Perfect Strangers

- 3 -

To distract herself from her own feelings, Lauren decided to make cookies. Baking usually helped relieve her tension, and it would be nice to have something to offer Joey. She was worried about ingredients, but luckily she managed to find chocolate chips at the back of the cupboard, and she'd picked up most everything else she needed on the emergency grocery trip that morning. She'd have to improvise with the flour so the cookies wouldn't be as good as usual, but they'd certainly be edible.

As she'd hoped, it was incredibly therapeutic, and as the smell of baking filled the apartment she almost forgot about her house guest. So she was startled when she heard footsteps behind her and Joey's voice.

"Have you been baking?"

She recovered quickly, and smiled at him. "Yeah!" she said brightly. "I made you cookies. Well, I made me cookies. But you're more than welcome to them. They're nearly done."

He smiled back at her, leaning against the counter to wait for them to be out of the oven.

"Do you bake a lot?" he asked.

"As much as I can," she said, pushing back a strand of hair that had fallen into her face. "These might not taste so good, I couldn't make the flour blend I normally use."

"I'm sure they'll taste great." She met his eyes, but then his gaze shifted slightly to the left and he pushed off the counter to walk over to her.

"You've got a bit of flour..." He reached out a thumb and brushed it over her cheek. "Right here."

"Thanks," she mumbled, hoping he didn't feel the heat that seemed to radiate off her skin whenever she was around him. She was grateful when she was able to turn away to take the cookies out of the oven.

She was going to leave them on the cooling rack for a while, but she could see Joey eyeing them up.

"Do you want to do the honours?" she asked.

He grinned at her and reached out for one, fumbling with it slightly as it burned his fingers but taking a bite just the same. She watched his face transform as he chewed, his eyes widening in surprise. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, feeling suddenly nervous as she waited for him to finish his mouthful.

"Lauren, these are amazing," he said, taking another bite as soon as he'd spoken.

"Really?" she said. She reached out for one herself and bit into it. "They're fine. Nothing special."

"Are you kidding me? You could make a fortune with these." She laughed, and he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. "I'm serious. You could sell this recipe."

"Okay, I think that's a little excessive," she said, smiling nonetheless.

"Can you sell me the recipe?" he asked hopefully.

"Joey, you don't have to buy it off me," she giggled. "I can give it to you."

"You, Lauren, are too nice for your own good. I would have paid you five bucks for that cookie recipe."

"Only five?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, I'm sure you could have negotiated a higher price. But now you're just giving it away."

"Only to you," she said. What had been playful banter had turned into something more, and she knew it wasn't just her that felt it. She could see it in Joey's eyes. They were walking a very fine line now.

Before she could think about what to do, Joey's phone rang, piercing through the atmosphere between them. He pulled it from his pocket, wandering away from her as he answered it. Not wanting to eavesdrop, she started clearing up the baking stuff.