I took a bite and nearly moaned. “Oh my god. This is obscene.”
“Right?” Cade tore off a chunk of his roll and shoved it into his mouth, frosting smearing across the corner of his mouth.
Without thinking, I leaned over and licked it away.
His breath stuttered, and he went completely still, his eyes darkening as they locked onto mine.
“Stella.”
“What?” I licked the last trace of mint and sugar from my lips. “You had frosting on your face.”
“Uh-huh.” His hand came up to cup my jaw, his thumb brushing over my bottom lip. “You’re playing a very dangerous game.”
“Who, me?” I fluttered my lashes at him, leaning just a fraction closer. “I’m just eating my breakfast.”
“You’re sitting there naked in a bed that still smells like sex, licking up a sticky white substance, and looking at me like that.” His voice dropped. “Dangerous.”
A hot, insistent ache curled low in my body, my thighs pressing together involuntarily. My nipples hardened, and Iwatched his gaze drop to my chest, tracking the response of my body to his words.
“Like what?” I asked, my voice coming out high and breathy.
“Like you want me to do very bad things to you.”
I set my cinnamon roll on the nightstand, then I shifted closer, sliding my hand up the firm line of his chest, feeling the way his heart thundered beneath my palm. “Maybe I do.”
Cade chuckled under his breath and caught my nipple between his fingers. Pleasure shot straight through me, and I sucked in a sharp breath. “Eat your breakfast, menace.” He kissed the corner of my mouth, just a brush of his lips against my skin. “You’ll thank me later.”
I huffed and crossed my arms, fully aware I looked petulant and not caring one bit.
“Stella,” he said, sounding far too amused for my liking. “You know I’m right. If you don’t get caffeine in you soon, you’ll bite my head off later. And I happen to like having all my parts intact. Especially since I want you to suck them later.”
A startled laugh punched out of me. “What the fuck, Cade?”
He reached across me, grabbed my abandoned cinnamon roll, and waggled it in front of my face. “Eat. You know you want to.”
I snatched it back with a muttered, “Fine,” and sat up against the headboard, the blanket slipping lower. “But only because you’re forcing me.”
“Sure,” he agreed with a shit-eating grin, settling beside me with his own pastry. “That’s the only reason.”
We ate in easy silence, the cozy kind that didn’t need filling. Every so often, I’d look over and catch him watching me with a soft, warm,lovingexpression.
I had to look away before I did something stupid like tell him I was falling for him.
Eventually, Cade nudged my knee with his. “Hey. Can I ask you something?”
That tone always put me on alert, but what was I going to say—“Sorry, no more questions, everything has to stay shallow from here on out”? I sucked at relationships, and even I knew that wasn’t going to fly.
I set the half-eaten sweet on my thigh and wiped my hands on the napkin. “Sure.”
He shifted, angling toward me, bracing an elbow on the pillow between us.
“Why brewing? I know you love it, but how’d you get into it in the first place? I don’t think I’ve ever really heard the full story.”
I leaned back against the headboard, letting my head rest there, staring past him at the frost gathering along the window. This wasn’t a story I told often—not because it was painful, exactly, but because it was tied up with a part of my life I’d rather forget.
But this was Cade. And if we were going to be together, he deserved to know.
But first, I needed a barrier. Something to make me feel less vulnerable.
