Chapter 12

12

DAPHNE

S terling emerged from the bathroom with his black hair damp and slicked back, his jaw not clenched for once and a light in his eyes that almost made me swoon. In a blue tee and board shorts, he looked more like himself again and he smelled divine, like soap and a hint of something masculine but not overpowering. Shower gel, probably. How revolutionary.

I ducked my head before rolling my eyes at myself. Get it together, girl. It's just shower gel. Jeez.

Cooking dinner with him was going to be interesting. That was for sure.

As he joined me in the kitchen, that same awareness from before prickled through me. The scent of him intensified now that he was right next to me and I bit my lip to keep from moaning. When he spoke, it was clear he was used to being in control of things.

"We're grilling hot dogs tonight," he said far more authoritatively than the occasion required. "Eric told me you're baking bread and we're doing a salad with it, correct?"

"Correct," I said, not knowing if I was more annoyed, amused, or turned on. "I'll make the salad in here and get started on the bread. I made the dough before I left home so we don't have to worry about the mess. Why don't you go fire up the grill?"

"I will, but let me help you with the bread first. We need to make sure that the dough has risen properly and rested before we?—"

"Thanks, but I've been working with June for a while now. I know what I'm doing."

He nodded slowly, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. "June Gracen learned from my mother, and so did I. If the dough isn't treated with respect, the bread will be inedible."

"I know," I repeated gently. "I do know what I'm doing, Sterling. Will you please go fire up the grill?"

"Sure. Let's get the ingredients for the salad chopped, and I'll go do it," he said.

Exasperation crept through me.

"You're very bossy," I said, only half-joking as I pushed a chopping board and a knife toward him. "I promise you that I will not mess up a salad and some bread. What we need is a fire to cook on, and I'm pretty sure the grill is going to be filthy, but we can't clean it without burning off the worst of whatever is stuck to it, so…"

He sighed, then surprised the crap out of me when he winked and threw his hands up in front of him. "I'm bossy because I'm used to being the boss, but sure. This is your show. I said I'd help, not take over, so I'll go light the fire you're so worried about. Then I'll come help you in here again."

"Wonderful." I flashed him a sweet smile instead of letting him see that I was equally frustrated and turned on right then. "I'll carry on in here. If I have any bread questions, I promise I'll come find you."

As he left the cabin, I watched him for a minute, unable to tear my gaze away from that strong frame. He strode to the grill and bent over, giving me a good view of his tight ass as he fiddled with something. A dreamy sigh escaped me and I shook my head at myself, forcing my feet to move so that I could fetch the dough from the bowl I'd transported it in.

After washing my hands, I carried the bowl to the counter, just about to start kneading it when he suddenly called out. "Daphne, we've got a problem with the grill."

I frowned but abandoned the bread to go outside. "What's the issue? We were just out here last month and it was fine."

"Well, things have changed between then and now," he said, eyes flicking to mine as I approached.

"You're telling me," I muttered under my breath, trying to ignore the fact that my heart was beating faster now that he was looking at me. "What's changed?"

"I'm assuming when you were out here last month, the grill didn't have squirrels living in it." He smirked. "Unless it did, and you meant we were cooking hot squirrels and not hot dogs ."

I felt myself blanch even though I knew he was joking. "That's horrible. Absolutely not."

I leaned down and felt Sterling moving into position next to me. He pointed a finger through a crack and I blinked hard, seeing the family of squirrels just a second before I heard the chittering.

"Oh, gosh. They're so cute," I whispered, watching the little furry bodies play around the inside of the barrel.

Sterling smiled when I glanced at him, a soft, kind smile for the first time since he'd gotten back to Allisburg. He nodded, taking a few steps toward the fire pit and then inclining his head at it, his eyes twinkling now just like they used to back in high school.

Gone was the cold, hard demeanor, and in its place were those eyes that glittered like stars in the night sky and a relaxed, easy smile. "What do you say I just build us a fire over here instead, Ms. Bossy Pants?"

I laughed. "If memory serves, you were the bossy one."

"Says the girl who chased me out of the kitchen," he said. "This is our only option, other than either roasting or rehoming that family in there."

"No," I said quickly. "A fire over there is perfect for what we're cooking. We can just put the grate over it on some bricks."

Retreating before I literally tripped over my own feet while swooning about his eyes, I headed back into the kitchen and braced my palms against the counter. After inhaling and exhaling slowly a few times, I finally started kneading the dough, getting it ready to rise again one final time. Then I pulled the chopping board and the knife closer.

Sterling had gathered some wood for the fire, but as he was building it, he suddenly stopped and wiped his brow. Then he reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it off. My gaze was glued to his abdomen as he revealed it inch by inch, and heat filled my cheeks.

My lips parted, my mouth drying up. Despite our jokes about him not playing football anymore, I had to admit that he looked just as good to me as he had back in the day. Better even.

His body was as defined as ever, ropes of muscle running along his back and arms, wrapping around to the perfectly sculpted ladder of abs and a narrow V at his hips. No longer tanned from spending a lot of time in the sun, his skin was smooth and clean from his recent shower.

Between that and the way he looked, I wanted to lick him. To taste his skin and feel all those strong edges against my tongue. Aware that I was getting more than a little heated, I squeezed my thighs together, relieved that Eric and Jake still hadn't returned from checking out the boat.

Sterling leaned over to place another log on his fire, the muscles in his arms rippling as he balanced it at the top of the pile.

"You're drooling," Rachel said and I jumped, completely startled by her presence.

My gaze finally jerked away from Sterling's body and it landed smack on her amused face. She stood only a few feet away from me, her arms loosely crossed and laughter shimmering in her eyes.

"Wipe your mouth before your brother sees you," she suggested with a knowing smile spreading on her lips. She glanced at the fire pit, taking in Sterling without his shirt before she turned back to me. "I can't say I blame you for the bulging eyes and the puddle of drool, but seriously, Eric will pitch a fit, and Jake and I haven't quite forgiven him for ditching our wedding yet either."

"I know. I wasn't drooling," I lied, finally getting started on the salad I'd meant to make as soon as I'd come back inside.

Eric and Jake returned and admired the fire that was just getting going. Rachel took out some beers for them and came back to the kitchen. The guys took seats around the flickering flames, and with them safely out of earshot, I decided to level with my friend.

"Look, I know that Eric would lose his mind and I realize you and Jake are still angry at him. You have every reason to be, but I just…"

I trailed off, not quite knowing how to describe it.

My friend nodded, understanding in her eyes as she glanced at her husband. "You like him."

I shook my head, then shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know. I think it's more that I'm intrigued by him. I don't know him well enough to like him. In fact, until yesterday, I was convinced that I very much disliked him."

"What happened between yesterday and now?"

I inhaled a deep breath and I told her about our encounter at the bakery. When I was done telling her what had happened, I let my gaze drift back to him. "I guess I just feel a little strange around him, and he acts weird to me too."

"This feels like something I should already know, but did something happen between you two before he left?" she asked, her head cocking before she added the tomatoes she'd sliced to the bowl.

"Nothing like what you're thinking," I said, watching him laugh with his old friends as the fire roared and the sun set over the lake. "There was a moment, though."

"A moment?" She tossed a little piece of tomato at me. "How did I not know that there was a moment?"

I tossed it right back at her, shaking my head but feeling a silly, girly smile on my lips. "Do you remember that party we went to with them just after their graduation?"

"When you threw a drink in Fiona's face?" She scoffed. "Of course, I remember that. It was epic. The ultimate movie moment of the nerdy girl standing up to the bitchy cheerleader, and then the bitchy cheerleader's hot, popular boyfriend running after the nerdy girl instead?" She brought a hand to her heart. "I'll keep that moment in here forever."

I rolled my eyes at her and laughed. "That's the night it happened. When he walked me home, I thought he was going to kiss me at the door. I don't know why I thought he would. I was just Eric's shy, geeky little sister back then, but it felt like he was about to."

"Maybe he wanted to," she said, her eyes wide and earnest on mine. "It's not impossible, Daphne. You've always been beautiful, and smart, and amazing. You might not know why he would want to, but I don't know why he wouldn't."

I pursed my lips at her. "Thanks, but you don't need to give me a pep talk. The fact is that he didn't kiss me even if I thought he was going to."

"Did you want him to?"

I hesitated for a beat before I nodded. "I had such a crush on him. I dreamed about him looking at me like that for years, and then, bam! It was happening. Fiona was mean. I threw that drink at her. He came after me and insisted on walking me home. We talked all the way and then, when we said good night, he kind of just stared at me for a moment. He even leaned in a little bit."

Rachel giggled. "I think he wanted to, and who knows? Maybe now that he's back, he finally will."

I scoffed. "I doubt it. Think about it, Rach. I've never lived anywhere but my hometown. I make coffee for a living and I still hang out with all the same people I've been hanging out with since high school. He lives in New York. He has a full life. A high-powered career. It's just not going to happen."

She frowned at me, shaking her head as she stood and picked up the paper plates and cutlery we had ready. "If you ask me, he seems lonely. I wouldn't jump to conclusions about his life if I was you, babe. Now help me bring all this stuff out to the firepit. They're going to start roasting those hot dogs any minute and we need to be ready. This baby is hungry and her mama gets hangry if she's not fed quickly when she gets like this."