Released from her long-term care facility to live with her twin brother, Alex, and older brother, Trevor, Ally tries to piece together what she can while attempting to live her life again. Enter Chase Baker, guitarist for her brothers’ rock band, JACT. There is something about him that Ally just can’t resist, but the mysteries of her past are looming in the back of her mind, threatening to destroy anything she tries to build with him.
Do Ally and Chase have a chance? Or is there a secret in Ally’s past that may get in the way?
“These smell delicious,” he says as he sets the cookies down on the folding tray table I pulled out from the rack beside the entertainment center.
“Thanks, I came up with the recipe myself,” I tell him. “Well, I picked apart a few different recipes to form this one recipe.”
“So this is a Frankenstein cookie?” he asks as he lifts one to his mouth. That mouth…Full lips concealing perfectly white teeth. Sigh.
“Ha ha. If you’re too afraid to try my concoction, you don’t have to,” I tease. Am I flirting with him? Stop it, Ally!
Chase grins, letting me know he was only teasing, and shoves the entire cookie in his mouth.
“Oh my gosh, that’s so gross,” I laugh.
He smiles as he chews. Then he closes his eyes and groans. And my heart. Just. Stops.
“This is so good, Ally,” he moans through his chewing.
My mind is completely in the gutter now as I stare at him, completely unabashed. I’m sure if his eyes were open, instead of closed in cookie ecstasy, he would see the pure hunger I have for him, not the cookies, in my eyes as I sit here and imagine the various other situations where I would love to hear him say those words.
I try to shake it off but not before he opens his eyes and catches me staring at him. When his eyes widen, I know he sees what I was hoping he wouldn’t. I catch a similar look in his eyes before I turn my head away and shove a cookie in my own mouth.
Not my best move, that’s for sure, especially when I start choking on a crumb. I quickly swallow down the cookie in my mouth with a chug of milk and proceed to try and cough out the crumb.
Chase pats my back. “You okay?” he asks, concern etching his voice.
I nod as I take another sip of milk. “Wrong pipe,” I rasp out.
Out of the corner of my eye, I swear I see a small grin on his face. I’m so embarrassed. If I thought it was embarrassing having Chase witness my anxiety attack, this is so much worse. First, he catches me looking like I want to eat him. Then, he watches me stuff a whole cookie into my mouth and proceed to choke on it. This is just great. Why can’t I just be normal?