Hollidae Fling

by Joy Avery

  Sienna followed his large hand, entranced by its slow, steady movement down his lean torso, as if he were giving a sensual performance just for her. Oh, how she envied his palm.

  Jake’s eyes rose to her. “That’s okay, right?”

  At the sound of his voice, she jolted back to reality. Her appraising eyes snapped up to meet his again. “Yes. Yep. Extremely okay.”

  The sly grin on his face caused her cheeks to burn with embarrassment. Clearly, he knew she’d been checking him out.

  “You’re kinda weird, but so am I. I think we’re going to get along just fine, Sienna Turner. Bathroom?”

  Had he just insulted her? Thinking about it a moment, she agreed with him. She was kinda weird, but she was okay with that. And since he was admittedly kinda weird, too, they balanced each other out. “Down the hall on the left,” she said.

  When several minutes passed and Jake hadn’t returned, Sienna grew concerned. What was taking him so long? Just as she decided to check on him, he reappeared. “There you are. I was starting to get worried.”

  “Sorry. I was…um… I just wanted to make sure my hands were super clean.”

  His dazzling smile scrambled her brain. This was going to be one long evening if she couldn’t get her body in check.

  “Are we baking or boiling the sweet potatoes?” he asked.

  “Neither. I’m going to put them in the electric pressure cooker.”

  Faint lines creased his forehead. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Won’t they explode?”

  Worry crept in. Explode? God, she hoped not. She imagined having to scrape sweet potato mush from the walls and ceiling. Deciding not to reveal she’d never attempted this method before, she said, “No, it won’t.” Man, she hoped she sounded more confident than she felt. “It’ll lessen the cook time,” she added for more validation.

  Jake shrugged as if to say, makes sense to me. In doing so, he unknowingly volunteered to help clean up if this thing went bad. He hadn’t exactly tried to talk her out of it, now had he? That made him a willing accomplice.

  “While you’re prepping that, I’ll order dinner,” he said, pulling his phone from his pocket. “Pizza?”

  Her rumbling stomach warned against the protest dancing on the tip of her tongue, so she nodded. “Double pepperoni and cheese, please.”

  “Oh yeah, I like you,” he said. “Unafraid of calories. I usually order from Donatos, but we can order from your favorite spot.”

  “Donatos is my favorite spot,” she said.

  A slow smile curled Jake’s lips, drawing her attention briefly to his mouth. Turning away, she busied herself while he placed the order. Ugh. She would strangle Evelyn for sending this kind of temptation to her front door.

  “Hold one second, please,” Jake said to the person on the line. Covering the mouthpiece, he said, “It’ll be about an hour and a half, is that okay?”

  Sienna nodded. Thoughtful and considerate. Yeah, he was a rare breed. At least compared to Malcolm, her no-good ex.

  “Done,” he said, joining her at the sink.

  He stood so close she could feel the warmth radiate off his body. While his nearness should have made her uneasy, it didn’t. Though Jake was a stranger, he felt oddly familiar. Or maybe this was her hormones talking.

  “I’m curious, why are you baking so many pies? Are you hosting a huge Thanksgiving feast?”

  “God, no.” Anyone who knew her well would have probably declined any dinner invitation from her that suggested she’d be the one preparing the meal. “It’s for the Doorway to Hope shelter’s annual Thanksgiving dinner event. I volunteer to serve every year, but Evelyn normally does the pies. But since she had to fly to California, I volunteered. The pies are sort of a tradition for our family.”

  “Archer mentioned something about heading out of town for the holiday.”

  “How do you know Archer and Evelyn?” she asked.

  “I’ve known Archer a while. I’ve handled several large lighting projects for his landscaping company. I met Evelyn a few months back when they needed some electrical work done at their home.”

  “I see,” Sienna said.

  “Doorway to Hope… They used to do the huge winter coat and sock drive in downtown, right?” Jake asked.

  “Yes, until they were pushed out. I guess clothing the needy became a nuisance for the new residents in the area.”

  “Gentrification,” Jake said, shaking his head. “It’s pushing longtime residents from the neighborhoods they’ve lived in all their lives. It’s a shame.”

  She agreed.

  As they waited for the pizza to arrive, Sienna cooked the sweet potatoes. Luckily, they did just fine in the pressure cooker. She whipped up the pie filling, while Jake prepared crusts. She hadn’t protested when he’d volunteered for the task. The filling surely had to be the easier of the two jobs. Toss everything into the mixer and hit a button.

  Jake had jumped right into action, rolling up his sleeves, dusting the counter with flour and grabbing the rolling pin. He’d looked like a true professional. Maybe she hadn’t given him enough credit. He’d drummed out pie crust after pie crust with virtual ease. Show-off.

  Working alongside him revealed a lot about the man: he was a take-charge kind of guy, a stickler for details and a hard worker. All quality traits. Jake maneuvering around the kitchen, unbothered by any of the necessary tasks, was a complete turn on. Watching him work the rolling pin was akin to listening to a well-orchestrated symphony play their instruments. Easy and graceful.

  The flex of his forearms provided a beautiful melody that both soothed and excited. She couldn’t help but to wonder how his strong arms would feel wrapped around her. Lost in her thoughts, she wondered what Jake would say if she walked right up to him and said, Drop your pants and let’s f—

  “Doorway to Hope is going to love these pies. They’re baked with love,” he said.

  “—uck,” she said. Her eyes widened at the blunder.

  Jake chuckled. “Okay. Maybe not love, but definitely care.”

  Whew. That could have been extremely embarrassing. “You actually are really good at this,” she said.

  “Did you doubt me?”

  “Not for one second.” When he gave her an I-don’t-believe-that-for-one-second look, she laughed. “Maybe a millisecond. You proved me wrong. Clearly, you’ve maintained your apple pie baking skills.”

  Jake snickered. “About that,” he said, “I didn’t exactly come in first place in the apple pie competition.”

  Sienna shifted toward him, giving him an assessing look. “Really? So, what place did you come in?”

  “Eighteenth out of twenty.”

  Several beats of silence passed between them before Sienna burst into laughter.

  “Hey, now,” Jake said. “Ignore a brother’s feelings, why don’t you?”

  She flashed her palms. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she repeated between more bouts of laughter. Pulling herself together, she said, “Well, you’re pretty darn good at pie making now. That’s gotta count for something, right?” She bit back more amusement.

  “Um…about that,” he said, running a hand over his five o’clock shadow. “The reason it took me so long in the bathroom is because I was watching videos on how to make pie crust.”

  Just like a man. Unable to admit they weren’t perfect at everything. “Why would you go through all of that trouble. You could have just said you had no idea what you were doing,” Sienna said.

  “I could have,” Jake said.

  When he didn’t elaborate any further, she said, “Well, why didn’t you?”

  Jake shifted his body and crossed his arms over his chest. Sienna liked the way the fabric tugged taut against his muscles.

  “You needed help. Had I told you I didn’t know what I was doing, you would have been less inclined to accept it,” he said.

  “So, you just go around volunteering to help strangers?”

  “When I can. You don’t need to know a pers
on to do good, do you?”

  “I guess you don’t. Sounds exhausting.”

  “Have you never done a random act of kindness?” Jake asked.

  “Yes,” Sienna said, a little too defensively. She racked her brain for an example to support her claim, but nothing came. Oh God, she truly had turned into a Grinch. Then it hit her. She’d allowed someone to merge into her lane the other day. That was random and kindness. Maybe not grand-a-gesture as helping someone bake a thousand pies, but it counted.

  When Jake’s beautiful lips curled, Sienna eyed him suspiciously. “What are you smiling at?”

  “You have flour all over your face,” he said. “Let me get it off for you.”

  Before her brain could process what was happening, his fingers rested against her cheek, and the pad of his thumb swiped slowly across her jaw. The fallout from his touch was immediate. Willing her body to ignore the current radiating through her proved useless. Her skin tingled, stomach quivered, sensitive parts twitched.

  Their eyes met and, for several long beats, time stood still. The temperature in the room rose several degrees, but it was no match to the fire of desire lapping inside her. With their gazes locked in an intense stare down, it felt as if Jake was looking past her eyes and into her soul.

  Though his face registered unreadable, Sienna knew one thing for sure. Jake wanted to kiss her. And just when she thought he would, the doorbell chimed. Jake’s head snapped back as if he’d just been awakened from a deep spell. His hand fell to his side and he donned an uneasy look.

  “Pizza’s early,” he said. “I’ll get the door, if you don’t mind.”

  “That’s fine.”

  The way Jake eyed her suggested he’d wanted to say more. He didn’t. Instead, he gave her a lazy smile, then moved away.

  In his absence, Sienna took a moment to steady her breath and gather her common sense because, as foolish as it seemed, she’d desperately wanted Jake to kiss her.

  Chapter Four

  One more second, Jake thought as he moved toward the front door. One more second, he repeated to himself. Just one more second and he would have either made the best or the worst decision of his life. At this point, he wasn’t sure which kissing Sienna would have been. All he knew was that he’d fantasized about crushing his lips to hers all night.

  Removing his wallet from his back pocket, he fished out two twenties to pay the delivery driver, but when he opened the door, the man standing there wasn’t holding a pizza; however, he did wear a deep scowl.

  The brown-skinned man gave Jake a once-over that made him a little uncomfortable. It could have simply been in his head, but Jake swore the man’s chest swelled slightly under the wool coat he wore. Was he trying to assert dominance?

  “May I help you?” Jake asked.

  The stranger stared at him for several seconds before finally speaking. “I’m here for Sienna,” he said dryly.

  “Malcolm?”

  Jake turned toward an approaching Sienna. Her tone was firm and expression a mix of irritation and confusion. Clearly, she knew him, but didn’t much welcome his presence.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, standing intimately close to Jake.

  Jake got the impression that, whoever this Malcolm was, Sienna wanted him to believe they were an item. Out of solidarity, he played along, wrapping his arm around her waist in a possessive manner.

  Jake couldn’t deny how good Sienna’s warm body felt pressed up against him. Had she brushed up against him like this in the kitchen, he definitely would have been in trouble. In this circumstance, he was more watchful than lustful.

  When Malcolm’s eyes lowered to the hand Jake rested on her side, his jaw flexed, a hard expression altering his features. Anger? Jealousy? Both? It was clear he and Sienna had shared something once, because he exhibited the signs of someone still carrying a torch for their lost love. Was this the ex-husband she’d spoken of? If so, what was he doing here? Jake distinctly remembered her saying the man was dead to her.

  Malcolm’s eyes finally rose, penning Jake with a hard stare. It reminded Jake of a predator in the wild, its prey in sight. Jake wasn’t a violent man, but if Malcolm pounced, he’d be forced to protect himself.

  “Malcolm?” Sienna demanded.

  When Malcolm’s gaze slid to her, it softened considerably.

  “I was hoping we could talk,” Malcolm said.

  “No, we can’t,” Sienna said without hesitation.

  “Five minutes, Na,” Malcolm said.

  Na? Had it been Malcolm’s pet-name for Sienna? Jake found himself pulling Sienna a little closer to him. For some reason, he felt a little too protective of her. A woman who wasn’t his to protect. A woman he’d only known a few hours.

  Sienna looked up at him with loving eyes. She played the role to a tee. Had he not known this was all a ruse, he would have been convinced they were really an item.

  “Do you mind?” she asked.

  Jake shook his head. “Not at all. I’ll be in the kitchen.” He debated whether or not to kiss her, but ultimately decided against it.

  Inside the kitchen, his first instinct was to linger by the entrance and eavesdrop on Sienna and Malcolm’s conversation. Fighting the wicked urge, he busied himself with mindless chores instead. Wiping this, Organizing that. While he could hear their voices, he couldn’t make out what was being said.

  After about ten minutes, Sienna rejoined him inside the kitchen. When their eyes met, she regarded him warmly. If the visit had troubled her, it didn’t show on her face.

  “Everything all good?” he asked.

  “Yeah. My ex-husband, if you hadn’t figured that out already.”

  “I kind of figured that’s who he was. Dead man walking,” he added, then regretted the dark humor.

  Sienna laughed. “Good one.”

  “Does he just pop up like that often?” Jake wasn’t sure why he’d even asked the question, but he sure did want to hear the answer.

  “Usually when there’s an unfamiliar vehicle in my driveway. His frat brother lives a couple of houses down and probably reported the presence of your vehicle.”

  That was a little disturbing, but he didn’t voice his opinion.

  “Thank you so much for what you did out there,” Sienna said, her voice tender. “I apologize for placing you in such an awkward and uncomfortable position.”

  There hadn’t been one uncomfortable second standing by her side. “No, problem. Happy I was here to help.”

  Something warmed in Jake’s chest, then spread throughout his body when Sienna flashed him a gentle smile. Ignoring his response, he said, “So, there’s no chance of a reconciliation between you two?”

  Sienna barked a laugh. “Absolutely not. I gave Malcolm a lot of chances to do right. Too many,” she said more to herself than to him. “But I wanted my marriage to last. For better or for worse, right?”

  Jake nodded in understanding.

  “Each time I forgave one of his affairs, I loved him a little less. Then one day, there was no love left.”

  While they’d both experienced infidelity, his had been different. He hadn’t been allotted the opportunity to forgive and forget, or the choice to cut his losses and walk away. He’d asked himself a thousand times whether or not he could have forgiven Nicole. He wasn’t sure he could have.

  “I bet your marriage was perfect,” Sienna said.

  This drew Jake from his thoughts. “What makes you say that?”

  She shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know. You just seem like a stand-up guy. A family man.”

  He could accept that. In fact, all he’d ever wanted was to love Nicole, fill their home with children and grow old with her. He’d accomplished one out of the three. “No marriage is perfect.”

  “True, but I bet you never cheated on your wife.”

  “No, I hadn’t.” He’d never even dreamed of being unfaithful. Nicole had been all the woman he’d ever needed. Clearly, he hadn’t been enough for her. “My wife che
ated on me.”

  Jake hadn’t even realized the words were coming until they were out. But for some reason, it felt okay sharing this with Sienna. Maybe because she could relate to his pain.

  Sienna’s lips parted, but nothing escaped. When the doorbell rang, her mouth clamped shut. Obviously, he’d stunned her with the confession. Hell, he’d stunned himself. This wasn’t a subject he broached often.

  “I bet that’s the pizza,” Jake said, grateful for a reason to escape from the room to regroup. Nicole’s betrayal still held his heart and emotions in a vice. He knew he would never fully live again until they both were released. But how?

  When Jake pulled the door open, he half expected Malcolm to be standing there again, prepared to confess his undying love for Sienna. If he still loved her—and Jake was convinced he did—Malcolm had to see him as a threat to his happily-ever-after with Sienna. Or it could just be a case of him not wanting her, but not wanting anyone else to have her either. Some men were selfish that way.

  Well, pretty-boy Malcolm didn’t have shit to worry about. A relationship was the last thing on Jake’s mind. Still, he couldn’t deny his attraction to Sienna. But that was normal, right? Being drawn to a beautiful, well-put-together, spirited woman.

  Thankfully, it was the pizza man at the door. Passing him several bills, Jake returned to the kitchen with their dinner. Sienna had set two places at the small table. She’d even used real plates and silverware. As a bachelor, he’d become accustomed to paper and plastic.

  “You didn’t have to get all fancy on my account,” he said.

  Sienna laughed. “Trust me, I’m not. I’m out of paper plates.”

  They shared a laugh.

  “I wasn’t sure if you wanted beer, wine, soda, or water,” she said.

  “Beer.”