Page 296 of Lilah

"What?"

"Bear totally just farted," she snorts.

"You sure it wasn't you?" I question.

"Nope. If it was me, you'd know it," she explains and that's true. She's brutally honest and she doesn't hold anything back. If she's got to do something, she's gonna do it and she's gonna make sure you know it'sherthat did it.

She leans into me and grips onto the side of my face. She places her lips on my cheek before trailing them down to my jaw. She knows I like it when she does that.

The kisses are innocent but when she does it, it makes me think thoughts that are far from innocent.

Then she blows a damn raspberry on my cheek and pulls away, laughing at her own actions.

She stands up and grabs onto my hand, motioning for me to get up too.

"Want to help me make cookies for tonight?" she asks me excitedly, a smile on her face.

I can't say no to that.

I know shit about baking but it's obvious she wants me to help her. I only give her a little nod and her smile widens as she starts to pull me into the kitchen.

I stand in the middle of the kitchen watching her as she skitters around grabbing ingredients from everywhere. I don't really know what to do with myself.

She washes her hands then instructs me to do the same and I do. She passes me the carton of eggs and a metal bowl.

"Crack two eggs in the bowl for me, okay?" she tells me, keeping her eyes focused on whatever she's mixing together. I look at the eggs in front of me.

My egg-cracking skills are very high level. Really at all. I can cook them, that's easy. But I can't crack them open without getting the shell everywhere.

"Um," I mumble and she pauses, looking over at me. Her eyebrows furrow in sweet concern.

"You need a little bit of help?" she questions, scooting over closer to me. She grips onto one of the eggs, cracks it on the side of the bowl and shows me slowly how to open it without getting shells anywhere. Then she stands back a bit and watches me as I successfully crack my own egg without getting any shells anywhere.

"Look at that!" I hear the smile in her voice, "such a good helper."

My chest fills with pride forcracking a fucking egg properly.

She gives me a few other ingredients to mix in with the eggs and before she can tell me to mix it in with the 'dry ingredients' as she called them, my phone rings.

The name Sanfred appears on the screen and the call better not be what I think it is. It's nine in the morning on Christmas.

"Yeah?" I grumble.

"I know you said we won't work today but this is really important," Sanfred explains on the other end of the phone. I wanted today to be completely work-free. The guys need a break and I do too.

I wanted to spend all day with Azalea before we go to Jai's house tonight for the annual 'gathering' he has.

"What is it?" I sigh.

He explains all the details he's got access to and the whereabouts of the case. It's only about an hour away so it's not terrible. A kid has been taken from his family into this state from Georgia. All we have to do is retrieve the kid and turn the guy in.

I place my phone down on the counter and she looks at me, a smile on her lips.

"You have to work?" she questions softly. I nod hesitantly.

"Okay," she nods, "I'll just finish these up and then I'll go see Mr. Terrip for a while."

"I'm sorry," I tell her honestly. She shakes her head immediately.