Chapter 2 - 2

"Don't you worry, I have just the thing in my freezer. Make yourself comfortable and I'll be right back," he said passing her another cushion to place behind her head.

Before she could even thank him he'd rushed off out the door in a flash.

Ally lay back feeling a little more comfortable, but her mind began to race. She banged her head against the back of the couch in frustration as she cursed her own clumsiness, worrying about how difficult the week's tasks were going to be with her boyfriend being away. And how the hell was she going to get more exercise and lose weight now? She miserably pushed her pudgy stomach down with the palm of her hands trying to make it look flat. It fluffed out around the sides of her hands and in between her fingers. It gurgled hungrily and she sighed exasperated realising just how hungry she was. It was lunch time after all.

That was when a draft of breeze from her open front door carried the most delightful scent over to her nose. Ally sat up. What was that delicious aroma? It must be from the bakery next door, it really smelt divine. Then she saw the box Noah had brought as a gift and realised that was the source.

She looked at it, her mouth was watering like she'd never known before, the delicious aroma was making her crave whatever was inside the box like crazy. She held her breath and moved her ankle off the table, still wincing in pain, hopped up on one leg and reached over to where he'd left the box.

She opened curiously like it was a Christmas or Birthday present and her face lit up in delight when she saw a dozen assorted donuts all aligned neatly in four rows. The delicious aroma nearly made her giddy. They all looked so good, and she could feel their warmth radiating against the inside of the box. Not knowing where to start she just grabbed the first one on the first row, a large round sugar and cinnamon coated donut with thick chocolate icing. She bit in, the texture of the dough was so perfect, and the sweet icing was incredible. For a moment the pain from her foot seemed to just disappear. Her belly gurgled, enjoying the sensation of the donut filling its cavernous space, but at the same time reminding her that she was still very hungry. She took another bite and breathed in deeply smiling in delight. The centre was filled with more gooey creamy chocolate, sweet just like the icing on top.

"Oh mwy gwad!" she moaned a little taken back by how good it was. She eagerly pushed the whole thing into her mouth with her fingers. It was so good she couldn't resist immediately picking up a second one and took a bite out of that as well.

Then she heard a door slam from the bakery next door and she suddenly felt very embarrassed to be seen stuffing her face when she should be resting her ankle. Almost in a mild panic, she closed the box, shoved the rest of the donut in into her mouth quickly and dashed back to the couch, trying to lick her fingers clean all at the same time.

The pain from her ankle suddenly came rushing back so badly it made her eyes water.

"Ow! ***!" she blinked them back, immediately regretting that she'd risked putting her entire weight on the wrong leg in her rush to sit down again. It felt burning hot now, was a lot more swollen, and even just slightly wiggling her toes was extremely uncomfortable. She threw her arms down to her sides in exasperation that she'd just made her injury twice as bad.

Just as she heard the baker walking briskly up the path to her front door she spied some donut crumbs on her top and madly brushed them off. Unfortunately she hadn't noticed that her fingers still had chocolate on them and put a nice big chocolate smear right down the middle of her white top. She covered her mouth as she gasped, accidentally putting a smear of chocolate on her cheek as well. She placed her hand on her belly awkwardly trying to cover the chocolate stain.

He started talking just before he got to the door,

"I brought you a couple of cold packs, I keep them in my freezer for when I occasionally burn myself whilst baking. An unfortunate hazard of the job." he stopped talking when he saw how red her face was.

"Is the pain getting worse, are you okay?" he rushed over and began wrapping the gel filled cold pack in a tea towel he had tucked into his back pocket.

"I... uh..." stammered Ally too embarrassed to say she'd just made her ankle much worse because she was so greedy she couldn't bear to wait a few minutes before eating his gift.

Noah must have noticed the chocolate stains on her top and cheek because he glanced back at the box of donuts for a split second, but he didn't say anything. He just knelt down near her ankle with the cold press.

"Well this will definitely help," he said as he gently slid the cold gel filled press under her heel and wrapped it around her ankle.

Ally sighed with relief as the pain melted away into the coolness. For a moment she just enjoyed the sensation not caring about anything else. As the wave of relief washed over her she let her hand fall to her side exposing the large tell-tale chocolate stain down her front. Combined with the chocolate icing smeared on her lips and cheek and the crumbs next to her on the couch she was quite a sight.

Noah saw this and grinned. He always enjoyed it when people couldn't resist his baking. He was sure to have at least one good customer at this new location at any rate it seemed.

"Is that better?" he asked.

"Oh so much better, thank you so much!" she smiled shyly, "and thank you for the gift, you didn't have to do that."

"It was no trouble at all, I love baking treats for others to enjoy."

He smiled back, "Well I have to get back to the shop now, but I can drop by in a couple of hours with a fresh cold press in case you need it. Will you be okay?"

"Can I get you anything from the store? Painkillers? How are you for supplies? Do you need milk or bread or anything like that?" he asked helpfully.

"Oh no, I couldn't ask you to do that. I'll be fine, really," Ally said politely not wanting to impose herself.

"Don't be silly, I have heaps of supplies next door for the shop. Consider it good karma for being so nice about the parking space this morning," he smiled warmly picking up the large box of donuts and bringing it over to her.

"So... I hope you like donuts, if you do these should take your mind off the pain, they're freshly baked," he said casually opening the lid to offer her one. He didn't mean to embarrass her but he just couldn't resist watching her enjoy one of his loving made donuts. Ally froze, mortified. The two empty spaces stared up at her accusingly. She quickly took closed the lid and took the box.

"U-Uh yes, t-thanks so much I'll certainly enjoy those later," she said quickly, praying that he hadn't noticed there were two missing, hoping that the burning in the tips of her ears didn't mean her entire face had gone red (it actually had). Ally couldn't explain why but feeling that she was on the verge of being caught out for gluttony was exciting her immensely.

Noah of course had noticed exactly how many donuts were missing. He couldn't help but grin. He watched her reaction carefully as he signalled with his finger to the corner of his mouth to let her know there was something on her face. Ally put her hand to her cheek and became even more flushed as she discovered the icing.

"Looks like you really enjoyed them," Noah said chuckling as he signal to the chocolate stain on her top.

Ally smiled trying to hide her embarrassment, at the same time she subconsciously pressed her thighs together firmly.

What an adorable little glutton! Noah couldn't help but grin to himself as he walked back to his shop. I wish I'd known that earlier. I wouldn't have left that box of donuts so far from the couch. Poor girl could have really injured herself!

Ally listened to his footsteps die away, before eagerly tearing the lid of the box open and cramming the next delicious donut into her mouth. This one was filled with the sweetest jam she'd ever tasted, it was so red it looked nearly fluorescent! She grinned in ecstasy, temporarily forgetting all her troubles allowing herself to just enjoy eating.

The next donut had yellow icing and was equally delicious in its own way. Somehow Noah had managed to put little melted chunks of chocolate all the way through its dough. A chocolate chip donut, that's pretty genius! she thought grinning as she ate. She began to feel comfortably full after the next donut and so she summoned all her willpower, stopped eating, put the box back on the table and went back to watching her cartoons.

Okay that's enough for now or else I'll have even more work to do when I eventually start exercising. She looked at her ice pack wrapped foot glumly, Whenever that might be.

As she watched her cartoons she couldn't help but eye the inviting box of donuts from time to time. Noah certainly ran an excellent bakery. But she didn't want too many of them to be gone when he checked up on her later, and she was supposed to be starting a strict diet today.

But then again surely she couldn't be blamed for wanting some comfort food with this injury... And she hadn't eaten a proper lunch today... And since she couldn't stand up for too long she'd probably be having a light dinner, or maybe even skip it all together. So many excuses flowed through her head as her eyes slowly drifted back to the donuts. God they were so good. Be a shame not to enjoy them while they were fresh...

"Ah what the hell," she smiled delighted with her decision to give in and have another.