Page 22 of Cupcake of the Month (Just Add Peaches #2)

Jordan bit her lip to keep from laughing. Whatever Anthon was expecting, he wasn’t getting it from Josh.

Anthon frowned. “Since I was absent from dinner last night, I expected a report.”

Why did the man insist on behaving as though he was in charge? Jordan almost interjected, but Josh didn’t need her to defend him.

“Forecast calls for a lovely day with temperatures in the mid eighties.” Josh removed the sauce pan from the burner. “Looks like fall is right around the corner.”

Jordan pressed her lips together as she fished a spoon out of the drawer so she could taste the sauce. He flicked a blank stare her way before tightening his mouth and taking the utensil, dipping it, and handing it back. It was a peach barbeque glaze for that evening’s dinner and damn good.

“A report on the state of the kitchen.”

Josh scanned the room. “Still in Georgia, Auntie Em.”

Anthon narrowed his eyes. “What’s for dinner tonight?”

“Glazed fried chicken, green beans, a summer salad, and chocolate cake.” Josh’s tone turned professional since Anthon had asked a relevant question, and he gestured to the menu Wendy had posted, then to the stove. “The glaze is done and the cake is in the oven.”

Another timer went off and Josh removed the dessert, filling the kitchen with a heavenly scent.

“That smells amazing,” Jordan said.

Anthon frowned and made a show of inspecting the six-burner stove and the countertops. “The eggs are looking good. You didn’t make fondant for the cake?”

“For a fried chicken dinner?” Jordan asked. Both men turned to her, and she shrugged. “I’m just saying. It’s comfort food. Who wants a heavy sugar mixture to go along with that?”

Josh took out the cinnamon. “I’m making a frosting so simple that even you can’t mess it up and so delicious it will satisfy your overachieving taste buds.”

He put a dash of the spice to the waffle batter, and then tested the heat of the heavy cast-iron griddle. His knuckles tightened around the handle.

The other man sighed and took a spoon out of the drawer. He dipped it in the frosting and brought it up to his nose and gave a hearty sniff, then touched the tip of his tongue to the sweet before taking a larger lick. “I suppose it will do.”

“My life is complete.”

“You.” Anthon snapped his fingers at Jordan. “Make yourself useful and cut some fruit.”

Josh pinned him with his steely blue-eyed glare. “Don’t snap at her.”

She bit back a grin. Her hero.

Anthon’s gaze took in Josh’s tightened muscles and took a few steps back. “My fingers slipped. Sorry. Will you please cut some fruit?”

The kitchen at breakfast was Josh’s terrain, his battleground, even if Anthon had given Jordan a reason to stay. She held her breath and raised an eyebrow in question.

Josh responded with a lift of one shoulder. She’d take it.

When she approached the refrigerator, she ran her palm lightly across Josh’s shoulders. Just a touch, to let him know she wasn’t done with him yet.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his voice low and controlled.

“What do you mean?” She blinked. “I’m getting the fruit.”

She rinsed the berries, standing with her hip pressed against his. She felt an answering push before he stepped away.

Since peaches were sacred at Fountenoy Hall, she left them out of the common fruit salad. In went the strawberries and bananas, blackberries, and cantaloupe. Anthon placed grapefruits next to her cutting board.

Josh picked them back up and moved them to the counter. Good. She hated grapefruit. Their flavor always took over.

After she peeled, washed, and cut the fruit, she placed everything in a clear glass bowl. She threw away the tops and stems, and timed putting the salad away to coincide with Josh getting milk.

“Oops,” she said. “Excuse me.”

He stared into her eyes for a moment, the blue growing darker with wanting. He leaned forward, his lips caressing hers all too briefly, sending sparks in her blood. She gave a hum of approval.

Now it was time to make her strategic exit and leave him wanting more.

The unseen banana peel on the floor, however, had other ideas.

Her feet defied gravity while she flailed her arms, trying to find purchase on the island as her body embraced the laws of physics. She landed on the unforgiving floor, pain radiating in her left wrist as it made impact.

“Oouuuuuuuuuuuch.” She couldn’t stifle the groan that developed from inside her chest.

“Jordan!” Josh was beside her in an instant, his hands hovering while his eyes scanned her body.

Of all the tripping hazards in all the world, she was felled by her own banana peel. And she couldn’t have done it without witnesses. No, that wouldn’t have been nearly humiliating enough.

Anthon stood above her, a bag of bread in his hand. “Are you all right?”

What the hell did he think? Heat suffused her cheeks and she avoided any eye contact as she tried to breathe through the pain. She was about as all right as a two-foot yard stick.

Josh shoved the stools out of the way and gently eased her into a sitting position with her back against the island. “Let me see.”

“I’m okay,” she grunted, clutching her wrist to her chest. Besides, she’d been hurt worse playing ball.

He picked up the offending fruit peel and chucked it into the trash. “Let me get you some ice.”

“Wow, good looking and capable of first aid.” She gritted her teeth and gave a harsh exhale to keep from groaning. “How did I get so lucky?”

“You can’t stay there,” Anthon said. “You’re in the way.”

Jordan ignored him and focused on her breathing. Slow inhale. The pain in her wrist would go away. Slow exhale. Hopefully before her party tonight.

Josh placed the baggie of ice and a towel on the island. “Let’s get you off the floor.”

“I can do it,” she said. She pivoted to her knees and gasped at the shooting, knifelike agony rippling up her arm. Her slow inhale lodged in her chest.

“Let me help you, Jay.” His velvet voice caressed her.

“She said she’s fine,” Anthon said to Josh.

Josh held out an arm, not touching her.

Oy gevult . It would be easier with his support, and she didn’t need to prove anything.

She gripped the strong limb and leaned into him. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and effortlessly raised her from the floor and put her on one of the stools. “Thank you,” she gulped.

Josh scooted the ice closer to her and she lay her wrist on the bag. “Okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Or, rather, she would be, once the ice numbed it. Then she could slink off into the stables and get some aspirin.

Josh leaned forward so their faces were even. He searched her eyes and she filled her mind with guileless thoughts. He nodded, once, then kissed her forehead.

Once he turned away, she lay her head down on the island.

She’d been injured before. Hard to play sports and not get bumped or bruised once in a while.

But damn, her wrist hurt like a mother. She tried to bend it, but the shooting pain stopped her.

Pretty sure it wasn’t broken, though. Probably just a bad sprain. She got up the courage to see.

Her wrist had puffed up and she was sure its color matched her embarrassed cheeks. When her skin reached the lovely shade of purple, she could accessorize tonight with her earrings.

“Where are you going?” Anthon demanded. “Breakfast isn’t done!”

Jordan raised her head in time to see Josh disappear though the swinging doors to the dining room. Two minutes later, he came back with Brandi in tow. “You and I,” he said to Jordan, “are going to the ER.”

“What? No. It’s fine. I’ll ice it and wrap it up.”

“Jordan, you’re obviously not okay. You’re going to the doctor.”

“Go, sweetie,” Brandi said. “I’ve got it covered in here. And Josh’s shift ends in half an hour anyway.” She flashed Anthon a bright smile infused with her special Brandi charm. “I bet you can teach me all sorts of things.”

He stood up straighter. “I’m an excellent teacher.”

“Do you need help walking?” Josh moved to her side.

“It’s my arm, not my foot,” she grumbled.

He held up his hands, then retrieved the keys to the van off a hook near the back door. She stumbled outside and into the van’s front seat, then closed her eyes when he leaned across her to fasten her seatbelt.

God, stroking her fingers through those curls would be so much more pleasant than her present situation. Inhaling his clean, fresh scent.

She settled into her seat, holding her wrist, while Josh drove.

“You know, I’m feeling better,” she said after a while, as the throbbing continued. “I’ve had worse than this playing ball.”

“I’m sure you have.” Josh’s voice was frustratingly even.

“So you can turn around.”

“I can. Not going to.”

She leaned back in the seat with a sigh of resignation.

Soon he pulled into the urgent care center and led her inside.

The doctor diagnosed her with a sprain, and she had to wear a stupid brace for at least a couple of weeks.

Jordan gobbled the extra-strength aspirin she offered, refusing the high-powered pain killers.

She didn’t want to be drugged at the party that night.

Getting dressed was going to be hard enough without moving her wrist. Being introduced as a new member of Mrs. McGraw’s staff while half-stoned from medication? Forget about it.

On the way back to Fountenoy Hall, the van was filled with a silence so thick it was hard for her to breathe. She could feel Josh glancing over at her on more than one occasion, his fingers tapping an uneven beat on the steering wheel.

The medicine seeped into her system and took the edge off the worst of her pain. She shifted in the seat and closed her eyes, giving a sigh of relief. Josh put his hand on her knee and gave a small squeeze before putting his hand back on the wheel.