“What kind of pickup line is that?” Mathlin groaned, cringing with his entire body.
Titan followed his gaze and grimaced. “Ugh. I can’t believe someone actually wrote that.”
“I can’t believe Hamilton stuck iton the ceiling,” Mathlin whined. “I can’t reach it to take it down!”
“Let’s pretend it isn’t there,” Titan said sagely.
Mathlin nodded. But he couldn’t help glancing up, just to see if those words would make him shudder again.
They did. “Ugh!”
“Math,” Titan murmured, his lips twitching. “I think you’re done with the toast. Let’s get started on the cupcakes.”
Mathlin hurriedly fed Titan more toast, because surely an alpha his size needed more food. Titan purred and ate whatever Mathlin gave him, before instructing Mathlin to dump the crusts into a baking pan.
“We’ll turn that into bread pudding later. When we’re done baking for Twin Buns.”
With more patience than Mathlin expected, Titan guided him through the baking process. Mathlin couldn’t heft the sacks of flour and sugar; he had to cut them open and scoop the ingredients into mixing bowls, weighing them on a scale. Then he whisked together the wet and dry ingredients, until Titan was satisfied with the batter. When the cupcake liners were filled, Mathlin popped them into an oven.
“Now we’ll get the bread ingredients ready,” Titan said.
Mathlin was measuring out some sugar when the timer went off. He startled; sugar spilled everywhere.
“Oh no,” he said in dismay.
“It’s okay,” Titan rumbled, his voice low and calm. “Let’s get the right amount of sugar in there first. We’ll deal with the messlater. There we go. Now, time to check on the cupcakes. Grab a toothpick.”
The toothpick came out clean when Mathlin poked a cupcake with it, so he pulled the tray from the oven.
“It smells so good,” Mathlin moaned.
“I don’t want you burning your tongue,” Titan said. “Let it cool for a few minutes.”
Mathlin swallowed his drool, turning back to his mixing bowl of ingredients.
Slowly, the bread dough began to take shape. Mathlin panted when he tried to knead it.
“The stand mixer will be here later today,” Titan said apologetically. “For now, I think you’ll find it easier to lock your arms straight, and use the strength in your back to help you knead.”
It took Mathlin a while to understand what he meant. But after that, the kneading became easier.
“Set it aside to proof,” Titan said. “Let’s taste a cupcake and decide if it’s good enough for frosting.”
Mathlin sliced a cupcake in two, feeding Titan the first half. Titan closed his eyes and chewed slowly. He looked so handsome that Mathlin leaned in, transfixed by his face—
Titan opened his eyes. Mathlin jerked backward, suddenly realizing how close they were.
“Is it good?” he yelped, his voice high-pitched.
Titan grinned. “It’s perfect. Try it.”
Mathlin took a bite... and moaned. Titan had told him to add vanilla essence to the batter—and he had said to add more than he thought they needed. The result was a cupcake that tasted heavenly.
“You need to put this on your social media,” Mathlin said. “Make a video of you biting into the cupcake and rubbing the rest on your chest. You can tell your fans it tastes just as good as your chest. Not that we want to give them ideas about eating your flesh. The flesh-eating is strictly for me. Uh. I mean,notfor me. Why did my mouth say that?”
Mathlin rocked back and forth on his feet, horrified.
Titan grinned. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I know exactly what you mean.”
