Bake Me A Cake: A Single Dad Love and Baking Romance Read online

  She took a few deep breaths, did was she came to do in the bathroom in the first place and quickly went back downstairs.

  “You were up there a long time. Is everything okay?”

  “Yes, everything is fine.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive,” she nodded and walked towards the oven. It still had fifteen minutes to go, but it rose beautifully and evenly, and Henley was very impressed with herself.

  “What did you get Cora as a birthday gift?” she asked.

  Dean frowned and looked at her. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, it’s her birthday. Didn't you get her anything?”

  “Honestly, I didn't get her anything. Claire was always the one who bought the presents.”

  “Okay.”

  “But isn't the cake enough?”

  “Dean, she’s your daughter.”

  “I know,” he sighed. “Dammit.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “Her party is tomorrow, and I don't have anything to give her.”

  “It’s only in the afternoon. You have plenty of time to go out and get her something.”

  “But what?”

  “Jewelry would be great.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Jewelry is always a good idea. Girls love sparkly things.”

  “Even Cora.”

  “She’s old enough to understand what it means to look after something, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then that would be perfect. Plus, Claire will be impressed that you bought something like that for Cora. It shows that you put a lot of thought into it and that you consider Cora mature enough to look after it.”

  “Wow,” he answered. “That’s pretty in-depth analysis.”

  “I’m just saying. I know people like Claire.”

  “You poor thing,” Dean muttered.

  Henley burst out laughing and shook her head. “You’re a fine one to talk. You were married to her.”

  “Not my best judgment, but I don't regret it because Cora came from it.”

  “You’re just so sweet. How are you still single?”

  Dean shrugged his shoulders and stood up from the couch when the timer of the oven went off.

  They carefully removed all the pans from the oven and placed them on the wooden surface beside the oven.

  “They look good,” Dean said with a smile.

  “They’re perfect.”

  “You sound surprised,” he said and looked at her.

  “Admittedly I am. It’s been almost a year since I made one of these, okay.”

  “I’m not doubting you.”

  “You better not, otherwise you’re going to ice and decorate this thing yourself.”

  His eyebrows shot up, widening his eyes and he cringed slightly.

  “Exactly,” she chuckled and playfully smacked him with an oven mitt.

  He grabbed the mitt from her, but she still held onto it, closing the gap between them, and he glanced down at her.

  Henley's heart pounded in her chest as his closeness was more overwhelming than she imagined. With his free hand, he gently touched her cheek, and the warmth of his skin against her made her entire body tingle.

  “We should let it cool off now,” she breathed.

  Dean raised an eyebrow at her and said in a rather hoarse voice, “Not a chance.”

  In one fluid motion, Dean threw the oven mitt on the counter, grabbed Henley’s waist, pulled her close to him and kissed her.

  ***

  Dean wasn't quite sure whether it was the bravest thing he had ever done or the stupidest thing, but all he knew was that it felt incredibly right. He had imagined what it would be like to kiss her ever since he first laid eyes on her, but he had never imagined that it would feel this good. Her body fit perfectly against his and her lips were even sweeter than the brownies she baked.

  She slowly pulled away from him and her breathing was ragged as he looked into his eyes.

  “I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time, Henley.”

  “Is that all you wanted to do?”

  Her tone was suggestive, and her voice was filled to the brim with need and desperation. Her eyes begged him to kiss her again or do anything to her, and she would allow it.

  His own breathing was also ragged, and he needed to feel her against him again. One kiss would not satisfy the need he had inside for her.

  He grabbed her waist, lifting her off the floor, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He smirked before kissing her again. He made his way to the couch without any struggle, as he had known the layout of the house for years now. They fell down on the couch, with Henley on the bottom and as he positioned himself between her legs she let out a sexy moan. A moan that sent shivers of excitement all over his body. To his surprise, and honestly his relief, she grabbed the bottom of his shirt, effortlessly pulled it over his head, and threw it somewhere he didn't exactly care.

  He lowered himself down onto her against and she ran her fingers down his back. He felt a shift in his jeans and sincerely hope she wasn’t kidding around.

  He wanted her.

  Badly.

  Not only at that moment, but he wanted her tomorrow, and the day after that.

  “Dean,” she whispered against his lips.

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you have,” she stopped mid-sentence and raised her eyebrows. “Protection?”

  “Right. Yes, of course,” he said and nodded as he climbed off her.

  He ran upstairs as fast as he could, rummaged around in Kyle’s bedside table, because he knew that he’d have a better chance of finding protection in Kyle’s room, than in his own.

  He grabbed one from Kyle’s top drawer, thought for half a second then grabbed another, just in case. He ran back downstairs. Henley sat on the couch and looked at him when he entered the living room. He approached her, and she stood up, forcing him down onto the couch in a seating position. She climbed on top of him and kissed his neck, which drove Dean completely insane with desire. He unbuttoned her shirt and slipped it off her shoulders, down her arms.

  He ran his fingers down her chest and gently slid her off his lap so that she fell down on the couch again. He loosened his jeans as he watched her do the same to hers, and exhaled slowly as he slipped the condom on.

  Dean could not remember the last time he had sex, or he didn't want to remember, but as soon as he lowered himself onto, and into, Henley, he knew that it was well worth the wait. Everything in that moment appealed to him in a perfect way. The sounds she made as thrust into her, the sexy moans escaping from her throat, her soft skin against his, the way she moved her hips.

  It was everything.

  He couldn't pinpoint the exact reason or the exact thing, but all he knew was that he didn't want it to end.

  Chapter Seven

  Henley opened her eyes sleepily as a ray of sunlight fell on her face and she groaned. As the realization of what had happened the previous night, and the early hours of the morning, set in, she sat up abruptly and looked around her. She was on the floor, and there were blankets sprawled across the carpet, with an empty space where Dean had been.

  She looked around her again, listening for any sounds, but there was nothing. She was alone. She wrapped the blanket around her and stood up slowly.

  “Ugh,” she groaned as she realized that she was definitely too old to sleep on the floor anymore. She walked to the kitchen to check on the cakes when she noticed a note stuck to the refrigerator.

  “The cakes are in the lower cooling drawer. Went jewelry shopping. I’ll be back soon. Dean,” she mumbled the note’s contents out loud and sighed.

  Shit.

  She located all her clothes after a short search and headed upstairs to take a quick shower. The hot water soothed her aching muscles and it helped to clear her mind as well. She was a bit confused about what had happened.

  Obviously, she and Dean had sex, but what then? Were they dating, or even a couple?r />
  She frowned to herself and shook her head. She turned off the water and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around her. She dried herself off, got dressed and headed back downstairs. She had about six hours to cut, stack, ice and decorate the cake, so if she wanted to make sure she would finish on time, she had to get moving.

  Henley took out the seven cakes from the lower cooling drawer of the fridge under the counter and began her massive challenge. She sliced six of the cakes horizontally down the middle and placed them in a row in front of her. She stacked them into three cakes, one for each tier, coating each layer with Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Henley liked that much better than normal buttercream icing, as it was not as sweet, and it was smooth and easy to work with. She then applied a crumb coat of Swiss Buttercream to all three of the cakes, smoothing it out slowly. When she was done with that, she placed them back in the cooling drawer. She put the seventh cake on the counter, as she would use that for building the castle on top of the highest tier.

  Henley was almost done adjusting the height of the tiered cake stand that she wanted to build the cake on when she heard Dean’s car in the driveway. She took a few slow and deep breaths, not sure how to act around Dean anymore. She really didn't want this to affect their friendship.

  Honestly, she didn't want to just be friends with him anymore after last night, but maybe it didn't mean as much to him as it meant to her. Maybe she was just being overly sensitive because she hadn't had sex in a while, and now she was latching onto the first man who gave her an orgasm.

  “You’re being silly,” she breathed to herself and started to measure and cut the seventh cake into shapes that would ultimately become the towers and the spires of the castle on the top tier.

  The front door opened, and Dean entered, but she focused on cutting the shapes. There was no time to waste, she had to get this done. This part took the longest, as she had to make sure that everything was perfectly set up and decorated.

  “Hey,” Dean said and she smelled his cologne from across the room.

  “Morning,” she said, still not looking at him.

  “I know you’re busy, but can you take a look at this?”

  She looked up at him and her legs practically turned to jelly when she saw him. She placed the knife on the counter and wiped her hands on the damp cloth. “What did you get?” she asked and walked over to him.

  Dean opened a white box, revealing a gold charm bracelet and a smile ran across Henley's face.

  “Wow,” she said and lightly touched the bracelet. “This is beautiful.”

  “So you think Cora will like it?”

  “Absolutely. Where did you get this?”

  “I went to the pawn shop downtown. It’s all I could afford.”

  “It’s really beautiful, Dean.”

  “Thank you,” he said with a smile and closed the box. “How is everything coming along here?”

  “I just have to ice the tiers, stack them and build the castle.”

  “That sounds like fun.”

  “It’s the most time-consuming, so...”

  “Listen, can we talk?”

  “Honestly, I really want to, but I need to get this done. Okay?” she asked with a cringe.

  “Of course. We can talk later.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Do you need me to help you with anything?”

  “How good are you at building towers?” she asked.

  “I honestly don't know how to answer that question,” he chuckled.

  “It’s okay. You can just make sure my coffee cup stays full.”

  “That I can do,” he said with a smile.

  Henley finished cutting the shapes of the castle, and took out each tier and placed it in front of her.

  “You iced them already?”

  “No, this is just the crumb coat. It helps to trap the crumbs so they don’t show on the final layer.

  “That’s pretty smart.”

  “It is,” she nodded.

  He looked at her and asked, “So, what’s next?”

  “I thought we were going to talk about this later.”

  “I meant the cake,” he said and dug his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.

  “Oh, right,” she muttered and rolled her eyes at herself, blushing slightly.

  She never thought that she would be this uncomfortable, and shy, around him after last night. He had seen her naked, and they had sex, so it was a little too late to be shy around him.

  “Well, the outer layer of Swiss buttercream needs to be put on all three the layers.”

  “I don’t think I should help with that.”

  “I agree.”

  “Okay, I’ll just watch some television.”

  “Okay,” she answered and shifted her weight uncomfortably.

  Dean nodded and sat down on the couch, turning on the television with the remote controller.

  ***

  Dean was starting to get worried when he glanced over at Henley for the hundredth time and she didn't pay any notice to him. Even though he understood that she was a bit pressed for time, he still couldn't shake the feeling that she didn't want to look at him.

  Was she embarrassed about what had happened?

  Did she think it was a mistake?

  He turned his attention back to the television, watching reruns of home improvement shows. It felt like he had been sitting there for hours, but he felt too scared to move.

  Eventually, he heard Henley say, “Dean.”

  “Yes,” he answered and glanced at her.

  Her eyes were wide and a small smile ran across her lips.

  “It’s done.”

  He stood up with a bit more excitement than he had before and walked to the counter. He glanced at the three-tiered birthday cake and his jaw dropped slightly. It was perfect.

  He looked at Henley and felt bad that she had to spend an entire evening and morning making this cake because he forgot to order one. At that moment though, she didn't seem to mind. Her eyes sparkled with excitement and accomplishment and he smiled.

  “What?” she asked. “Is something wrong?”

  “No, not at all. It’s perfect.”

  “Really? Do you like it? Do you think Cora will like it?”

  “Absolutely. You have a talent for this. It’s amazing.”

  She smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. She glanced at her watch and frowned.

  “We have an hour to get ready, load the cake and get it to the party.”

  “That’s more than enough time.”

  “I’m glad you’re so calm about this because I am rather freaked out.”

  “You have an adrenaline sugar rush.”

  She chuckled and crossed her arms. “Seriously, thank you for all your help. I couldn't have done this without you.”

  “I could say the same to you.”

  “Well, you’re welcome,” she said. “Is it okay if I used your room to get dressed?”

  “Of course.”

  While Henley occupied the upstairs bedroom, Dean showered and shaved. When he was done, he went upstairs, thinking he would quickly grab his clothes. He opened the half-opened door and just heard Henley shriek, holding a towel in front of her.

  “I’m sorry,” he said and tried his hardest not to look at her. “I just came for my clothes.”

  “Sure,” she said with a frown.

  He found the clothes he was looking for and left the bedroom as quickly as he had entered it. He was dressed within a few minutes and looked at the cake in awe, looking at every single detail of it. He was incredibly impressed by the perfection of this three-tiered pinkish-purple cake, with a castle on the top tier. He had never seen anything like it before.

  “It’s rude to stare,” he heard suddenly and turned around.

  Henley stood in the arch that led to the stairs, and he smiled at how beautiful she looked. She wore a white lacy dress that ended just above her knee, with a light blue denim jacket and a pair of nude sandals. Her hair was curled
slightly and pushed out of her face by a pair of oversized sunglasses.

  “I’m not even sorry,” he answered confidently.

  She smiled and walked over to the cake. “We’d better get this loaded into the car. How far is the party from here?”

  “About fifteen minutes.”

  “And your car has air conditioning, right?”

  “Yes,” he answered.

  “Okay, great. Let’s get this cake loaded then,” she said. “And don’t forget the gift.”

  “I have it right here.”

  Henley carefully disassembled the cake, placed each tier in a cake box, and she and Dean carefully loaded it into the car. Dean had put the air conditioning on before loading it in, as it took a few minutes to cool.

  Henley closed the back door and glanced at Dean as she slid into the front passenger seat. “So just be careful when you drive around corners, and watch out for any-”

  “I know how to drive.”

  “I know, but you’ve never driven a car with a three-tiered birthday cake before.”

  “True, but I drove Claire to the hospital when she was in labor. That should count for something.”

  “Did she yell at you to drive slower? Or take it easy on the corners?”

  He looked at her, not answering. He didn't need to because she was right. “You’re welcome to drive.”

  “I think that’s a much better idea, actually,” she answered and climbed out the car.

  They switched seats and Henley glanced at Dean, who had a nervous look on his face.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “No-one else has ever driven my car before.”

  “Really?” she asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “I feel so honored.”

  “You better,” he said and smiled. “You look really nice, by the way.”

  She slowly turned her head to him and smiled lightly. “Thank you.”

  ***

  Henley parked the car on the side of the house, as Dean instructed her to do, and he climbed out.

  “I’ll be right back. I just want to let her know that I’m here with the cake.”

  “Okay,” she answered and Dean quickly made his way to the house. It was ridiculous how many people, not only children Cora’s age, was already there. What was even more ridiculous were the decorations. There were several arches of pink balloons on the grass, and Dean just shook his head. He entered the kitchen and was quite relieved to find Claire there with a few of her friends.