Page 127 of Born for Starlight

I heard her sharp intake of breath. Yeah, she wanted it.

“Come on, Baby.”

Icing dripped down my fingers, onto my wrist.

Her brown eyes turned black.

I brought the piece closer to her lips, so close that it almost touched them. “Do you smell the cinnamon?”

She looked up at me and nodded. “I do. I do, Matthew.”

God, how I wanted to hear those words one day.

“Just try a taste, Angelica.” I said her name slow. Soft.

She brought up her right hand and gripped my wrist, coating her fingers with icing. She pushed my hand that tiny little bit further, and opened her full lips.

I thought she was going to take a bite, but she didn’t. Instead, she decided to kill me.

Angelica took the gooey concoction and my thumb and finger into her mouth and sucked. She sucked until she had all of the roll in her mouth, then she pulled my hand back and started to slowly chew.

I was mesmerized. I watched her entire performance. I watched as a miniscule amount of icing made its way out of her mouth, and she had to lick her lips. I watched her close her eyes and hum with satisfaction as she swallowed. Then when I thought I’d never be able to walk again, she opened her eyes, and pulled my hand back to her mouth and licked the icing off my finger, then sucked my thumb into her mouth and swirled her tongue around it, ensuring she gathered up every bit of icing that was left.

“Jesus, woman,” I groaned. “I thought we weren’t going to kiss.”

Her eyelashes flicked up and I saw laughter in her eyes. She released my thumb with an audible pop. “Who said anything about kissing? We’re eating.”

“If you ever decide to kiss me, I’ll end up on the floor.”

She grinned. “That’s the idea. Now keep feeding me. I’ve decided I like food better when you offer it to me.”

I got her to finish almost an entire cinnamon roll and two glasses of milk, and by that time she was clearly battling exhaustion, but she didn’t want me to leave. Despite our cinnamon roll flirting, she was still too wary to make love so I suggested time in front of the TV. She clicked on some DIY automotive show that didn’t interest either of us, but allowed me to hold her while she fought sleep.

She finally lost the battle. Once again, I found myself carrying her to bed. But this time I wasn’t going to spend the afternoon sleeping on her too-small sofa. I had other things I needed to take care of. Plus, I was hoping that she might be amenable to a date tonight that would allow for kissing. She’d told me once where her hidden key was outside, in a fake rock, so I used that to lock up behind myself. At least she actually locked her door, unlike half the residents of Jasper Creek.

I got into my rental and drove straight for the Down Home Diner. It was tough; part of me really wanted to head for that bottle of Blanton’s before I faced down Little Grandma, but she’d smell the bourbon and either be really disappointed or, worse yet, laugh.

I didn’t bother with the baseball cap, and when I walked in, I could tell she’d been expecting me. I even noticed that even though the lunch rush was in full swing, my table was empty.

“Matthew.”

That was all she said.

“Ma’am.”

“Go sit down. I’ll be with you shortly.”

I’m in so much trouble.

I slunk past the hostess stand and when I got to my table, Lettie was there. She was pouring coffee. “How did it go?” She whispered the question.

“Better than I’d had any reason to hope.”

“That’s good.”

“And you? Did you get caught?”

“Yeah. But they knew I was trying to support true love, so Mom and Little Grandma cut me some slack. I’ll be back with food.”