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Sterling dips one long finger into the nearly empty bowl of icing left over from the iced buns I prepared earlier, then sucks his finger into his mouth, his eyes darkening.
“Pity. I could definitely picture laying you out on the counter and licking this from your beautiful body.”
“Sounds sticky,” I muse, taking his hand and sucking the same finger into my mouth.
When the fuck did I become so bold?
He groans, reaching a hand down to adjust himself. “On second thoughts, since you like sweet things, maybe you could lick it off-” A throat clearing from behind Sterling has me stepping back to look around his large frame.
Kiernan is smiling like the cat who got the cream.
“Sorry to bother you, but Mrs L is here, and she was wondering if you had anything she could take to book club tonight?” Kiernan nods in Sterling’s direction. “Nice to see you again.”
Sterling smiles and I note there’s a subtle pink flush on his sun-warmed cheeks.
“Ah, yes. I have a pistachio, rose and vanilla cake coming out of the oven in ten minutes. I’ll need to cool and ice it first. She can collect it in an hour if she would like.”
“Perfect. I’ll tell her.” Kiernan bows like he’s talking to royalty and then says, “Now please continue whatever deliciousness I walked in on.”
Scoffing, I shake my head, then make a shooing motion. When he’s gone, I turn to Sterling. “You really are a distraction.”
“I am not sorry about it. But you are no better. I forgot why I was here the minute I saw you.”
He follows me to the far counter, where I start preparing a glaze for the cake.
“Oh? Did you have something to tell me?”
“Indeed. I have fixed the fences and your hot water maker.”
I stop what I’m doing and look at him, my mouth falling open. “You fixed the boiler?” He nods. “And the fences?” He nods again.
“How? That’s a huge job, and it’s only lunch time.”
He shrugs, his broad shoulder reaching his ear. “When I am not distracted by sweet bakers, I can be quite resourceful.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Most humans just say thank you.” Most humans. Sometimes the things he says are so odd. Yet unbearably endearing.
“Thank you, Sterling. I will thoroughly enjoy my hot shower tonight.”
“And I will join you.”
Blood rushes to my groin, my cock twitching in my boxers.
“Will you, now?”
Sterling leans over and kisses my cheek.
“I will see you later, my sweet Caspian.”
TWENTY-THREE
STERLING
“Do you believe in ghosts?” Caspian’s hand is warm in mine as we walk along the narrow beach at the bottom on the white chalk cliffs a few miles outside the village. He drove us down here after he closed the bakery, parking his car in a sheltered layby before we trudged down a flora covered dune to reach this stretch of golden sand. It’s a different terrain to his beach with no rocky outcroppings and the shadows of the cliffs at our backs.
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
