Page 37 of Surrendering His Heart (Buena Hills #4)
It doesn’t matter. He’s still your boss now.
The oven’s long beep brought the relief she needed. “The macarons are done,” she squeaked, letting go of his hands faster than the time she’d accidentally pulled a cake pan out of the oven without a hot pad. Her hand burned where he’d placed the kiss just as much as it had back then.
Popping up from her chair, she hurried to the oven, holding her breath to make her heart rate slow. Once she felt more like herself, she asked, “What’re you doing home anyway? I didn’t think you’d leave work until five.”
Christian followed her, leaning against the fridge as she pulled the baking sheet out of the oven.
“My boss’s wife called with an emergency that apparently only he could handle.
He wasn’t happy about it, but he left early, so I did too.
I wanted to see—” His face turned a light shade of pink.
“I thought I’d work from home this afternoon. ”
His blush, and the way he’d abruptly redirected his answer, made it evident his purpose hadn’t been to spend the afternoon with his kids. Was he here to see her?
Oh, please no. She didn’t think she’d be able to resist him if he admitted to coming home early for her.
“That smells really good.” He leaned in for a closer look, bringing his tantalizing scent into her personal space. “What kind are they?”
“Blueberry lavender.” Hallie set the baking sheet on top of the stove.
“Lavender? Like the flower?”
“Don’t knock it ’til you try it.”
“I don’t normally eat flowers,” he said. “And the smell is awful. I tried diffusing lavender oil in Isla’s room when her sleeping problems first started because everyone swore it would help.”
“Did it?”
“No. All I got was a massive headache. ”
Hallie picked up the piping bag in one hand and grabbed a cooled lavender-colored cookie from the wire rack at the back of the counter. “It’s an acquired taste, but mix it with something like blueberries, and it’s delicious.”
She smeared a circle of buttercream around the center of the cookie before picking up another half, smooshing it down until a white ring pooled to the edge of the small sandwich. “Try this.”
As she held the macaron up to his mouth, her heart thumped hard against her rib cage again.
Why hadn’t she just handed it to him? Would he think she was coming onto him?
With the tension swirling in this kitchen right now, feeding him herself felt way too much like crossing over a line she couldn’t return.
When his hands found her waist, she knew he felt it too.
Goosebumps skittered across her back as the gentle pressure of his fingers invited her closer.
His brown eyes stared back at her with an intensity that surged straight into her soul, a question swimming in their depths. The very question she asked herself.
No, it’s not okay. Kissing him would only lead her further into that forbidden territory.
Except she couldn’t back away. And for this one moment, she longed to pretend a future was possible between them.
After setting the half-eaten macaron on the counter, she hooked her hand behind his neck, pulling him down to her level.
Her eyelids fluttered closed as their lips hovered a fraction of an inch apart, so close their breaths mingled in a tantalizing dance.
Anticipation crackled in the air, waiting for someone to make the first move.
Who initiated it, she didn’t know, but the next instant, sparks ignited in her brain at this long-anticipated kiss.
Christian tightened his grip on her with one arm, circling around her to splay across her upper back. The fingers of his other hand plunged into her hair, cradling her head. His heart thudded against her as she pressed tighter to his chest.
She shouldn’t want this. Everything in her mind screamed for her to step back, create space, think rationally. All while her heart persuaded her to go deeper .
No wonder she was so confused. How could something so wrong feel so right?
“Hallie,” he gasped, coming up for air.
“Don’t stop,” she whispered, not willing to let go of this one moment of pleasure.
Lowering his mouth again to hers, he backed her gently against the fridge. He cradled her tenderly with one arm while the other braced against the stainless steel.
In the foggy abyss of her subconscious, Hallie thought she heard a door shut in the distance. That couldn’t be right. They were alone. She refocused her mind on the soft caress of his lips.
“Christian?”
The woman’s voice was harder to ignore, though it reached Hallie’s ears in a gargled vibration more than an actual sound. Like when someone tried to speak underwater.
Her mind was playing tricks on her, doing whatever it could to stop her heart. But it wouldn’t work. She’d like nothing more than to stay in the blissful oblivion of his affections forever.
She slid her hands across his shoulders and down to his chest, basking in the solid realness of him. Clutching his shirt, she drew him closer, closer, until …
“Oh!”
At the voice, Christian cursed, flying away from Hallie so fast the movement knocked her backward. She bumped her head against the fridge, an inferno raging across her face.
A woman stood in the entrance to the kitchen, her mouth dropped open in a wide O. Multiple reusable shopping bags dropped to the floor. Her light brows raised, and the way she’d pulled back her dark blonde hair gave Hallie a direct view of the shock in her eyes.
The same brown eyes that she’d studied in depth on the man now standing as far as he could get and still be in the room. Christian refused to look at her as his words confirmed what had taken Hallie only a second to understand.
“Hey … Mom.”