Personal Entanglement (Thorne and Dash 2)

Riley shook the flour into the bowl and handed Thorne the cup. Thorne followed Riley’s instructions and added the second cup.

“Great. Now we need baking powder. You level the spoon the same way.”

They proceeded with the other ingredients, creaming butter and sugar in the mixer, adding eggs and vanilla, then cocoa mixed with warm coffee. Next the dry ingredients were added in a few batches with short mixes in between.

“Now we mix it for two minutes to aerate it. Pay attention to the texture now so you can see how it changes.”

Riley turned up the handheld mixer until it was roaring. He moved it around while turning the bowl in circles with his other hand. If they were at home, Riley would use the stand mixer, but they had to make do with what was in the rental. Thorne watched as if the process were the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen.

Riley stopped after only a few seconds.

“That can’t have been two minutes,” Thorne said.

“It wasn’t. It’s your turn now.”

Thorne frowned at him.

“Just keep the beaters in the batter. If you lift the mixer too high, we’ll get sprayed.”

Thorne’s face scrunched in concentration. He couldn’t seem to spin the bowl and move the mixer simultaneously, but he only sprayed a little batter on the counter.

“You’re doing great,” Riley said.

“Not really.”

“Sure you are. See how the texture of the batter has changed? You can tell that there’s air in it. That will make the cake light and soft.”

Riley turned the mixer off, and the beaters slowly stopped.

“Grab the cupcake tin. It’s down there.” Riley pointed to a low cabinet.

“Fuck,” Thorne muttered when he bent to retrieve it.

Riley glanced down. Thorne had his eyes closed, and he was breathing hard.

“A little hard to squat?” he asked.

“You’re a sadistic bastard.”

“You love it. You’d have been disappointed if I’d taken the plug out earlier. You fucking love having me control you like this.”

“Fine, I love it, but I’ve had enough.” Thorne dipped a finger in the batter and tasted it. “We don’t actually have to cook these, you know? Batter is delicious.”

Riley reached into the mixer and scooped up some batter. “Open up.”

Thorne did. Riley loved the look of pure pleasure on his face as he savored the chocolaty goodness. Since this cake was just for them, Riley didn’t have to worry about double-dipping. He stuck his fingers back into the batter so he could have a taste. Thorne stared as Riley made a show of sucking the batter off his fingers.

When he’d licked them clean, he said. “Delicious cupcakes. You haven’t screwed them up at all.”

“They aren’t cooked yet, and you’ve been right here telling me what to do.”

“That’s what teaching means. You didn’t put me on the boat by myself, did you?”

Thorne smiled. “No, I didn’t.”

The pans weren’t the nonstick kind he had at home, so Riley lined the tin with the pastel-colored paper cups that made him think of eating cupcakes as a kid. He filled three of them with batter, using an ice-cream scoop.

“Your turn,” he said, holding the scoop out to Thorne. “Try not to get batter around the rim of the cup. That will make it harder to get the cupcake out.”

Thorne tried, but he ended up making a huge mess, slopping batter everywhere. “I suck at this.”

“You need practice.”

“I need you to fuck me.”

Riley laughed. “You’re relentless.”

“You’ve got a plug up my ass.”

Riley was enjoying this very much. He would definitely have Thorne spend another day like this. “You love when I drag things out.”

“God help me, I do.”

They got the cupcakes in the oven, and Riley set a timer on his phone. “Was that so bad?”

“No, though it would have been better without certain distractions.”

Riley raised his brows. “Really?”

Thorne scowled. “No.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“I even feel like I could do this again. What are we going to make next?”

Riley smiled. “Grilled cheese?”

Shortly after meeting Riley, he’d confessed that he’d set off the fire alarm in his building making a grilled-cheese sandwich and had given up all cooking after that.

“Brownies, then?” Riley asked.

“Much better. Can we fuck now?”

Riley shook his head. “The cupcakes will only take fifteen more minutes.”

“I promise I don’t need longer than that.”

“I do,” Riley said. “You’re not seducing me into letting these burn.”

When the cupcakes were out of the oven and Riley had shown Thorne how to tell that they were done, Thorne said. “Now?”

Riley was close to giving in. He might not be quite as worked up as Thorne, but watching him all day, knowing the plug was there, feeling Thorne’s warm mouth around his finger… “We haven’t made the icing yet.”

“They have to cool. That will give us some time.”

Riley gave Thorne a slow once-over. He’d waited long enough. “Hands on the back of the couch.”

“Out here?”

“Some of the best sex we’ve had involved a couch.”