Unghn.
“Get off of me,” he growled.
“We’re baking,” I squeaked.
I laced my fingers in his left hand, and before he could throw me off, I pulled the pot of melted chocolate closer. Then, with his right hand, I picked up one of the truffle balls and plopped it into the melted chocolate. His hands were large under my own, the tendons fluttering against my palms as he let me manipulate his arms. I adjusted myself against him, and he grunted slightly.
You really should have just stood next to him to do this baking puppetry,my mind chattered as I inhaled his scent, my nose pressed against the back of his suit jacket.
This was way too close. I forced his right hand to grab a fork and fish the truffle out of the chocolate.
“There. Now you participated,” I said as the truffle dropped onto the cooling rack with a plot. My voice sounded a little raspy.
It’s the weather—all this cold, wet air.
Matt turned back to me, eyes a deep blue.
“Was that so hard?” I asked.
“I don’t know. You were the one feeling me up. You tell me.”
“I have to get this cheesecake in the oven,” I blurted out before I could say something like “You’re hard enough to be a nutcracker.” Which would, one, be an idiotic thing to say and two, make Matt think I thought he was attractive, which I certainly did not.
I quickly made the rest of the truffles, keeping an eye on the clock.
Matt wasn’t even pretending to look at his phone. He was just watching me work. Periodically he would steal one of the truffles right as I finished it. The third time he did it, I tried to stab him with a fork.
“Too slow.”
“You could help,” I snapped at him.
“I already helped.” He gave me a smug look. “And now I’m just exhausted.”
“Guess someone doesn’t have any staying power.”
“I absolutely have staying power.”
“I doubt it. I bet that was why your ex left you,” I snapped back at him.
“You—” He bit back the curse word. He was probably going to call me a bitch. Which I probably was. That had been a low blow.
But I was stressed! Everyone else was done and putting the elegant finishing touches on their cheesecakes because they actually had a partner who would help. We had another hour left on the clock. It took a cheesecake that long to bake at minimum.
I was facing a loss. Not just my pride but everything. And it was all because of Matt fucking Frost.
“Or maybe it wasn’t your staying power,” I said shrilly, giving the cheesecake batter one more stir. “Maybe it was because you just stood around while she did all the work.”
“Fine, you want me to do the work?” Matt snarled at me. He snatched the bowl of batter out of my hand and emptied it into the springform pan, sending some of it splashing off the sides.
“You’re doing it wrong!” I protested.
Matt scooped up the rest of the truffles and dumped them in the batter where they sank in a lump off to one side.
“They have to be artfully arranged.” I tried to shove him aside so I could salvage my cheesecake.
Matt picked up the pan, holding it aloft while I jumped around him like a Chihuahua trying to rescue my cake.
“You’re ruining it.”
