Chapter Twenty-One
Ruby
“How does that taste?” I ask Garett, holding a teaspoon of my freshly made salted caramel and chocolate buttercream to his lips.
His tongue pops out, and the tip touches the frosting as if he doesn’t trust me. I raise one eyebrow and give him the sourest look I have in my arsenal.
His laughter hits my belly like I’ve eaten a batch of buttercream. It’s like I’m filled with yummy goodness and want to bask in the endorphins it gives me.
Shit. I’m falling.
It’s been a week since he stayed with me at the hospital and I slept against him. That doesn’t happen. It took months before I could sleep in Neil’s company, and even then, I always slept better when my bakery shifts meant I was sleeping in the bed without him.
But that doesn’t mean anything. It can’t.
Garett opens his mouth and sucks the spoon clean. It’s not simple endorphins now. My belly lurches with something a lot more sensual, and I imagine those lips on something else.
I shake my head. It’s just the after-break-up horniness that Amber tells me is inevitable. Yet, with the butterflies competing with the spicy thoughts in my head, I’m struggling to focus on anything but how he licks his lips and rolls them together.
He moans loudly. Oh God. “That tastes so good, Rubes.” The way he shortens my name has heat building between my thighs. It’s all I can do not to close my eyes and groan, but I need to think responsibly, not like a horny drunk woman on a night out.
A gruff Garett is oblivious to the impact his noises are having on me. “You should do something with that in the competition. How do you get it to taste so decadent but not heavy? I could eat that for hours.”
I shrug, but his praise briefly calms my hormones and makes me beam instead. The great Chef Garett loves my frosting.
“Seriously,” he replies, sticking his finger in the bowl. “You should cover lots of things in it. I would lick it off anything.”
He pops his finger in his mouth and sucks it hard. His eyes lock with mine and widen like he’s realised what he said.
“Anything?” I ask.
My voice is breathy. I want to dip my finger in the frosting and get him to lick that, too. How he cared about me at the hospital last week has replayed on a loop all week. Today is the first time we’ve seen each other since, and it’s like our friendship is evolving into something I can’t control.
His tired eyes darken, and he licks his lips slowly. “Anything, Rubes.”
I swallow so loud that I swear it echoes around the kitchen. I should kiss those lips. The heat between my legs increases. I want to taste frosting off other parts of him. I briefly look down, and I’m sure he looks thicker down there. I smelt cinnamon when I slept on him, like his body was infused with it. Is that how his skin tastes?
Fire spikes my skin as I lean in to make my move, even though it’s stupid. This is our workplace. Yet, as he licks his lips again, I tell myself it would be a kiss, and it would stop there.
Suddenly, he reaches into his pocket and steps back.
I stumble as I say, “I was reaching for…” But I can’t think of anything to say to save face. I read the moment wrong. It doesn’t matter, though, because he’s distracted by his phone.
Shame creeps throughout my body, and I want to run, but I’m not a silly teenager, even if I act like one.
I return to the cake and busy myself adding the frosting. Curving the cream around the cake doesn’t take me long, though my hands tremble. As I survey the cake, I plan the drip effect and lay out the delicate pink flowers I’ve created for the top. Garett wanted me to push the boundaries on my frosting. I’d never test my skills like this, but he’s helped me with every step.
I sneak a look at Garett. He’s engrossed in his mobile. His tongue darts out and grazes his lower lip. I miss my best vibrator, which I accidentally left at my old place. I only remembered my little bullet because it was hiding in my washbag, but it won’t do the job especially if I’m going to keep imagining Garett’s tongue trailing a line down my body. He taps a reply on his phone as I fantasise about his fingers between my thighs as his mouth pauses at my breasts and—
I grip the frosting bag tight, and buttercream flies across the table and onto Garett’s arm.
Garett looks down before raising his eyebrow and staring at me. “I know I said I’d lick it off anything, but I didn’t mean my forearm.”
I imagine licking those thick forearms and tasting the deliciousness of his skin mixed with the salted caramel chocolate. I shake my head and swallow slowly before busying myself with the cake—anything to avoid staring at his tongue sweeping across his skin as he cleans himself up.
“Ruby, what is the Cloud Burst?” he asks as I stare, dumbfounded, at the cake.
I stutter my reply. “It’s our monthly family meal where we talk about how the cookery school is going and make plans for the next month. My grandparents named it that because we talk wild ideas for the future, like a cloud bursting full of them.” His brow furrows, and I swallow loudly, grateful that some of my arousal has passed. “Why do you ask?”
“Kath invited me to it tonight.”
I swear my stomach jumps to my throat and then back down again.
“Tonight?” I squeak. Shit, of course. We meet once a month. Then, on the twenty-third of December, we have an end-of-the-year cookery school Christmas Cloud Burst dinner. How could I forget? That also means I’ll see my parents for the first time since my grandparent’s funeral tonight.
Double shit.
“That’s what she said.”
“And she invited you? Okay, sure, yeah, that’s fine,” I reply, forcing an airy sound. “It will start in about an hour. Everyone will arrive soon, so you still have time to escape.”
He cocks his head and holds his lower lip in his mouth, giving him a lost schoolboy look. “Don’t you want me there?”
I scratch my forehead. No, I don’t, but I don’t know why. “Oh no, it can just be a bit much. It’s my whole family, as well as Wicksy and Kath. But if you want to come, then sure.”
“It's important, then.” Maybe he doesn’t want to come.
“It means they see you as part of the Cloud family. The temporary kitchen hands don’t get invited. Amber told me that it took a year before Wicksy was invited. I guess you’re privileged, as it’s only a few months,” I ramble.
“Yeah,” he replies, and his voice wavers. His eyes wobble in his head, but suddenly, he slams his hand down. “I’m coming.”
“Great.”
Maybe having him there will distract me from worrying about my parents. My first monthly family meal since returning to the cookery school. Thank God I’ve made this fantastic cake. Maybe I can shove it at my parents and we can forget the last six years.
Garett licks my earlier projectile buttercream off his forearms again. My pussy whispers filth to me. Sweat beads the back of my neck, and my mouth goes dry. He’s the last distraction I need while my family are around.
◆◆◆
The next hour flies by, and soon, there’s five of us instead of two in the cookery school dining room.
“Are my parents coming?” I ask Kath as my gaze flits repeatedly between the clock and the empty chairs. The dread that I’ve not spoken to them before now crept up on me over the last hour until it was all I thought about.
Kath shakes her head. “They tried to return in time, but their flight was delayed.” I didn’t know they were away. I need to visit. Fear pinches my heart. I was rude to them when I was with Neil, but avoiding them is rude now, too. “They messaged me a couple of minutes ago. They’ve just landed and will be home in two hours.”
“Cool, cool,” I reply. Garett squeezes his mouth to the side as he stares at me. Oh, great. Now I’ve got to worry about his pending questions about my parents, too.
A sound in the corridor makes us all turn. Jem rushes through the door, and the smile that covers my face is a mixture of nostalgia and surprise.
Jem gives me a side hug, the scent of cherry radiating from his clothes. “It’s been a while, sis.”
“Yeah, baby brother. I’ve missed your lazy ass.” I ruffle his dark brown hair, and he slaps my hands away and ends the hug. I look up to him. “You’ve grown since I last saw you.”
He shrugs. Shit, my baby brother has turned into a man. My heart pulls at the dark circles around his brown eyes. My hand hovers near his cheekbones, which are more obvious than I remember. “How’s uni?”
“Oh, you know,” he mumbles. He then sits as far away from me as possible as I try to introduce him to Garett.
Jem’s broad shoulders hunch, and he avoids eye contact as Kath hands out the pasta dish she asked Garett to prepare when he agreed to come to the meal.
“This tastes like that one Clive Macdonald won the best restaurant competition with,” Amber says, shoving penne in her mouth as if she’s scared someone will steal her plate.
I raise my eyes at her, and she grunts, “Twins.” She points at her belly.
Kath takes a bite and chews it slowly. “You’re right. I remember my friend sneaking us the leftovers after the competition.”
Garett chews his pasta slowly before swiping a piece of garlic bread. It’s like he can’t hear the conversation.
“What’s the secret ingredients, though?” I’ve read about that competition and that the pasta had a special secret ingredient, but Clive wouldn’t reveal it. “I swear I can taste a bit of cinnamon, but what’s the other thing?”
“No one would put cinnamon in pasta,” Wicksy replies as he scoffs the garlic bread.
Garett locks eyes with me. He knows something. But why is he pretending he doesn’t understand what we’re discussing?
Throughout the meal, I linger on the ingredients I can’t distinguish, nibbling bits or moving the pasta around my tongue. Garett doesn’t answer any questions, eating something every time someone asks him a question—that’s my technique—but everyone forgets the discussion as soon as they tuck into my cake. Everyone but me.
The discussion ranges from what events we have coming up at the cookery school to various contacts Amber can make from home to expand our client base. She’s rallied since last week, although she hasn’t stopped worrying about the twins and Kalen’s return. After dinner, she announces she’s exhausted and needs to get home. That’s her excuse, but I reckon it’s because she’s desperate to watch The Great British Bake Off celebrity special. It’s got a former naval officer turned actor on, and I imagine she’ll fantasise about Kalen.
“Could someone give me a lift? This damn belly makes it difficult to move the steering wheel.”
“I can,” Wicksy says.
“Out of the kindness of your heart and not because you can’t be arsed to tidy up?” Jem shouts as Wicksy and Amber walk towards the door.
“Maybe I’ll leave you to tell everyone about uni, Jem, especially as you haven’t told your parents anything about what you’re really doing,” Wicksy counters, leaving us all to stare at Jem.
Jem's face instantly reddens as he snaps, “You dick.”
“What’s this about university?” I ask as the only official Cloud still in the room.
“It’s nothing.”
He avoids eye contact with all of us as Garett tidies up. I wait for more. The ticking clock highlights that we’re not going anywhere, and he’s not getting let off. I don’t speak because I know my brother. He’s changed since the funeral, but I’m confident he won’t cope with the silence and my penetrating stare for long. It takes him less than a minute to break.
“Fine. I left university early into this term. But don’t tell Mum and Dad.”
I hold my hands up. As if I would. That would mean speaking to them.
“I don’t mean you, Ruby. I mean Kath.”
Kath shakes her head. “I’ll keep your secret. But they’ll find out eventually. It’s better if you tell them than if they find out from someone else.”
Jem shrugs, but I can tell Kath’s wisdom is ruminating in that thick head of his. Not that I can talk. We’re as bad as each other.
“Guys,” Garett says, popping his head out of the room with the dishwasher in it. “Do any of you fancy doing something dodgy and possibly illegal?”
“Illegal?” I squeak.
“Always,” Kath replies. “Count me into whatever it is. I need some excitement.”
Jem’s mouth drops open as he stares at Kath. I throw a piece of garlic bread at it.
“My pseudo-sister called me with a plan to get my dog back, and we can’t do it alone. It’s the sort of thing a Cloud Burst could help with.” This must be what Flora and Garett discussed on the phone at the hospital. I’ve deliberated who Shit Pants is and why they have Garett’s dog. I presume it’s an ex-girlfriend and friend of Flora’s.
I nearly asked while we were baking, but if he wanted me to know his relationship history, he’d tell me.
“The thing is, I need all of you for the first bit, except Ruby. Ruby, we’ll get to you at the end of the dognap. Can you think of anywhere we can keep Cookie for a couple of months where he’s looked after but can’t be found? This won’t work without that.”
I open my mouth to argue and say I want to be part of the entire dognap, but Kath nods. “That’s a good idea. Having Ruby come through at the end means we can still open the cookery school for classes if something goes wrong.”
“Hold on.” Surely, he’s not serious about the potentially illegal part, but Garett nods as he clucks his tongue.
“Of course. Thanks, Kath. I need all three of you to be sure you want to be involved. This is a risk, and I don’t even know you, Jem.”
My brother grins. He always was the first to get in trouble when we were younger. And he loved it when my grandma chased him around the garden with a wooden spoon after he’d annoyed her chickens.
“I’m sure I can find a different way to get my dog back with more time. I adore Cookie, but I can’t have you all get into trouble for him.” He shakes his head. “It’s a silly idea. Ignore I said anything.” Sweat covers his forehead, and panic sits inside me.
“Whatever it is, we’re going to do it, but we’re not doing it just for Cookie,” I say. I babble before anything, including my conscience, can shut me up. “We’re doing it for you. For the guy who fixed my light, spent his spare time improving my baking, helped Amber, and made us dinner tonight without question. He’s also the same guy who makes us laugh and happy and makes the cookery school a special place. The school is thriving because of you. So we’ll do this reckless, risky, and potentially illegal mission for you. And Cookie, too.”
Garett looks down at the floor.
“Garett,” I snap, getting his attention. “We’re getting your boy back tonight, no matter the consequences.”
“But—”
“No buts, especially as I’ve realised the best place to hide him. Tell us what you need us to do. Mission: Cookie’s Homecoming is all systems go.”