Sugar Pine Trail--A Small-Town Holiday Romance

by RaeAnne Thayne

She wished she could impress on him that he wasn’t to blame for Lisa’s death. How much had that guilt he experienced at such a formative age shaped the man he had become?

  No wonder he was so good with casual relationships, keeping women at arm’s length. His charm served as a careful barrier, preventing any women from taking him too seriously. He made sure every relationship was only surface deep and broke them off quickly because he feared what might happen if any woman grew to care for him too deeply.

  He didn’t want to hurt anyone.

  What would he do if she told him she was afraid she was falling for him? He would panic, would do everything in his power to put a safe distance between them.

  Maybe he had already started. She could feel him pulling away.

  He hadn’t moved out yet. She had a few weeks left with him before his house would be ready. She would simply have to savor every moment she had with him while doing her best to keep him from figuring out her feelings were already growing.

  The plane landed so smoothly, she hadn’t realized they were on the ground until Jamie turned back to them all.

  “Here you are. Safe and sound.”

  Her heart gave a little squeeze, which she firmly ignored. The next few moments were filled with the flurry of unloading the plane and saying goodbye to Aidan and Eliza, then bundling into Jamie’s SUV, identical to the one they had left in Hope’s Crossing.

  He still seemed a million miles away as he drove them back to her house, saying little to either the boys or her. Was he regretting the things he had told her? The kisses between them? Their growing closeness?

  “Boys, help me carry in the bags, can you?” he asked when they reached her house. Davy and Clinton both jumped to help him. They adored Jamie, and she envied them that they could do so freely.

  The cats sauntered out to meet them when she unlocked the door. While they gave affection to the boys, they merely sniffed at Julia’s attempts to pet them, clearly miffed that she had left them here, to be fed by a neighbor girl.

  Her house was cold, and the Christmas decorations seemed a little forlorn, until Davy rushed to the tree and turned it on.

  “I think this is everything,” Jamie said, still with that distracted expression.

  The man who had teased her with kisses after each ski disaster had been replaced by a remote stranger.

  “Thank you. Clint, Davy, what do you say to Jamie for taking us on a wonderful weekend?”

  “Thanks, Jamie,” they said in unison. Without prompting, they rushed to him and threw their arms around his waist. Jamie hugged them back, looking adorably awkward.

  “It was my pleasure. I’m glad I had someone to come with me. I would have looked pretty silly, dancing by myself at the gala.”

  Predictably, this made both boys giggle.

  “I wish we didn’t have to go back to school tomorrow,” Davy said with a sigh. “I wish Christmas was this week.”

  The children might be excited about it, but Julia tried to squash her panic at the thought of all she still had to do.

  “It will be here before you know it,” he said. “Don’t wish away all the fun of this week and next. This weekend is the Lights on the Lake Festival, remember? You’re excited about that, right?”

  “I guess so. We’ve never been before,” Clinton said. “We didn’t live here before.”

  “That’s right. Well, you’ll have to be sure to go this year. Make sure Julia takes you.”

  She noticed with a pang that he made no effort to include himself in their weekend plans.

  Clint must have picked up on that, too. “You won’t be going?” the older brother asked.

  “I’m not sure yet. I have a couple of out-of-town trips this week, and I don’t know if I’ll be back by then. I’ll have to see.”

  Jamie sent a sidelong glance at Julia, a look she couldn’t interpret.

  “We’ll get there, don’t worry,” she said to the boys. “We can’t miss the Lights on the Lake. It’s going to be another fun weekend. Meantime, both of you have homework to finish before school tomorrow. Take your suitcases into your room and put the dirty clothes in the hamper and the clean clothes back in your drawers.”

  The boys grumbled a little, which she took as a sign that they were beginning to feel more comfortable in her home. Despite their long-suffering sighs, they complied immediately.

  “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again,” Jamie said. “Those are some great kids you’ve got there.”

  Julia smiled. “I would have to agree with you.”

  When she tried to remember her solitary life of a month ago, she could hardly recall what things were like before the boys entered her world. She was deeply grateful for whatever instinct had prompted her to follow after them that day and insist they let her drive them home. She had to believe someone else would have realized the predicament they were in with their mother gone and would have called in the authorities. Julia had been the one to come to their aid, though, and because of it, her life had been enriched far beyond her imaginings.

  “Thank you again, Jamie,” she said. “It was truly an adventure of a lifetime. I did two things that had been on my bucket list for a long time—flying an airplane, and learning to ski. Three, actually. I forgot! I tried escargot in those quiche things Alexandra prepared. They were delicious.”

  “Glad I could help,” he said, his low voice thrumming along her nerve endings.

  Color rose up again as she remembered those sexy ski lessons he had offered, interspersed with kisses and laughter, and twirling with him around a dance floor in a gown that made her feel like a princess at the ball.

  She would remember this weekend for the rest of her life.

  “I don’t expect I’ll be around much this week,” he said. “As I told the boys, I’ve got a couple of back-to-back trips that will take me from coast-to-coast. I don’t know how the timing will end up.”

  She would miss him, but she could never tell him that.

  He looked at the Christmas tree and then back at her. “I didn’t want to say anything to the boys because I didn’t want to end up disappointing them, but I’ll do my best to be back in time for the Lights on the Lake festival on Saturday. Maybe, if you want, we could all go together.”

  Was he asking because he wanted to spend more time with Clint and Davy or because he wanted to be with her? She didn’t know, and she was afraid to ask, even as anticipation sparkled through her.

  “That would be great. The boys love spending time with you.” She did as well, but that was something else she wasn’t about to tell him.

  “Sounds good. I’ll let you know.”

  “Okay. Thank you again for bringing us home safely.”

  “My pleasure,” he said. “All of it.”

  Was he talking about that heated embrace at the inn or those teasing kisses on the ski slopes? Or perhaps neither.

  “Fly safely this week,” she said. Though she knew it was dangerous, she leaned on tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

  His eyes held surprise and something else. Sweetness tangled with tenderness. His mouth shifted, and he kissed her, really kissed her—a soft, gentle, almost chaste kiss that made her heart ache, for reasons she couldn’t have explained.

  After a short moment, he eased away. “Good night,” he murmured, then hurried out the door. She listened to his footsteps on the stair treads outside her door for a long moment, then forced herself to move, aware that he hadn’t even left Haven Point and she already missed him.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  NEARLY A WEEK LATER, Jamie headed away from the airport in Shelter Springs and turned his vehicle toward Haven Point.

  He couldn’t quite believe this was how he felt, but he really didn’t want to see the inside of an airplane for the next few days. He had made fo
ur trips from California to New York City and back in six days, as the acquisition negotiations heated up.

  They had been trying to wrap the sale up before the New Year, and it appeared that would happen. As a major stockholder in Caine Tech, he was happy about the financial benefits, but right now he only wanted to be in one place for five damn minutes.

  Home.

  Julia’s place called to him, even as he knew it wasn’t his home. He was only a temporary resident there—more temporary than he had planned, actually. A few days earlier, he’d had a phone call from his contractor, telling him his condo would be ready earlier than expected. If all went as planned, he could move in a few days after Christmas.

  The prospect should have excited him. He had been so looking forward to having his own place, his first house after years of bunking in impermanent military housing.

  Instead, whenever he thought about moving away from Julia and the boys, he felt an odd pang in his chest. He would miss them all. Somehow over the last few weeks, their lives had become intertwined, in a way he never would have expected.

  Dozens of times over the preceding week, he had wanted to call Julia to see how things were: if she had heard more about Mikaela Slater, how Clint had done on his spelling test, if she was done Christmas shopping for them.

  He had scrolled to her number on his phone more than once but had ended up not connecting the call. He wasn’t sure why not. What harm would a phone call do? Each time, he had hesitated, though.

  He was afraid. That was the truth of it. He was coming to care for her and the boys too much, and it scared the hell out of him.

  He couldn’t help the little burst of anticipation as he pulled onto her street and saw the big, gracious Victorian at the end, the Christmas tree in the window adding a cheery note of color through the snow.

  He wouldn’t stop downstairs tonight. No doubt they had plans, and she probably wouldn’t appreciate him dropping by for no reason, simply because he had missed them all.

  The moment he unlocked the outside door to the entryway, he was met by a heady, delicious smell—something decadent that involved almonds and sugar and vanilla. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was baking cookies. The seductive scent made his mouth water.

  Through Julia’s closed door, he heard Davy singing “Jingle bells, Batman smells” at the top of his voice, loud enough to be heard through Julia’s closed door. A minute later, Clinton joined in on the “Robin laid an egg” line.

  Jamie chuckled, tempted to sing along himself as he headed for the stairs. He only made it up one step before her door burst open, and both boys rushed out as if they had set some sort of trip wire to alert them to intruders.

  “You’re back, you’re back!” Davy was practically jumping up and down with excitement. “I just saw your car in the driveway. Where were you? You were gone so long.”

  A sweet warmth seeped through him at their delighted greeting. How had these two boys managed to tangle their fingers around his heart?

  He paused on the step to greet them and nearly toppled backward when they both ran at him at once for a fierce three-person hug.

  “Hey, guys,” he said with a smile, when he could breathe again. “How have you been? Anything fun happen while I was gone?”

  “Yes. We had a snow day on Tuesday, and we went to the library with Julia, then came home and had a snowball fight and built a snow fort. It’s awesome. It might be big enough for you. Want to see?”

  “Maybe later, okay?”

  “I got a hundred percent on my spelling test,” Clint informed him. “And Missy Fitzgerald fell on the swings at school Thursday and broke her nose. There was so much blood. You should have seen it. It was totally gross.”

  “Poor girl. I hope you helped her.”

  “I did,” the boy assured him. “I ran to get the recess teacher, and then I went to the bathroom for paper towels to help clean up. When she came back to school yesterday, I wouldn’t let my friends make fun of the big bandage on her face either.”

  “Good job. A gentleman never laughs at people who’ve had a rough time, and he always tries to help out when he can.”

  “I know,” Clint said. “I always do what I think my dad would have done.”

  “You can’t go wrong with that,” he said, squeezing the boy’s shoulder.

  “Guess what?” Davy said. “Tonight is the boat parade, and we’re going! Do you want to go with us?”

  Oh. He had completely forgotten about that. His plans for a quiet day at home, chilling in front of a basketball game with a beer, suddenly slipped out of reach.

  “Don’t hound the man before he even has time to put his bags inside his apartment.” Julia’s quiet voice cut through the foyer, and his heartbeat accelerated. He turned his head, and his heart seemed to stop altogether.

  Oh. How had he forgotten in the span of a week how lovely she was?

  Her stunning violet eyes sparkled in the chandelier in the foyer, and she smiled at him with that mouth he knew tasted like heaven.

  “Welcome back,” she said softly. He wanted to think she was happy to see him, but he couldn’t quite tell.

  “Thanks. It’s nice to be home.”

  “You might want to wait until you’ve been home a few more moments before you say that. The boys and I are baking cookies, and they are enjoying the fruits of our labor, maybe a little too much.”

  By that, he inferred that they were bouncing off the walls from an overload of sugar and excitement. He might have figured that out by the top-of-the-lungs concert he had heard upon his arrival.

  “We have like a zillion sugar cookies to decorate,” Clint informed him. “We’re selling them at the festival tonight.”

  “That sounds like fun.”

  “I’m super good at decorating cookies,” Davy declared. “You should see them. We’re making angels and Christmas trees and stars and ornaments. I’m best at the ornaments. Want to help us?”

  “Davy,” Julia admonished. “Jamie just barely got back in town. I’m sure he’d like to be home for five minutes before you try to put him to work.”

  “It’s fine. I don’t mind. It actually sounds like fun.”

  “Really?”

  The cookie decorating didn’t appeal to him as much as hanging out with the three of them. “I don’t have anything else going. I was just going to relax upstairs—where, according to you, I won’t get much rest anyway.”

  “A few more hands definitely would be welcome.” Her cheeks were pink, but he couldn’t tell if she was embarrassed Davy had asked or pleased that Jamie had accepted.

  He wasn’t sure why he had said yes. All week long, he had been telling himself he needed to stay away from her and the boys, that he was courting trouble by spending so much time with them. This playing house thing had been fun for a while. The boys were cute as hell, no getting around that, and there was something undeniably appealing about unwrapping each tight, stuffy layer around Julia Winston and unleashing the sensual woman inside.

  This game was becoming far too dangerous. He was running the risk of hurting her and the boys. He was moving out in only a few weeks, and he didn’t see how he could remain a part of their lives.

  Every time he told himself he needed to stay away, he couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing them again.

  Anyway, he hadn’t helped her check all the items off her list. The previous weekend had been a good start, but he still had work to do, right?

  “Just let me take my bag upstairs, then I’ll be ready to get my cookie on.”

  “No rush. We’ll be at it all afternoon. Take a rest, if you need to.”

  “I’m good. I’ll be down in a few.”

  He didn’t want to tell her that seeing the three of them again, being a part of their enthusiasm and infectious joy, gave him more energy than he�
��d had in a week.

  * * *

  “I THINK THIS is the last batch.”

  Jamie looked up from decorating a funky-looking snowman, complete with sunglasses and a beret, to where Julia stood holding a cookie sheet.

  “Good thing,” he said. “You don’t have a spare inch of room in this kitchen for one more cookie.”

  “Except in my mouth,” Davy said, which made his brother laugh.

  Personally, Jamie couldn’t see how either boy could stuff another cookie inside. They had each had entirely too many already. They were covered to their elbows in frosting, and both had some in their hair or smudged on their cheeks.

  Jamie couldn’t see his own reflection, which was probably a good thing. He had a feeling he would see more frosting coating his person than either of the boys.

  The kitchen smelled divine, of sugar and cinnamon and deliciousness, and every available surface was covered in cookies in various stages of decorations.

  “How are you holding up?” she asked.

  “My wrists now have repetitive stress disorder from spreading frosting, and I’m pretty sure it will take weeks to come down from my sugar high. Other than that, I’m fine.”

  The lovely sound of her laughter rippled through the kitchen and down his spine. Despite his entirely legitimate complaints, he was enjoying himself more than he had in a long time.

  “You are a good sport, Jamie Caine,” she said, a soft smile dancing on the mouth he suddenly wanted to kiss more than he wanted to breathe.

  “It’s for a good cause, right?”

  “Yes. The county battered women’s shelter, which is in terrible shape.”

  “Our effort and sacrifice will have been worthwhile, then.”

  “Can we be done with decorating cookies now?” Davy asked, in the same tone he might have used when asking if someone could please stop slamming his hand in a car door.

  She laughed and kissed the top of his head. “Yes. You guys were champs. Thank you. We’re in for a long night tonight, so why don’t you go read in your rooms or play quietly for a while?”

  They left with alacrity, and Julia suddenly flushed. He wondered if she only now realized that ordering the boys out of the kitchen would leave the two of them alone.