Don't Go Baking My Heart

“You’re in a better mood, I see.”

“Well, napping isn’t just for babies. I feel refreshed.”

“Great.” He needed to get started. There were way more steps to this than baking cupcakes or cookies. He had to ensure the four square cakes he baked were the correct height. Cut each cake into three log-like lengths so he could spread black ganache icing in between. Stack them up so they looked like one cube and cover it with more ganache.

“Are you making a mini or going for the big one?”

“Big one.” Just as she had suggested when she’d made the small version. The mini wouldn’t help him if it was the larger size he would be tackling at the bake-off in two weeks. “What you said made sense.”

“Say that again, so I can get out my phone and hit record.” Her mouth curved into a small smile, and he returned it with a big one of his own. It felt strange to just let one loose like that, but he couldn’t stop himself.

“Oh.”

“What?”

“When you smile like that…” She trailed off and cleared her throat. “Better get started. You’ll need to chill your cube cake once it’s covered in ganache before moving on to the fondant squares.”

He kept his triumphant grin to himself. He wouldn’t hassle her to finish her sentence, but maybe he needed to break out a smile more often. She had looked literally stunned for a moment there.

Looking around, he realised he had forgotten one thing. “I need to get my set squares and rulers to make sure the fondant covering for the cake is a precise cube. And dye the fondant the colour of the squares.”

“Wow, you really studied this recipe, didn’t you?”

“Well, yeah. It’s a lot.” He could visualise each step he had to take to get to the end, and it wasn’t an exaggeration to say it was a lot. He would need to time himself as well to ensure he could finish within the time allotted to each participant of the bake-off.

This wasn’t going to be easy. Devon did love a challenge. It was a little harder with Reba hovering, offering advice, but that was what he had signed up for. The change in their relationship did add a different level of tension, especially with his confession. Didn’t matter; he worked well under pressure. Usually.

Reba watched intently when it was time for him to ensure the baked cakes were the right height for the cube. She had moved from standing across from him offering advice to right up under him, peering down as he sliced off bits of the cake squares to ensure it was the perfect cube shape.

“Now why is this shit hot?” she muttered. He paused and swung his head her way. She stepped back. “What?”

“You know I heard that, right?”

“So?” she challenged. “You’re not the only one that can state supposed facts.”

“Well, why didn’t you say it directly to me?”

She waved at the knife in his hand. “Because I don’t need you getting any more outrageous ideas, and we’re not having sex again. You need to pick up the pace with this. You’ll be judged on how well you finish during the time.”

He sliced the edge off one cake after measuring. “Oh? When did we decide on no sex?”

“We didn’t. I did. You’re obviously confusing things. I get it, my pussy is magical, but it’s best we revert to business, no pleasure if you can’t mix it up with other things.”

He immediately got hard hearing her talk like that. She wasn’t even trying to rile him up, but it didn’t matter; she didn’t have to try. And maybe she was correct. After two years of no intimacy with anyone, the sex could be escalating his feelings, but he didn’t think this was a matter of Reba not reciprocating them. She didn’t believe he felt what he did. If she didn’t care, none of that would matter.

“Alright, no sex is fine.”

“Why?” Exasperation coloured her tone. “Why are you being so agreeable?”

“I’m quite fine with continuing to have sex with you, but this isn’t a one-sided thing. You don’t want to, so I respect that.”

Her brow creased. “But you don’t even know why I’m saying no.”

“‘I don’t want to anymore’ is a valid reason,” he pointed out. He was curious, of course, but he didn’t need to badger her about it. Besides, he would show her they could work beyond sex. “Now, I’ve stacked the pieces. It’ll look more like a cube when we spread the ganache.”

She didn’t say anything, so he went about putting the ganache they’d prepared in between the yellow cake then over the entire thing until it looked like a perfect black cube. He went over the edges again to ensure it was smooth.

Reba filmed him, even though he wouldn’t upload this to maintain the element of surprise. The video would be useful for him to review after, see where he needed to shave off some time or do better technique-wise.