Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

Mitch

I knew we didn’t have to be at the event until four thirty, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Penn, and what had happened between us.

It seemed wild to me that I’d barely known the guy a little more than a week, and somehow, some way, I’d become a total simp for the man.

I wasn’t usually the type to get attached so quickly, and while I loved where things were going with us, I was also scared of how quickly Penn had stolen my heart .

Because the truth of the matter was, I loved the guy.

I loved the sparkle in his pretty blue eyes, the way he blushed, the way he teased me, the kindness of his heart, the gentleness of his soul.

And I really, really loved kissing him.

I loved the way he brought out a side of me that no one else had ever been able to access.

Which is probably why I’d convinced myself to show up early to the shop.

Penn looked up from behind the counter as the door jingled.

“Hey,” he said, surprised.

“Afternoon,” I said, sauntering in with just my camera bag. Today, I wanted to shoot Penn in his element freehand, capture a more candid feel for this set of images.

And after combing over wedding photos all morning, I couldn’t deny Penn in his little white, cake-stained apron, blond hair shimmering in the light, was like a breath of fresh air.

My own personal Cream Puff.

“I thought we were meeting up at the event,” he said, and he turned to the back counter, which I could see was covered in cupcake trays, not all of them full.

With his back turned to me, I quietly brought out my camera, zooming in on the lineup.

“I thought I’d come in and get some solo shots of you,” I said, clicking away.

Penn headed to the bowl of batter on the steel table in the corner, grabbing a large bowl and scoop.

Click.

“Where’s Archie at?”

Penn shrugged, letting out a sigh as I went behind the counter, tucking myself into a corner as I watched him.

“Uh, he had a thing, I guess. Took a half day.”

I framed the trays as I watched him scoop some batter into the first tray.

“And your parents?”

Penn chortled. “They’ve got a more active social life now that I’m home, working. They left this afternoon to go stay with some friends for the weekend in the city.”

“So, it’s just you running the ship today? And you have an event?”

Penn sighed once more. “Yeah, I guess it looks that way. ”

“You’ve been working every day this week. Don’t you get a day off?”

Penn shrugged. “I mean, I’ve been gone for months, so I’m making up for lost time, I guess.”

“Still, you’re human. Humans need rest.”

Penn hurriedly set his bowl down, turning around and looking for something, a confused look on his face.

I set my camera down. “Looking for something?”

“Uh, yeah, the cupcake liners. They’re....”

I noticed them out of the corner of my eye, behind my camera. I picked them up, heading over to Penn, who reached for them. I pulled them out of his reach.

“Mitch, come on...”

“You scoop, I’ll line.”

Penn pursed his lips. “You don’t have to?—”

“Maybe I want to.”

I watched as his eyebrows furrowed, and his shoulders relaxed.

“I’m not used to help. I mean, Archie has his own duties, and my parents, well, when they’re here everything is pretty much done already, and I?—”

I hip-checked him, nudging him toward his bowl as I started to peel the liners out of the stack, placing them in each muffin cup in their prospective trays.

“You’ve already helped me so much, it feels like I’m taking advantage. I wish there was something I could do to show my thanks,” he said softly, taking the hint and grabbing his bowl of batter, following behind my lining.

I chuckled darkly. “I could definitely think of a few ways you could show your gratitude,” I teased.

Like I expected, Penn’s cheeks blushed with that perfect pink tint.

“Mitch!” he squealed, but it wasn’t angry or worried. It was tinged with laughter, and only a hint of embarrassment.

“What? I told you when we first met, I like sugar. And cream.”

Penn shook his head as he moved down the line to fill more of the lined cups as I added, “And you did promise me sweet, sugary goodness.”

I turned toward him as I reached the end of the line. Penn grasped the bowl tightly as he glanced up at me, rosy cheeks and glassy eyes making my damn cock twitch and my heart beat faster.

“Would dinner suffice?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

His bowl of batter was practically empty, and I couldn’t help myself. I ran my finger along the inside of the rim, collected a small amount of the creamy goodness on the tip, and took a lick of the batter.

Penn licked his lips, tightening his grip on the bowl.

“You know there is raw egg in that?” he warned.

I licked the batter off my finger with a moan of delight.

Vanilla cream.

Fucking delicious.

“Yeah, and it’s delicious.”

“Help me put these in the ovens,” he said, averting his gaze as he picked up the first tray with one hand, popping open the top and bottom oven doors.

I gladly grabbed two trays and followed suit, loading them in.

Penn grabbed the last tray and put it on the bottom rack, closing the doors.

“To answer your question, where did you have in mind? For dinner, I mean.”

Penn cleaned up his dishes, setting out new things. A piping bag, a bucket of frosting.

I glanced at the label, to see the frosting was also vanilla.

I picked up my camera once more, watching as he separated the vanilla frosting into two separate bowls, coloring the one with red food coloring.

Snap! Click!

“I was thinking maybe since, uh, my parents are out of town, you could, you know, come over to my place and I could make dinner? Unless of course, you’d rather go somewhere, or?—”

My heart skipped a beat as I realized he was asking me over to his place.

On his terms.

And he wanted to make me dinner.

The excitement coursing through me was unimaginable.

I never said yes so fast in all my life.

Granted, I knew I still had lots of work to do on both his images and the wedding, but there was nothing I wanted to do more than spend time with Penn Baker.

“I’d like that,” I said as the oven timer went off.

Penn tossed me some oven mitts, hitting me square in the chest.

“So bossy,” I said as I set my camera down, dressing my hands with the bright blue oven mitts.

Within seconds, Penn had the first two trays, and I had the rest, setting them down on the steel table in the center of the kitchen.

They smelled heavenly.

Once set, Penn pulled his mitts off and I did the same, following him as he loaded up his icing into piping bags.

“You said you wanted to help...”

I smiled at his whine . I swore there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for my little Cream Puff, if he asked so nicely.

Hell, who was I kidding?

I’d do anything for him if he looked at me with those pretty blue eyes and those perfect, kissable lips.

Penn tied off the end, and handed one to me.

“I’ll do these two, you do those two, okay?” he said, nodding to the trays in front of me.

“Yes, boss,” I teased him, watching the smile form on his face from my words.

I watched Penn out of the corner of my eye, his focus on his cupcakes stern.

Unbreakable almost, which gave me an idea.

“Hey, Penn,” I called his attention and he looked up, and I squeezed a dab of icing right on his cute little nose.

“Gotcha,” I said with a grin.

Penn huffed as he swiped the frosting off his face. “Asshole,” he teased, but his voice was full and light.

“You just looked so serious,” I said, heading back to my cupcakes.

“I was concentrating,” he defended.

“Uh huh,” I said as I focused back on my last tray.

“Hey, Mitch...” he called, nonchalantly.

“Yeah?” I looked up, and was met with a smattering of icing across my face as his fingertips slid across my cheek.

“You little...” I cursed as Penn jumped back, holding up his bag of frosting like a sword.

“Not so funny when you’re the target, is it?” he teased.

I grabbed my own bag in defense. “I’m going to get you for that. ”

Penn’s smile was infectious, his pristine blue eyes sparkling like diamonds in the afternoon light.

“I’d like to see you try,” he said, giggling as he took off, and I chased after him.

We ran through the bakery, spraying pink and white vanilla frosting at one another in retaliation, and the sounds of our combined laughter filled the air.

Penn hurriedly flipped the sign from open to closed, all while dodging me as I tried to catch him like a wild gingerbread man.

When I finally did catch him, it was just as he was coming around the front counter, and I grabbed him by his apron ties, pulling him backward and into my arms.

We were both covered in frosting, panting from our chase. The light from the windows behind him lit him up, showcasing the stark white cream all over his cheeks, his neck.

His lips.

I didn’t think twice about pressing him against the wall and licking the sweet cream off of his gorgeous face. As I did so, I could feel his cock hard against my own, and he wrapped his arms around me, the tip of his piping bag poking me in the back as he held it.

I licked the frosting from his lips, biting gently at his bottom one.

The throaty moan that left his throat went straight to my cock.

Penn kissed me back, melting into me once more, before he squeezed himself out from under me, heading back to the last tray of cupcakes.

I didn’t miss the smile on his face as he finished decorating, or the words that were caught in my throat.

Those three little words I’d almost said out loud.

“We’ve got less than an hour to finish these and get to the party,” he said, pulling my attention once more.

“Right,” I said, shaking my head.