Just Friends? No, It Must Be More

Chapter 17

Alison's POV

Okay, so I have to admit that I'm quite awful at cooking and baking and everything else that has to do with making food. But I've been doing this every year for the past three years for Ryan's birthday. Alright so, Anna usually helps me through most of it but she's not here. She went away with Kenny, yet again. But she'll be back before lunch. And I can't not make Ryan his birthday cupcakes just because Anna isn't here. And plus, I want him to be in a good mood when I tell him I want him to be my date at my sister's wedding. He'll be meeting my wonderful family. We've been dating for about two months now and I feel like it's the right time to bring him home. I'm crazy about him and I just want my family to meet the guy that makes me happy. My family means the world to me but meeting the parents could be a little scary. I just want him to say yes.

I've just finished making the batter and placing them in little cupcake cups. I put the first batch of cupcakes in the oven and set the timer. While I wait, I check and reply to some e-mails until I hear the smoke alarm go off. Oh no, my cupcakes! I quickly head towards the kitchen and immediately turn off the oven. I start to fan the smoke away from the smoke detector in hopes of silencing the annoyingly loud beeping. But I fail. Because I'm so vertically challenged, my fanning techniques are ineffective. Then suddenly, Ryan appears out of nowhere, dressed in just his boxers with his hair disheveled. He effortlessly reaches above my head, and I can see the muscles on his body flex beautifully. Wow... he's so... sexy. I'm caught up just staring at his body but snap out of it once the smoke detector stops beeping. I look up at him and he exhales and glances down at me, "Are you okay?" he asks.

I nod as he walks over to the oven and pulls it open. Smoke escapes as he reaches in and pulls out my black, burnt, ruined, cupcakes. What went wrong? I followed the instructions. I set the timer. The timer didn't go off. Is something wrong with the timer? I looked at the timer... it was still ticking. Did I forget something? As I think through all the things that I could have forgotten, I slightly glance at Ryan and he's just smirking at me. Clearly amused. "Don't smile at me. I just ruined your birthday cupcakes!"

"How can I not smile? Here you are in your little pink apron, with your ingredients perfectly aligned, and a batch of charcoal black cupcakes." He chuckled.

It's not fair that he's half naked in this hot kitchen, looking oh so irresistible with his messy hair pointing in all directions. I can't even feel slightly insulted, I'm too distracted by his sexiness. Why does my boyfriend have to be so yummy? Focus on the cupcakes, I tell myself. I'm trying so hard to not stare at his toned abs but I can't help it. He mistakes my staring for sadness because of the cupcakes, "Hey it's okay. I'm sure they're somewhat edible." He picks one up, frowns and says, "Or not... how about I just help you make the next batch?"

"No! I'm suppose to make it for you. You can't let you make your own birthday cupcakes."

"Fine, how about I just help you figure out what went wrong?" He grabs the cookbook as I pull myself up to sit on the counter. Before I could say no he asked, "Are you really going to refuse the birthday boy on his birthday?" He looked at me with big eyes. I sighed and gave in.

He placed the cookbook on my lap and started listing off the things I was suppose to mix. I did everything correctly. Now, I'm really stumped. How the heck did those cupcakes burn? Then he suddenly says, "Oh! Here's something you definitely didn't follow."

I perk up. Finally, I'll know what happened, "What did I forget to do?"

I try to look over at what he's reading in the book but he brings it up to make it look like he's reading closely and carefully says, "It says, do not let Alison Stewart make these cupcakes. They will get burnt."

He slowly looks up at me with a gorgeous smile on his lips. He thinks he's funny. Teasing me like that. I try to act offended but the apparent smile on my face betrays me. "Ha. ha. Very funny Monroe." He chuckles and flashes an adorable smile, "Not only will you not get birthday cupcakes, you won't get the gift I spent weeks trying to get."