Free Me (WITSEC, #4)

by Ashley N. Rostek

“You don’t mind having chocolate-chip pancakes for breakfast, do you?” I grabbed one of the bags of chocolate chips I’d picked up in town and returned to my mixing bowl of batter. Keelan was pouring himself a cup of coffee when he answered, “I don’t think anyone in this family will mind a little bit of chocolate with their breakfast.” I was happy that he was all right with having chocolate-chip pancakes. However, I was irritated by the word little. Sure, half a bag would be the normal batter to chip ratio, but today… I ripped open one end of the bag and the smell of chocolaty goodness filled my nose. It smelled so good my mouth watered. I plucked a chip from the bag and popped it into my mouth. It seemed to melt instantly on my tongue, and I let out a tiny moan-slash-mmm. I ate a couple more chips before dumping the whole bag into the batter and I felt zero remorse about doing it. Feeling like I was being watched, I glanced over my shoulder. Keelan and Knox were staring at me, surprised. “Oh no. I accidentally dumped the whole bag in.” My words came out flat and it was blatantly obvious that I was lying. I gave them a look that dared them to call me out on it. Knox looked like he was fighting not to smile and turned back to face the stove. Keelan did nothing to hide his smile. “If I’d known chocolate made you moan like that, I would have insisted a long time ago that we had it with every breakfast.”