“You made cookies for him?” Mel squeals.

I cringe, and my ear rings painfully as her voice carries through my phone. At this rate, she’s going to give me an irreversible case of tinnitus.

Three hours have passed since he left, and Reid hasn’t called to update me on his meeting. To keep busy, I took a shower and baked a batch of butterscotch cookies. Reid’s grandmother sent me the recipe, claiming they were his favorite.

“It’s no big deal. I needed something to do before work.” Mel’s making a huge deal out of nothing. With the way she’s chastising me, you’d think I was preparing a marriage proposal.

Spoiler alert: I’m not.

“Don’t you know? A way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Mel pauses, and I already know she’s planning to give me more crap. “Or cock, but you’ve already been taking care of that one.”

I roll my eyes and shift the phone to my other ear. “Why do I tell you anything?”

“Because brilliance is attracted to brilliance.”

“Right.” I grab a spatula from the top drawer and transfer the cookies to the cooling rack.

Sleeping with a co-worker ranks pretty high in stupidity. Even if it felt like so much more than that. Waking up next to him. Being in his arms. It feels...nice. Normal. Like I’m supposed to be there. Which is crazy since Reid drives me insane ninety percent of the time.

“Just saying, be careful. Unless you want him following you around like a little lost puppy.”

“I do not want that.” Reid wouldn’t follow anyone. He’s like one of those mean old junkyard dogs that bark at kids when they lose their ball in his yard. Or at least he was up until he took me to bingo.

“Keep lying to yourself. Hope he enjoys the cookies. Gotta go, I’m about to get my hair done.”

“Later.” I hang up and finish scooping the cookies onto the cooling rack when a text buzzes through.

Reid: False alarm. Tom just wanted to chat about some random stuff. Heading home.

I blow out a relieved breath. It’d been a long shot to think Tom had found out about us, but still. I’ve worked my ass off for this job, and I’m not about to throw it away. Yes, he absolutely blows my mind every time I’m with him, but a talented tongue doesn’t pay my rent or allow me to continually tell my parents I’m not entering the family business.

Since I have a few extra minutes before my shift starts, I decide to package up the cookies and take them over to Reid’s. He lives close to work, about four blocks away. Screw what Mel says. The gesture is supposed to be nice. Kinda like a Thanks for the multiple orgasms, here’s a cookie as a door prize.

I park my car in his apartment complex and make my way to his place on the fourth floor.

Reid lives in an older place without many of the amenities mine offers, but it’s still located in the nicer part of town. The buildings around here are well loved, broken in by large families and pets.

I take the stairs two at a time, clutching the container of cookies in one hand, and knock on the door. Okay, maybe Mel was right. I look fucking ridiculous, standing here like Betty Crocker with my homemade cookies and sex-induced smile. Maybe I should bring up the girlfriend thing again to Reid. He didn’t seem to shy away from it like I thought he would.

Reid opens the door and does a double take. His brows pinch together, and I get the distinct feeling he doesn’t want me here. His lips pull into a tight smile, and immediately, I know something is off.

“Hey…sorry to drop in on you. I was just on my way to work. I should have texted first. Or called…” I trail off. Shit. I’m bumbling. My crazy is on full display.

“No problem. I was about to hop in the shower.”

“Oh.” His hair is wet. Like he’s already taken a shower. Weird.

“Well, I won’t keep you. Just wanted you to have these.” I practically shove the cookies into his hands.

Opening the container, he frowns, which is the exact opposite reaction I was shooting for. “Callie. I’m sorry you wasted your time coming over here.” There’s a slight hesitation before he pushes on. “But I think we need to cool things down for a bit. Especially with the close call with Tom…”

Holy shit. Am I getting the shaft? “They’re cookies, Reid.” There’s no way Mel is right, and cookies somehow don’t mean cookies. Humiliation washes over me because I did want to come over here. And I do want this to be something more.

And obviously, I’m an idiot.

“Great. I appreciate them. Just…don’t want to lead you on.”

Say what? What happened to our conversation earlier today?

My hackles rise because I don’t appreciate his tone or the way his words make me feel. As if I’m a pathetic loser begging to be with him.

“Trust me, you and your subpar lovemaking skills will not be missed.” Okay, subpar might be a bit much, but who is he to judge me on my cookie making? We were cool this morning, and now he’s acting all cagey.

He lifts a brow. “Subpar?”

“I’m sorry, do I need to use simpler language?”

No, no, no. Don’t do it. But I can feel us slipping back into our old routine. Only this time, my tone’s taken on a vicious edge. One that, even if this was a fling, doesn’t deserve for me to be a complete turd bucket to him.  

Before I can apologize, he says, “Thanks again for the cookies, Callie. See you at work.” And with that, he shuts the door in my face.