Chapter 27
CHAPTER 27
KIKI EMMERSON
T obias and I get Skyler ready for bed and let her pick out a book for story time. “I want Daddy to read to me tonight,” she pronounces.
Tobias glances at me, like he’s afraid it would hurt my feelings. “Me?”
Skyler cocks her head to the side, then states, “I want both of you to read to me.”
Tobias laughs, picks up the book and sits on the bed next to Skyler. “All right.”
I walk around the bed and sit on Skyler’s other side. There’s hardly any room, but I sit on the sliver of bed that’s left and cozy up to Skyler.
We take turns reading pages, which evolves into a contest to see who can read with the funniest voices and make Skyler laugh the most. We end up reading five books because Skyler keeps asking for more, and neither of us can tell her no. My sides hurt from laughing so much.
Tobias finally stands up. “Time for bed, Little Pup.” He ruffles Skyler’s hair, and I follow him out of her room.
I join Tobias going down the stairs. Today was a good day. I felt a connection with Tobias, and I don’t want that to end. I should head to bed and distance myself from him, but I can’t. I miss our closeness. I regret telling him I can’t have a relationship with him.
I feel terrible for pushing him away. He’s such a good man. He’s the perfect father for Skyler. And he’s so kind to me, even though I don’t deserve it. I suddenly want that closeness back. I want him.
Before I can think better of it, I say, “I was thinking of making some coffee cake tonight. We can have it for breakfast. Do you want to help me?”
He looks at me, taking me in for a moment before nodding. “Sure. Sounds good.”
A zing of electricity shoots through me, and I give him a small smile. He smiles back, and I have a hard time pulling in another breath. That dimple. It’s killing me. Why is it that he looks more and more handsome each day? He’s wearing a plain white T-shirt and jeans, and he looks like he stepped off a movie poster.
We enter the kitchen. To distract myself I Google the recipe on my phone, selecting one that sounds good.
“Tell me what you need. I’ll grab the ingredients,” he says.
I scroll until I come to the actual recipe. “Okay.” I list out the things we need for the crumble toping and the coffee cake itself, and Tobias puts them on the counter. He gets out two bowls and some measuring cups and spoons.
“What temperature should I pre-heat the oven for?” he asks.
“Three-fifty.”
Tobias fiddles with the knobs on the oven, then comes over to stand beside me. My heart is having a difficult time beating out a simple rhythm.
“So, you’ve lived on this island your whole life?” I ask as I open the flour container to make the crumble.
“Yes.”
“What’s your favorite childhood memory?” I scoop out a cup of flour and dump it into the bowl.
He rubs his neck. “That’s a tough question. I have lots of great childhood memories here.”
“Do tell. I want to hear some stories. Did you and your brothers ever get into trouble?”
Tobias leans on the counter next to me, grinning. “Oh, all the time. Noah and I once decided we were going to go fishing, but we didn’t have fishing poles, so we took sticks and string and improvised. We didn’t have hooks. We grabbed forks from the kitchen and bent them into hooks. They were Mom’s good silver, too.”
I gasp. “I bet your mom was mad.”
Tobias chuckles and shakes his head. “We buried the forks in the sand. She never found out what happened to her missing forks.”
“No way!” I touch his arm, which I know I shouldn’t do, but I can’t stop myself. “Did you put any bait on the makeshift hooks?”
Tobias glances at my hand on his arm, and I know he’s silently questioning what I’m doing, but I no longer care. I want back what I cut off. He grins at me. “Yes. Hotdogs.”
I laugh at the image of two little boys trying to fish with hotdogs on bent forks they stole from their mother’s good silverware. “That’s priceless.”
“Then one time Levi and I went ghost hunting in the old graveyard on Fifth Street. We snuck out of the house and took my dad’s video camera, sure that we’d see ghosts there late at night.”
I put the crumble into the fridge and start on the cake mix. “Did you find any?”
He has a hard time speaking because he’s laughing so hard. “No. We just scared each other so much I dropped Dad’s camcorder and broke it.”
His laugh is contagious, and I join him. “Wow, you guys did get into trouble. How old were you?”
“I was thirteen. I think Levi was only seven or eight. My parents were not happy about us sneaking out. They were more upset about that than the camcorder.”
“That makes sense. Do you still have the video you made?”
Tobias lifts his eyebrows. “You know what? I think I do. I turned all our old tapes into DVD’s a while back. It should be with all the family videos.”
“Ooh. I’d love to see some of those.” I grab the mixer and turn it on. Tobias pulls out a glass pan for baking, setting it next to me on the counter.
“You don’t want to see old family videos.” He shakes his head, but his eyes are smiling.
“I really do.”
Levi walks into the kitchen. “What are you making?”
“Coffee cake.” I spread the mixture into the glass pan.
“Sounds delicious.” Levi hooks his thumbs into his belt loops. “See you guys later.”
Tobias raises his eyebrows. “Where are you going?”
“On a date.” Levi grins.
“With who?” Tobias asks.
“Shelly Gardner. She just moved to the island. You probably don’t know her.” Levi walks toward the back door.
“Don’t stay out too late,” Tobias calls.
Levi stops, turns around and chuckles. “I’m not a teenager anymore. Do you really feel the need to give me a curfew, bro?”
Tobias shrugs. “Sorry. Habit.”
Levi grins at us. “Don’t wait up for me.” He leaves and his motorcycle fires up outside.
I shake my head at Tobias. “He’s a flirt, isn’t he?”
“Always has been. Ever since he hit thirteen. I worry about him never settling down, never finding a good job.” Tobias frowns. “Maybe I worry too much.”
I lift the coffee cake pan and walk toward the oven before realizing I can’t open the door with my hands full. “I’m sure you do. Can you get that for me?”
Tobias goes to the oven and opens the door for me. I slide in the cake, but my finger grazes the oven grate, and I jerk my hand back. “Ouch.”
He grabs my hand. “Did you burn yourself?”
“Yeah.” It’s not too bad, but he rushes me over to the sink and turns on the faucet, holding my hand under the water. He’s pressed up against my back, both arms around me, and I no longer feel the sting from the burn. I’m too aware of his body so close to mine. My heart does a crazy dance in my chest.
“Keep it under the water,” he says, which is useless because he’s holding my hand there. I want to laugh at him, but I can’t. I’m having too much trouble breathing.
I slowly move my other hand toward his, touching his skin lightly with my fingers. It feels so good, I can’t stop, and I thread my fingers through his, the cold water running over our hands.
“Kiki,” he whispers.
“Don’t say it.” I turn around and place my hands on his forearms. I don’t care that they’re wet. The heat from his skin quickly warms them. “I don’t want to ruin this,” I say quietly.
He places his hands on the counter on either side of me and stares at me, his gaze holding a question. He wants to know why I’m doing this, but I don’t have an answer, other than I can’t stop thinking about him, about the way I feel when I’m with him, and about how much I want to feel his touch again. I need to feel his arms around me. I run my hands up his arms, and he closes his eyes.
I trace the features on his face lightly with my finger. He opens his eyes, and I can see what my touch is doing to him. I see the desire in his gaze. “Kat,” he tries again, but I put my finger on his lips. I don’t want him to talk and ruin this moment.
He turns the faucet off and puts his arms around me. His hand splays across my back, and I melt into his embrace. I put my arms around his shoulders, my fingers grazing the back of his neck. My hands move as if they have a mind of their own. I’m powerless to stop them.
I thread my fingers through his hair. He nuzzles my neck, sending zings of pleasure through me. “I’m having a really difficult time not kissing you right now,” he whispers.
“Then kiss me.” The words are out too fast to take back.
Tobias pulls back and raises one eyebrow in a silent question, as if he knows I’m caught up in the moment and might not be making the best decision.
I close my eyes and sigh. “Please?”
He slowly moves closer to me until his lips are just a whisper from mine. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He presses his lips to mine. His kiss is slow and thorough, and I get lightheaded. I push away any thoughts about how wrong this is. How unworthy I am. This feels too good for me to stop.
I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me. I feel like I’m flying above the clouds, soaring so high my stomach buzzes. His lips are warm and soft, and he holds me to him like he’s afraid I’ll vanish into thin air.
Tobias deepens the kiss and heat warms my insides. I don’t want to do anything else but kiss this man. Forget Christmas morning. This feels like the Fourth of July. Hot and explosive.
Footsteps sound behind Tobias and he jerks away from me. Micah stands in the doorway, grinning. “Don’t stop on my account. I’m just getting a snack.”
He walks to the fridge, opens the door, and grabs a yogurt. As he exits the room he turns back. “You might want to close the oven door, though. It will cook better that way.” He chuckles as he leaves.
My face heats, and I’m sure it’s twelve shades of red. Tobias rushes over to the oven and closes the door. “How long does it bake?”
I walk over to my phone, sitting on the counter and check it. “Fifty-five minutes.” My fingers tremble too much, so I set the phone down and press my lower back up against the counter.
Tobias tells his smart watch to set a timer, then he walks over to me. He swallows and scrubs his hand down his face. “Are we pretending that didn’t happen, too?”
I glance over at the doorway to make sure Micah’s gone. I feel bad for what I said to Tobias after our last kiss. I don’t want to hide my feelings any longer. I want to have this, even if it’s just for a little while. I shake my head and bite my lip. “No.”