Richelle Mead owns the VA and Bloodlines series.

Here's a quick update! It's mindless fluff, but I think it's pretty cute. Let me know what you guys think :)

"Alright, fine," she sighed. She rolled up her sleeves and then twisted her hair into a knot and secured it with an elastic band she had in her purse. A few missed strands hung down around her slender neck, looking like spun gold as they glowed in the sunlight coming in through the window.

She was so damn beautiful and she had no idea.

"Why do you need me again?" she asked. She was trying to appear huffy and irritated about this, but I could see the excitement in her aura. She wanted to do this too.

I finally tore my eyes away from her and walked into the kitchen. "To help make a strawberry filled birthday cake," I said like it should have been obvious. "Jill loves strawberries."

"And again," she said with an amused smile as she followed me, "why don't you just buy a cake?"

"Because where's the fun in that, Sage?" I threw her a smirk over my shoulder as I got out all of the ingredients.

In my head this project had involved Sydney in my kitchen covered in flour and frosting and cake batter... I knew that's not exactly how this was going to go, but a guy can fantasize, right?

"Mind if I have one of these?" she asked. I waved my hand behind me in a go-ahead gesture as I dug out a couple of eggs. When I turned around I nearly dropped those eggs.

I watched Sydney pick up one of the fresh strawberries on the counter and bring it to her lips. I lost all conscious thought as those lips wrapped around the fruit, sucking and nibbling at it. That image hadn't previously been a part of my fantasy, but it was now. In fact, I was pretty sure her and that strawberry were going to be staring in numerous fantasies from here on out.

I imagined what it would taste like, what she would taste like after eating it. I remembered the way those lips had felt against mine for that brief moment we'd shared a few months ago. So soft, but so firm when she kissed me back.

I still couldn't believe she'd actually kissed me back. Even if she walked away right afterwards, she'd kissed me back. Soft lips, arms pulling me closer, delicate fingers running through the hairs at the nape of my neck. Lips wrapped around that goddamn strawberry. I wanted nothing more than to tangle my fingers into that messy knot on the back of her head and taste her lips.

I'd push her back against the counter and once her arms wrapped around me I'd lift her onto the granite. Then I'd take full advantage of her being higher up. I'd kiss and suck my way from her plump, strawberry flavored lips all the way to that slender white throat. Her head would fall back, giving me more access. Then I'd grab a strawberry and trail it down the same way my lips had gone, except it would take a slight detour down in between Sydney's, hopefully now unbuttoned, white blouse. I'd trail the sweet red fruit across her collarbone and down between her breasts. I'd kiss and lick anywhere that strawberry touched, cleaning up every last bit of its sticky juices...

"Adrian!" Sydney snapped. She sounded exasperated and I realized she must have been calling my name for a while. She had a bunch of ingredients thrown together in a bowl and was mixing it with the electric mixer I had bought this morning for this exact purpose. "If you want to have this cake ready by Jill's party tonight, I suggest you stop daydreaming and start helping me."

"Sorry, Sage." I smiled charmingly at her. "What do you need?"

She rolled her eyes. "Can you get the cake pan ready? You just need to grease it so that the cake doesn't stick. And preheat the oven."

As I finally managed to pull my full attention from the image of Sydney shirtless and sticky on my granite countertop, I preheated the oven and then got started on greasing the cake pan.

"You know," she said after a minute, her eyes still on the batter she was mixing. She brushed a strand of fallen hair back behind her ear. "This doesn't seem that difficult. Why did you need my help?"

I finished greasing the pan and walked over to her, leaning against the counter so I could look at her. One of my favorite pastimes these days was to look at her.

"I get confused with all of the measuring and stuff," I told her. "Especially with how to do the strawberry filling. You should have seen the disaster of a cake I tried to make yesterday. I figured you're naturally good at all that measuring stuff. It's like Alchemy 101, right?"

It wasn't entirely a lie. I really had tried to make a cake yesterday and it had been a complete disaster. And I had really thought Sydney would be good at this, but that wasn't the only reason I called her to help.

She might not want to be together, but that didn't mean I didn't take every opportunity I could to be around her.

She finished mixing and dumped the batter into the greased pan. "Yeah, I guess it sort of is," she admitted with a laugh. "It also seems to be Witchcraft 101. That's basically all I've been doing recently."

"I told you that you shouldn't do it if you don't want to. Just tell Jackie to back off," I said.

She laughed again and I smiled. "Easier said than done," she said.

"Not really. Do you want me to do it?" I asked. "Because you say the word and me and her will have a little chat."

She smiled and bit her bottom lip, while shaking her head. The loose blonde strands of hair shifted, brushing against the soft skin of her throat. There was a small dab of batter on her neck, right below her ear, that was nearly making me lose my train of thought. I really wanted to lean in and taste it.

"No, it's okay," she said. "It's not that bad really. I don't have a problem with it. Not the little spells anyway. It's just the bigger ones that freak me out."

"So don't do the bigger ones," I said logically, crossing my arms across my chest. My eyes kept drifting back to that splotch of batter. Should I get it for her? I should get it, right? I could just reach out and...

"The bigger ones are the ones that Ms. Terwilliger wants me to learn. They're offensive spells. Attack spells. She says they'll help me protect myself, but..."

"But what?" I prodded gently.

Sydney looked up at me with those big, golden eyes and I very nearly leaned in and kissed her right then. "But I'm scared of them," she said softly. Her voice, just above a whisper, had me going crazy. My God, I needed to kiss her. Just once. Just one more time.

I shook off the thought and focused on her problem. She was already scared enough without having to deal with a pushy vampire who keeps trying to kiss her.

"Sage," I said, my voice serious. "If you don't want to learn magic, then don't. It's entirely your decision. Don't let anyone boss you around. Not even if it's done with good intentions."

"I know," she sighed. "And I'm not. It makes me a little uncomfortable, but I know she's right. I want to be able to protect myself if need be." She gave me a small smile, brushing some more hair out of her face and behind her ear. The motion drew my eyes back to that small smear of batter on her neck. "But thank you," she added softly. "For the support. It means a lot."

I had to get the batter off of her neck, right? I couldn't leave it there. I could tell her, I guess, but it would be easier for me to just reach out and wipe it off. Yeah. I took a step forward, reaching out with my left hand. Sydney froze. I wasn't sure if she was scared or not, but my brain wasn't exactly processing anything other than that small dab of vanilla cake mix. She didn't seem scared though as I stepped closer and my fingers brushed the warm, smooth skin of her neck. She looked up at me with those big golden eyes before I watched them flutter shut when my thumb rubbed the spot below her ear.

I wiped the cake mix off with my finger before pulling back from her. Her eyes flashed open and I held up my batter coated thumb. "You had a little..." I trailed off at the look on her face.

"Oh," she said quickly and turned back to the counter. "Yeah. Thanks."

I checked her aura quickly and saw the disappointment that had flashed across her face there as well. Why was she disappointed? Did she want me to kiss her? My heart sped up for a second, but then I realized even if she had wanted me to kiss her the moment was already over. If I kissed her now it would just be weird and she'd pull away from me again. But a new hope was already forming in my chest. She had wanted me to kiss her, which meant she wanted me, even if she wasn't ready to admit it.

I'd known she liked me, possibly even loved me, but she'd never expressed a solid desire to have me touch her or kiss her before. Not like I'd just seen flash in her eyes. This was progress.

"We should probably get the cake in the oven," she said after clearing her throat. "It'll take about forty minutes to bake. And we still have to make the strawberry filling."

She glanced up at me finally and I smiled a little as I grabbed the cake pan and shoved it in the oven. "And I want to make some chocolate covered strawberries to decorate the top. What do you think?"

Sydney looked at me, her cheeks still a little pink from our close encounter. When she didn't answer me immediately I asked, "Sage?"

I noticed then that her eyes were on my lips, watching them as I spoke. She even bit her lip slightly.

"Sage," I said a little louder.

She jumped a little and shook off whatever she'd been thinking about. From the renewed flush on her cheeks and the embarrassed expression on her face, I had a pretty good idea just what she'd been thinking about.

"What?" she asked, sounding startled.

I smirked. "What do you think about making chocolate covered strawberries for the top of the cake?"

"Oh. Yeah. That'd be good." She nodded, going back into business mode. "I'll do the filling, you melt the chocolate?"

"Sure."

It amused me to no end that she'd wanted to kiss me. And not only that, but she'd actually been daydreaming about it. You could cut the sexual tension in the kitchen with a knife as we each set about completing our tasks. But I felt her eyes on me a few times while I was melting the chocolate for the strawberries. I'd refrained from looking over at her as much as possible, but only because every time I did I imagined the picture from the fantasy. The one where Sydney was shirtless on my counter, only now I was feeding her chocolate covered strawberries. Her tongue gently guiding the fruit between her lips, the juices dripping down her chin...

Needless to say, I burned the chocolate on my first attempt. Sydney teased me for being terrible in the kitchen. I smirked back at her saying I was fantastic in the kitchen, just not at cooking. The resulting blush remained on her face for long after I'd finally gotten the chocolate right.