Robbie doesn’t even look up, but he smiles as he dumps the flour into a bowl, like he finds my bitchiness amusing. “I’m doing it exactly how you’ve shown me a million times.”
“Nuh-uh. You need to sift it first. And you forgot the secret ingredient?—”
“Did not. The sour cream goes in last, Ames,” he says patiently. He gets the container out of the fridge and sets it on the counter with a smug smile that Ineedto kiss off his face.
Fuck.
“Fine. But you didn’t take the eggs out of the fridge.” My tone is puregotcha. I can’t stand myself. “If you don’tlet them come to room temperature, they won’t whisk properly.”
This is true. It’s also pedantic and rude. It doesn’t matter for homemade pancakes… except right now, itdoes.
“Why don’t you come show me?” he says, then fake-winces at my sling, throwing shade right back at me. “Oooh, wait. My bad.”
I shake my head, fighting a smile. “That was low.”
“Most things with you are, Amesie,” he says sadly, straightening to his full gargantuan height.
“You didnotjust say that to me!” I gape at him. “Height jokes? Seriously? Are we fourteen?”
“Of course not.” He sucks a tooth and looks me up and down—as much as he can while I’m blocked by the island—then scratches his stubbled cheek thoughtfully. “Though, honestly, you’re about the height I was at fourteen, so?—”
“Oh, youasshole.”
I’m grinning, and so is he. It’s fun and perfect, and Icannot have it.Not the way I want it.
I slide off the stool and stalk around the counter. My ankle was only mildly sprained, and it’s mostly back to normal. Unlike my ribs and collarbone, which are still annoyingly painful when I move wrong.
“Hey!” Robbie says, dropping his teasing. “Sit back down. I’ll stop, I promise.”
“No way. I’ve been challenged. And I can whisk a fucking egg, okay? I’m a professional. I don’t even need my other hand for that.” More than that, I want to feel useful and independent. Maybe that will help break this spell.
“I didn’t challenge you,” Robbie insists, shutting off the fire under the bacon. “There was no challenge.”
I ignore him. I get the carton of eggs out of the fridge and put them on the counter. Then I reach for a bowl in the cabinet by the sink.
I’m using my left arm, and it’s not on a high shelf, so this is not a problem. But sure enough, there’s Robbie, reaching for the bowl anyway, determined to out-useful me.
We’re chest to chest, eyes locked. His breath’s warm on my face, and neither of us seems willing to concede.
“I’ve got this,” we say in stereo. “No,Ido!”
And then the most terrible, wonderful thing happens.
His gaze drops to my mouth.
I canfeelhis stare as much as see it. It’s the tiniest weight—like a butterfly, like a flower petal—but it’s there.
Up close like this, I can’t miss the way Robbie’s pupils dilate. How his lips part slightly and his breath comes out ragged. I try with all my might to poke holes in these scientific observations and explain them away as something else, but literally nothing comes to mind. And Jesus fuck, after a week of relentless torture, thewantingis tearing me apart from the inside,Alien-style.
So I leave the bowl on the shelf. I lick my lips. And I lean closer.
“Ames,” Robbie breathes. It’s my name, but it’s also approval. A plea. A sweet benediction washing over me.
And just when I start to realize this is the most fantastical of fantasies—a thought that, for nearly sixteen years, has come right before waking up alone in my cold bed—Robbie closes the final inch between us and kisses me.
This is no brush of lips. No “Oh, shit, I didn’t see yourmouth there” type of accident. Robbie’s hand comes up to cup my jaw, tilting my head just the right way, and his mouth crashes into mine like he’s been starving for it. Like he’s been holding back as hard as I have.
I make a sound—a humiliatingly desperate, disbelieving noise—and he deepens the kiss. His tongue slides over mine with reverent possessiveness, like he knows he owns me, but he can’t quite believe his luck. His other hand grips my hip, fingers digging into the side of my ass over my pajama pants, and pulls me closer so I can feel every inch of him pressed against me.
