Take the Cake (42 page)

“Well,” Wren huffed, “there’s a lot to consider and—”

“And nothing,” David interrupted. “You’ve gotta take a chance on yourself now and then, sweetheart.”

Wren stared at David in amazement. “I wish,” she said at last, “that I could see myself the way you do.”

David stared back at her for a long moment and then pushed his glasses back up his nose. “You’ll need a prescription,” he drawled.

Wren gave a hoot of laughter that turned into a shriek when David lunged forward to push her back against the sofa cushions and began to tickle her in retaliation. Gasping with laughter, she looked at David’s broad smile as he pouted at her in mock sympathy while she writhed and squirmed in a futile bid to get away. She felt as if she was seeing clearly for the first time in her life.

~~~

“Find anything?” Michael appeared at Kate’s shoulder and put a hand on either side of her hips, peering over her shoulder as she chopped some bacon.

“Enough for a Spanish omelet,” Kate replied, turning her head for a quick kiss before she returned her attention back to the ingredients.

“Nice,” Michael said as he nuzzled her neck for another kiss.

“What, the omelet or my neck?” Kate smiled.

“Um, the middle one,” Michael muttered as he nibbled her earlobe.

“Good choice.” Kate smiled.

Michael sighed and rested his chin on her shoulder, softly grinding his hips against her bottom.

“Thank God, you don’t do that in the store,” Kate said through her smile. “I’d never get anything done.” She could feel Michael’s lips curl into a tomcat grin against her neck. “Back up there, babe. I’ve got to finish this.”

“Woman,” Michael sighed as he released her. “You’ve got nerves of steel.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Kate said, moistening her lips with her tongue as she poured the egg mix into the pan and waited a moment before adding the other ingredients. She shot a sidelong look at Michael and cleared her throat. If he kept looking at her like that, dinner was going to be a burnt offering at best.

Michael strolled back into the living room and occupied himself by checking out Kate’s bookshelves. The books were in no apparent order that he could discern, and he found himself smiling as he saw Tudor history interspersed with travel, Spanish poetry beside Tolkien, even true crime beside … he leaned in closer and turned his head to read the narrow spine.

“
The Teach Your Chicken How to Fly Training Manual
,” he read aloud slowly, stepping back and shaking his head. “Kate,” he called toward the kitchen, “this chicken book here—”

“It’s from an art exhibition. Keep looking. There are some good ones.”

“M’kay,” Michael murmured, giving the occasional grunt of amusement while he explored the bookshelves.

“Dinner,” Kate announced a short while later as she set down the bowl and plates before returning to the kitchen to get the omelet.

“Find something you like?” Kate said as she sat down.

“Where the hell do you find these?” Michael looked away from the bookshelves, his face bright with curiosity.

“Secondhand bookstores, friends, Bear.” Kate shrugged.

Michael looked at her bookshelves again. If this was the kind of variety that she liked, then no wonder she had been hard pressed to find something to read at his place. An idea niggled at him, but he set it aside to discuss later.

“I’ve got to go book shopping with you sometime,” Michael commented as he put the book aside with slight reluctance and then noticed dinner. “Wow.” He nodded at the dinner offerings. “For someone cooking on the fly, that looks fantastic.”

“Wait until you’ve tried it,” Kate cautioned.

“It’ll be great,” Michael said as he poised his fork over his plate, and it was.

Kate was relegated to the sofa after dinner while Michael cleared everything away, so she flicked through the cable channels until she found something she wanted to watch. Stretching out on the sofa, she stuffed a plump cushion behind her head and gazed at the screen. She could hear Michael moving around in the kitchen, and she smiled to herself as she heard him opening various cupboards, muttering quietly as he worked out what went where. He appeared just as the next show was starting.

“What’s on?” he asked as he sank down with a sigh and hauled Kate against him.

“
True Blood
,” Kate replied as she wrapped an arm around him.

“Which is?” Michael raised an eyebrow at her.

“Vampire porn,” Kate replied as she gave him a quick wink.

“You’re kidding, right?” Michael looked at her in disbelief as the twangy country theme song started. The room was silent for a few minutes. “Jesus,” Michael breathed out, “where the hell did you find this?”

“HBO,” Kate replied. “Now shut up and watch.”

“Right,” Michael said, his gaze not moving from the screen, “yes, ma’am.” And so he watched, and the more he followed the story the more he became aware of the warm, soft body pressed up against his side.

It seemed that Kate wasn’t immune to the eroticism on the screen either. Her hand was drawing a lazy pattern on Michael’s thigh, slowly spiraling up and down until he began to squirm. Two could play at that game, however, and he very slowly worked his hand up Kate’s shirt so that he was gently cupping a breast. Kate arched and shifted so that she was leaning into his touch.

“Is this show on DVD?” Michael whispered into Kate’s ear, catching her earlobe between his teeth in a soft nip.

“Uh-huh.” Kate squirmed and offered herself up for more.

“Then what the hell are we doing here?” Michael whispered between open-mouthed kisses on her neck.

“Good point.” Kate tried to sit up but only succeeded in falling back against the cushions as Michael scrambled to his feet.

Had he been asked later, Michael would have been completely unable to recall how he and Kate transitioned from the sofa to the bedroom. One thing he did remember was Kate turning her back to him, and how he was arrested by the sight of his surname printed across the shirt. Running his hands up and under the cotton, Michael eased the shirt up and off Kate’s body, then pulled her close and kissed everywhere that the letters had been. They fell onto the bed in a tangle of limbs, delighting in each other as all the layers of cotton and denim were discarded. Licking and kissing her shoulders, he cupped her breasts in his hands and pulled her against his chest. Kate submitted at first, but her need for friction had her turning and pushing him onto his back, straddling him with a soft growl as she set out to do some exploring of her own.

Michael squeezed his eyes shut, tangling his fingers in her hair as her tongue swirled around him, lapping and sucking as she teased him to the brink before stopping and regarding him with a sly smile. Matching her smile, Michael wondered where this vixen had come from and grabbed her by the shoulders to pull her up beside him.

“My turn,” he said in a hoarse whisper, pushing a knee between her thighs as he pressed her slight body against the mattress. Kate whimpered and arched her back as Michael’s chest hair rasped against her sensitive skin, as he took his time exploring her topography. Frustrated at his leisurely pace, Kate hooked one of her legs around his hips to pull him closer.

“Uh-uh.” He shook his head with a smile, and then took her slim ankle in a firm grip with one hand while he trailed his other hand over her sternum in a soft, teasing pattern. He twisted and shifted slightly to read the scrolling letters on her ankle. “What does this one mean again,
Suscipio Tripudium?”

Kate shifted and groaned when Michael held her in place, giving her a look of quiet patience while he waited for her to answer.

“Receive Joy,” she volunteered at last as she reached for him. “Please, Michael.”

“Can’t let my girl down,” he murmured as he dipped his head toward her skin again, and Kate snatched convulsively at the bed sheet as his tongue dipped inside her, and she breathed out a keening sigh. Michael lifted his head to regard her for a moment. “Oh, I like that sound. Let’s see if you can do that again.”

“Quit … toying with me, Forrester,” Kate said.

But Michael was too busy to say anything for quite some time. When he at last moved up her body and slid into her, they were communicating by taste and touch, already knowing each other’s sweet spots as they stroked and curled their way toward bliss.

“Only you, Kate.” Michael rested his forehead against hers as their bodies moved in unison.

“Only you,” she agreed, hooking her other ankle around Michael’s hip, giving as much joy as she received.

Chapter 23

Reviews and Bacon

Michael woke as he felt a tickle start on his chest and cracked his eyes open to see Kate curled up against his side, her fingers swirling in sleepy patterns on his bare skin. Turning his head, he pressed a soft kiss against her hair and smiled when she shifted to give him a bleary smile before snuggling and closing her eyes again. He wasn’t surprised at this reaction. Sunday mornings were Kate’s only opportunity to sleep in, and she always made the most of it.

He was awake now but didn’t want to move for fear of disturbing Kate, so he contented himself by studying the bedroom, his gaze stopping as he focused on the large print of Klimt’s “The Kiss.” The gold detail in the picture had been picked out in foil, and he watched as the soft light in the bedroom made the picture glow. The room was quiet and still in the early morning light. Kate sighed in her sleep and shifted closer to him—an almost impossible feat given their bodies were already entwined. Glancing across at the window, Michael saw that it was snowing outside, and as he watched the snowflakes flutter down outside, he felt warm and secure with Kate in his arms, knowing that he wanted more.

An hour later, he smiled as he felt a soft kiss against his shoulder and glanced down to see Kate blinking sleepily up at him.

“Hey, you.” He smiled.

“Mornin’.” Kate yawned and rolled onto her back and arced into a cat-stretch, laughing when Michael swooped down to kiss her belly where her T-shirt had ridden up. “Nice try but your aim’s off. Get up here,” she suggested.

“Yes’m,” Michael said obediently before giving her a quick kiss. “Sleep well?”

“Yup,” Kate replied as she draped a languid arm around his neck to hold him to her, “but the waking up bit is much better.”

“You won’t hear me arguing,” Michael muttered as he kissed her again, running his tongue along her bottom lip before dipping into her warmth.

~~~

After a leisurely shower and change, Michael sniffed at the air as he walked into the kitchen, pushing his still-wet hair off his face. He nuzzled Kate who was getting some coffee cups out.

“Smells good,” he said as he planted a quick kiss on the side of her neck.

“I thought you’d like it.” Kate smiled at him as she got out the milk. “It’s the same blend I use at the store.”

“Great.” Michael watched as she picked up a small stainless steel jug and began frothing some milk on the home-sized espresso machine. “Don’t you get sick of that?”

“What, making coffee?” Kate glanced at him over her shoulder while she worked before returning to attention to the task at hand. “Not at all. Not when it gets me my morning heart starter.”

“Fair call,” Michael agreed, turning around in surprise when the oven timer pinged. “You baked?”

“Nope.” Kate grinned. “Warming up some muffins that Emily made. I didn’t get a chance to try them at the store, so I brought some home.” She nodded toward the oven mitts on the counter. “Do me a favor and take them out?”

“Sure.” Michael carefully took the tray out and rested it on the stove top, and then gave the muffins an appreciative sniff. “What are they?”

“Cranberry and orange, with a demerara sugar crust,” Kate answered as she poured the steamed milk into the waiting cups and then spooned on some froth. “Here you go,” she said as she passed Michael a cup. “Sugar’s over there.” She jerked her chin to indicate the sugar bowl as she busied herself putting some muffins onto a serving dish. Grabbing her coffee and the plate, she carried them out into the small living room, setting the dish down on the coffee table and returning to the kitchen for the butter.

“Okay.” Michael searched the bottom shelf of the coffee table to pull out a bundle of papers and magazines. “What have we got?”

“There should be yesterday’s
New York Times
and a few copies of
Vanity Fair
,” Kate said before she sipped at her coffee. “I’m not sure what else you’ll find there.”

“Hmmm.” Michael scanned the newspaper and realized he’d read most of it already. He thought of the weekend newspapers that would be waiting at his apartment and suppressed a sigh.

“Sorry.” Kate interpreted his look and gave him an apologetic smile.

“Huh?” Michael glanced at her and shook his head while he broke off a piece of muffin and spread some butter on it before taking a bite. “No big deal.”

Kate reached over for the other half of Michael’s muffin that he had buttered and left on the plate, biting into it with relish as he gave her an indignant look. Michael helped himself to another muffin and settled back on the sofa while Kate switched on the TV and turned to a news channel. He contemplated the muffin in his hand while he chewed. “You know … these are really good.”

“I know.” Kate nodded over her cup at him. “She’s flexing her muscle a bit in the kitchen. It’s good.”

“You don’t mind?”

Kate looked at him in surprise. “Why would I? Sure, I do the cupcakes, but it’s great to have some backup now.”

“I just thought because the store was yours, you’d want things to stay, you know …” he shrugged, “… exclusive.”

Kate gave him a fond look. “It’s just baking, Michael, not rocket science.”

“I know.” Michael waved off her amusement. “But given the time you’ve put into the store, I didn’t know how protective you’d be.”

“Ah, now I get where you’re coming from. The hallowed recipe book is mostly up here.” She tapped a finger against her temple. “And the basic ones are kept in the store.”

“Gotcha. Just checking.” He looked down and brushed some crumbs off his T-shirt, and then he picked up his cup and drained it. When he lowered the cup, Kate was regarding him with amusement. “Have I told you how much I love your coffee?”

“Uh-huh.” Kate nodded as she chewed.

“Have I told you how much I love you?”

Kate smiled and sipped at her cup. “Uh-huh.”

“And,” Michael swallowed hard and then continued, “have I told you that I think we should live together?”

Kate, who had been about to take another bite of muffin, paused and set it back down on the plate. “That bit you’ve kinda kept quiet,” she said as she regarded him with calm eyes. She didn’t seem surprised at his words, and Michael felt a rush of relief as he looked at her calm expression.

Michael rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “So, uh, how about we talk about it?”

“How about we do that,” Kate agreed in a soft voice.

~~~

Wren sneezed and slapped away the hand that had been fluttering over her top lip.

“Guh.” Her voice was muffled as she rolled over and stuffed her face into the pillow to evade David’s hand. “Get away from me.”

“That’s not what you said last night,” David rumbled as he hooked a leg over Wren and pulled her against him. “Especially when you were about to—”

“God.” Wren pushed herself away and glared up at him. “Do you have to be such a morning person?” she snapped before thumping her head back into the pillow.

“Babe,” David replied in a mild tone. “I wanna take us out for breakfast.”

“Fine,” Wren mumbled. “Later.”

“It’s later now,” David objected. He was silent as Wren kept her eyes resolutely closed before he reached out to rub her back. It was time to utter the magic words. “There’s gonna be coffee,” he said in a wheedling tone.

It worked. Wren huffed and then turned her head to give him a long hard stare.

“Fine,” she said at last. “You go shower. I’ll be in there soon.”

David beamed at her, and then threw back the covers to make his way into the bathroom. “Don’t be long,” he called over his shoulder.

Wren mumbled something into the pillow. It was not “have a nice day.”

An hour later saw Wren and David waiting to cross the street, wrapped up in coats and scarves. David stamped his feet on the sidewalk a few times to keep warm, as Wren folded her arms over her chest against the morning chill and squinted across the street.

“Where are we going again?”

“Somewhere with bacon and pancakes,” David said as he put his arm around Wren’s shoulders, pulling her alongside him as the light changed and they began walking again.

“And coffee,” Wren reminded him.

“And coffee,” David agreed. “You know, when we met I seem to recall you being really peppy.”

“That was in the store. There’s
coffee
in the store.
Lots
of coffee,” Wren snapped.

“You’ll have some soon,” David replied.

Wren gave him a quelling look, trying to retain her tired and grumpy mood and failing when he flashed her a grin that revealed his dimples. He seemed to be very pleased with himself.

David chaffed Wren’s upper arm with his hand as they walked, humming under his breath. He had a surprise for her this morning and getting her out for breakfast was a means to an end. The previous evening had been a late night for them both, although neither of them had been worrying about that at the time.

“I could’ve made pancakes at home,” Wren grumped.

“There’s just no joy in you until you’ve had a coffee, is there?”

“Not when I thought I could have a sleep in.” Wren sighed.

“You can nap this afternoon, and anyway, I’ve got a surprise for you,” David replied, giving her an enigmatic grin when she looked at him.

“What kind of surprise?” Curiosity had her feeling more alert now.

“The kind where you’re gonna have to wait and see,” David answered, laughing when she stuck her tongue out at him. The distraction had been enough to dissipate her morning grumbles, but she wouldn’t feel completely human until she had coffee. Fortunately they arrived at the café soon enough. David laughed when Wren placed her coffee order before she even sat down. Soon he was sitting back with a smile, watching Wren as she picked up her cup and sipped at it with reverence.

“So,” he began, “I wanted to—” He broke off as Wren held up an imperious hand for silence. When she had consumed half the cup, she nodded at him for continue. “You weren’t joking,” he said in a mild tone.

“When it comes to coffee, I’m never joking,” Wren said as she knuckled her eyes and shook her head as if to clear it. “Okay, you can talk now,” she instructed.

“Gee, thanks,” he said in a dry tone. “So here’s the surprise,” he said as he passed her a copy of the weekend newspaper. “It’s something I cooked up a while back.”

~~~

“When?” Kate asked when Michael had finished talking.

“Um, I’m not sure. Whenever you think you could—” Michael began, stopping when Kate shook her head.

“Not when I could move; I meant when did you have this idea about us living together?” She had finished her coffee and was sitting with her legs tucked beneath her, leaning against the sofa back with her head resting on one hand, listening quietly to Michael’s reasoning.

“A few weeks back,” Michael admitted.

“And you didn’t say anything back then?”

Michael shook his head. Kate was being very calm about this. He wasn’t sure what he had expected, but her quiet acceptance made things seem almost too easy.

“I guess it just didn’t feel like the right time,” he said.

“Mm-hmm,” Kate said in a thoughtful tone as her gaze turned inward. Michael would have given everything he had to know what she was thinking in that moment. “I’m going to get us some more coffee, and then we’re going to continue this conversation.”

“Okay,” Michael replied, uncertain. She wasn’t angry, but she wasn’t turning cartwheels of excitement. He didn’t know what to make of the situation; was her answer going to be yes or no? He watched Kate as she got up and moved past him to walk into the kitchen with their cups before he gave a quiet sigh. The conversation didn’t seem to be going in quite the way that he’d hoped. He was startled, therefore, when Kate suddenly reappeared in front of him and straddled his lap to give him a hot and hard kiss.

“And just so you know,” she said softly, “my answer is yes, and I’ll be right back.”

Michael sat blinking on the sofa as Kate disappeared back into the kitchen, a slow smile of delight spreading across his face.

“So how are we going to do this?” Michael asked when Kate returned with some fresh coffee.

“Not sure. I’m new to this, too,” Kate said as she handed him his coffee and then carefully curled up on the sofa beside him. “I’ll need to talk to Paul.”

“Why’s that?” Michael kept a careful grip on his cup as he rested it on his thigh and watched Kate as she sat twirling some hair around her finger while she thought.

“Well, he and I always talk big life stuff through first, plus there’s this apartment.”

“You own it?” Michael was surprised.

“Kinda.” Kate shrugged and sipped at her coffee. “The bank owns it more than I do. Paul’s the money brains in the family, and he’s the one that insisted I get this a few years back.”

“How did you find it?” Michael looked at the apartment with new eyes. Kate was in a good location, and although the apartment was tiny, its charm compensated for the lack of space. Apartments like these didn’t last long on the market.

“I was renting it when the owner decided to sell, so the day I found out, Paul and I had a long talk and put an offer in that afternoon,” Kate explained with a proud smile. “It didn’t even hit the market before it was sold.”

“I’m impressed.” Michael nodded slowly as he considered her answer. They were both used to leading very independent lives, so there was more to be considered than he thought. “But what does that mean if you move to mine?”

“You mean, you don’t want live here?” Kate gave him a shocked look.

“Uh …” Michael hesitated. He certainly liked the atmosphere of Kate’s home more than his own, but the apartment was
tiny
.

“Relax.” Kate nudged him. “I’m kidding.”

“Right.” Michael relaxed.

Kate cocked her head and regarded Michael with a thoughtful expression. “You know … you’re as nervous about this as I am.”

“You’re nervous?” Michael laughed now. “I thought you were being really calm.”

“Check it.” Kate reached across for his hand and held it against her chest so that he could feel her drumming heart.