The next morning, JC opened the door to the bakery and took a deep breath. The place smelled like Kennelly and he smiled nervously.

“Oh, hello.” Aunt Ginny smiled from behind the counter, her hands carrying a tray of cookies. “How can I help you, JC?”

“Is Ken here?”

“She’s doing inventory in the new fridge. Why don’t you go on back?”

He nodded and stepped behind the counter, surprised when Ginny patted his shoulder in kind comfort. He pushed through the swinging door and walked into the work room. He stopped outside the walk-in fridge and took a couple more deep breaths before opening the heavy door. 

There was the center of his thoughts. His light. His distraction. His catalyst. 

“Hi.”

He watched her entire body freeze for a few seconds, as if her brain didn’t trust her ears. Slowly her beautiful face turned towards him, her green eyes blinking multiple times. She remained sitting on a bucket marked RED FONDANT but her lips spread into a gorgeous, if tentative smile.

“Hello. What are you doing here?” Her voice was like music to his ears.

“I think we need to talk.”

“I think we do, too.” She turned on her bucket and patted the one next to her. “Care to join me?”

“You want to talk here?”

“I want to talk and I think this will keep our hormones chilled.”

He laughed, loud and deep. Her dancing eyes made him relax and he sat next to her. Now that they were physically close, he wanted to kiss her. Hold her. Something.

“I want to kiss you.” Kennelly’s voice was very quiet as she spoke to the floor. “I know I’m supposed to be giving you space and I know that there are a lot of things we need to discuss but I can’t help wanting to kiss you.”

“Me, too.” He moved his hand so it rested on her knee. “How about one kiss then we’ll talk?”

Ken’s eyes snapped up to meet his and her face exploded with a grin. She reached for him as he reached for her and their lips came together. The first kiss was simple and delicious but neither wanted to stop so they continued with another and another. Before either realized it, Ken was on his lap and his hands were cupping her face. All too quickly, Ken pulled back and rested her forehead on his.

“I’m sorry. I got carried away.”

“Me, too.” Ken sighed and then hugged him close, resting her head on his shoulder. “Physical isn’t our problem. Communication is.”

“Yeah.”

JC pulled her closer, rubbing his hands up and down her back. He wasn’t even aware that he had pulled her curls from the hair tie holding them until his nose was buried in them. This was what he needed. A single dose of Ken in his arms every day would do wonders for his health, mental and physical.

“I talked to Marilyn yesterday. She said you were taking a California Nursing test.”

Ken froze in his arms. Her lungs didn’t expand. Her head didn’t move but he could practically hear the wheels turning in her brain.

“She did?” Her voice came out in a whisper before she cleared her throat, took a deep breath and sat back to look at his face. “I...I am. I sit for the test in October.”

“You want to come to California?”

“I thought I could go semi-pro as a surfer and since we don’t have an ocean in Illinois, I thought I should move to the coast.”

“Smart mouth,” JC growled and swatted her ass, making them both laugh. “Seriously, are you thinking about California?”

“More and more each time I see you.”

He couldn’t control the grin that split his face. She was thinking of them long term and making a plan to get them together. His woman was a planner.

“I like that idea.”

“It will take some time though. Licensing doesn’t happen overnight and we have some things to figure out between us.” Ken kissed his nose and then slid off of his lap and back onto her bucket. “I need you to talk to me. I don’t want to make all of these changes in my life and disrupt my professional world if you don’t feel the same.”

“How do you feel?”

“Why do I have to go first?” 

“Because I asked first.” JC playfully bumped her shoulder with his before threading his fingers through hers. “I want to be close to you. I want to see where this goes. I want to be in the same city as you so that I can learn more about you and about myself when I’m with you.”

“I want those things, too.”

“What else do you want?”

“I...I want us to be exclusive.” She met his eye again and he nodded.”I don’t want to share you sexually but if I’m not enough, I need you to tell me before you fuck anyone else.”

“I want us to be exclusive as well.”

“I need you to promise…”

“I promise to communicate with you about any extracurricular sex before it happens,” he promised quietly, moving one of his hands to cup her jaw. “But I don’t think it’ll happen. Sex with you is fun and light and heavy and fulfilling.”

“What if that changes?”

“What if you need more than I can give you? I need you to promise to tell me.”

“Won’t happen.” Ken shook her head with a shy smile. “I can barely keep up now.”

“I seem to recall that you are the addict, not me.”

“Takes one to know one.”

He laughed and pulled her back onto his lap so he could kiss her again. Her mouth moved against his in a familiar yet exhilarating dance. He groaned when her tongue tangled with his and her arms folded around his shoulders.

“KEN! I need eggs. Is it safe to open the door?” Aunt Ginny called from outside the fridge door and then burst out laughing.

“Gotta love family and their fabulous timing.” Ken sighed and kissed him once more before climbing off of his lap. “Come in, you brat!”

The door opened and Ginny grinned at the two of them. She grabbed a carton of eggs and then stepped back out of the fridge. 

“I. I. Uh...I really, really like you.” Ken admitted as she locked eyes with him. “I feel more than ‘like’ but it scares me because it’s so new.”

JC’s face nearly split in two with her admissions. His heart felt like it could gallop out of his chest at any moment. He pulled her face back to his for another smooch.

“I really, really like you, too. More is brewing inside me, too.”

“See, was that really so hard to admit?” Ken winked as she stood up, clipboard in hand. “Maybe next time we get stuck, one of us could just say what needs to be said.”

“Sounds great in theory but we need to practice.”

“Agreed. I also feel like we are going to have more to discuss.”

“I agree. Are we OK?” JC asked as he came to his feet. “I don’t want to brush past this if you want to talk more about it.”

“I’m OK for now, but I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts as we settle into the next phase.”

“I’m sure I might as well.”

“I’m here so talk to me.” Ken reached up for another kiss but pulled back before they got too carried away. “I do need to finish inventory though. We need to get our monthly reports done before my eye surgery.”

“I can help.”

“Thank you. If you’ll finish in here, I can move on to the dry goods.”

JC took the offered clipboard and started in on his task as Ken stepped out of the fridge. He found her in the supply closet twenty minutes later when his sheet was complete. She was stooped over, counting huge bags of flour on the lower shelf. He took a moment to appreciate the way her black pants hugged her hips and ass.

“JC, could I borrow you?” Aunt Ginny called from the decorating counter. “Ken has the step ladder and I need another bag of powdered sugar from the top shelf.”

“Sure.”

As he stepped away, he looked back and caught Ken checking him out. He wiggled his eyebrows at her and they both laughed. He pulled down the sugar and followed Ginny.

“What are you mixing up?” JC asked as he handed Ginny the bag of sugar. “Frosting?”

“Yes, cream cheese frosting to be exact.”

“Yum.”

“Have you ever made frosting?” Ginny asked as she lead the way to the counter. “We mix so much of it here that I forget other folks don’t always make their own.”

“I’ve never made frosting in my life. I’ve seen my Mom do it though.”

“Grab an apron and I’ll show you how to do it like a professional.”

JC followed her instructions, carefully measuring each ingredient. The mixer he dumped it all  into was huge and he had to use both hands to properly install the mixing paddle. Slowly, all of the ingredients blended together and formed a smooth, fluffy concoction. Ginny handed him a small spoon and he dipped it into the frosting. 

“Delish!” Ginny grinned and tapped her spoon to his in cheers. “You’re hired!”

“Thanks!”

“You made frosting?” Ken asked with a grin as she came up beside him, her hand settling on his left hip. “Did you follow the recipe?”

“I followed Aunt Ginny’s instructions. Wanna taste?” JC offered his spoon, pleased when Ken took her own taste.

“Yummy. Great job, C.”

“Ginny hired me.”

“Oh, yeah? You gonna try your hand at decorating some cupcakes next?” Ken asked as she raised the paddle and began scraping the frosting off of it into the mixer. “We need 120 cupcakes for an order tomorrow.”

“Oh, uh, I don’t want to mess anything up.”

“You won’t, I promise. Can you carry the mixing bowl to that counter please?” Ginny pointed and led the way. “These cupcakes are super simple and the decorating tip does all of the work for you.”

“I’ll try.”

JC carried the mixing bowl--which was heavier than it looked-- to the stand and then took the large tapered bag from Ken. He held it the way she showed him and watched as she loaded some of his frosting into it. She loaded her own back and then showed him how to push the frosting down towards the smaller end. He held his bag while Aunt Ginny added a metal piece to the small end and twisted on a tip.

“What you want to do is apply steady, even pressure to the bottom part of your bag with your right hand. Your left hand is just there as a guide and to keep the frosting from plopping out of the top of your bag.” Ken explained as she put the metal piece on her own bag and then hovered over a cupcake. “Start on the outside and swirl around as you slowly come in.”

He watched closely as she covered the top of the cupcake in just a few seconds. Her swirl was even and beautiful. He watched her cover three more before he made his first attempt.

“Not bad but you can tell that you hesitated right here,” Ginny said as she pointed to where his frosting was broken. “Try again while I fix this one.”

JC tried again and this time didn’t see any breakage in the swirl. He cocked his head as he did a third cupcake then looked over to Ken’s side of the counter. She had covered more than a dozen cupcakes while he did three.

“Don’t make that face.” Ken grinned and reached over for a quick kiss. “I’ve been doing this since I was five. I can do this blindfolded. Yours look good. Keep up the good work.”

He made a face but continued to swirl. After a dozen, Ken showed him how to move frosting further down the bag before she refilled hers with more frosting. Ginny rejoined them and made a pleased humming noise as she reviewed his work. She started adding sprinkles over their frosting and the cupcakes looked good.

“Let’s switch pans. Grab yours and follow me.” Ken lifted her finished tray and lead the way to the walk-in cooler. “We keep them cool overnight because of the cream cheese. Once we have finished with frosting the rest of the cupcakes, we will start to box these.”

“How long will that take?”

“With your help and Ginny doing the sprinkles, about an hour. Two if only one of us is working with the frosting.”

“Do you have other orders to work on this afternoon?” JC followed her back out into the work room and took another tray of cupcakes to the counter. “I counted 13 boxes in the walk-in. Are those all cupcakes, too?”

“Some are cupcakes and some are actual cakes. I have a Mickey Mouse and smash cake to finish but they are still cooling. It’s for my baby cousin’s first birthday party tomorrow. He loves Mickey.”

JC found himself mesmerized by the speed of her hands as she worked the frosting. In no time at all, she was finished with the tray he’d carried over for her and he hadn’t even started his own. She caught him watching and bumped his hip with hers.

“You’d better get to work before Aunt Ginny comes back and fires your ass for slacking off.”

“I can’t stop watching you.” He winked and then started swirling frosting. “Are you sure mine look OK?”

“Yes, I’m sure they look fantastic. Thank you for your help.”

“Ken, did you bake the dark chocolate sponge cakes?” Ginny called from the front. “I’m double checking the orders for tomorrow and it’s not marked off.”

Ken left him at the counter to double check the walk-in. JC grinned after her, not believing that he was spending the afternoon frosting cupcakes. He had made his first batch of frosting and was helping his girlfriend’s family business. Who would have thought this would make him as happy as performing in front of a packed stadium.