“What’s your favorite cookie?”
“Hmmm, I’m not sure if I have one.” I paused, leaning back in my chair to think. I’d never had a sweet tooth. I tended to gravitate toward the salty snacks when I went shopping. “My great-omegin had a recipe for potato chip cookies I adored when I was a kid. I couldn’t get enough of them. I loved potato chips, but I never managed to eat the whole bag when I went to visit him. He made these crispy little cookies with the leftover chips and added chunks of chocolate and walnuts. Those cookies were pretty amazing. They were the only cookies I can ever remember requesting whenever I went to visit.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such a thing,” Max said, shaking his head as his brow wrinkled adorably. Everything about this omega was adorable. “I’ll see if I can find a recipe. It sounds… intriguing?”
I laughed outright at the consternation on his face. No, Max thought they were disgusting, not intriguing. “Wait until you try them before passing judgment, Max. They might surprise you.”
The omega shrugged, a smile playing on his lips. “I can do that. It could be better than I think they sound.”
Nodding, I picked up my mug, taking a deep swallow of the still warm liquid, grabbing another cookie from the plate. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d spent such a relaxed afternoon with another man. Probably not since my mate had died. It was cathartic in a way I couldn’t explain, even to myself.
When the cookies were gone and the mugs were empty, Max helped clean up. I didn’t want him to leave so I did the bravest thing I’d done in a long time. I asked him to stay. We spent the afternoon sitting on the couch, talking about nothing and everything. The chat gave me an insight into an omega who lived by his own terms. He was braver than I was at the moment, taking his life by the horns and doing his own thing, moving so far from all the family he’s ever known.
When Max finally retreated to his own home next door, he took with him my admiration and another piece of my heart. I had a decision to make. Did I accept the feelings he stirred inside me? Or did I push him away and retreat back into how things were before he barreled into my life? Something told me it was way too late to retreat. I was well and surely hooked by a brave little omega who baked like a dream.
Chapter Ten
Max
Researching potato chip cookies was a world I’d never dropped into before. I loved research and digging into the world of vintage baking was a pleasure I enjoyed more than some. Okay, I was weird. I easily admitted that. It was probably the researcher in me. Digging into the history of a recipe sent me to my happy spot. Potato chip cookies gained popularity in the 1950s, with families each having their own take on the sweet and salty treat. Even the popular chip companies back in the day had recipes for the cookie in ads and on chip bags. Who knew?
Not knowing how Pierce’s great-omegin made his cookies, I decided to test bake several of the more popular ones. In the end, I had a great content article which sold to a food blog and a kitchen filled with four different types of potato chip cookies. So far, I had a clear favorite, a buttery salty cookie made with ridged potato chips, chocolate chips, and chopped pecans. Never having been a fan of the crispy potato disks, the cookies were better than I had expected them to be.
Not wanting to invade Pierce’s home again on such a thin pretense as cookies, I packaged each set of cookies in separate containers with the recipe taped to the top. Christmas was the next day and the cookies would keep. I still had cinnamon rolls to make so they’d be ready to pop into the oven the next morning. I’d leave them in the refrigerator overnight for their final proof and pull them out in the morning. They’d proof even more as the oven preheated and the rolls came to room temperature. It wasn’t my first solo Christmas, just my first one in Florida. If I ran into trouble, my mom was only a phone call away, ready and willing to dispense advice to any of her kids as we attempted to stick with family traditions. Just thinking of the sweet cinnamon syrup which would soak into the rolls with the cream cheese frosting was enough to set my mouth watering.
Christmas Eve was a busy day of cooking, cleaning, and wrapping of presents I couldn’t resist getting for my grumpy, sexy neighbor. It was probably over the top, but I had a good feeling about him. The older alpha did things to me I couldn’t explain, but I liked it. I liked it very much. It didn’t even matter he hadn’t said for sure he’d be here. I was excited at the possibility.
The fear it was all in my head and Pierce wouldn’t show tried to throw me into a tailspin, but I pushed those dark thoughts back. Positive thinking became my mantra. After that kiss, that sweet, wonderful, gentle, earth-shattering kiss we shared, Pierce had to be just as affected by whatever was between us as I was. If not, I might as well pack it up and move back to New York with my tail between my legs because I wouldn’t be able to stay next door to the man of my dreams. Which he was. I might not have known it before I met him, but I knew it now.
Pushing away any negative thoughts, I cleaned the disaster created in my kitchen from a day filled with too much baking. I might have gone overboard. It was
