Page 53 of Take Me Home for Christmas

I guess I turned red because she pounced on that. “You are! Oh my god, you’ve never had one. Tell me that isn’t true!”

“I’m losing trust in you because I feel shamed,” I said in a deadpan voice.

“Brax! Please tell me how you’ve avoided cheese curds for all these years? I mean, they’re amazing!”

“The right opportunity to try one never came along, I guess,” I mumbled. “Truth is, I was very frugal as an undergrad—I just didn’t have money to go out much. And after a while, I just…never tried them.” I gave an apologetic shrug. “The pizza always looked better.”

She looked completely disbelieving. “Okay, well, there’s only one way to fix this. But once you try one, you’ll never go back to your pathetic cheese-curdless state.”

Oh, the drama. “Okay, fine. I want one,” I said without hesitation, mainly because she was never going to let this go until I caved.

“All right then, let’s go,” she said as she led us off.

Shopping, presents, cheese curds, and Mia. The perfect day. And she was irresistible.

For the first time in my life, I was in way over my head. And l was loving every minute of it.

Chapter Sixteen

Mia

I couldn’t believe Brax had been an undergradanda med student in Wisconsin and had never brought a cheese curd to his lips. I made it my mission to change that immediately. While he waited on a bench inside the little indoor shopping area, I walked up to one of the food trucks parked in a nearby lot and got us some.

Waiting in line, and yes, there was a line, even at eleven in the morning, gave me a minute to calm down. I had stars in my eyes. I couldn’t help myself.

Brax had bought my parents a charcuterie board, and I was pretty sure there was something else in that bag that he wasn’t talking about.

Maybe for me. The thought that he might have bought me a surprise gift made me ridiculously giddy. Plus, he kept holding my hand.

Even more nerve-racking, it looked like I’d decided to go to Charlie and Erin’s party tonight. But I didn’t have an issue with people seeing me as anything other than perfect, did I? I mean,I’d spent most of my life minimizing my scrapes and failures to not worry my parents, but had that made me think I had to show a perfect face to the world as well?

As I thought about that, I realized that sooner or later, unless I never came home again, I’d have to face Charlie and everyone I knew. And maybe that was the best reason of all to go.

Despite Brax’s uncanny ability call me out on my flaws, I had good reason to believe that if I survived this event, there was a great chance I might be doing more with Brax than just holding hands.

I felt this huge, warm wave of anticipation expanding in my chest that I was afraid to name. I forced myself to breathe and prayed that it wasn’t all going to go away. This must be what really falling in love was like. Not like with Charlie, when I was just a kid and didn’t understand what real love was.

I brought the goods back to the bench and sat down next to Brax. “Okay, now close your eyes. It’s time for a taste test.”

He shut his eyes but quickly cracked one open. “A cheese curd taste test?”

“Totally.” I waited until he complied. “Open up.”

He did, and I placed a cheese curd in his mouth. It was firm, whitish, and irregularly shaped, and he took it willingly. Could someone look sexy when they’re chewing? Brax certainly could. “What do you think?”

“It’s very…cheesy.” He opened his eyes. “It’s good.”

“How squeaky was it?” I sounded like I was doing a survey. But I had to educate the man on Wisconsin lore, didn’t I?

He looked incredulous. “Squeaky?”

“A good curd squeaks when the protein strands rub against tooth enamel.”

“Cool. Give me another one, and I’ll check.”

I did and popped one in my own mouth too. “Yep. Definitely squeaky. Ready for Number Two?”

This time, I took a freshly fried curd with a garlicky breadcrumb coating—my personal, all-time favorite—and placed it carefully on his tongue. Then I kissed him, because I couldn’t help it.

---