The pancake situation was really getting out of hand.

I knew this because not only did I wake up that morning to the aroma of pancakes cooking on the grill, when I ventured out into the kitchen, I saw Aiden standing next to a teetering pile of them almost as tall as himself.

"Aiden," I said slowly, "I think you may have a problem."

He turned to me, wiping a line of sweat off his brow with the back of his hand and gave me a lopsided smile.

"There's only about twenty-four of them," he shrugged, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel.

I raised one eyebrow at him with half a smile. It was then that I noticed that he was not, in fact wearing a shirt.

I don't think I had seen Aiden without a shirt before, at it was definitely a sight to behold. Despite being an influential businessman, it was apparent that Aiden spent a good amount of time molding his physique.

I stepped towards him, my eyes glued to his torso. When I stood in front of him, he put a finger under my chin and raised my head so that I looked up at him.

"I think you're drooling," he teased, with his signature self-confident smirk. He knew exactly how good-looking he was.

I raised my head and titled my chin up. "It's the pancakes," I told him, tossing my hair over my shoulder and pushing past him to get to the pancakes.

Aiden immediately turned and grabbed me by the waist, pulling me towards him. "Not so fast," he demanded. He lowered his head and kissed me.

"Now you can have pancakes," he said, once he had pulled away.

"What are you doing today?" I asked.

"Without you?" he asked, leaning against the counter as I stuffed my face with the fresh pancakes that he had promised me, "I guess I'll just get by."

"I'm sorry, but I have to go into the office today," I told him, my mouth full of pancakes, "I need to do the final bit of prep for the wedding on Monday."

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "You know, I can tell it's gotten pretty bad when you're practically spitting bits of pancake at me because you're talking to me with your mouth full and I still think you are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

In my chest, I felt like my heart had thudded to life and I stared at him, with my eyes wide. He waited for me to speak, a small smile on his face.

I put the pancake that I was holding down. "Aiden," I said, when I had swallowed the bite.

He put one hand on my waist. "Does it scare you when I say things like that?" he asked.

I nodded slowly. "We haven't even been on a proper date yet," I told him, raising one shoulder.

"We shall remedy that soon," he said, "Right after Monday's wedding."

He straightened himself up.

"Are you going to get some work done today?" I asked.

Aiden nodded. "I was in such a rush to get here at the end of the day yesterday that I left some documents unread."

"And I thought you were the most patient person I knew," I teased him, with a smirk.

He feigned outrage. "I think it's your fault then," he growled, grinning his sinister grin. He reached out to me, but I ducked out of his reach with a laugh.

"Come here," he growled, coming after me.

I backed out of the kitchen slowly, looking up at him from underneath my eyelashes. I could see the impatience cloud his face as he lunged at me unexpectedly and grabbed me by the waist, lifting me up into the air.

An inadvertent squeal escaped me in the excitement. I wrapped my legs around his waist for support and Aiden wrapped his arms around me.

"You're definitely the cause of my impatience," he said, rubbing his nose against mine.

I traced the lines of his eyebrows and his jawline as he watched me.

"Sometimes, Aiden, I have everything and nothing to tell you," I told him, "It's confusing, but it's true."

"I know the feeling, Rose," he told me, kissing my forehead and putting me down gently, "I think I should get home and then to work. Shall I drop you off?"

"No, I'll drive myself today," I told him.

"I will see you later," he told me, giving me a quick kiss and putting his shirt back on, "I'll give you a call and we'll make a plan, alright?"

I nodded.

He kissed my hand and left me with a pile of about twenty pancakes in my apartment.

I sighed and ate as many as I could and packed the rest to take for Jenna in a takeout container that I had. I collected my things and walked down to my car and drove to the office.

Jenna had already arrived when I went.

"Sorry I had to ask you to come in on a weekend," I said, plopping my bags down on the couch and smiling to her.

"I don't mind," Jenna said, waving her hand, "Julie's out of town so it was either this or wallow in lonesomeness at home."

"You're lonely without your roommate?" I asked.

Jenna shrugged. "She's the life force of our apartment."

I laughed. "Well, to try and make up for it, I brought you some pancakes."

I handed her the box with some reusable cutlery. She reached out to take the box, eyeing me suspiciously.

"You made pancakes?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at me.

I raised my eyebrows. "No!" I said, shaking my head, like it was the most ridiculous thing that happened, "You know I don't cook."

"Then who made these?" she asked, the suspicion not leaving her face.

"I bought them," I said, like it was obvious.

"You bought pancakes?" Jenna asked, deadpan.

I nodded. "Mhmm."

"From where?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"From the café," I replied, shrugging, and walking over to my desk, "Down the street."

"Down the street from where?" Jenna turned to me.

I was almost starting to sweat. "From," I looked around, "My apartment."

"What's the name of the café?" Jenna asked, like she knew she was catching me in a lie.

I opened my mouth to say a name, but I didn't know if there even was a café down the street from my apartment. "I don't know, Jenna," I told her, "I didn't look at the name. It smelled nice so I walked in and got some. Do you not want the pancakes?"

I put out my hand for her to hand me the box, but she held on to it.

"No, no," Jenna said, "I want the pancakes. But I'm keeping an eye on you."

"Will you keep your other eye on the flower girls' ribbons that we have?" I asked, "I don't want to lose them."

Jenna looked at me like I was the most suspicious person on the planet as she sat down and opened the box of pancakes to dig in.

"It's strange that the box doesn't have the name of the café," she mused.

"I took the box from home," I told her, "Go green!"

"So, you planned to get me pancakes?" she pressed.

"Yeah, sure," I said.

"But I thought you went in there because it smelled nice," Jenna commented.

"Oh my God, Jenna, just eat the pancakes," I said, throwing a binder clip at her.

She dodged the clip and put a forkful of pancakes into her mouth. "Mmmm," she sighed, happily, "These are so good. They're just the right amount of sweet. It's perfect."

"Yeah, they're really good. I've had them so many times this week," I told her, absent-mindedly.

"You go to the café just to have pancakes?" she asked.

I raised my head. "Don't question my lack of culinary skills, Jenna."

She rolled her eyes and went back to eating.

I turned to the board and began my work.

A few minutes later, I heard Jenna get up.

"Rosalie," she said, slowly.

I turned to her. "Yeah?"

"What's going on?" she asked, frowning.

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking around, confused.

"You're humming," she said.

"And?"

Jenna looked utterly confused.

"Did you get some?" she asked, blatantly.

"No," I replied, truthfully.

"You're very strangely happy," she said, "I've never seen you like this."

"Just in a good mood, I guess," I shrugged, wanting to throw her off.

Jenna nodded, suspiciously. "It's entirely suspicious."

"Jenna, can we just get to work?" I asked, not wanting her to ask any more questions.

She raised her hands in defeat.

"Alright," she said.

I nodded and she walked away to wash her hands, when my phone dinged.

I lifted it up.

I could think of something much better to do than work, Aiden texted, making me bite my lip and smile.

When I heard Jenna's footsteps return, I quickly put my phone down and cleared my throat. She gave me another suspicious look, but didn't say anything.

We worked in harmony for the rest of the day, sustaining ourselves with the pancakes that were left and the snacks in the kitchenette. Jenna and I were pretty exhausted at the end of the day when all the work was done.

Jenna heaved a box we needed to a side and stood up, dusting her hands with a sigh.

"Thank you for coming in today," I told her, putting things away.

"Any time," she said, almost out of breath.

"You can go, Jenna," I told her, "I'll close up."

"Thanks," she said, wiping her brow, "I'll see you on Monday."

I closed up all the open files, put them back in their places and tidied my desk. Looking at my phone, I knew exactly where I would go.

Smiling happily at the thought of spending the rest of the day with Aiden, I walked with a skip in my step to my car and drove in the direction of his apartment.

*

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