrace and waving a hand in dismissal. “I usually take a friend with me whenever I can. She enjoys having visitors so the more the merrier, you know?”
She gave him a smile before turning her attention back to her frosting. She needed to get things back to their former playful banter, so she pulled back and made light of the topic. He’d noticed it was her habit whenever he dug too deep or things felt too heavy, too emotionally intimate.
At least she didn’t hold herself back from enjoying everything physically intimate with him anymore. Ever since they gave in to their powerful mutual attraction the couple of weeks earlier, they’d been insatiable when it came to sex. He still slept on the pull-out at night, though. There was a difference between using the bed as a place for mutual pleasure and using it as a place where their lust-weary bodies could entwine and become used to sleeping with each other.
A half hour later they finished their third attempt at a salted caramel frosting. Sophie broke off a chunk of white cake and added a dollop of the creamy stuff. She’d already tested it, but gave nothing away of what she thought and now waited for his verdict. The first two batches had been rather awful, so he hoped this one was at least a marginal improvement.
“Blow me, Soph, you did it. This is bloody fantastic.”
“I know, right? Xander, we did it. There’s a chance this might actually work.”
“Are you kidding? O’course it will work. Even the strictest of dieters will treat themselves to these occasionally, if not more.”
She chewed on the corner of her lip. “You really think so?”
“I know so.”
“Even you?”
“O’course not me. Do you want me to get fat, woman?”
She narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. “But you just said ‘even the strictest of dieters’ would eat them.”
“And they will,” he said. “But I’m no dieter.” Xan took slow, deliberate steps toward her with a predatory look that had her backing up. “I’m a lean…mean…fightin’ machine.”
At last her back came up against the stainless steel refrigerator door so she could go no farther, and he took his last stride to pin her there.
“Besides.” He braced his right hand next to her head then used his left to drag her hand down the front of his hard torso. “I thought you liked me all hard and rigid. You don’t want me to go all soft on you now, do you?”
The trouble with seducing Sophie, even in a somewhat joking manner, was that he ended up seducing himself as well. The double entendres were meant to put nasty images in her head of his thick cock and drive her mad, but the feel of her delicate fingers sliding between his pecs and over the cuts of his abdomen nearly short-circuited his brain.
“No,” she said. Her breathy voice told him he was on the right track, and he had no plans of deviating to another. She dropped her hand farther, pressing into his stiff length on the way down, to end her journey with a glorious squeeze of his balls. “I definitely prefer you hard.”
He sucked in a breath between clenched teeth and moved his left hand to flank her head as his other did. “That’s a damn good thing.” Xan dipped his head to nuzzle her cheek and let his lips move over her. “Because whenever I’m around you, I’m harder than I’ve ever been in my life.”
Closing his lips on the sensitive spot beneath her jaw, he stroked her pulse with his tongue and felt it flutter faster by the second. Christ, this woman would be his undoing.
“And does my unusual talent for making you so hard afford me a liberty or two that others wouldn’t get away with?”
He groaned. “I have a feeling I’d let you get away with just about anything you wanted.” Shit. He’d meant to say that in his head. Why not just sign a contract that gives her carte blanche to do whatever her mind dreams up, ya barmy bastard. Pulling his head back to meet her gaze, he quickly amended his blunder. “Within reason. I’m not dressing up in your knickers or letting you take one of your vibrators and sh—”
Sophie silenced him with a long shush and her fingers barring his lips. “Relax, oh manliest of men,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. “I just thought that if you won’t put my delicious creations inside your body, perhaps you’d let me put them on the outside.”
He drew his brows together and was just about to ask her what the devil she was talking about when he felt a single finger coated in silky frosting travel down the center line of his abs. Dropping his head, he stared at the pink strawberry cream as she dipped her finger into the bowl once more and continued to paint the outlines of his muscles with painstaking slowness.
“When I planned on getting a little sticky with you later, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind,” he said. Finished with her masterpiece, she brought her finger toward her mouth, but he grabbed her wrist and held it up between them. “Then again, I’m always up for trying new things.”
He guided her slim finger into his mouth, all the way to her last knuckle, then laid it on the flat of his tongue before closing his lips and sucking. Xan watched with satisfaction as her brown eyes turned to pitch as night with burning desire. He swirled his tongue and added plenty of suction to clean off the frosting while reminding her of how much he loved the way she sucked him off.
As if on cue, Sophie slid down the refrigerator, taking her delicious finger with her. But instead of going for his cock like he’d expected and bloody well hoped, she paused to take time and enjoy the scenic route. No sooner had her tongue touched his skin than he released a deep moan. Licking him from navel to sternum and from one side to the other—twice—she cleaned him up and turned him on even more, if that was possible.
She nipped him above his waistband and the flash of pain startled him. He sucked in a sharp breath that ended in a grunt through clenched teeth. His she-devil peered up at him with a wicked smirk curving those sensual lips.
He wrapped her ponytail around one hand until he reached the base at her head and pulled it taut. She gasped through an open smile, revealing the pleasure she felt when he pulled her gorgeous hair. With his free hand, he placed his fingers under her chin and dragged his thumb over her lips. Not in a light or grazing manner. He wasn’t in the mood for anything tender. Instead, he pressed his thumb enough that he pulled her lip a little as he moved it.
“I fucking love your mouth, Soph,” he rasped. Her tongue darted out for this thumb, but he avoided it and after a few tries, she took the hint and stopped trying. “When you wrap these lips around my cock, it’s enough to kill me from the pleasure. You suck me like you love it as much as I do.”
She ran her hands down his erection, the friction from his shorts creating a wave of sensations that had his balls tightening. “I do love it.”
With the hand at her hair, he pulled her hair elastic out so her jade waves fell around her shoulders. His other hand shoved his shorts down with one swift movement, leaving his heavy cock to jut toward her. “Prove it.”
“Happy to,” she said in a rush, right before her hot mouth enveloped him and sent him reeling.
Xan fisted her thick hair, not to control her movements, but to hold on for dear life like a bull rider trying to last for eight seconds. The woman was a master, never giving him the same experience twice, or at least that’s how it seemed. She used everything at her disposal: both hands, lips, tongue, even teeth. She was everywhere all at once. Licking, sucking, stroking, tugging. Christ Almighty, at this rate he wouldn’t last.
He looked down and took a mental picture so he’d have this image locked away to take out whenever he wanted. Remnants of pink frosting that her tongue had missed streaked across his stomach, and below that, the sexiest woman to walk the earth was gazing up at him with dark hypnotic eyes and her lips stretched around his cock.
“Fucking beautiful.”
Sophie began moaning and he damn near shot his load as the vibrations tingled through his shaft. But he wasn’t about to let her finish him off. He had plans for her body and that frosting.
Without warning, he pulled her to her feet and set her on top of the breakfast bar before dragging her shorts down and off, leaving her sitting in nothing but her top. When she grabbed the hem to remove it, he stopped her. “Leave it.” He wanted her to keep it on, so he had to maneuver around it to get to her tits.
Leaning in, he descended on her neck, taking his fill and reveling in the feel of her nails scraping his scalp as she held him to her. Like he was going anywhere before satisfying them both to the point of exhaustion. She’d have to pry him off with a crowbar.
Xander pulled the skinny straps down her shoulders then adjusted them until they were tight around her upper arms, trapping them at her sides.
“As far as bondage goes,” she said, “it’s not very effective.” She demonstrated by bringing her hands up to rake her nails down his chest.
Fuck! She’s making me crazy. “Don’t ever challenge me when it comes to that. If I wanted, I could truss you up faster than you could make an argument against it. I don’t want to prevent you from using your hands. Only to limit their reach.”
“Why— Oh God.”
He’d yanked the cotton of her shirt down and taken her right nipple in his mouth, effectively cutting off her train of thought. Unable to help himself, he smiled against her supple flesh, tonguing the tight little bud. Then he showered the same attention to its twin.
After he had them both cherry red and swollen, he found the bowl of pink frosting and set it next to her on the counter. He gathered a healthy dollop of the stuff on his finger and held it between them. “My turn to frost my dessert.”
Her breath caught in her throat as he painted her nipples. “What’s the point if you won’t eat it?”
Like she did with him, he inserted his finger into her mouth and practically nutted when she took it deep and sucked hard. Fire licked through his balls and climbed up his spine. His need to have her—not only now, but it seemed every minute of every day—was beyond comprehension. Attempting to keep the strain of holding on to his control out of his voice, he said, “Oh, I definitely plan on devouring every frosted inch of you. I’ve no issues breaking my own rules, as long as the reason is worth it.”
Xander placed his fingers on her collarbone and gently pushed until she yielded, laying back on the counter with her legs still dangling off the edge. “And you’re more than worth it.” Then he made short work of removing every bit of the confection and showing her just how delicious he thought she was.