Jace must’ve stopped working as he’d taken a stroll down memory lane, because all of a sudden his chest took a blow from a snowball. Cold, wet ice ricocheting up and hitting his neck and face.
He looked around, still in shock as to what had just happened as his eyes landed on Adele. She covered her mouth with her hand, letting out a loud giggle.
“You did not just do that.”
She dropped her hand revealing a huge grin. “Oh, yes I did.”
Jace lunged at the same moment she ducked and started running away from him. He leaned down, grabbing a handful of snow, before chasing after her as he formed a snowball and lobbed it at her back.
“Hey!” she cried out as it hit her shoulder.
“You started it.” Jace stopped running after her, reloading with more snow as Adele spun around.
They were a few yards apart, and she leaned down, getting her own handful of snow. “I’m also going to finish it.”
“I don’t think so.” He shook his head.
They slowly moved in sidesteps, circling each other as their hands each formed a ball, waiting for the other to strike. Adele’s hand moved first, and Jace followed on instinct, throwing the ball into the air. But while he aimed for her abdomen, her ball hit his collarbone, even more snow sticking in his beard.
“Oh my gosh.” She doubled over, her laughs filling the air.
Jace took advantage of her guard being down and charged, wrapping his arm around her waist and tackling her to the ground.
Adele’s laughs turned into shrieks as their bodies hit the snow, but those shrieks didn’t last long. Jace’s mouth covered hers, effectively silencing her…well, almost. She did let out a soft moan as he settled himself between her thighs.
“We’re supposed to be building a snowman,” she said between kisses.
He pulled back just enough to look down at her, his own personal snow angel. Her nose and cheeks were pink from the cold air, and so was the skin around her mouth, though he suspected that was from his beard. His eyes lingered on her kiss-swollen mouth, before he touched his lips to hers again. “This is all your fault.”
Her arms wrapped around his neck, holding him to her as her golden brown eyes looked up into his. “I have no regrets.”
There was something about the expression on her face, something about the way she said those words that made him know she wasn’t just talking about throwing that first snowball. His stomach did some sort of weird flipping thing while his heart simultaneously lodged itself somewhere in the region of his throat.
He reached up, tracing his fingers down the side of her face. “None?”
“Not with you.” She shook her head.
“Good.” He leaned down, closing the few inches between their mouths. “Because I have none with you, either,” he whispered the words against her lips before he kissed her.
And he didn’t stop kissing her for a good, long while.
After their snowball fight—and their snowy make-out session that Adele had in no way wanted to end—they finally returned to their snowman making. Much like their decorating in the house earlier, they both took every opportunity to touch each other.
Jace brushed up against her after they lifted the smallest ball into place at the top of the stack. Adele let her gloved hands linger on his arm as she used him for balance to fix a spot at the top. He reached around her, her back to his chest, as he stuck the plastic carrot in the middle of the snowman’s head. And then he nibbled on her ear as she added the plastic coal pieces for the eyes. They took turns placing the multicolored stones of the mouth. And every time it was her turn, he took the opportunity to kiss her neck, his mouth opening over her skin and lightly sucking.
It was driving her out of her ever-loving mind, and she enjoyed every damn second of it.
Once the slightly lopsided mouth was all in place, they added the stick arms and the buttons down the front. Adele wrapped the raggedy red and green scarf around the neck, and Jace added the final piece: the black hat at the top.
“What should we name him?” Adele asked as she leaned back into Jace’s chest, his arms wrapping around her and holding her tight against him.
“Hmmmm, how about Bob.”
She laughed, turning over her shoulder to look at him. “Bob the Snowman?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, his expression so serious she couldn’t stop herself from laughing again. “He’s totally a Bob.”
“Whatever you say. He’s your first snowman, you get to name him.”
His hands moved to her hips, and he spun her around before wrapping her in his arms again. “Thanks for this. For having us come out here and do this. For fixing the snowman-building hole in my life.” He kissed her nose.
“You’re welcome. I’m glad I got to experience it with you. But you know we’re not done, right?” She raised her eyebrows.
“Not done with the all Christmas, all the time?”
“Not even close.”
“So what’s next?” His hands moved to her butt, and she felt his gentle squeeze even through all of the layers.
“Pie. Two of them, to be exact.” She grabbed one of his hands, pulling it from her bottom as she led him to the house. “But first, we’re making more hot chocolate because I’m freaking freezing.”
Jace laughed, following behind her, so damn happy he could barely see straight.
Merry Christmas indeed.
Once they were both sipping from steaming mugs of hot cocoa, and Home Alone was playing on the TV in the living room, Adele pulled the aprons off the hook in the pantry. Grabbing the one with Wonder Woman for herself, she handed the other to Jace.
He laughed as he looked down at it, a picture of Pooh Bear covered in honey on the front. He didn’t protest at all as he pulled the loop over his head and tied the straps into place behind his back. “I ain’t scared to rock the Pooh Bear. It just makes me more adorable.” He waggled his eyebrows at her, his grin in full force. “Admit it.”
“I admit nothing.” Adele bit the top of her lip trying to stop herself from smiling and confirming what he’d said was true.
Because it was…so, so very true. Dammit.
“So what’s first?” Jace asked as he rubbed his hands together.
“First, we clean the workspace,” she said as she grabbed a clean towel from the dish drawer and reached for the faucet, turning the hot water on.
“What pies are we making, anyway?”
“Chicken pot pie for dinner and pumpkin pie for dessert.”
Jace’s grin grew. “Oh, now you know those are two of my favorites.”
“I did indeed know that. And since my grandfather’s pie crust recipe yields two, we might as well get dinner and dessert knocked out at the same time.”
“Plus, it isn’t a sandwich.”
Adele lifted her hand and tapped Jace on the nose with her finger. “There is also that.” She wasn’t the only one who was totally sandwiched out.
Moving her hand back to the water, she tested the temperature, finding it hot enough. After she soaked the towel in the steady stream, she rang it out before handing the damp rag and cleaning spray to Jace. “You clean, I’ll start getting ingredients.”
“Yes ma’am.” Jace nodded as he turned around to complete his first task.
Adele headed to the deep freezer in the laundry room where they kept the stash of flour and butter. What with people in their family coming up to the cabin so sporadically, there was always a pretty good stock of certain freezable staples.
While Adele was in there, she grabbed a bag of frozen peas, and checked out the meat selection for tomorrow night’s dinner. There were some fish filets, birds of all variety, and a good-sized beef tenderloin among other things.
So many possibilities.
Closing the freezer, she headed back to the kitchen with her loot to find Jace pulling out the cutting board and setting it on the now cleaned counter.
“Can you grab the carrots, chicken breast, and milk from the
fridge?” She asked as she headed for the pantry for chicken broth, onions, the cans of pumpkin puree, and evaporated milk.
Adele paused as she opened the door, looking over her shoulder to where Jace was searching for his stuff in the fridge. She was getting used to this little routine of theirs, cooking together in the kitchen, preparing meals and sharing the responsibility. Being together, just the two of them.
She liked it. More than liked it. It felt normal. Right. Like this was how things were supposed to be. The thing was, this wasn’t how things were going to be, so she needed to stop getting used to it.
Jace wasn’t hers.
It was just too bad for her that she was starting to feel like she was his.
After dinner that night—a dinner that was excellent, by the way—Jace and Adele settled on the sofa to watch Die Hard. He’d never had a Die Hard viewing where he was snuggled up with a beautiful woman, but after experiencing it that way once, it was the only way that would do.
But not just any beautiful woman.
Adele had her head on his shoulder, and he was playing with her fingers beneath the blanket. It was about halfway through the movie when she lay down, putting her head in his lap, and he started playing with her hair.
He had to have his hands on her. It was part of that all-consuming need he associated with her. A need he’d never associated with anyone before.
Dangerous…
He ignored the thought, pushing it to the back of his mind as he wound his fingers in her soft hair. The movie was just background noise for him as he was much more fascinated with how her hair transitioned from that dark chestnut brown to honey blonde. As he was starting to learn more and more, it turned out everything about her fascinated him.
Once the movie ended, and the credits started rolling, Adele turned and looked up at him. “Okay, I will admit that Die Hard counts as a Christmas movie. Can we have pie now?”
Jace couldn’t stop from laughing at how quickly she’d just transitioned her thoughts. “Absolutely.”
Adele grinned before disentangling herself from him and standing up. She turned to him, holding out her hand. “Come on.”
Jace stood before he grabbed her outstretched hand, their fingers interlocking as she pulled him to the kitchen. Not that he really needed a strong force to come along; he’d follow her anywhere. He wasn’t sure where the thought came from, he just knew it to be true. Without a doubt.
Once they got to the kitchen, she let go of his hand as she headed for the fridge. He immediately missed the feeling of her hand in his, and he found himself closing his fist over his palm as if to hold onto the lingering feeling of her touch.
There was a fleeting thought that passed through his mind that the reaction was ridiculous…except he knew it wasn’t. Nothing he’d done with her was ridiculous. Not a single damn thing.
“Can you grab some plates?” Adele asked as she set their pie masterpiece on the counter.
And he did mean masterpiece. The golden crust was flaky and almost symmetrically hand pinched all the way around. Then there was the pumpkin filling that was a rich orangish brown and there wasn’t a single crack or bubble to be seen.
“You mean we aren’t just going to eat it out of the dish? I thought this was a single serving,” he said as he pointed to the pie.
Adele looked up at him, her eyebrows furrowed in that way that meant she found him ridiculous. She said nothing, just shook her head as she opened the drawer next to her and pulled out a metal pie server. Jace reached for the cabinet above his head and grabbed two plates, setting them down on the counter.
Knowing what was going to be needed next, Jace headed to the fridge to get the container of freshly whipped whip cream. Because really, what was pumpkin pie without whipped cream? Not living up to its full potential, that was what.
He handed Adele the container of cream and she gave him the pie plate to put back in the fridge. She was just dolloping on the fluffy white gloriousness when he came up behind her.
“You know,” he said as he looked over her shoulder. “I’m sure we could find other uses for that whipped cream.”
“I’m sure we could.” She snapped the lip back in place before she turned to him. “But our supply is limited, so we have to be selective on what we use it for.” And with that she stuck the spoon in his mouth.
Jace licked the spoon clean as she went to put the container away. Good Lord the stuff tasted good. It wasn’t like anything that came out of a can or a tub. Sweet, and creamy, and thick, and with just the right amount of vanilla. Sheer perfection on his tongue…but it didn’t taste nearly as good as Adele. Yeah, he was going to need to experience that flavor combination in the future, lick it off her body when supplies weren’t as limited.
Except, there was no future. What happened here was going to stay here. That was the agreement they’d made…the agreement he needed to stick to.
Dangerous…
Pulling the now whipped cream free spoon from his mouth, Jace’s eyes were on Adele as she crossed back over to him. “So what hardcore, holiday chick flick did you decide on for us to watch next?” He asked trying to divert his brain from the path it had just gone down.
“Hmmmm.” Reaching up, she tapped her nose with her finger as she looked off and into the distance. A few seconds later her eyes came back to him. “The Holiday. Have you seen it?”
“Nope. Who’s in it?” Jace grabbed the two forks from the counter, handing one to Adele before passing her a plate with pie.
“Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jack Black, and Jude Law.” She told him as they headed for the living room, him following behind. “Kate lives in London, Cameron in L.A. They switch houses for the holidays and hijinks ensue. It’s incredibly corny and I love every second of it.”
“How many times have you already watched it this month?”
“Four.” She gave him a quick smile, her lips quirking to the side, as she placed her plate on the coffee table. She grabbed the remote and settled down on the sofa to start scrolling through the movies to find her pick.
Jace set his plate down before taking the spot next to her, his thigh pressed to hers. “Well, let’s get this party started.”
Once she had the movie selected and the credits started rolling, they both grabbed their plates. Adele turned to him, a piece of pie and whipped cream on her fork. “Cheers,” she said as she held her fork in the air.
Jace scoped up a piece of pie for himself before bumping his fork against hers. “Cheers.”
It was again about halfway through the movie when Adele laid down on the sofa, but this time Jace laid down with her, his front to her back, nose buried in her sweet smelling hair, one arm cradling her head, while the other was wrapped around her waist, hand on her belly. He was so unbelievably comfortable, so unbelievably at peace.
This feeling of contentment with her was becoming stronger and stronger. He was so unaccustomed to it that it was starting to get almost overwhelming. But overwhelming or not, it didn’t change the fact that he didn’t want it to end.
He wanted more nights like this. More nights with them cooking dinner together, more nights with them eating pie on the sofa, more nights with her in his arms watching cheesy romantic comedies. More nights of anything. More nights of everything.
There was that word again. Everything. It kept popping up. Over and over and over again.
Adele stretched, her body moving against the length of his, her butt pressing against his groin. He groaned, pulling away from the direct contact.
“Sorry.” Adele mumbled groggily. “I was starting to fall asleep.”
“We can go to bed.” He brushed his lips against her temple as he reached for the remote sitting on the armrest and hit pause.
“No,” she rolled over in his arms, burying her face in his chest. “Finish the movie. There isn’t that much left. I’ll just lay here and rest my eyes. Besides, I’m really comfortable…and warm.” Her arm wrapped around his waist and one of her legs wedge
d its way between his.
“All right, I’ll finish. I need to see what happens with Jack and Kate.”
“They’re your favorite couple?”
“Absolutely. I’ve always had a crush on Kate Winslet.”
“Really? I would’ve pegged you for a Cameron Diaz kind of man. I thought you had a thing for tall, leggy blondes.”
“Cameron is beautiful, no doubt, but it turns out I have a thing for tall, curvy, brunette-fade-to-blondes.” He reached up, lifting a strand of her hair and examining the ends of it. “Or, I’m sorry, would that be ombréttes?”
Adele laughed into his chest, one of those rich, deep laughs that came from her belly and vibrated out. God, he loved those laughs.
She tilted her head back and looked up at him, her eyes drowsy but open and filled with humor. “I don’t think that’s a thing.”
“Well, it is now.”
“If you say so.”
“I do say so.” He started to wind the strand of her hair around his finger.
Adele was quiet for a few moments, looking up into his face as he continued to twirl her hair. “So you have a thing for me now?” she asked breaking the silence.
“I assumed that was apparent considering the last twenty-four hours.” He tugged lightly, bringing his lips to hers and kissing her pretty mouth, then her nose, then her forehead.
“Well, you know what they say about assuming…” Adele trailed off as she moved her head back down and snuggled into his chest.
Yes, he did know what they said about assuming. If there was anything he didn’t want to do, it was make an ass out himself or what was going on between them.
As he pressed play again, his mind went back to a topic from earlier: the future.
An Unexpected Christmas Page 14
