The Complete Crimson Forest series

Bryxx: Chapter 9

"Could you not? There's not going to be anything left to bake!" I scold Kade as he shoves a glob of cookie dough into his mouth whilst smiling.

He chews slowly, savoring it. "I can't help it. It's so good," he says through a full mouth.

I slap his shoulder playfully and put the last pan of cookies into the oven. I'm so distracted that my finger makes contact with the singeing rack for a brief second. I jerk my hand away and throw the oven door shut. Then I rush to the sink and run it under water. Kade is at my side in a mere instant shoving my finger into his mouth and sucking.

Taken aback, I just stare for a moment before realizing what's going on. The pain radiating from my finger eases into nothing and he releases it from his mouth. I hold it up in front of my face. There is so no sign of a burn. For that I am thankful because burns are the absolute worst.

"You have magic spit?" I observe.

"It's not as strong as my blood but it will heal small wounds," he affirms, grimacing. "You should be more careful."

"You distracted me," I accuse him.

His lips press together in a fine line, one side slightly curled up, but I doubt he knows I've noticed.

"Can we get out of this house? I know it's dangerous, but I'm in danger here as we've found out. It's been almost two weeks since the last attack. Let's go grocery shopping tonight or something," I plead.

Kade chuckles. "If you could get out of the house to do one thing, it would be to grocery shop? How about we go for lunch."

"But we're running low on groceries," I explain.

"Well, how about both then?" he decides and switches the song playing on the speaker from some rap song to a country music station.

"Sure. Country?" I'm not sure why his taste in music surprises me.

"I love country. If you don't like it, I can change it," he says meekly.

I shake my head. "I have no problem with it. I love this song."

Kade joins one hand with mine and wraps the other around my waist, swirling me around to the music as if I weigh nothing. I'm not good at dancing but he is amazing. Our eyes meet and something I can't explain passes between us that causes me to shiver and grin. I haven't been as happy and content as I am now in this moment in years.

We dance in silence until the timer beeps and interrupts us. The cookies are ready.

After pulling out the cookies and leaving them on the stove top to cool, I head to the shower before warning Kade that if I come back and the cookies are all eaten, he's going to be in major shit.

I am almost surprised when I return to the kitchen and see that he's already put the cookies in a container and he sits on the couch ready to go, dressed in slacks and a dress shirt.

"I didn't know we were dressing up," I ramble, looking down at my sweats and t-shirt.

He chuckles. "You look perfect. Come on. We have a reservation downtown."

I gape. "I can't go in this. I thought when you said lunch you meant fast food or casual dining."

He smirks. "You look fine. Come on. I'm driving."

"What time is the reservation?" I ask in a panic. Do I have time to change? I'm not even wearing makeup. My hair is pulled up in a bun.

"Soon. Come on. It doesn't matter what you're wearing," he says enthusiastically.