She glances over her shoulder, her brows pinched.
“I’m definitely ready for my breakfast.”I crook my finger, urging her to come back to bed.Where I can devour her.My mouth waters at the thought.
With a laugh, she says, “First teeth, then pancakes, then tutoring, then…your afternoon snack.”
Tutoring.Right.I’d almost forgotten.Pushing to my feet, I walk closer, gripping her hips and tugging her into me.“And by snack, you mean…you?”
Her soft brown lashes bat up and down.“Maybe.”
She’s cute in the morning.Is she always this cute in the morning?Are all girls this cute in the morning and because I’ve never slept over, I’ve always missed it?Nah.Pretty sure this is a June-exclusive phenomenon, and I wouldn’t change a thing.Tilting my head, I tuck her messy locks behind her ear.“Do you always plan out your mornings like this?”
Her grin widens.“Sure do.”
I lean forward for a kiss, but she dodges the gesture and covers her mouth.“I said teeth first, remember?”
After we brush our teeth, me with a spare because my girl is always prepared and she takes dental health seriously, we head to the kitchen.Pretty sure it’s the size of my closet at home, but I don’t mind the close proximity.The opportunity to touch June as much as possible under the guise of innocence.She scoots in front of me, her ass grazing my crotch as she opens the refrigerator and pulls out a dirty glass jar.It’s filled with some kind of sticky substance, and my nose wrinkles.
“What is that?”I ask.
Clutching the jar to her chest, June closes the fridge, then faces me with a grin.“Ford, I’d like you to meet”—she holds the jar out for me to take as if it’s a rare gem—“my son, Quasimodough.”
“The one and only, huh?”The jar is cold from the fridge.I hold it up to the light, inspecting the contents.Large bubbles press against the glass in a creamy white concoction.I glance at June again.“He looks just like you.”
Crinkles form at the corners of her eyes.“Why, thank you.”Taking the jar back, she twists the lid and raises it to my nose.“Smell.”
I take a whiff, then pull back.What is that?Why is it almost familiar?I go in for another sniff.Tangy.Acidic.Almost like yogurt or buttermilk, but different.“It kind of smells like beer,” I realize.
“It’s the yeast,” she explains.“He’s hungry.”
“Hungry?”
“Yeah, do you see the bubbles?”Her finger taps along the outside of the jar.“The yeast is a living organism, right?So it needs food to keep growing and fermenting and tasting delicious, so we need to discard…” She inspects the glass again.“Probably three-quarters of this?Then we’ll add some flour and water.”Her attention shifts to the time on the microwave.“I don’t think I have time to make an actual loaf since we have a lot of studying to do, but what do you say we make some pancakes with the discard?”
I blink.Twice.Damn, the girl is like a scientist and shit.Pushing up my sleeves, I say, “All right, put me to work and tell me what to do because I have no idea what you just said.”
With a laugh, she nudges me toward the sink.“First, wash your hands, then grab the skillet by the stove and the flour in the cupboard.”
Well, all right then.
“Okay,so what you’re saying is, I need to multiply the first numbers in each parenthesis before multiplying the outer numbers?”June questions.
“Yes, then it’s the inner numbers and the last,” I repeat.After devouring the best short stack I’ve ever tasted, I helped June clean up the kitchen before she pulled out the results from her last math test along with the first unit due Monday.Two hours later, she’s mastered the entire thing.
She looks back at her paper and starts the calculation.The familiar scratch of pencil to paper is the only noise in the kitchen before I scoot my chair a little closer to her.A wrinkle forms in her brow when she pushes the notebook toward me.“Like this?”
I look over her work, my head bobbing up and down.“Not too bad, June Bug.”
“You think?”
“Yeah, for sure.It’s right.”
She sags against her chair, relief spreading over her pretty face.“Okay, so that’s what I was doing wrong.I kept adding the two numbers in the parentheses then multiplying.My bad.”
“It makes sense if you know what X is, but since we’re multiplying two binomials, you need to get rid of the parentheses before you can break the equation down even further to find X.”
“Okay, so if we didn’t have X or if we knew what X already was, then we’d do what was inside the parentheses before multiplying the two numbers?”
“Exactly.”Unable to help myself, I lean in and kiss her.She tastes like syrup.I resist the temptation to deepen the kiss, and pull back just enough to let her breathe but not entirely.I’m only so strong.“Damn, you’re smart.”
