Bought by The Mafia Boss

Chapter 8

We slipped into the kitchen as all different smells crashed into my nose. The beautiful spices made my stomach grumble and remind me that I had ended up so engrossed in my book and everything else that had occurred, I hadn't eaten since breakfast. Two chefs turned to face us as we entered, pausing whatever they were doing at the hot stove that lined the wall across from us.

A large table sat in the middle of the brightly lit kitchen and a large walk-in cooler sat to the left. Shelves of ingredients lined most of the other walls except for where there were cooking appliances. One chef who had been here since I was a kid smiled at me and then glanced between Oliver and I before raising a subtle brow.

"Hey Ricardo." I said as the younger one turned back around to continue what he had been doing. Ricardo stepped forward, his tanned skin standing out against his silver gray hair.

"What can I do for you, sweetheart?" He asked, his thick Spanish accent sitting just above his words.

"I was wondering if you might happen to have any gingerbread made to make a house or two with?" I bit my bottom lip as he tilted his head and then grinned even wider.

"You know I never stopped making at least one set every year, hoping you or Lily would do so again." He turned around and slipped down a tin covered in some aluminum foil. Peeling it off he presented the package to me as the smell of gingerbread wafted into my nostrils. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, as childhood memories crashed through my mind.

Shuffling of feet pulled me back to Earth as Ricardo walked to another area and pulled a large tub off of the shelf. "You two will have to share the house itself, but there's plenty of candy in here to design it however you want. I'll bring out the icing in just a moment." He shoved the big tub into Oliver's outstretched arms and we walked out of the kitchen to sit down on the cleared table.

"How long has he been here?" Oliver asked me as I began to lay out all the pieces to the house. He peeled off the lid of the giant tub and his eyes grew wide from the enormity of the assortment of candy before him.

"Ricardo?" I said back and he nodded as he began to push around the wrapped candy. "I have no idea. He's been here longer than I have. He's like another father for me, the way Marcus is. Lily and I used to always make a gingerbread house every Christmas until we went off to college. He makes the best gingerbread and I always struggle to actually build it before eating it."

He stopped fishing around in the candy and turned the tub on its side so we could both see from a sitting position. Ricardo stepped through the kitchen door and plopped down four large icing bags, full of the most delicious frosting too.

"I also struggle to not eat the icing." I said as my mouth watered.

Oliver picked up a side for the house and held it against its connecting piece as I began to apply frosting. "How often did you spend Christmas here?" He asked as a little too much frosting squirted out. Without thinking, I swiped it off the side and licked it off of my finger to which he chuckled. I turned bright red and paused mid lick before he grabbed the frosting tube and squirted some purposefully on his finger and stuck it in his mouth.

"Oh my gosh. This really is delicious." He said through a mouthful of frosting and I giggled.

We continued placing the next set of walls as I answered his question. "Probably more than I spent at my home. My parents struggled financially, still do and so Santa hardly was able to make a stop there. Oftentimes, even my brother Saun would come spend it here with us." I stopped squeezing out frosting as he held the walls together to let it set.

"So how is it that your parents are on vacation now if they still struggle with money?" He asked as he cautiously removed his hands from the walls and grinned at me when they stayed put.

I picked up one side of the roof and handed it to him. Placing it on top of the set walls, I began slowly applying the frosting that acts like glue. "I'm assuming Saun's wife or even Saun. Her parents are extremely loaded but also all the money struggles growing up helped both my brother and I learn finances quite well, since neither of us wanted to be poor." I paused and tsked my tongue as he held the finished roof in place.

Muttering under my breath, I set the frosting down. "Although my current predicament would state otherwise."

Thinking he couldn't hear me, I picked up a fresh tube of frosting and handed it to him as he stared at me confused. "What?" He softly said before pulling it from my hands.

"Nothing." I lied and smiled at him, but I knew he heard me from the way he raised an accusing eyebrow at me. I lifted my frosting and shook it his way to get him off my case, but squeezed a little too hard. Frosting went flying everywhere, covering Oliver, the table and splotched onto our house.

I quickly covered my mouth with both hands, and dropped the tube on the table which only resulted in more frosting crashing out of the end. Oliver threw both hands in the air and stared wide eyed at me. I waited. Then his face spread into a smile as he laughed and suddenly returned fire.

Before I could register what was happening, frosting was covering my hair and laced throughout the room as he stood up from the table. Grabbing a new tube, my reactions finally kicked in and I stumbled out of my chair as he started to run at me with a fresh tube.

We were both laughing so hard, I wasn't sure what was mine or what was his as I tried to round the corner to the left. But I stepped on some slippery icing and my feet flew out from under me. Crashing to the floor, I managed to crawl away as his muscular body joined mine on the floor. He crawled after me as I tried to stand up, kicking at the ground and my socks slipped on the icing that was squished to the bottom.

He wrapped a hand around my ankle and then pulled, my bum sliding across the floor towards him. I finally came to a stop directly underneath him when he placed his thighs in the way of my feet. Oliver was on his hands and knees and raised the tube of frosting towards me. Throwing my hands up to shield my face, I waited. Expecting a shower of sticky, sweet white glaze to crash against me at any moment.

But it never came, and I hesitantly lowered my hands to find Oliver having put the tube of frosting down. His eyes were intense. Flaming red with desire as he leaned down towards my face. Those fierce eyes flickered to my lips and then back to my eyes as my heart rate rose in my chest.

I could feel it beating in my throat as his mouth closed the gap between mine and his. He paused. Hovering directly over my lips. So close that I could feel his hot breath against my face and I wanted him to close it. I wanted him to crash his lips against mine and let me taste his mouth. My body pulsed in anticipation, desire. The suspense was killing me as every part of his figure just hovered above mine.

He moved a slow hand into mine and then pushed it up above my head and I gasped softly. It caused me to tilt my head back, exposing more of my neck and he tilted his head. His eyes filled with hunger as they wandered down to my exposed skin and he moved his gaze away from my lips.

Moving slowly down to my neck he pressed his lips against the side of it, directly underneath my ear. Finally making contact with my skin. Ripples of arousal rushed through my body as he moved away and then licked some of the frosting from my neck, leaving a hot, wet path in its wake.

He moved just an inch away from my skin and slid his mouth back to hover above my lips, still teasing me with the possibility of a kiss. However, I was done waiting. As I slung my free arm around his neck to push him against my mouth the door came crashing open.

The spell was broken as Oliver and I both looked towards the doorway to find a very stunned Lily and Andres standing there. "Oh. My." Was all Lily was able to muster out as Oliver quickly slid away from me and stood himself up. I pushed myself to a sitting position and then gripped the edge of the table to pull myself onto my feet as the two pairs of eyes landed on the two of us.

Her hand flew over her mouth as she gasped and I could only imagine what was going through her mind.