Page 79 of Return of the Bad Girl (Rock Canyon, Idaho 4)

—Miss Know It All

THEY MADE IT home from the grocery store, and Gabe sent her off to feed the kittens while he got situated. When she returned fifteen minutes later, Gabe was standing by the sink, washing his hands, and she saw that he had not only cleaned up her mess but the kitchen as well.

“Have I mentioned how much I hate doing dishes?” she asked as she kissed his back. “So thank you.”

Before he could answer, she grabbed a doughnut out of the box they’d picked up and jumped onto the counter.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked.

She paused midbite and chewed slowly before answering. “I’m savoring this delicious chocolate doughnut while I watch you make my sister’s cake?”

Taking an apple fritter from the box, he bit into it and shook his head. “No. This is not rocket science, and you are going to learn how to make a box cake if it takes us a hundred tries.”

Grumbling, she finished her breakfast and jumped down to wash her hands. The minute they were dry, a mixing bowl and a carton of eggs were shoved in her hands.

“Hup two, let’s get this cake made.”

Despite her protests that she’d just ruin it, Gabe’s gruff instructions and teasing did make the process fun. While she was beating the eggs, oil, and water into the powder with the mixer, he came up behind her. Before she knew what he was about, he’d wrapped his arms around her and covered her hands with his.

“First of all, you’re spraying batter all over the walls because the speed is too high,” he said, adjusting the mixer, “and if you do this kind of circular motion, it helps.”

With his hands covering hers, he helped her guide the mixer in a circle, going around the base of the bowl and back into the middle. She realized that as their arms were moving, so were their bodies, and with every circle, he was rubbing against her.

Caroline didn’t even bother hiding her grin as she felt his hard-on through the back of her yoga pants. “Ah, that really does help.”

“See? You got this,” he said, his lips grazing her neck. He released her hands and splayed his across her stomach.

When he grasped her right breast, kneading the flesh through her T-shirt, she bit back a moan and forgot to keep the mixer in the batter.

“Whoa,” he said, laughing. “Maybe you can’t multitask.”

She noticed the spots of batter on the counter and the front of her shirt, and groaned. “Does it at least look smooth?”

“Mmm hmmm,” he said as his other hand slipped inside her yoga pants.

For a moment, Caroline wondered what he would think about her lack of panties. Then she grabbed his wrist and yanked his hand out. “You are supposed to be helping.”

“I am helping.”

“No, you’re playing with me,” she said, unlocking the beaters from the base and turning in his arms with a beater in each hand. “Wanna lick the batter?”

“Depends,” he said, running a finger along the metal and spreading the batter across her exposed chest.

“You are such a”—Gabe bent down and dragged his tongue across her skin, the bar of his tongue ring sliding smoothly along the top of her breasts, causing her nipples to tighten and her stomach to bottom out—“perv.”

“I’m making baking interesting,” he said, pulling her scoop neck T-shirt down, along with the cup of her bra, and dribbling

batter over her nipple.

“You know, consuming raw eggs can cause salmonella poisoning,” she said, even as her eyes closed at his first flick on her hard peak. When his whole mouth closed over her areola and sucked, she dropped both beaters on the counter and held onto the back of his head. Releasing her breast and pulling her bra and shirt back in place, he came back up, grinning.

“I like to live dangerously.”

GABE RINSED OFF the beaters and put the mixer back in the cupboard as Caroline bent over to slide the cake in the oven.

“I hope this one cooks right.”

“I told you; you just had the rack too high,” he said, drying his hands. He was just about to take her for that shower he had been fantasizing about, when Googlie and Possum came running into the kitchen, meowing loudly.