Page 23 of Truth Revealed

“Yes, plans. You wanna bake?” Truth asked, as he took her hand and tugged her toward the kitchen.

He must have already known what her answer would be. “Well, duh.” Like Daria would ever turn down anything Truth baked.

“Awesome. I kind of already planned out what we were making. I hope you don’t mind,” he told her, pulling them to a stop on the business side of the island.

“You’re the professional,” she teased. “Just tell me what to do.”

Truth scoffed, “Professional? I just make shit up as I go.”

“It always seems to work out anyway,” she countered, and promptly forgot what they were talking about when he reached into the cabinet to get their ingredients. The forest green shirt he wore stretched taut across his shoulders and bared a strip of skin across his lower back, showing off the dimples right above his ass.

“Yeah… it seems like it does,” he replied, as he turned to face her again. The tone in his voice led her to believe he meant that in more ways than one.

“So, what are we making?”

Truth sat the baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla, and food coloring on the table. He went to the fridge and pulled out eggs, then pulled the flour out of the cabinets to the left of it.

“Cookies.”

“Sugar cookies?” Daria guessed.

“Yeah, but more than that. They’re called pinwheel cookies.” Truth’s smile was beaming as he gave her a summary of the recipe.

“Sounds… complicated?” she offered in response, but her own smile tugged at her lips as excitement trickled through her. Baking with Truth was always fun and, well…

Stop questioning yourself so much.

“It does at first, but it’s not that bad. The hardest part is waiting for the dough to chill… which is going to take eight hours.”

“Wait, so we aren’t even getting cookies tonight?” Daria whined, only half teasing. She was there for the company, not the sweets.

“Unfortunately, no, but that just means they’ll make a great treat in the morning,” he said, and leaned close, then even closer.

Daria’s heart skipped a beat as he paused a few inches away, just close enough that she could see him without her eyes crossing. “I think you’ll be okay,” he murmured with a teasing tone, and just when she was sure he was going to close those last few inches and seal the deal, he veered left and planted a kiss on her cheek.

Unable to help it, a stupid grin tugged at her lips.

“Better be some damn good cookies,” she muttered, the innocent look she sent him belying her words.

“Oh, trust me. They’re gonna be delicious.”

Truth winked at her, then turned to the counter where the ingredients were laid out. “Okay, first, we’ve got to mix the dry ingredients.”

He reached for the flour, but Daria suddenly had an idea. “Wait a second,” she started. “I think we’re missing something.” She tapped her cheek as if in thought.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, staring at the ingredients as if searching for the missing piece.

With her index finger extended, she motioned for him to wait. Daria practically danced over to the pantry and rummaged around for a moment until what she wanted caught her eye.

“You forgot something,” she called out, while trying not to laugh as she reemerged.

Dangling from her fingertip when she reached the center of the kitchen again, was the apron Truth had been wearing the very first time she’d met him.

In bright pink, the words, “Warning: contents are hot,” were printed in the middle of the apron, which at the time had been all Truth was wearing. The memory made her laugh, giggles bursting from her lips.

“I have no problem wearing that. Especially when it’s as true as it is.” With no embarrassment whatsoever, he grabbed the apron from her extended hand and slipped it over his neck before tying it behind his back.

“There, satisfied?”