Page 18 of The Baby Dragon Bakery (The Baby Dragon #2)

Theo went first, dipping his hands into the bucket of water, gently pressing on the pedal to get the wheel going. It spun, and he moved the clay until it was mostly centered. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Why are you so good at this?”

He gave her a smile. “I’m good with my hands.”

Heat flushed through her. She forced herself to get her mind out of the gutter.

“Here, you try,” Theo said, stopping the wheel and removing his hands, which were covered in gray slip. Lavinia rolled her shoulders, taking a deep breath. Theo bit back a laugh.

She dipped her hands in the water, then slowly pressed on the pedal. The wheel began spinning, and she brought her hands to the clay, trying to move it, which was much more difficult than expected.

“Why is this so hard?” she asked, muscles straining. She really had to push, and it was so slippery!

Theo laughed, and she looked over her shoulder to glare at him. “Don’t laugh!” she scolded. “You’re going to mess me up!”

She shouldn’t have taken her focus off the clay; it moved off center and slip splashed over her, splattering onto her face. Theo was further amused. She swiped her clay-covered finger over his cheek.

“Let me try again,” Theo said, elbowing her arms off the clay. She let him, but this time he got cocky and applied too much pressure. The entire clay block flew off the wheel. Lavinia bit back a squeal while Theo narrowly caught the clay. They both turned to each other, eyes wide.

At the same time, they burst into laughter.

“Oops,” Theo said, holding the mangled mess in his hands. Gabriel’s back was turned as he tended to another couple, so he didn’t see, and Lavinia gestured for Theo to put the clay back on the wheel.

“Quickly!” she said. It would be embarrassing for Gabriel to see the mess they’d made when everyone else’s was perfect. With haste, Theo threw and centered the clay again, fixing it just before Gabriel made his way over to check in on them.

Gabriel gave them an approving smile, then moved on, and Lavinia let out a breath.

“Phew.” Theo exhaled. They both giggled like kids who had just narrowly missed getting into trouble—something they did in fact spend a lot of time doing as children.

Gabriel explained the next step, which was to make a hole in the center with their thumbs, then mold the clay into either a mug or a bowl. For this part, they would work together.

“You want to make sure you have a good bit of water on your hands. Keep the wheel nice and slow, until you get into a steady rhythm together,” Gabriel explained.

Theo and Lavinia began, her left arm over his right, their hands interlinked.

“You must work in harmony,” Gabriel continued. “Apply pressure together.”

They sat closer, their thighs pressed together. The room quieted as everyone focused, and Lavinia felt his breath light on her neck, the warmth of his body behind hers. She inhaled the scent of sugar and dough from him. As they applied pressure, she could feel the muscles in his arms moving.

Slowly, they worked the clay, their hands covered with slip as they moved together.

The clay formed into a cup, smooth against her palms. They molded it, their hands covered in slip, until she could no longer see where their hands were separated from the clay, or where they were separated from each other.

When they finished, they slowed the wheel until it stopped entirely.

Their hands drew closer together on the cup, moving up until they released it, but they did not let go of each other’s hands.

The slip was wet and soft, and a small smile spread across her face as they played with each other’s fingers.

Then, he entwined their hands. Theo blew air on their joined hands, and the clay dried a little. If they didn’t move, it wouldn’t crack. They had become a work of art themselves. Tenderness spread through her, and she looked up to find him looking at her.

Their eyes met, and the moment seemed to extend out until it felt as if there was no one else in the room but them. A quiet intimacy hushed over them as they gazed into each other’s eyes. Lavinia felt each beat of her heart.

“Once you’re finished, you can cut your creation from the wheel,” Gabriel instructed, and his voice brought her back to the studio, the moment between her and Theo breaking. She pulled her hand away from his, the dried clay on their skin cracking.

Her heart ached, bringing her back to reality. Tears sprung in her eyes, and she blinked them away, admonishing herself. She needed to stop this. She was supposed to be here with Calahan, the guy she was seeing. She needed to stop this ridiculousness about Theo.

After the pottery class, they cleaned up and headed out. The sun had set. The evening was brisk, but the sky was clear.

“Do you want to grab a bite to eat?” Theo asked before Lavinia could even think of leaving. “Should we get tacos?”

“Ooh, yes! I haven’t had one in forever!”

They walked to the taco place, which was on Elderberry Lane off Main Street.

Inside, they sat down at one of the empty tables, which was painted in many different colors.

The restaurant was lit with fluorescent green and red lights, casting a glow over their faces and those of the other patrons there.

Theo and Lavinia used to come here loads when they were teenagers, and again during their university years whenever Theo would come to visit, but they hadn’t been here in a while.

They ordered food, replaying the events of the pottery class, even though they had literally just come from there, but she loved to recollect moments with him, see how they could become funnier and brighter.

They were killing themselves laughing and—not for the first time—Lavinia said, “We need to start a podcast, we’re so funny. ”

Theo laughed, and before he could agree, she added, “Except there are already too many men on podcasts. So it’ll mostly be focused on me.”

He laughed harder, and she laughed, too. It was so much fun—it was always fun with Theo. Lavinia had forgotten just how spicy the salsa was, and when she took a bite of her taco, her eyes sprang with tears.

“Oh my god.” She fanned herself, and Theo snickered, so she snuck some of the salsa onto his food as well, and then he was dying too, both of them with tears in their eyes, cackling. Theo drank a big gulp of lemonade, then choked, some of it spluttering out of his mouth. Lavinia laughed harder.

“What is wrong with you?” she asked, taking a sip, but then she realized why he had choked because she choked as well. “Why is it so sour?”

Her vision was blurry with tears. She could hear Theo wheezing.

“I’m in so much pain,” Theo gasped.

“Me too,” she cried. She pressed her hands against her ribs, which hurt from laughing, but she couldn’t stop.

Eventually, feeling returned to their tongues, and they calmed down enough to order dessert.

The plate of freshly fried churros rolled in cinnamon sugar arrived soon thereafter, and the scent alone made Lavinia salivate.

The sweet churros were perfect, one of her favorite things ever, and she couldn’t believe how long it had been since she’d last had them.

“I would kill someone for these churros,” Lavinia said, reaching for a second. “Like, commit actual murder.”

“And I would one hundred percent support you in that,” Theo replied, dipping his churro in chocolate. They toasted each other with their churros, continuing to talk and joke around. She hadn’t laughed this much in a long time, and she felt buoyant.

Afterwards, they walked around Main Street, which was quiet and dark, most of the places closed for the night.

There were only a few people around under the clear night sky.

They walked over to the white gazebo in the center of the square, where there was some reprieve from the evening wind.

She leaned against the railing, looking out at the stars.

A few times, both of them attempted to leave, but each time, they kept getting distracted with talking. Even when they left the gazebo to walk back to their cars, they ended up sitting on the slanted ground in front of the gazebo, the grass crunchy and cold.

Theo talked to her about work, how it was all so uninteresting to him now, and she listened as he explained how it wasn’t the way it used to be. There wasn’t much she could say, but she just listened, and he had a lot to say, as if he, too, was waiting to just talk to her.

“Saphira mentioned how she could use a business assistant, and I thought . . .” He broke off, shaking his head.

“But how could I ever leave Suki? After she took a chance on me? I mean, I didn’t go to culinary school, I had practically no experience, but she still saw something in me.

She nurtured that. Would it be ungrateful to even consider leaving the Rolling Pin?

” He sighed, falling back onto the grass. She leaned back on her arm, thinking.

“I wouldn’t say it’s ungrateful of you,” Lavinia finally said. “Plus, Suki adores you—I’m sure she just wants you to be happy, wherever you are.”

He blew out his cheeks, looking up at the stars. She lay down next to him, nestling close and leaning her cheek against his shoulder. They watched the stars in silence, huddled together to keep warm.

“We should probably go,” she suggested at some point.

“Yeah,” he agreed, though neither of them moved.

She turned her face up to look at him rather than at the stars, and he turned toward her, too, until they were both looking at each other. Half of his face was awash with starlight, the other half in shadow.

He was so beautiful. The thought was unbidden and made her pulse race. Tension hummed through her. She forced her heart to calm, blurting, “Do you think everything is okay with me and Calahan?”

Theo sighed, turning his face.

Insecurity pricked her, and she sat up. “What if he stood me up today because he didn’t want to come, and the tutoring thing was a made-up excuse?”

“Why would he do that?” Theo asked.

“What if he’s getting tired of me?” she asked, nibbling on her lower lip. “This always happens; boys always get tired of me. I’m easy to like, but hard to commit to.”

He dragged himself up into a sitting position. “Okay, let’s take a deep breath.” He inhaled, gesturing for her to mimic him, and she did, though that hardly helped. “I don’t think any of what you just said is true.”

“But what if it is?”

“Well, it’s not.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “When was the last time you guys hung out? Walk me through it.”

She told him about their study date at the bookshop a few nights ago, how everything had seemed fine. “Then, at the end, we kissed, and he said goodbye,” Lavinia finished. As she spoke those last words, Theo made a face, frowning, and something struck her.

“Oh my god. Do you think that’s it?” she asked. Theo furrowed his brows. “Do you think that he thinks that I’m a bad kisser?”

She had never had any complaints before, but it had been some time, so maybe she was rusty. They hadn’t made out that much, and maybe this was why!

“No, definitely not,” Theo replied, sensing she was spiraling.

“How would you know?” she asked.

“Well, we can test it, if you’re so worried,” he said.

Lavinia froze.