A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 60: Semi-Sweet

"I'm coming," I said into the intercom, frantically grabbing my purse so Blade wouldn't have to wait any longer, already sweaty from rushing around so I wasn't late this time, and failing spectacularly. Everything just seemed to go wrong when I was meeting up with him and I was always left scrambling; today's issue was me apparently forgetting to turn my alarm on last night. I was sure I'd done it, but I guess I'd been too tired and imagined it. Which left me having overslept and panicked when I did wake up. "Just give me two seconds."

"Mazey and I can't come up?"

Shit. Mazey. I forgot. "Yes! Sorry." I let them up, then headed to the bathroom to slick on some chapstick and give myself one final look over. My face was pink from running around all morning and my hair was already starting to frizz. The temperature may have cooled significantly, but it was still warm enough and my stressful morning hadn't helped. Where was winter when you needed it?

A knock on the door and he was here, so I'd just have to deal.

Mazey wiggled out of his hold almost immediately and he put her down, where she circled my ankles, rubbing against me, while he handed over her bag of things and also--

"You did not buy me cookie dough," I said, laughing as I took it from him. It was even the brand of chocolate chip cookie dough I liked; I didn't have it often, but when those cravings hit every couple of months, nothing else would do. "Seriously?"

"In case you decide that baking cookies with no mixer in the middle of a heatwave is a fun way to pass the time again, I figured this might at least save you some trouble. They aren't homemade, but at least they'll be freshly baked. A fair compromise," he said, standing stiffly at the edge of my doorway, like he was an old timey vampire waiting for an invite to cross the threshold.

"Well fortunately the heatwave is over and I can go back to baking in peace," I said, storing it in the fridge then finally giving Mazey a proper hug and greeting and she purred happily in my arms, rubbing her head all over my face.

"You still don't have a mixer or the arm strength to replace it," he pointed out.

"The more I bake without it, the stronger I'll get," I said, resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at him, barely. Not that I ever wanted to suffer through that again if I could help it though.

"Point taken," he said, with an amused lift to his lips. "It's too bad about the weather. Mazey and I have been having fun."

"Stop trying to steal my cat, it'll never happen."

He raised his hands in surrender. "It's not stealing if she refuses to go."

I gave him an 'accidental' shove on my way out the door, so I had room to lock it, to which he rolled his eyes at me, obviously seeing through my ploy. Katie would be back soon, so there was no time to waste to get him out of here before she saw him. I'd spend time with Mazey properly once we got back.

"There's a few of her things still at home, I don't know where she dragged them off too, but whenever I find them, I'll bring them back," he said as we headed for the elevator.

"No problem, she's got plenty of toys so maybe the time apart will humble her so she's not so spoiled."

"You're the one who spoiled her."

"As if you haven't? You planted an entire crop of catnip when you heard she was coming."

"That is beside the point," he said, but he was fighting a smile.

We drove around a while before finally deciding to grab ice cream. Even though it was nearing lunch time, I couldn't fathom eating any kind of meal, much less a hot one. Plus, it gave us a destination and something to do, even if we managed to chat politely about random things on the way instead of quietly stewing like usual.

We were walking up the sidewalk to the ice cream shop when his phone went off, vibrating with a call.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" I asked when he didn't so much as twitch to take his phone out, not even to check to see who it was.