Page 25 of Dance All Night
“Let’s put those back where they belong,” she said, removing the loops from her ear and hanging them on the tree instead. Then she slipped her hand into his as they walked to the kitchen.
Nik got that easy, settled feeling again. Why had he spent so long running from this? It was the best feeling in the world.
Inside the kitchen, the counter was covered with racks of sugar and gingerbread cookies in various shapes—people, yes, but also stars, unicorns, and…moose.
While Dimitri and Natasha worked on prepping the next batch to bake, Jess and Nik sat at the counter with Gina and Stone to decorate.
“I didn’t realize unicorns had to do with Yuletide cheer,” Jess said, picking up one of the cookies.
“Unicorns are very festive.” Nik chose a sugar cookie person. “Didn’t you know they’re second cousins to reindeer?”
She snickered. “I must have missed that day in biology class.”
It very soon became clear why they were dancers instead of artists. Dimitri, disgusted with their attempts at making gingerbread people—and animals—threw aside his apron and took over. Nik remembered all the times they’d sat at the kitchen table decorating cookies and Christmas ornaments with their parents. Even when they were kids, Dimitri had always shown artistic ability.
Gina and Natasha commandeered the oven. There was a lot of giggling over the cookie trays, and the next batch that came out of the oven looked distinctly like…
Dimitri stared at the cookies, horrified. “Are thosedicks?”
Stone, who’d been putting the star on the Christmas tree because he was tallest one present by far, happened to walk back into the kitchen at that exact moment. He took one glance at the cookies and shot Gina an exasperated look. “Was this your idea?”
Her response was to dissolve into giggles.
Jess elbowed Nik in his side. “What do those represent?” she asked from the corner of her mouth. “The ghost of Christmas penis?”
Nik doubled over, and Dimitri and Stone hastily took over the rest of the baking. Jess joined the other women in decorating the Christmas Cocks, as the cookies had been dubbed, and since Nik knew it would amuse her, he ate one. Jess’s delighted peal of laughter was well worth his brother’s eye roll.
“Look, Macho,” Natasha called out to Dimitri, holding up one of her cookies. “We used the little sugar pearl things as jizz.”
“Mine has red and green pubes,” Gina added. “’Tis the season, after all.”
With a sigh, Dimitri cranked up the volume on the Christmas music. Stone mumbled something about the tree and left the room.
Later, after they’d gorged themselves on cookies and the tree was trimmed to the nines, Nik pulled Jess aside.
“What’s next?” she asked, sounding more excited than she had when she’d arrived.
“Mitya’s opening a bottle of wine and pulling out Cards Against Humanity.”
“Oh, shit.” She rubbed her hands together. “It’s about to go down.”
“We could play, if you want. Or…” His gaze shifted to the sliding glass doors that led outside. “It’s cooled down a lot, but we do have a hot tub.” He tried to keep his tone light and not suggestive. Whatever they did, it would be her choice.
Jess chewed her bottom lip for a moment, then nodded once. “Sure. I’ll go put on my swimsuit.”
Whoa. He’d half-expected her to tease him or turn him down. But no, she was grabbing her tote bag and disappearing into the hall bathroom.
Maybe it was wishful thinking, but he hoped it meant she was coming around to the idea of the two of them as a couple.
In his room, Nik changed into swim shorts and threw on a hoodie, leaving it unzipped. For the first and only time in his life, he wished he owned trunks that had a moose on them. Or more than one moose. He wasn’t picky. As long as it made Jess smile.
Outside, he grabbed some towels from the shed and tossed them on the bench beside the hot tub, then cranked up the Jacuzzi jets. The water started bubbling, the oddly cozy smell of pool chemicals reaching his nostrils. He stripped off the hoodie and added it to the pile of towels. After the blast of cool night air, sliding into the water was pure bliss. He waited, just long enough to fret over whether Jess was punking him or not. When she appeared, he nearly choked. Her white bathing suit glowed in the soft yellow lights tucked in the foliage around the tub, and she was all strong, lean curves and shy smiles. With her hair braided around her head, she looked like a nymph stepping from the wilderness, or a goddess. She shivered and quickly slipped into the hot tub, sitting across from him.
She closed her eyes and leaned back, stretching her toned arms over the tiled edge. “This is nice.”
“Yeah…” He couldn’t help how dopey he sounded. Sitting in a hot tub with a beautiful woman whose company he enjoyed the hell out of was way more thannice.
They sat in silence, watching each other from across the water as the Jacuzzi jets hummed and the water bubbled.
