Fire & Flesh

by Kerri Carr

  "I don't know," she replied. "I hadn't thought about that."

  "Well you probably should. After all, you did point out that the wedding is only three weeks away. You don't want them to get to their wedding day and realize that they have no special way of commemorating it together."

  "I guess not."

  "I tell you what," Kevin said, sliding a little closer to the edge so that he could look at her more closely. "I'll take care of arranging the wedding night for them. And if I hit any snags and have questions about what Brandy might like, I’ll let you know and we can make sure that it’s perfect. How does that sound?"

  Eileen hesitated for a moment and then nodded in much the same way that she had after Patrick had offered to work with her to pick out the perfect cake.

  "Sure," she said. "That would be nice."

  She no longer sounded as sure of herself and Patrick found the vulnerability incredibly sexy. He licked his lips and slid a glance over at Kevin, who was looking at Eileen with the same hunger in his eyes.

  *****

  The next weekend Patrick sat in the small bakery that Eileen had selected, watching as a plump middle-aged woman wearing a pink and white striped apron scurried around him placing small silver trays on the table where he sat. Each of the trays held a collection of tiny cakes, the bite-sized treats decorated with delicate-looking sugar flowers in a variety of different colors.

  When she finally finished putting all of the trays in front of him, the woman sat down in the seat across from him with a sigh and a wide smile like she was delighted that she was even able to get all of the trays in place.

  "So," she said, sounding slightly out of breath, "I'm Mary."

  "Hi," he said, trying not to laugh at the strange, somewhat out of context introduction, "I'm Patrick."

  "So nice to meet you, Patrick. So what brings you in for a tasting today? Are you getting married?"

  Mary seemed absolutely thrilled at the prospect that Patrick was planning a wedding, and he almost felt bad shaking his head.

  "No," he said. "I'm helping a friend plan his wedding. He's getting deployed so it is kind of a last minute situation and I volunteered to take care of the cake."

  Mary laughed and pushed one of the silver trays closer to him.

  "I can understand that. This is one of the most fun parts of planning a wedding." Suddenly her face got serious and she gestured at the tiny cakes on the tray. "Now, each of these is a different flavor. I put basic buttercream on all of them so that you can get the truest flavor of the cake. On these trays we have different filling and icing options so that we can put together the best cake for your friend. Do you have any ideas of what he might like?"

  "His fiancée's sister says that we should just have a white cake."

  "That is traditional, of course."

  "But boring."

  Mary gave a chuckle and nodded.

  "But boring," she agreed. "Why don't you start trying them out and point out the ones that you like. I'll make a list and then we can narrow it down as we go through."

  Patrick picked up the first tiny cake and popped into his mouth whole. It was a delicate vanilla flavor, but not much else. He assumed this was the traditional white cake that Eileen suggested. He shook his head at Mary and picked up another. This one had a rich, dark chocolate flavor that contrasted with the soft sweetness of the buttercream. He nodded and Mary jotted a note down on a piece of paper.

  It took several minutes for Patrick to work his way all the way through all of the cake samples and by the time he finished he felt like he wasn't going to be able to eat for the rest of the day. Mary's paper had a list several lines long and she had started a second and third column to write down the fillings and icings that he liked the most. She gave a sigh when she looked at the list and then glanced up at him.

  "Well, now we have to start narrowing it down," she said.

  "Could you tell me which of the flavor combinations go best together?"

  They worked together for a few minutes longer coming up with the best combinations of the different flavors he had selected.

  "We've narrowed it down to five combinations," Mary said when they were finished. "You said on the phone that there will only be around 50 people at the wedding."

  "Yes, it's pretty small since it’s so last minute."

  "Well, that means at most we can do three tiers. You can do a different combination on each tier if you would like, but that means that you need to eliminate two of them."

  Patrick thought about the flavors for a few moments and then thought back to when he told Eileen that he would take over selecting the cake. A smile came to his lips.

  "Do you think that you could make up a few small cakes for me?" he asked.

  "Sure," Mary said. "What would you like?"

  "Could you make me the smallest cake you can of each of these flavor combinations?"

  "Absolutely. Is tomorrow alright for you?"

  "That would be great."

  As he walked out of the bakery Patrick called Eileen.

  "Hello?" she said, sounding like the unfamiliar number on her phone made her uncomfortable.

  "Hi," he said, slipping on his dark sunglasses and starting down the sidewalk of the small shopping center toward a tiny store tucked into the back corner. "What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?"

  *****

  Patrick arrived at Eileen's house the next day exactly on time. He carried a stack of small pink bakery boxes containing the miniature cakes that Mary had made up for him, each tied with a narrow white string and marked with the flavor combination on a scrolled sticker on one side.

  Eileen was already standing at the door when he got up the stairs, but she didn't look as thrilled that he was there as he would have like her to seem. She looked at the stack of bakery boxes and gave a sigh before stepping out of the way and holding the storm door open for him.

  "The kitchen is to the back," she said.

  Patrick walked to the back of the house and placed the stack of boxes on the long grey marble island before dismantling it so that he could open each of them individually. He purposely faced them so that Eileen couldn't see the name of the cake on the sticker or the cake itself when he opened the box.

  "What's in the bag?" she asked, gestured to a small canvas bag he had slung over one forearm.

  "An experiment," he said.

  "What kind of experiment?"

  "I know that you are determined that you want just a traditional cake for the wedding, but I think that you will really like some of the flavors that I picked out. I don't want you to be influenced by their names or what they look like; only by the way that they taste. So…"

  He trailed off and reached into the bag to pull out the black satin blindfold he had purchased the day before after leaving the bakery.

  "A blindfold?" Eileen asked.

  Patrick nodded.

  "This way you can't see anything. You won't get to judge the cakes based on anything other than their flavor, and that will be enhanced by the fact that you won't be able to see. Sit down."

  Eileen hesitated for a second, looking at one of the dark brown chairs tucked neatly under the table in the breakfast nook of the kitchen.

  "Alright," she finally said. "I'll go along with this, but only because I want to get the planning over with, and maybe this will speed it along."

  She sat down and Patrick handed her the blindfold. He watched as she covered her eyes with it and tied it in place behind her head. His belly clenched slightly at the sight of her like that, but he turned his attention back to the boxes of cakes. He took the first, the dark chocolate that he had had Mary combine with an espresso filling and chocolate ganache, and picked up a piece with his fingers.

  "Open your mouth," he instructed.

  Eileen complied and he placed his fingers close enough to her lips that she could feel the cake. She seemed slightly startled to feel his skin, but she allowed him to place the bite onto her tongue and carefully closed her mouth
. She let out a soft groan and he felt the tension in his belly increase.

  "That's delicious," she said, licking a bit of the cake off of her bottom lip.

  "Mmmm-hmmmm," Patrick responded. He put the box back onto the counter and picked up the next one. "Now try this one."

  The second cake was vanilla with a strawberry and champagne filling and a champagne buttercream. He let his fingers linger a bit longer on Eileen's lip as she took the bite, struggling to maintain his control. When he reached the third cake, a lighter chocolate cake with peanut butter filling and buttercream, she took his fingers into her mouth with the bite, letting her tongue sweep between them so that it grazed across his skin as she brought the cake into her mouth.

  Patrick took the final two boxes from the counter and brought them over to the table. He pulled a second chair out from under the table and placed the open boxes onto the cushion. Lowering himself to his knees in front of her, he broke off a piece of the lemon and raspberry cake in the fourth box and brought it to her lips. As she took the bite from his fingers, Patrick leaned forward, applying slight pressure with his chest and stomach on her legs. After a moment she parted them slightly.

  Patrick eased forward so that he was slightly closer to her. Eileen still held his fingers in her mouth as she allowed the cake to dissolve away from them onto her tongue. He drew them out slowly and reached for the last cake. It was a rich spice cake with a nut filling and a rich cream cheese frosting.

  Eileen moaned again as she took the final bite of cake. Patrick eased forward more, pressing against her until she parted her knees so that he could come all the way between them, touching the front of his body to hers. He brought his mouth to her ear.

  "You like this one?" he whispered.

  Eileen nodded and made an affirmative sound.

  "Me, too," Patrick said, letting his lips brush her ear. "It's my favorite. In fact," he whispered, "I'd like another taste of it right now."

  Patrick took his mouth from her ear and brought it to her lips, gliding the tip of his tongue along them to gather the hint of the cream cheese flavor that still lingered on them. She whimpered slightly into his mouth, and Patrick took that as an invitation. Leaning further forward, he cupped his hand around the back of her head and deepened the kiss, coaxing her lips apart with the tip of his tongue so that he could explore her mouth.

  Eileen gave into the kiss, opening her mouth and accepting his tongue inside as she reached forward and flattened her hands on his chest. Patrick placed his other hand around the back of her hips and pulled her forward a bit more, causing her legs to part further and her pelvis to crush against his stomach. He could feel the warmth of her body coming through her thin pants and he groaned, wanting to peel the pants away and discover that warmth with his mouth, his fingers, and the surging erection he could feel pressing against the front of his pants.

  His hand was moving around her hip to slip beneath the hem of her shirt when he was startled by the buzz of a phone on the surface of the table beside him. Eileen gasped and pushed away from him, pulling the blindfold off and tossing it aside as she grabbed at the phone Patrick hadn't even noticed. He climbed to his feet and carried the two boxes from the chair over to the counter, trying not to listen to her conversation as he closed the boxes and stacked the back up so that she could put them away when he left.

  Eileen spoke for a few seconds and then hung up, placing the phone carefully back on the table and pausing a moment before turning to look at Patrick. Color crept along her cheeks as if she were embarrassed to be looking at him now that the mystery of the blindfold had been broken.

  "Everything alright?" he asked.

  "Yeah. That was Kevin actually," she said.

  "Kevin?" Patrick asked, surprised. Kevin knew that he was going to Eileen's house with the cakes that afternoon so he couldn’t figure out why his best friend would be calling. "What did he want?"

  "He says that we need to meet him up at the community center in half an hour, that he has something that he wants to show us that has to do with the wedding."

  "He didn't mention what it was?"

  "No. He just said that we need to get up there."

  "I guess we should go then."

  *****

  The sun was beginning to set as Patrick pulled into the community center parking lot in the space beside Eileen. He had wanted them to ride together, but almost immediately after he said that they should go she had said that she would drive and follow him so he didn't push the matter. He stepped out into the waning light and thought of how strange the varying times of the seasons always seemed to him. The summer days never seemed to end and he could remember being young and having to go to bed when the sun was still up even during the school break, but then when fall hit the afternoons grew shorter and it seemed that the day had barely gotten going when it was winding to a close again.

  There were several other cars in the parking lot, but he didn't see anyone else around and when Eileen looked at him questioningly, he shrugged. They walked together into the building, following the path created by the only lit hallways that wound through the building. Though the community center had been there for several years, it still wasn't unusual for there to be no events or activities going on at it for several days at a time and when they were it took a tremendous amount of word of mouth for anyone to know what was happening.

  They had gone down three hallways and seemed to be nearly at the back of the building when Patrick started hearing voices. They continued on and finally walked into what looked like a small gymnasium with the bleachers pushed back and the basketball hoops tucked out of the way. Several small clusters of people stood around the room talking, and Patrick noticed Kevin standing in one close to the entrance. He glanced up and noticed Patrick.

  "Hey," he said with a grin as he walked toward them.

  "Hey," Patrick said, trying to convey his annoyance about being there without Eileen noticing. "What's going on here?"

  "I realized that there was something that we hadn't talked about the wedding," Kevin said.

  "What's that?" Eileen asked.

  "The first dance."

  "Uh-huh," Patrick said. "Isn't that something that the bride and groom are supposed to figure out for themselves?"

  "So are the napkins and the flowers and the cake flavor, and we're apparently doing all of those things, so I figured that adding in helping them along with their first dance couldn't hurt. There's a dance lesson here tonight and then a dance so that we can practice all of our new moves."

  Kevin performed a slightly spastic series of dance moves and Eileen gave a short laugh.

  "That's fantastic," Patrick muttered.

  "I didn't even think about that," Eileen admitted, sounding somewhat more excited about the prospect of dancing than he was feeling.

  A woman walked toward a stereo system sitting on the floor and everybody turned toward her.

  "It's time to get started everyone. If you could pair up, we'll start with basic stances."

  Eileen glanced at Patrick, but Kevin took her by her wrist and she looked over at him.

  "It looks like I'm not really needed here, so I'm just going to go," Patrick said.

  "No," Eileen protested. "At least stay and watch. We'll need as many people as we can who know how to dance at the wedding."

  "I don't think that one lesson is going to make it so that I know how to dance, but if you want me to stay, I'll just kind of hang out over there on the side and try to pick some stuff up."

  Eileen smiled and Patrick knew that there was no way that he would be able to deny her anything that she wanted. Regardless of how frustrating she had been since they met, she was nothing short of irresistible.

  For the next hour Patrick perched on a folding chair at the far edge of the floor, watching Kevin and Eileen as they learned a series of basic dances. She moved seamlessly, picking up each step like it was something she had been doing her entire life, and even though Kevin was tripping his way throug
h most of the moves, she was able to make even him look good.

  As they danced Patrick could see how Kevin looked at her and realized it was the same way that he did, the same level of desire in his eyes. The expression got Patrick's mind working, and by the time the lights in the room lowered and the music filled the space to encourage everyone to get out on the floor and dance, he couldn't keep himself away from Eileen any longer.

  Kevin and Eileen were several yards away, trying to repeat the series of steps that corresponded with the style that the instructor called out at the beginning of the song. Patrick stepped up behind Eileen and rested a hand on her lower back. She jumped slightly and turned to him, her eyes widening when she saw his face.

  "Do you mind if I cut in?" he asked.

  Kevin winced at the cliché, but stepped back, gesturing toward Eileen as if offering her to him. Patrick took her into his arms and they started to dance. Their bodies moved against one another seamlessly and Patrick felt his need for her building again. Forgoing the steps that he had watched them learn, he pulled her tighter against his body and dipped his head down to touch his mouth to the side of her neck. As his lips moved across her skin, he felt a hand come up between them and glanced down to see that Kevin had come up behind her, touching his body to her back and reaching around her to run his hand up her belly and rest it just beneath her breast.

  Patrick felt like he should have been bothered by Kevin joining them, but he found that his presence and watching Eileen respond to the feeling of both men against her was even more arousing. Kevin mimicked Patrick's movements kissing along the side of her neck and Patrick ducked his head down further, running the tip of his tongue up from the neckline of her shirt across the front of her neck and then to her mouth so that he could capture her lips in a deep kiss.

  Not caring who might be watching, Patrick pressed even closer to her, holding her to him with a hand cupped on her hip. He could feel her press her hips back into Kevin while crushing her breasts against his own chest, creating an intense connection among the three of them.