Page 22 of Right Where You Left Me

“I know you aren’t.” I say and flick a stray piece of her hair back behind her ear. My cheeks burn at the boldness of that movement, but before I can second guess it she’s grabbing my hand and kissing my knuckles, her smile lighting me up inside.

“Tell me how to get started, Em.” She says softly against my hand.

My skin is tingling and it feels like my face is on fire.

It takes all my willpower to take my hand back and sift through the things I brought with me.

I clear my throat and hope my words sound normal as I say, “We’re making vanilla cupcakes with a simple vanilla buttercream frosting.

I thought we would start easy, and if you want to try more we can look up some recipes together later.

” I wince at the assumption that she’d want to do this again, but it’s quickly smoothed over when she hums and kisses my knuckles again.

“Sounds good. What’s first?”

“Um.” I breathe out. “So, we’ll start by mixing up the cake batter.

” I pull out the cupcake tin and liners and set them aside before pulling out all the ingredients and organizing them on the island.

“Can you preheat the oven to 350 degrees, please?” I ask, looking back at her to find her staring at me.

She startles when she notices I caught her and smiles sheepishly. “350. Got it.”

I measure everything out and motion for her to start mixing everything in the bowl River grabbed for us.

Wet, then dry ingredients. I watch as she works, her muscles flexing making the ink on her arms dance as she mixes the batter up.

She turns to me, grinning with pride. God, I want to kiss her again.

She looks so sweet, I bet her lips would taste just as good as the way she looks tonight.

The lights in her kitchen are making the gold in her swirling hazel eyes shine brighter.

It’s mesmerizing. She’s so beautiful, I could weep.

“Am I doing this right?” She asks, looking down at the lumpy mixture she’s stirred up.

“Really no wrong way to mix it together.” I rasp out. “Just stir until it’s smooth.”

She smirks knowingly at me and winks before she goes back to mixing.

This time she acts like she’s putting on a show for me, flexing on purpose and leaning against the counter to push her ass out.

I stifle a cough and use the guise of checking the mixture to lean in closer to her.

“Looks good.” I say softly. I reach for the cupcake tin and place all the liners before grabbing the batter scoop I brought.

“We’ll fill each cup about two-thirds of the way up and then they’re ready to go into the oven.

She giggles as she fills the cups, spilling tiny splotches of batter on the counter and tin as she does it and I feel so fucking giddy.

She’s so open and happy and I can’t get enough of it.

This is the Sage I remember, the one that was my best friend in the entire world.

The one that, until I fucked everything up, I know I could always count on to be there with me.

This Sage— the beautiful, grinning, giggling woman in front of me— she’s the one that I’ve missed so fucking much.

I really, really want to kiss her again.

Her eyes flit up to mine and I watch as her breath catches at whatever look is on my face right now.

“Oven?” She whispers out. I just nod and take the tray from her, placing it on the center rack and setting the timer for twenty minutes.

I try to get myself under control, to temper whatever is sizzling inside of me at being this close to her right now. It’s just cupcakes, just?—

“Frosting.” I blurt out.

Her eyebrows go to her hairline at the insane volume of my voice. “Um.” She looks around the island. “You didn’t bring any?”

“No.” I clear my throat. “We’re going to make it.”

“Oh.”

“Did you think I was going to bring store bought frosting?”

She shrugs. “I honestly didn’t know what to expect from tonight.”

I shake my head. “That is so insulting.” I say in mock offense.

Grabbing the rest of the ingredients I brought I lay everything out and explain the steps to make the buttercream.

“It’s really simple.” I say once I’ve measured everything out.

“We’ll just beat the butter and salt together, add the sugar, then vanilla and cream, mix it up and voila, frosting. ”

She blinks slowly at me. “Right.” She says staring at the hand mixer I set on the counter. “Um.”

I laugh and show her how to use it. “You’ve really never used one of these before?”

She blushes. “Piper has a stand mixer, and we don’t do a whole lot of baking here if you weren’t already aware.”

“I’ll help you.” I say softly and stand behind her.

I wrap my hand around the one she has holding the mixer.

Together we move it around the bowl, beating the butter and salt together until it’s nice and smooth.

I guide her through mixing the rest into the mixture and when the frosting is nice and fluffy I turn the mixer off.

“Look at that! You did it.” She takes a deep breath and spins to face me.

The mixer is still in her hand and she looks at it quickly before her eyes meet mine again.

“We should taste it right?” She asks quickly. Her eyes flick down to my mouth before meeting my gaze again.

“Oh for sure.” I say with a laugh. “We can just—” I reach for a spoon, but before I get to one Sage’s finger is dipping into the icing on the mixer blade and scooping some off.

Her frosted finger reaches out, grazing my bottom lip.

I don’t even hesitate, my mouth wraps around the tip of her finger, tongue swirling around it to grab the sugary sweetness from her skin.

She makes a tiny noise in the back of her throat when I pull away, and that sound.

That fucking sound . “You should taste it too.” I croak, and then my mouth is on hers.

She leans into me, her tongue licking against my lips fighting for access inside my mouth.

I open for her and I’m rewarded with another one of those noises and I melt against her.

She takes the opportunity to spin us, and boxes me in against the island.

Our tongues are tangled together in a frenzy of need and pent up lust from years of missing out on this.

The taste of vanilla and her fill me and I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to get enough of this.

Her lips leave mine, and glide down my jaw, my neck.

Her hands stroking so slowly and teasingly against my stomach. “Emma.” She rasps. “What do you want?”

I can’t formulate the words. Every nerve in my body feels alive at just this simple contact with her.

I whimper as her teeth graze my collar bone and I grab her face and pull it back up to mine, devouring her in a sloppy kiss.

I want to feel her everywhere. I want every part of us connected.

I pull her as tightly against me as I can and she laughs wickedly against my lips.

Her hands, still grazing my hips, start teasing my waistband now.

“What do you need, baby?” She asks again.

“Touch me.” I gasp out when her fingers dip a little deeper into the front of my jeans. “Please, Sage. Please touch me.”

She hisses against my neck, before her eyes look up at me. They’re burning, the golden green a thin ring around her blown out pupils. Her fingers move to the button on my jeans. “You want me to touch you, baby? Make you come all over my kitchen counter?”

Oh my fucking God. Am I dead? Is this what heaven is like? Me splayed out for the hottest woman I have ever seen while she looks at me like she wants to eat me alive?

I think I nod, I know no words come out of my mouth, but Sage’s is back on mine with so much hunger and passion it makes my legs shake. She’s unbuttoning my jeans, her hand moving down toward where I need her to be.

I’m babbling, begging her for it now. This is the first time I’ve actually had the chance to do more than kiss another woman and the fact that it’s Sage is— fuck I don’t even have words.

It all feels so good, so raw and real. I want this so badly.

Want her so badly. If she doesn’t touch me I might actually cry, and wouldn’t that just be so fucking embarrassing?

“Fuck, Emma.” She murmurs against me as she teases me just a little more. Her fingers finally unbutton my jeans and the groan she lets out sends a shock straight to my core as she dips her fingers down to cup me through my underwear.

And that’s when two things happen: the oven timer goes off. And River bounds into the kitchen at the sound.

“I heard the timer, are they done— OH MY GOD!”

“River!” Sage snaps. “Get the fuck out of here!”

“I’m sorry!!!” He says frantically, covering his eyes with his hands. “How was I supposed to know the two of you were groping each other in the kitchen ! This is a public space, Sage !”

“Fucking Christ.” She mutters, her forehead resting on my shoulder. “We’ll pick this up again later, okay?” She says softly.

My cheeks are cherry red, I just know it. I can feel them burning with both unfulfilled lust and a little bit of embarrassment that we were caught. “Okay.” I whisper and hope that she means it.