“Right,” I said pointedly. I dug my heels in and felt like a robot, awkwardly working the dough. “I’m not very good at this.”
“I’ll help.”
First thing I know, Roan's behind me. His hands are covering mine. An electric tingle crept down my arms. It was his electricity. My stupid body’s response to all that testosterone coursing through his veins.
I felt his soft breath on my neck, felt the tug of his shoulders as he stood behind me and pushed. His arms were taut on both sides of me. I felt boxed into an entire mold of manliness.
It was more than I could take.
I raised my hands and broke from his grasp. “Okay. That was great. Thank you. I’ve successfully learned how to knead bread. You’re an awesome teacher.”
Roan backed away. The look of surprise on his face embarrassed me. I didn’t know why. Why should I have been embarrassed? I don’t know; maybe it was the fact that he was standing in an intimate way behind me. Maybe it was the rhythm of our kneading. Perhaps, just perhaps it was his soft breath on the back of my neck.
Heck, yes! It was all those things.
“You have flour in your hair.”
Since my hands were caked in the stuff, I tried to brush it out with my wrist.
“Here.” Roan wiped his hands on a towel.
Oh no, he was not going to do it. I wouldn’t let him.
“It’s okay, I can get it.”
He extended his hand. “It’s a tiny bit.”
“I don’t need you—”
He stopped inches from me and plucked the flour from my hair. My entire body tensed. I could feel it all the way to my pinkie toe. He was so close. That luscious smirk of his dancing on his lips.
Gravity tugged at me, pulling me forward to him. He was getting closer, closer. So close now…
I jerked back. “That was great. Really. Totally awesome.”
Thanks for making kneading pornographic, I wanted to say. But I zipped my lips.
“I need… There’s things I have to do upstairs.”
Roan draped one hand on the counter and eased all his weight onto one hip. “I’ll give you the first slice when it’s finished.”
In bed?
I almost laughed. It was like when you plucked a saying from a fortune cookie and added the phrasein bedto the end of it. For some reason it always seemed to work.
I wondered if I could add the same phrase to whatever Roan said. Would it work? One look in his twinkling eyes and I had the feeling it might.
“Um. Thanks.”
With that, I turned and raced from the room. I launched myself up the stairs, threw open the door and ran into the bathroom. I flipped on the shower, peeled off my clothes and threw myself into the freezing water. No, I hadn’t even bothered to clean the flour from my hands until that moment.
Nothing like a cold shower to purge any and all sorts of dangerous thoughts from my head.
I gripped the walls and exhaled. Too bad this time it wasn’t working.
FIFTEEN
Imade sure to avoid Roan for the rest of the day. It wasn’t hard to do with Susan spying on him.
