Happy Pancake Day, sweeties.
Guess who's making pancakes?
Freddie!
So I'm sharing a teaser from Freddie Untangled.
Enjoy
Freddie poured fresh flour, some milk and one blended overripe plantain into the glass mixing bowl. He took one egg from the crate of twenty-four and cracked it open over the rest of the ingredients. Tossing the shell into the bin with one hand, he picked up the whisk with the other.
Good thing he had been here when the kitchen items and groceries had been delivered. He’d unpacked most of it and knew where all the items had been placed, which had come in handy this morning as he made breakfast. It had occurred to him last night while he lay in bed that the children might be a little disorientated this morning without a housekeeper to sort out breakfast.
As he mixed the pancake batter, he recalled how tired Kike had been last night when he’d found her on the sofa and carried her upstairs. Part of the reason he hadn’t accepted her invitation to bed was that she needed to the sleep as much as he did.
The gas cooker had five rings, one of differing sizes for each corner and a large double-ring central unit. A double oven lay underneath, one gas and one electric. He’d figured it all out this morning. Thank heavens for instruction manuals.
He turned on the left back burner and melted a knob of butter into the pan over it. Five seconds later, he poured some of the batter into the pan.
With no housekeeper, Kike would have had to sort out breakfast this morning. The kids could have eaten cereal.
However, Freddie wanted to treat everyone to something special. Especially Kike. That’s why he hadn’t woken her up.
She’d looked well-slept this morning although the worry lines had returned to her face as she’d watched Benson take the kids to school.
He had needed to hug her in that moment as much as she had needed the physical contact to soothe her anxiety.
That she didn’t think highly of herself concerned him though. He needed to keep her spirit up. Neither of them knew what Lekan would do when he got back from this trip and found his wife and children gone. Still, they had to stay positive and take it one day at a time.
Light feet padding across the hard cool tiles announced Kike’s return to the kitchen. She’d been quick with getting dressed. Freddie had only made two pancakes and had just poured batter for the third into the pan. She could get started while he finished off.
“Sir.”
The softly-spoken respectful term made the hairs on his nape stand straight. His heart did a jolt just as his grip on the handle of the frying pan tightened. She hadn't used that word to address him since their night at Tolani's party over two months ago. Did he hear correctly?
He glanced behind and his heart stopped altogether.
She stood just inside the kitchen door, barefooted, in a long flowing gold silk dress, her hair pulled back in a neat ponytail. No jewellery or makeup.
Her light perfume drifted in the air. The same intoxicating scent he’d smelled the first day he’d met her. The day he’d fallen in love with her. He knew right in this moment that he had always been in love with her. His grip on the pan handle tightened.
Her husband had been correct. He’d taken one look into her beguiling caramel eyes and had taken a tumble into them.
He loved her.
Would she ever love him back? He had nothing to offer her. Not a big house or fast cars. Not a life of luxury.
Sex. Yes, he could give her amazing, mind-blowing, earth-quaking, body-exhausting, rumble-in-the-jungle, unforgettable sexual satisfaction.
And if he’d heard correctly, then it seemed she was ready for his brand of pleasure. The way she bowed her head, and clasped hands at her back seemed to prove him right.
Still, explicit consent was everything to him.
“Kike, did you say something?” he asked in a quiet voice, not wanting to jar awake if he’d fallen asleep or something. She stood as a delicate stunning vision, the stuff of his day dreams.
Freddie Untangled is the second part of the Freddie duology which started with Freddie Entangled. The stories are best read in sequence.
Part One: Freddie Entangled
Part Two: Freddie Untangled
The is also part of the overall Essien series.