Free Watcher: A raven paranormal romance (Crookshollow ravens Book 1) by Steffanie Holmes Page B

hands after touching yourself like that.” I yelled over my shoulder.
    “As you wish.” Cole slid back behind me to get to the sink, his body grazing mine, making tiny bumps appear across my skin. As he moved past me, he pinched my arse. My whole body shuddered at his touch. What is with me today? At this rate we’re never going to get the bread ready.
    “What next?” Cole grinned.
    “Add that yeast, and twenty-two litres of water. Then turn the mixer on. You’ll need to mix it for about ten minutes, and watch it to make sure all the flour on the sides gets scraped in. After that, call me over and I’ll show you how to knead it.”
    He gave me a salute. “Aye, aye, Captain!”
    I tore my gaze away from Cole and forced myself to focus on the cakes and slices. As I carefully drizzled melted chocolate over the caramel squares, I heard pots crashing and Cole swearing behind me. I will not look, I told myself. As fun as Cole was, the clock was ticking and I had to get everything done, or I wouldn’t make rent.
    I heard the mixer flick on, and listened to the familiar THWACK THWACK as the dough came together and bounced against the sides of the bowl. I slid the caramel squares into the fridge to set, and went to work on the carrot cake and the lemon scones.
    “All done.” Cole called out behind me. I heard the mixer shut off and whir in protest as it wound down. I turned around, and almost choked.
    Cole looked like a ghost. His entire body, from his head to his feet, was coated in white flour. There was also flour all over the mixer, across the benches, over the stacks of pans and pots, and in a giant arc across the floor.
    “There was an … incident.” He grinned. “But I’m on top of it.”
    The weird thing was, if Finn had done the same thing, (which he had on numerous occasions, the ancient mixer could be a bit temperamental), I would have lost my shit. But Cole standing there trying to look tough while completely coated in flour, made a giggle rise up inside me. I tried to hold it in, but that only made me want to laugh harder. I clamped my hands over my mouth, just as a great snort-laugh escaped between my fingers.
    “Don’t laugh at me,” Cole growled, and his tone was so serious that it only made me laugh harder. I fell against the bench, gasping for breath as I clutched my stomach. I bent over, laughing so hard that tears sprung in my eyes and my breath came out in a giant wheeze.
    “That’s it, if you think this is funny, then you try looking like an abominable snowman.” Cole grabbed a handful of flour from the open sack on the bench and lobbed it at me. But flour, of course, doesn’t stick together like snow. A giant cloud of white puffed out across the kitchen, coating Cole and the benches and floor, while miraculously managing to completely miss me.
    “Nice try, Casper.” I dodged out of the way as Cole lunged at me. With his injured leg, he was slow enough that I managed to duck around him. But now my back was pressed against the bench at one end of the kitchen. There was nowhere else for me to go. Cole grinned as he shoved his hand in the bag again and drew out another fistful of flour.
    “Come back here, Belinda. Come back here so I can give you a big hug!” Cole held his arms out wide and dived at me. I yelped and ducked, trying to go under him, but he used his good leg to trap me. He threw his arms around me and lifted me off the ground, his warm body enveloping mine in an enormous bear hug. Or bird hug.
    “Argh, stop it!” I yelped, as Cole reached up and rubbed the flour through my hairnet, smearing it all down my cheeks and over my shoulders. As I reached up to slap him away, he grabbed me under the arms and picked me up, pushing me back so I was sitting on the bench, legs open around him, our faces just inches apart.
    All thoughts of struggling fled from my mind, along with the voice that was screaming at me that this was a bad idea. I became aware of just how close we were, my