Promises We Break

Chapter 38

"Bella and Matteo will be able to find fun things to do given any circumstances."

Matteo stops the car in front of his mom's bakery and turns to me with a big smile. "Are you ready to get shown out by a guy who barely knows how to turn on a stove?"

I shake my head, already laughing at the fact that he was trying to insult me. I place a hand on his face and say, "You wish." It happens really fast; one second we are both in the car, and the next second our laughter is echoing through the empty cafe as the both of us maneuver around each other to get to the back room.

"Bunch of losers," I hear my sisters shout from behind us as she opens the back door and finds Matteo and me working at an opened flour bag. I ignore her and move Matteo's hand away as I open the bag myself. The guy beside me doesn't complain as he starts to get the other ingredients out.

"Having trouble there?" I hear a low voice come from behind me and shake my head, despite the fact that my hair was starting to stick at the back of my neck. Matteo laughs, moving his hand inside my hair and holding it up. The absence of my hair on my neck makes me let out a breath of relief and makes him continue laughing behind me.

"Why are you messing with me?" I grumble to him as I pipe out the frosting for my cupcakes, getting frustrated when the three colors I added in the bag do not come out the way I want them to. "I'm done," he says, and I look behind my shoulder to find that yes, in fact, he was done.

There was a tray of sugar cookies on the table, with the first one prominently displayed. There were even some sprinkles on it as well—tiny-shaped snowflakes. I look away from it and toward the guy who is now moving even closer to me.

He places a leg in between my thighs and presses his shoulder against my back, and I try not to push him away from how bold he was being. I glanced around the room to check if my sister was in here, but Elena was calling someone in the front of the store. She said that it was the guy who had ghosted her the other day. I really hoped that he wasn't just using her and had a good reason for not answering her texts all week.

I feel his arm slide past my neck and toward my collarbone. His arm moves down to my own, and a second later, he has the piping bag in his hand. "You're not adding the right amount of pressure.", His lips brush my jaw as he says this. I focus on the way he does it instead of the fact that I wanted to look at him. "See?", he whispers as he frosts a cupcake.

After he does another one, he hands the piping bag back to me and moves his mouth up to my ear. "You try," he whispers, his lips touching my ear. A shiver runs through me at the skin-to-skin contact, and I try not to let my hand shake when I add pressure to the piping bag. It comes out horrible; the frosting is just a big mess on the cupcake, and I bite my bottom lip in frustration.

Matteo's hand comes to my hand, and he holds it as he applies pressure to the piping bag for me. I take in a sharp breath because, as he is doing this so casually, he is pressing kisses down my jawline. I'm not sure how he is multi-tasking. I'm not sure how he is able to stand still while I try not to drop the piping bag and myself to the floor. My knees want to give out, and maybe he senses that because he places a hand on my waist and pushes my hip away from the table, ensuring I won't fall.