"Hey baby."
Nancy couldn't help it; a happy grin curled her mouth, and a delighted warmth touched her cheeks. It wasn't as though Ned could see her, but she still felt a little weak in the knees at just the sound of his deep, warm voice. "Hey yourself, handsome."
"You must be psychic. I just walked in."
"Then I have excellent timing." She paused. "Or terrible timing. Are you free?"
"For you? You don't even have to ask. Are we jetting off to Fiji? Some sabotage at the River Heights Racetrack?"
Nancy laughed. "Something decidedly more mundane. I have a shopping list."
"Not a scavenger list, or something that will involve me wearing all black and carrying your lockpicks for you...?"
"Not this time. Hannah had an emergency, and I've been called in as a pinch hitter to make a cheesecake."
"I love everything about this scenario. And you need a taste-tester."
"Well, first, I need some cream cheese. From the store. And it needs to be room temperature."
"Microwave?"
She smiled. "Hannah swears it's much better when done the old-fashioned way, so no. Set out on the counter. For hours."
"Mmm." The low, intrigued grumbling sound he made sent a shiver down to Nancy's toes. "So Hannah's away..."
"And my dad has a conference."
"At some vague point in the future?"
"Right now. He actually left yesterday, and he'll be back tomorrow afternoon." Nancy paused for effect. "Poor me, left all alone to make a cheesecake."
"Please let me be your... what is it?"
"Sous chef?" Nancy suggested. She grinned again. "Baby, you barely made it through that cooking class, and pastries is a whole other level."
"Shape me. Mold me, sweetheart. Educate me in the ways of sugar and... cream cheese." Ned dissolved into laughter. "I don't know what the hell I'm saying."
Nancy was grinning, too. "Besides, it won't even be set until tomorrow morning. Cheesecakes are not quick."
"And it doesn't sound like something I'll be able to sneak a bite of."
"No," she agreed. "I mean, there will be utensils to lick. If you aren't afraid of raw eggs, that is."
"First off, you saying the word 'lick' to me might be illegal in a few countries. Thankfully, not this one. Second... I've faced cartels with you. Raw eggs?" He made a dismissive sound. "Bring it on, Drew. Want me to swing by?"
"Yeah, that'd be great. We'll just find something to do while we're waiting..."
"I'll dig up a deck of cards. Maybe some fun poker variation..."
Nancy snorted. "You have a one-track mind."
"I do. I'll be right there."
Even though she had already dressed knowing she might see Ned, she still glanced down as she waited on her front porch, making sure she didn't need to reconsider. Her short floral sundress was sweet and showed off her beginning-of-summer glow. She stroked her fingertips up her calf with a smile; Ned would find her legs smooth and silky, if he cared to explore.
When he arrived, he sprang out of his car to open her door for her, and his slow pleased grin nearly buckled her knees all over again. "I've missed you," he told her, and before she could slide into his passenger seat he was wrapping her in his arms, lowering his face to hers.
When Ned kissed her, the world fell away. He was warm, solid, and smelled like sun and coconut and a trace of masculine sweat. He held her with no hesitance or self-consciousness, and when the kiss stretched past reunion and into something far deeper, she twined her arms around his neck, dimly felt him brace her against his car.
Nancy's surprise and her own self-consciousness melted away. Oh, she had missed him so much. Maybe this wasn't a grand romantic outing, a leisurely stroll down the banks of the Muskoka ending in a picnic complete with a bottle on ice and something sweet they could feed each other, but they could always do that later.
Nancy felt weak, her fingers buried in Ned's hair, when the kiss finally ended. "That's..." It took her a moment to catch her breath, and when their gazes locked, her heart skipped another beat. "That's 'I've been drafted to fight in World War II,' not 'I'm so happy to finally be on summer break,'" she told him.
"Can't I be very happy to be on summer break and helping my girlfriend make dessert?"
Her lips curved up. "And why is it that when you say that, it sounds figurative?"
"Maybe because you want to hear it as figurative." His dark eyes were dancing.
"Maybe." Knowing that Ned would be spending the afternoon, maybe the evening with her... she couldn't dwell on it; it was too wonderful to contemplate.
At the grocery store, they walked with their hands joined, fingers laced together. They could save time, return to her house faster if they divided the list and split up—but neither could bear the thought, not now.
"We can make dinner together, maybe?"
"You aren't convinced that just my mere presence will mean a call to the fire department? That delivery pizza wouldn't be safer?"
"That can always be a backup. But I'll just have to find the right... reward, to keep your mind on your work."
Ned laughed and brought her hand up to his lips to brush a kiss against her knuckles. "The best rewards would backfire," he pointed out.
"Even if you had to perform well to earn them?"
The look Ned turned on her nearly made her glance the corner of their shopping cart against a meticulous stack of cracker boxes. "Are you trying to make me throw you over my shoulder and carry you out to the car?"
"Just try it." She narrowed her eyes in a mock glare.
"Don't tempt me."
They settled on easy ingredients, laughing together, his hand always warm against her skin. A few times his lips brushed her neck, his hand grazed her hip, and Nancy shivered, her lashes fluttering down, her body swaying with his touch.
If he was like this now...
The cashier took them in with a glance and began ringing up their groceries, and Ned tossed a few candy bars onto the conveyor belt. Then his arm moved around her waist and he pulled Nancy against him, and she couldn't help it. Happy laughter bubbled up in her, and she turned to nestle against him.
And they needed to wait for the cream cheese to soften, anyway, and it wasn't yet time for dinner...
They managed to hold out until all the groceries were unloaded and put away, until Nancy ceremoniously placed the bricks of cream cheese on the counter. Then Ned slid his arms around her and his lips found her neck.
She was so used to pushing his hands away, to curtailing their time together while they were here. Even now, she had to remind herself that they were completely alone, that neither Hannah nor her father would be back to interrupt them.
She turned and Ned lifted her onto the counter, and she gazed down into his eyes, feeling drunk with her love for him. He tugged her a few inches forward and moved toward her, so that her legs were open, her dress practically up to her hips, and he was standing between her knees. Being able to meet his lips in a kiss without standing on her tiptoes was wonderful.
"I've missed you."
Ned made a soft, deep noise of agreement as his lips touched hers. "Always."
Her next words were breathless. Her body was swaying with his, her hand buried in his hair, her lashes low. "I love you."
"Always." He kissed her again, again, until they were both panting, hearts pounding. "Baby... I love you so much."
"We have a lot of time to kill," she panted.
"And the diversions I have in mind aren't all that sanitary," he murmured, tracing his thumb under the strap of her sundress. His gaze flicked from there to her own eyes, and Nancy's breath caught. "Change of venue?"
She glanced over at the cream cheese, then back at him. It really would be hours. It wasn't time for dinner. No one would be home.
"Upstairs?" she suggested, then met his gaze again.
Ned didn't have to be told twice. He grinned and drew her to him, and she wrapped her arms and legs around him as he carried her upstairs.
"We have to check on it in an hour," she warned him.
"An entire hour," he mused. "What on earth could we do with an hour..."
She caught Ned's earlobe between her teeth and gave it a soft tug, and felt him pause, felt his breathing stutter for a second. "It's been a long time since I've inspected you for sports injuries," she mused.
"And that last case? I need to make sure you're all healed from that."
"And those boxers I gave you? How are they working out?"
"You mean to replace the ones you shredded?" He was grinning when he nudged her bedroom door open, and carried her over the threshold. "Tiger. I'll let you see for yourself. Just let me be the one to take them off?"
Nancy's heart skipped a beat again. Every time, somehow, she was surprised to find that he wanted her, that he wanted this with her. What they had was playful and sweet and intense and all-consuming, tender and soft, and she fell in love with him all over again every time.
"I didn't mean to shred them. In my defense, your old ones were so thin I could see through them."
"You say that like it's a flaw."
Nancy laughed in delight as Ned deposited her on the bed.
"In your underwear, that would definitely be a feature," he told her.
"I thought your favorite underwear of mine..."
"Is whatever is on the floor," he completed, and then he was catching her lips in another kiss that had her melting, breathing his breath, wrapping herself around him to hold him tight.
The next afternoon, Nancy was licking a smudge of peanut butter off her finger when Hannah bustled into the kitchen carrying an empty cake container. Nancy raised her eyebrows.
"Your cheesecake was a hit! I didn't even have a chance to save a slice for Ned. Hope he won't be too disappointed."
Nancy's lips curved up. "I think he'll make it through," she replied. "I'm glad it went over so well."
"What did you do differently?"
Nancy blushed faintly, but tapped her chin. "Well, I did lose track of time, so I left the cream cheese out a bit longer than normal..."
"That's always the trick." Hannah nodded firmly. "Microwaving it ruins the consistency."
Nancy smiled. "At least Ned was able to taste the batter."
Hannah shook her head as she started unloading her own bags. "You've always been so hard on that boy about his cooking. Did you tie him up in the living room while you made it?"
Another blush rose up her neck. Ned had done everything he could to distract her while she had been trying to assemble the cheesecake, and then some. She actually had threatened to tie him up, and then he had made several follow-up suggestions. That gleam of interest in his eye likely hadn't been entirely feigned. "I did consider it," Nancy told Hannah, though she chuckled at the end.
"Are you about to leave?"
Nancy nodded, closing the picnic hamper. "I think I have everything."
Hannah nodded. "Tell Ned that I might just have you two make all the cheesecakes from now on. Four of the women raved over it. And they didn't even know that Ned was involved."
Nancy swung the hamper to the floor. "Are you saying that women might lie about the quality of Ned's cheesecake just to flatter him?"
"I'm just saying I can imagine it."
"I can too," Nancy admitted. "I'm incredibly lucky to have him."
Hannah nodded firmly. "Yes, you are. There's a charity cake auction next month; you two should enter."
Nancy grinned. "Well, I'll just have to check, but... I think he'd probably love to."