All’s Fair in Love and Chocolate

by Amy Andrews

  “Just about. Pulling in to park now.”

  She raised her hand to her blindfold. “Can I take this thing off yet?”

  “Soon.”

  Reuben wanted the silence to be sinking in around them when she saw the vista before them. A minute later, he pulled into what was essentially an elevated scenic lookout with a prime view of the lake and Copper Mountain looming behind so close it seemed touchable.

  Ruben switched off the engine. “Now you can take it off.”

  The mask was removed in one second flat and her soft gasp did funny things to Ruben’s equilibrium. The lake was looking exactly like he knew it would, a pristine sheet of ice stretching pure and powdery white from one tree-lined shore to the other. Crystals of ice dazzled the eye beneath the early morning sunshine. Dark green branches, laden with snow, reached into the frigid sky.

  “Oh, Reuben,” she uttered softly as she pressed her hand to her chest. “It’s beautiful.”

  God…she was beautiful. She was so beautiful his chest ached. “You like?”

  “I love it.”

  She turned to him then, her eyes shining and her naked appreciation was like a sledgehammer to his chest. The fact that Vivian clearly appreciated the view as much as he did was like a hot water bottle shoved up his sweater on this freezing morning.

  “Good.” Reuben grinned and undid his seat belt because he really wanted to kiss her but if he did that, they wouldn’t get out of the vehicle at all and they had about an hour until they’d have to share the ice and he wanted to be alone out there—just the two of them. “Because you and I are going skating on it.”

  She blinked. “What?” She glanced at the lake briefly then back again. “But…I don’t have any skates?”

  “Yeah, you do.” He smiled. “I hired you some.”

  She quirked an eyebrow. “Well look at you, Mr. Take Charge.”

  Reuben waggled his brows. “That’s Officer Take Charge to you.” He pushed open his door, a freezing blast of air evaporating both the effects of the heating and his horniness in an instant. “C’mon, the sooner we get on the ice, the sooner we’ll warm up.”

  *

  They walked down the steps from the scenic lookout, using the well-worn track cutting through the towering conifers, to get to the water. The water had frozen unevenly where it had encroached on the shingly beach, looking as if a layer of thick white fondant icing with a scalloped edge had been laid over the shoreline.

  “You’re sure about this?” she asked as they laced up their skates while sitting on an old fallen log where the tree line met the beach. “I’ve seen a few too many people being fished out of freezing water on CNN. The ice is safe?”

  “Absolutely.” Reuben captured her gaze. “One hundred percent. The lake isn’t that big, nor is it very deep. It freezes solid for a few months every year. From November through to February. Sometimes even longer than that. They rent out skates in the afternoons at that shack over there on the east shore—” He pointed to the deserted distant building. “Families with little kids do it all the time. Trust me, I wouldn’t skate on it or let you skate on it, if I thought it was unsafe.”

  She nodded slowly as she digested the information. “Okay then, let’s do this thing.”

  Pulling her laces tight she removed the slides from her blades and threw them in the bag Reuben had brought with him. There were a couple of blankets, some glove warmers and a thermos of hot coffee in it too for when they returned.

  Reuben also stood, pulling frigid air into his lungs, feeling the dull ache as the cold reached right down to the tiny air sacks deep inside. He held out his gloved hand and she took it. “Let’s go.”

  Stones crunched under foot as they made their way across to the start of the ice and Reuben helped Vivian on, holding her hand as she wobbled a little to start before she found her footing. When she was steady she let go of his hand and pushed off like she’d been skating all her life and Reuben followed, gaining speed to keep pace with her, warming up quickly as his thighs and arms worked in unison.

  They didn’t speak as they ventured across the lake, the only sounds that of their blades cutting through the ice and the occasional mournful bird cry from the woods. Reuben watched Vivian taking it all in, her head swiveling from side to side as her quads contracted in those black jeans that hugged everything. Her nose was pink, so were her cheeks and some of her blond hair had escaped her beanie, the flyways fluttering around her face.

  The fringed ends of her scarf had escaped her blue jacket and were flapping behind her like the tails of a kite, a red streak on the white ice. Occasionally she flipped around to skate backward so she could take in the view of the other side growing smaller and smaller behind them as they approached the middle.

  “It’s amazing out here,” she said, her voice raised a little as she turned her head to look at him.

  Her grin was as big as the lake, her lips lush and cherry red from where she’d obviously been licking them to keep them moist. Reuben couldn’t help but grin back. Her excitement infectious. He remembered vividly his first dawn foray out here in winter, how enthralled he’d been by the play of light as the sun rose, pushing back the shadows of the trees to reveal the blanket of ice.

  He remembered feeling as if he was the only person alive on the planet. Disconnected from everyone yet more connected to the life force all around him than he’d ever been.

  Than he could ever imagine.

  “I feel like we’re the only two people in the world. Like…we’re all alone but still part of this much bigger thing at the same time.”

  Reuben blinked at her statement. It shouldn’t have surprised him that Vivian got it—she was clearly enjoying herself. But to hear her echo the very thing he’d just been thinking was especially surreal.

  “That’s very Zen of you,” he teased also raising his voice a notch or two.

  “I know right? Fifteen minutes on the ice and I turn into a hippy.”

  Reuben laughed and it pulsed around them. “I turn into a wildling,” he said. “Like some primal beast. I want to…beat my chest and howl at the moon. Or the sun, anyway.”

  She laughed this time then quirked her eyebrow. “So do it.”

  He shook his head and opened his mouth to decline but Vivian was looking at him with a why not expression and the crazy urge to actually do it took hold and he gave her a slow smile. Challenge accepted. Before he could think better of it, he threw back his head, cupped his hands around his mouth and let loose a giant whoop into the dome of perfect blue.

  It ricocheted around the giant cauldron created by the ice and trees and sky, repeating around and around, and Reuben slowed and skated lazy figure of eights as he did it again and again, listening to his voice repeating around and around as if in stereo. Vivian joined in, her cry higher-pitched but blending well with his as they skated idly around and around each other in circles, smiling and laughing at the noise—more cacophony than symphony—until their circles got smaller and smaller and they finally met in the middle.

  Reuben hugged her as she collapsed laughing into his arms and they stood, embracing in the middle of the lake. The sun was deliciously warm on his cold face as puffs of his exhaled air turned to fog in the frigid conditions. He could have stood here forever with Vivian in his arms like this.

  Like the only two people in the world.

  He pulled back a little, looking into her open, laughing eyes. Reuben had a lot to be thankful for in his life and he was. He’d had family and friends who loved him, a happy home to grow up in, a job he valued and he wanted for nothing. That was more than a lot of people ever had in life. But he’d never been more thankful than at this moment.

  As if she knew what he was thinking again she whispered, “Happy Thanksgiving, Reuben.” Then she lifted on the toe of her skates and pressed those irresistible cherry-red lips of hers to his and Reuben lost all the breath he’d regained.

  He cupped her face with his gloved hands and she opened her mouth and he
opened his and stroked his tongue inside and she moaned and the kiss reached flash point in the space of one heartbeat. Reuben’s entire body pounded with a hot rush of need as the forces of nature and the essence of Vivian combined into an intoxicating cocktail.

  Pulling back, she gave a breathy half laugh as she stared into his eyes. “God…” She shook her head. “You make me giddy.”

  Reuben was more than a little giddy himself. “Back at ya.”

  She smiled and said, “Where’d you learn to skate so well?”

  “Well.” He threw out an arm and gestured around him. “I grew up here so there was a lot of this in winter. But I played ice hockey for years, too.” He dropped his arm and folded it around her shoulders again. “What about you? You’re no slouch in the skating department.”

  “I took ice-skating classes for a few years when I was in elementary school. I had to stop them because my parents couldn’t afford to keep them up but I got a job at the rink for a while during my freshman year, so I went a lot then. I loved the sense of freedom it gave me, like I could just keep on skating all the way out of town. I always felt like I was flying on the rink but out here, among all this—” She looked all around from the confines of his embrace. “It feels like I’m soaring.”

  Reuben laughed. “Yeah, I know the feeling.” And he kissed her again, the giddiness returning with a vengeance.

  “Come on.” She pulled away, sliding from his arms. “Race you to the other side.” Then she pushed off, a red streak amidst all the white, her skates shushing.

  Reuben’s body was barely capable of staying upright for a beat or two let alone coordinating his limbs to skate. At the moment it was desperately trying to reroute blood from his dick to other muscles groups that needed it more.

  Like his quads. And his brain.

  She looked over her shoulder at him and called, “Afraid of having your ass whopped by a girl, Officer Take Charge?”

  A light breeze interfered with the delivery of her challenge but Reuben just caught it before it was snatched away. It tugged at him hard, she tugged at him hard and, giddy or not, physically ready or not, he could no more have not chased her than flown to the top of Copper Mountain.

  “Let’s see what you got,” he called as he pushed off.

  Her squeal was followed by a wicked little laugh that set Reuben’s heart to pounding quicker than the strain on his quads and calves. And she kept grinning and laughing as she checked behind her, marking his progress. Reuben didn’t catch her straight away—where would the fun have been in that when she was such an utter pleasure to watch? He just followed close behind and enjoyed the view.

  It was only when the urge to touch her became overwhelming he caught her up, sliding his hand in hers and racing with her across the ice side by side in a quiet kind of synchronicity that spoke of things far deeper than pleasure.

  *

  They were almost all the way across when the tinkle of bells reached them and they both turned their heads to the east almost in unison. In the distance, near the skate shack, two fine, chestnut mares stood hooked up to a large antique sleigh with polished brass fixtures and red runners. Sitting in the front seat was old man Henry in the same huge coat he’d worn, it seemed, since Reuben was a kid.

  Reuben bet he still had that hip flask, too. The one he took an occasional sip from toward the end of the day when he’d been out in the cold giving sleigh rides around the lake for hours to locals and tourists alike. Just to, warm my old bones.

  Slowing his pace, Vivian matched it until they both drew to a stop, panting a little from their exertions. “I’ve never been on a sleigh,” she said.

  Reuben heard the wistfulness in her voice loud and clear. “Really?”

  “Nope.” She shook her head. “I’ve been on a carriage ride in the snow a few times at the local park when I was a kid and once in New York a few years ago. But not on a proper sleigh with bells.”

  Well now, that was a tragedy. “You want to get a lift back to our stuff?” he asked.

  “Oh.” She glanced at him. “Could we? Would he take us? I don’t mind skating back.”

  He laughed at the hope and excitement shining in her eyes. “Of course. Judd Henry’s been giving sleigh rides around Miracle Lake for as long as I can remember—he’ll be delighted.”

  Then he put two fingers in his mouth and whistled to get the old man’s attention. When he looked over, Reuben pointed to the shore where they were heading and he nodded, the horses moving quickly to their master’s command.

  By the time Reuben and Vivian had skated to the shore and made their way the short distance through the wood to a snowy, well-worn trail, the sleigh arrived. “Hey up, there,” Judd ordered and the sleigh pulled to a halt. Streams of foggy breath puffed from the horses’ nostrils.

  “Hey, Mr. Henry.”

  “Reuben.” The old man still had that same long, gray beard.

  They shook hands. “This is Vivian.”

  “You’re the new chocolate shop owner,” Judd said in that matter-of-fact way of his.

  “Ah…yes.” She darted a look at Reuben. “That’s right.”

  He bobbed his head politely and said, “Very pleased to meetcha.”

  Vivian beamed at him. “And you.”

  It wasn’t a smile for Reuben but it sure made his breath hitch anyway and he had to drag his head back into the game instead of just standing there and staring at her like an idiot. “Could we grab a lift back to the other side of the lake?” Reuben asked.

  Another bob of the head. “Hop in. Blanket’s on the seat. We’ll be there in a jiffy.”

  “Thank you,” Vivian said, excitement tinging her voice and putting a spring in her step.

  Reuben helped her up onto the back seat then slid in beside her, smiling indulgently as she fussed over tucking the blanket in around them before settling her hand very high on his thigh. As if he was reading Reuben’s mind, Judd half turned in his seat and said, “No canoodling back there, young man.”

  Young man? Fucking hell. Reuben was thirty years old yet somehow he felt like a horny fifteen-year-old under Judd’s stern eye.

  “I gotta look your mama in the eye at church on Sunday and I’d rather not have to lie to her about what you got up to on the back of my sleigh.” He switched his gaze to Vivian and Reuben watched as it went all soft and twinkly. “Give that boy a slap if he gets fresh back there now, you hear?”

  Then he winked at her. He actually winked.

  She laughed. “I most certainly will,” she replied all prim and proper like her hand hadn’t just moved an inch closer to his very interested dick.

  Rolling his eyes as Judd turned back to the horses, Reuben whispered, “Just for this. I’m going to grope you under my momma’s table during dinner at the worst possible moment.”

  She snuggled her head into his shoulder as the sleigh jerked into action, the bells a’jingling as her hand touched down on his erection. “I’ll make sure I go commando,” she murmured.

  Which did not help his erection one little bit…

  Chapter Seven

  Vivian did not go commando. There seemed little point when she was in a pair of tailored pants because she hadn’t known what to wear. Reuben had assured her it was a casual affair but she knew that guys were sometimes oblivious to dress codes so she covered her bases. Smart tailored bottoms teamed with a funny Thanksgiving sweater with a turkey on it and a caption that read, Get Your Stretchy Pants Ready.

  She wasn’t sure about the sweater but Reuben had loved it. She suspected that was because of the V-neckline and the way it hugged her breasts but when he picked her up wearing jeans and a long-sleeved Henley she felt more reassured.

  And then he didn’t get a chance to do anything under the table as it was set so partners were sitting opposite each other. But that didn’t stop him looking at her like he was going to stick his hands in her pants the second he had her alone. Every time Viv caught his eye the tension deep inside her pelvis ratcheted up anothe
r notch and as much as she was enjoying getting to know Reuben’s extended family, she was pretty much going to be at screaming point when they finally got home.

  Got to the cottage.

  Or maybe she’d just jump him in his pickup on the way.

  Lunch was a big, noisy affair with three tables pushed together to cater for twenty adults—aunts, uncles and cousins—and then, at another table about twenty feet away in the living room, was a kids’ table that sat eleven children ranging from four to thirteen.

  Viv was used to rowdy family affairs back home so it didn’t faze her but it did make her miss hers a little, which was just the distraction she needed from the sense that something was a bit off with Reuben’s mom.

  It hadn’t been obvious at first. Gaylene Price had been perfectly polite and welcoming, treating her as an honored guest, making sure she had enough to eat and drink and when they’d all gone around the table to say what they were thankful for, she’d smiled encouragingly at Viv and insisted she go first. But the longer the day went on the more Viv was sure something wasn’t right.

  There was a notch less enthusiasm. A smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. A voice that had cooled just the slightest amount in their brief interactions. It was so subtle Viv doubted anyone else had noticed but she was sure it was the case.

  Maybe Viv was especially sensitive to the slightest nuance because she really wanted Reuben’s mom to like her. Sure, this was just a short-term thing and she and Reuben were both adults who didn’t need any family approval but…Reuben clearly loved his family and Viv had no desire to get in the middle of that or cause any more friction in Marietta than she already had.

  After lunch, everyone rose from the table and mingled in groups and the cozy house filled with the low natter of adult voices and the more strident calls of children who ran in and out and around legs or bickered good-naturedly over which movie to watch.

  “Oh God…I just love your boots.”

  Viv turned at the voice that had interrupted her and Reuben’s conversation with one of his great-uncles who lived on a ranch somewhere nearby and was extolling the virtues of different feed crops.