Page 44

I hold him tight as the rain picks up, turning to a steady drizzle. The mood is heavy as we head back to the house, but I don’t think it’s bad. Just… emotional, I guess.

“How are you at baking?” I ask when we pull into my driveway.

“Uh, not great. Why?” He gives me a concerned smile.

“Neither am I, but I would love some home-baked chocolate chip cookies.”

Tobias chuckles. “If you have the ingredients and a recipe, I think we can figure it out. We’re two capable men, right?”

I bark out a laugh. “I’ll say yes because I really want cookies.”

“Your sugar cookies were okay,” he says.

“They tasted like playdough.”

“Mm, maybe a little. ”

We both laugh, and the clouds open up as we wait for the garage door to open. The rain is so heavy, we hear it beating down on my roof like golf balls.

“It hasn’t rained this hard in a while,” Tobias comments.

“Perfect day to bake cookies, get into comfy pajamas, watch movies—”

“And fuck,” Tobias adds.

“Yes, that. Lots of that.”

Tobias lets Biscuit out of her kennel as I gather all the ingredients for cookies.

The recipe seems simple enough, so I’m sure we can get through this.

Maybe with his help, they’ll actually taste good.

I have no idea what I did wrong on the sugar cookies, but hopefully it won’t be a repeat.

I preheat the oven, pull out my mixer, and get the eggs into a bowl of warm water since I don’t want to wait for them to reach room temperature.

“Damn, you’re serious about this,” Tobias comments, eyes on the mixer as he comes back into the kitchen, Biscuit at his side.

“It was a gift,” I say.

He shakes his head, stopping at my side to check everything out.

“Eggs in water is part of the recipe?” he questions.

I slap his arm playfully. “The cookies will come out better if the ingredients are room temp, and I’m impatient.”

“Tell me what to do, Chef.”

“Let’s start with measuring everything out first. ”

We work together smoothly to measure everything out. Once that’s done, Tobias puts the sugar and the butter together in the mixer while I put all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

“I think I need the next thing,” Tobias says. “Whatever it is.”

I glance at my phone, wanting to make sure what that is before I tell him the wrong thing and we fuck these up.

“Vanilla first. Then brown sugar. Once that’s combined, it’s the eggs. One at a time.”

While he does that, I get another measuring cup and a spatula.

“Looks right,” he comments.

I add the dry mixture little by little, making sure to scrape everything off the paddle and sides so it’s mixing together well.

“Chocolate chips next,” I say, dumping them in.

“This actually looks good,” Tobias says, shutting off the mixer and removing the bowl.

I stick my finger in to scoop some up and put it in my mouth.

“There’s raw egg in that,” Tobias says with a frown.

“And?”

He shakes his head and reaches for a chocolate chip on the counter that got away, popping it into his mouth. He sees me watching and grins.

“Bet I taste like chocolate,” he goads .

I grip his shirt and pull him close. “Let’s find out.”

I kiss him, making sure to swipe my tongue into his mouth. He does taste like chocolate, but when he pulls away, I say, “Nope. Didn’t taste anything.”

I find the bag of chocolate chips and grab a few, putting them in my mouth. “What about me?”

His eyes light up, and he goes in for a kiss, moaning against my lips.

“Delicious,” he growls, and I can’t help but laugh.

The rain somehow gets harder, it’s so loud I can hardly hear myself thinking.

We work on spooning the dough onto the sheet pans and put them in the oven.

As we’re cleaning up, I find the bag of chocolate chips and put a few in my hand.

Tobias is at the sink, washing dishes, so I slip between him and the counter and hold them to his lips.

“Open.”

He does, then shuts off the water, chewing as he keeps his eyes on me. I lean in, kissing his neck, his jaw, and then his lips.

“Do I taste like chocolate yet?” he asks.

I laugh. “Maybe your dick does,” I say, reaching for the waistband of his sweats to slide my hand inside and grab his hard dick.

He grasps my face, kissing me and breathing hard as I jerk him off.

His tongue moves slowly against mine, savoring it.

The sweet scent of cookies fills the air, and I’m a second away from dropping to my knees and showing Tobias how thankful I am for his help.

Not only with the cookies, but with everything.

An itchy feeling covers my skin, and a little voice in the back of my head urges me to open my eyes. Something feels off.

So I do, and I see something that doesn’t quite make sense.

It takes far too long for my brain to register what I’m looking at.

I jerk away from Tobias, but there’s nowhere to go.

I’m caught between him and the counter, and end up hitting my hip on the edge, which hurts like a bitch. It's the least I deserve.

“What the—” Tobias starts, looking over his shoulder, then quickly fixes his pants, moving to the side and letting me out of his grip. I can’t imagine what he’s thinking right now, but I have an idea.

“Marianne,” I say quickly. “It’s… uh—”

There is no way to describe the expression on her face other than confused. It's utter confusion. Bewilderment. Whatever is worse than that. I don’t see hurt or pain or betrayal... It’s just shock.

Of course, Tobias doesn’t understand what’s going on because he thinks we’re broken up.

He doesn’t know she just found me cheating.

Maybe he thinks she came to pick up some things she left behind and is shocked by seeing us together for the first time.

Or maybe he thinks she's making a friendly visit.

“I’m not quite sure what’s going on here,” she finally says. Her voice is quiet, and it’s then I pick up on the rain again. It’s why I didn’t hear her come in. She still has a key, and I didn’t think this was a possibility. She's supposed to be in New York.

“I thought you weren’t coming home for another week,” I say.

I see Tobias frown at me from the corner of my eye. Marianne only nods, but it’s kind of robotic. Her gaze goes from me to him and back again, her body still as a statue.

“I’m sorry you had to find out this way,” Tobias says gently. So polite. So kind. Of course he means that I’m into men, because he doesn’t know the other thing. The thing I’ve been lying to him about.

“ This way?” Marianne says, her voice slightly higher than normal. “Is there a good way to find out your fiancé is cheating on you?”

“Fiancé?” Tobias blurts out, his brows going up. His attention comes to me, but I can’t look at him. A lump the size of a grapefruit lodges in my throat and my blood turns to ice.

“Did he not tell you he's engaged?” Marianne says in a tone that is way too calm. It doesn’t make sense. “We’re supposed to be married in four months,” she adds.

I bite my cheek, willing the tears away.

I make myself look at Tobias because maybe if he sees how upset I am, how sorry I am, he’ll forgive me.

He will. He has to. He will understand. This will all be okay.

But what I see back is devastating. The look on his face is one I've never seen before.

It's not him. It's like some angry man has taken him over .

“Tobias,” I say, taking a step toward him, but he jerks away, moving out of my grasp.

“You two are engaged?” Tobias asks Marianne while keeping his arm out, guarded, to stop me from getting closer. He doesn't trust me to even answer that question, and I guess I can't blame him. I did this. I fucked this all up. This is all my fault. All because I'm a coward.

“Yeah,” she huffs. “Have been for two years.”

“And he never said anything to you to make it seem like he’d changed his mind?” Tobias adds, his tone dark. "He never mentioned calling off the wedding?"

His words hit me hard, knowing what's coming.

She frowns, turning to me with watery eyes. “Never,” she breathes out.

Tobias nods slowly, lips pursed and eyes unfocused. “Thank you for that, and again, I am so, so sorry.” His voice cracks as he speaks, and when he walks away, I have to go after him.