The Baker's Man

The Story of Us: Her Lips are Precious

"I knew it! I knew it!" Victoria squealed with excitement as Odette watched her bounce up and down. "I knew you two would crack under the pressure." She said with an elated sigh. Odette had finally broken down and told Victoria about the kiss. After a full week of not knowing what to expect next and Elijah acting like nothing had ever happened Odette was completely confused.

"He hasn't said one word about it. I have no idea what to think."

"Well for starters you know he has feelings for you. Did he say anything before he kissed you?" Victoria asked as she began to sort through the pile of laundry she was about to wash. Odette's face flushed as she thought about what Elijah said. He said that he wanted to make her his then why wasn't he doing anything? Not that Odette was in any rush to have sex with Elijah, but she just wished that he would do something.

"Judging from the look on your face and knowing my brother I can assume it wasn't rated- G." Victoria snickered as she sorted through Dante's collared shirts. Odette let out a soft groan as she rested her head in her hands. "Elijah is an idiot, right now he's running scared because I'm sure he doesn't want to mess up your work relationship. So you'll have to be the one to take the plunge."

"I don't wanna." Odette whined.

"I know but you can do it. Make it clear to him that you want lines drawn, and that you will not be stuck in limbo while waiting for him to get out of his own head."

"I guess you're right."

"Mmmhm." Victoria said as she picked up one of Dante's blue collared shirts and noticed lipstick smudges on the collar and shoulder. She held the shirt up closer to her face to get a better look and realized that the lipstick was not a color she would wear. Her left eye twitched as her blood pressure began to rise.

"Oh he is so dead." She muttered gripping the shirt tightly in her hands.

Odette noticed the change in Victoria's demeanor and knew that it wasn't a good sign. She had no idea what time Dante would be home but she didn't want to be there when he arrived.

Dante walked in to the house expecting to smell the aroma of tonight's dinner but was greeted by icy silence. Heather sat at the base of the stairs and stared at Dante as if to tell him that he was in trouble. When he walked in to the bedroom he found Victoria sitting in the middle of the bed reading files from her latest case.

"Hey babe." He said leaning over to give her a kiss and Victoria turned her head rejecting him.

"Oh okay, what did I do now?" he asked with a sigh. He had no idea what he had done to earn such a cold reception, when he had left that morning life was perfect. Victoria looked up at him and narrowed her eyes as she pointed to a shirt folded on top of their dressed. Dante picked up the shirt and noticed the stains and sucked in a breath.

"Care to explain?"

"I...babe it's nothing." He said tossing the shirt aside and sat at the edge of the bed. "You don't think I cheated on you do you?" he asked hoping that it wasn't the case. He had hoped that Victoria knew him well enough by now to know that he would never cheat on her.

"Of course not Dante, I know you're not that dumb. I want to know why you're keeping secrets when we agreed that there are no secrets between us."

"Vic it's not like that, I completely forgot about it."

"Some woman had their lips on you and you forgot to tell me about it?"

"It wasn't some woman, it was Mariah. It was that night I went out with the guys, she and Barry got in to a fight and she went out. She got wasted and called me to take her home, she was so drunk I had to carry her inside the apartment, the lipstick must have gotten on me then."