Page 29 of The Alpha and the Baker

“She did,” I said.

With that, Cas offered his arm to me. It was such an old-timey sort of thing to do, and yet I quite liked it.

I especially liked that it seemed to be becoming a matter of course between us.

Like a comfortable habit. It was insane to think that when we’d only known each other for a few hours cumulatively, but probably one of the less insane things I’d thought in regard to Cas lately.

“Shall we head to my valiant steed?” he asked, almost as if he could hear my thoughts.

“Let’s,” I said simply, taking his arm and resting my shoulder against his bicep whenever we stopped at a light or a crosswalk.

And what a bicep it was.

I liked people of all shapes and sizes. Skinny, coked-out line cooks, big muscle mommies, curvy women, art twinks, and Viking types with dad bods, but jacked guys had never really been my thing.

However, that was rapidly changing as I spent more time with Cas.

I liked the way his mass sat on him, and I would be lying if I didn’t admit that his insane strength definitely appealed to me.

I could picture him on his family’s land, tossing hay and wrangling animals.

Not that I saw any animals while I was there, but with so many livestock guard dogs, there had to be some tucked somewhere back behind the houses.

Unless they weren’t guardian dogs at all, but I was beginning to care less and less about that.

When we made it to his car, Cas opened my door, ever the gentleman.

Even though I was reticent for our time together to come to an end, I did have to admit it was nice to get out of the crisp breeze.

It was gentle enough, but considering the temperature and my lack of dress, it definitely was giving me the chills.

I appreciated it when he turned the heat on full blast. He must not have been cold, because he turned off all the vents on his side and pointed the ones in the middle toward me.

“Thanks,” I said, rubbing my hands together in front of the vents.

“No problem,” he said, his tone almost as warm as the heat blasting onto me. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Will do.”

We were quieter on the way home, but not because of any discomfort or awkwardness. No, if anything, the mood was downright cozy, brought on by full bellies and pleasant feelings.

So maybe that was why I was brave enough to reach over and rest my hand on his atop the center console.

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, but his eyes never left the road. I appreciated that. I did, however, watch his face carefully, making sure that he was all right with the move.

But then his hand scooted to the side, and he turned it so I could slide mine down and intertwine our fingers.

Nice!

It was such a little thing—holding hands—but it certainly didn’t feel little to me.

I was suddenly acutely aware of so many things about our single point of contact.

The rasp of the callouses on his hand, the insane heat his skin pumped out.

How his fingers were so thick that they were beginning to make my own ache from being stretched between his.

So yeah, maybe I was a little distracted from making good conversation. But that didn’t matter much when the mood had all the good we needed.

It wasn’t a long drive to my bakery, give or take twenty minutes depending on traffic, but in that time, I found myself gravitating more and more toward the kind, handsome man.

I’d been attracted to him from the moment I’d met him, but now it was more intense than ever.

It was like I was being pulled physically toward him, an irresistible force that I didn’t even want to try to struggle against.

Maybe I was completely delusional, but it felt like the feeling was entirely mutual.

The way he looked at me contained so much that couldn’t be chalked up to simple attraction.

Nothing could convince me otherwise, not even that pessimistic voice in the back of my head that insisted it was just my ego talking.

“Here we are,” Cas said as he pulled in behind my van.

“Here we are,” I repeated, but I didn’t budge. I definitely didn’t want to.

This was where Cas’s gentlemanly nature was a minus, because once again, he got out of the car to open my door. I couldn’t fault him for having good etiquette, so I took his hand when he offered it and let him walk me to my door.

But I was a little over good etiquette. When I opened my door, I didn’t let go of his hand. Instead, I squeezed lightly and met his eyes.

“Felicia?” he murmured, his voice such a low rumble it almost wasn’t discernible.

I hadn’t gotten to where I was in life by being meek, so I gave him a cheeky little grin. “Would you like to come in?”

Time stopped, full-on stopped, and yet somehow my heart continued to thunder in my chest with no accounting for how the rest of the world had frozen around us. I watched every micro-expression, every tiny little minutia of data that passed across Cas’s face in that impossibly long second.

But then he grinned at me, his expression almost wolfish, and time resumed. “I’d love to.”

Fuck yes!

Inviting a guy in after one date wasn’t really my thing, but then again, dating in general wasn’t my thing, so I was already in unfamiliar territory. Yet, I knew what I wanted, and that was Cas and only Cas. If we both felt the same, why should we deny ourselves?

At least that was what I told myself as I led him through the bakery and up the stairs to my apartment.

We didn’t run, we didn’t giggle. There was a comfortable assuredness to our march that I hadn’t expected.

Despite my brave face, I’d been prepared to be quite nervous.

I hadn’t been intimate with another person in a long while, and I had been entertaining the possibility that the McCallisters weren’t even human.

But that didn’t matter. What mattered was how he pulled me to him once we were in my two-bedroom apartment, and then leaned in to kiss me.

However, he stopped just before those appealing lips of his could touch mine. I froze, worried he’d changed his mind, but then I belatedly realized he was speaking.

“Are you sure?” he asked, one of his arms sliding around the small of my back.

I was reminded of how he caught me during my flour delivery. And then of how we’d danced together as the sun set, and the stars slowly sparkled into sight against the backdrop of the inky night sky.

“I’m sure,” I said, closing the distance between us.

Our lips pressed together, and it was everything I wanted and more. He pressed his arm harder against me, and it made me feel so intensely wanted. His cologne, so masculine, so heady, overwhelmed my senses.

My thoughts went a little sideways, but I didn’t mind. His lips moved against mine, demanding entrance. It lit a fire in my belly. I was clinging to him, my arms wrapped around his shoulders, needing him to be closer.

The heat between us was so palpable that I was surprised there weren’t physical sparks between us. Desire, thick and ardent, bubbled up in me in a way I wasn’t used to.

In a way I really didn’t want to resist.

So I didn’t.

No thinking, no doubt, just the natural attraction we felt for each other. I let myself fall into it, unhindered by so many of the worries and responsibilities that weighed down my day-to-day. In Cas’s arms, there was none of that.

There was only us.

After a few minutes, he broke the kiss and straightened even as my lips chased his. I made a slight sound of protest, but his responding chuckle soothed me.

“Trust me, I’m not done kissing you.” The rough timbre of his voice made my knees weak. “I wanted to check in on just how far we were taking this.”

I swallowed hard and tried to get my brain online enough to answer him.

“I suppose as far as we want it to,” I said with all the lucidity I could muster.

I didn’t think I’d ever been so affected by a kiss, but then again, it had been one hell of a kiss.

“Neither of us have to do anything we don’t want to. ”

But I really, really wanted to do everything . My panties were wet, and so were my palms. While one of those was much more preferable than the other, it was a sure sign that my body was absolutely into what was going on.

I knew that if that changed, or if I wavered in any way, Cas would stop as soon as I asked it. No ifs, ands, or buts. That couldn’t be said for all men, but I knew right to my bones that Cas would never, ever go further than his partner wanted.

And that was so fucking hot.

His face lowered, and for a moment I thought he was going to kiss me again, but instead he spoke, the outline of his lips barely brushing mine. It drove me crazy, albeit the best kind of crazy. “What I really want to do is get that dress off of you and have dessert.”

Fuck.

Maybe someone else would find that cheesy, but I was all for it. I crashed my mouth to his, and he nipped at my bottom lip, his fingers biting into the soft swell of my hips.

I didn’t think I’d ever told him I liked a little bit of rough with my pleasure—that strength and prowess turned me on just as much as kindness and humor, and yet somehow he knew. He just knew.

Almost like we were meant to be.

Hold your horses there, girlie.

That was about the last coherent thought before Cas’s hand slid up my arm, warm and firm. Then, despite his strength, he gently plucked the straps of my dress from my shoulders and slid it down my arms.

I stared into his green gaze, utterly captivated by what I saw there.

I was a fairly confident woman. Most people found me attractive, and I had an asset that was frankly spectacular.

But I had plenty of flaws, and even the most conventionally attractive woman in the world would feel a bit nervous about being laid bare in front of someone new. Anxiety welled up inside me.