Page 67 of Cautious Love

“Did you leave them in too long or forget an ingredient?” I ask her.

She frowns and looks at the stove’s digital display. “No that’s not possible I set it for ten minutes.”

I check the display, and it’s still counting down. “No, Shy, you set it for tenhours.They’ve been in here for a while.”

For some reason, that was the straw that broke Shy’s back, and she bursts into tears. “I don’t even know why I’m trying. I learned how to cook, so why can’t I bake? I can’t do anything right. It always literally burns up in front of me!” she yells, and she cries into her hands.

Not sure what to do, I give her a second. I’m dripping wet and soap is still in my hair. I’m not confident she would like comfort right now.

Against my better judgement, I reach for her, then she snaps her head up and blinks rapidly as if she’s forcing herself to stop crying. Her gaze finds mine, and I reach for her anyway, pulling her into my damp chest.

The moment her head hits my skin she starts crying again. Her arms loop around my ribs and with one hand holding my towel I squeeze her in a one armed hug. “They’re just cookies, it’s going to be okay.”

Instead of a response, I get more crying. Rubbing her back I hold her, while she lets it all out and her hands slide down my spine, and I do everything in my power to focus on the task athand and not the way I’ve missed those hands I had so briefly on my body.

She rubs her cheek against my skin and I get a whiff of her citrus scented hair and turn my head trying to inhale the smoke instead. I’m about to embarrass myself since this towel isn’t giving me a whole lot of coverage.

Her nails gently graze my back, and I swallow my groan.Is she aware of what she’s doing to me?

Eventually she pulls away looking up at me, and I drag my thumb under her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she says, her bottom lip trembling, as her gaze skates over my chest and down my waist.

That cute bottom lip stops, and her tongue dips out, wetting them instead.

“Sorry I got you a little wet,” I mumble. Her,my,apron is wet and there’s flour on my chest.

Her gaze grows heavy as she drags it back up over my skin. The air changes, the tension builds and I instantly know a cold shower is in my future. “No problem, I didn’t mean to interrupt your shower,” she rasps.

I cough and push my wet, soapy hair back. “It’s okay, I needed to make sure you weren’t burning my house down.”

“Maybe if I was, you would have run out here naked,” she says then snaps her mouth closed as if she didn’t actually mean to say it.

“Anything’s possible I guess,” I rasp.

“Except for learning how to bake cookies,” she says.

I snort and immediately smother it. “Too soon?”

She shakes her head and smiles. “No, I’m an idiot.”

“You said it, not me,” I mumble.

Shiloh glares at me and I lift a shoulder. “I’m going to get back to my shower now, leave those in there until they stop smoking,and please don’t set something else on fire for the next five minutes.”

She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. “So that means I can set something on fire after my five minutes are up?”

“It would have to be a controlled burn, and we’d have to have the fire department on standby,” I mumble.

Shiloh snorts and shakes her head. “You might as well call them now.”

I hold my hand up. “Five minutes, Shy.”

She gives me another up-down and bites her lower lip. “Yeah, five minutes.”

I nearly run back into my room, slamming the door behind me and throw myself under ice cold water because I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the cookies that were about to catch this time.

“Luke, Will, my office, now,” I bark walking through the bullpen to my office. I barely spare Daisy a glance and drop into my seat. I’m in a terrible mood and it has nothing to do with any of them.