Waiting for the crosswalk sign to change, she forced herself to keep her feet still and deliberately slowed her breathing.  She gave herself instructions:  Watch the light, but don’t stare at it; drop the shoulders.  There, the picture of calm.  Several seconds passed.  Her fingers began to dance over her purse strap.  She clenched her teeth, looked at her watch and her thoughts drifted towards him.

Paz Edwards Copyright © 2008 | All rights reserved

She wanted Jared awake with her but she wanted him to wake up on his own.  Walking into the kitchen, Caryn knew just what to do as she pulled out several ingredients from the cupboard and placed them on the counter — flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla extract.  Next, she opened the fridge and took out the milk, eggs and butter.  She spied the cream cheese in the back corner of the second shelf.  Oh, yes!  She was going to need that, too.

Smiling, she mixed the ingredients together, then she poured the batter into the baking pan and placed it in the oven.  As the sweet smell of cinnamon and vanilla filled the air, she washed the bowls in the sink. 

Not long, as if on cue, she heard a sound behind her and turned from the sink to find Jared leaning against the doorway, watching her. 

Bingo!  She knew the baking scents would wake him up.  Unable to supress her smile, she admired the sight before her.  What a handsome picture he made with his ruffled black  hair, intent dark eyes and dark stubble covering his jaws. 

He stretched and yawned before walking towards her and she took in his lean, long body, the bottom half covered with his sweatpants.  Her smile grew at the thought of what hid inside the pants.

"Something smells good.  What are you making?"

"Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake." 

She barely got the words out before he reached for her and bent his head down to touch his lips to hers.

 Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Ingredients

1/4 Cup (4 Tbs) butter

8oz Cream Cheese

1 1/2 Cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

2 Cups All Purpose-Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 salt

1/4 Cup cold milk

6oz Chocolate Chips

Topping:

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 Cup sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F

Grease a 9×3 Spring form pan

Prepare topping

Use two bowls.

In one large bowl, cream butter, cream cheese and sugar.  Add eggs (beat well); add vanilla.

In second bowl, add flour, baking powder, soda and salt.  Mix well.  Then add mixture to the first bowl.

Stir in cold milk and chocolate chips.  Pour in baking pan and sprinkle with topping.  Bake 50-55 minutes.