Page 11 of Snowed in with My Pucking Ex
I grin in return. “Thanks, Mrs. Spruce, you look nice too. I love your belt,” I compliment, meaning every word. She may be content spending her life in this village, but apparently, she knows all the good spots to order her accessories offline. “If you don’t mind me asking, which site did you get it from? I need to check out their collections.” Not that I have a mere penny leftto my name to blow until the bank decides if they’ll replace the money I was scammed out of, but a girl can still window shop.
“I got this at Sandies. I went in the other day looking for a few gifts, and she had several of these in stock. Other designs, too.”
My brow jumps. That’s new. Sandies didn’t carry cute accessories like that the last time I was around visiting, or I would’ve been eager to check the store out once I got into town. I wonder what else she’s started keeping in stock that I’d like. “I’ll have to pop in then,” I comment as she turns to Sean.
“Doesn’t Winter look great in that dress, Sean? We need her to get one in your team’s colors. I bet all of your teammates would be drooling over her if she wore it to a game. When do you play the Blizzards again?”
His posture stiffens, a frown turning his lips down immediately, but he doesn’t comment on the sudden change in his demeanor. His serious stare meets mine again as he doesn’t answer his mom’s question. Instead, he compliments, “You look stunning.”
Heat instantly fills my body all over, and I know it must be showing on my cheeks, too. My heart thumps a quick, excited beat in my chest for a moment from his attention. The tension’s soon broken between us from Dad hobbling in on his crutches. He greets Calla first, then shakes hands with Sean. “Welcome, welcome! Mom and Dad will be around shortly. Glad you two could make it. Brenda’s been in the kitchen since six a.m..”
Mom huffs, wiping her hands on a dishtowel she has tucked into the tie on her festive apron. She looks like a kitchen quarterback with it hanging there the way it does. “I like prepping early so I can watch the parade at the same time. After all these years, you already know this.”
Plus, Mom doesn’t want Gram coming in and overdoing it. She may be a feisty old lady, but she needs to take it easy at her age and not get too overwhelmed by helping Mom. She’ll showup with Pop soon enough, her hands loaded with her prized desserts that she’s won ribbons for at every fair and festival around she’s entered in.
Dad flashes Mom a grin, then hobbles his way back to the kitchen. He has never been one to sit back in the past, while Mom prepared a feast for a small army each holiday. He’s always been right there beside her, helping in any way he possibly could, so this must be driving him crazy not being able to meddle and get in the way. My siblings and I were the same way. I used to wake up early just to beat my brother and sister downstairs to have some alone bonding time with Mom while she taught me her secrets to the ultimate turkey dinner. The recipes she uses were passed down from Nan, on Mom’s side. Gram, on Dad’s side, can bake all the sweets, but the woman can’t roast a bird to save her life.
“Mom, what do you need my help with?” At this rate, I’m looking forward to her keeping me busy for the first half of the day. I was dreading this day in general when I first heard Sean would be here, but after each problem I’ve been hit with since I arrived, Sean’s no longer at the top of the list, and I’ll happily take all the distractions I can get. If I even almostthinkof my debit card and my lost funds I’m waiting on, I tear up. I’m determined not to give myself the slightest chance of doing it today and worrying my family.
“Finish setting the table for me?” Mom suggests, and I instantly nod. I head for the dining room, already thinking about which napkin rings I’m going to use.
“You look good too,” I admit later to Sean once our parents have dispersed. “Green is your color, but so is blue.” I don’t know why I open myself up to feeding him compliments, but the man is like a fresh cup of hot cocoa, and I can’t seem to resist being suckered in.
He grins, shaking his head. “Don’t let my coach hear you say that; he swears I was only made for green.”
His main team color is hunter green, since they’re the Pines, so I’m not surprised to hear as much. I want to tell him he was made for every color because he looks lickable in anything he has on, even a paper bag, but I refrain. These intrusive thoughts that hit me left and right whenever he’s in my vicinity are rough, I swear.
“My lips are sealed.” I offer with a smile, raking my gaze all over his impressive form, remembering the expanse of skin I saw at the coffee shop. I bet he’s a beast with his shirt off.
His stare immediately falls to my mouth, pausing there long enough that I know it was the absolute wrong thing to say. We’re keeping space between us, and I’m determined not to make it awkward today between us. I was all for avoiding him when he first told me about them coming for Thanksgiving, but after his sweetness he showed me yesterday that I can’t stop obsessing over, I’ve silently called in a truce on my part where he’s concerned.
“You didn’t text me.” He mutters, stepping into my space. I take one back, putting my back to the wall. He takes another step until we’re nearly touching all over. One of his arms raises to rest on the wall above me, while his other hand moves under my chin. He applies just enough pressure so I tip my chin up, meeting his intense stare. I swear, if he leans in and kisses me right now, we can just put a fork in me, because I will be done for the day.
He's expecting a response, and I know he won’t move until I give him one. Not that I want him to move at all, but if our moms come in and see us like this, questions will be asked. I eventually shrug, wondering if he can hear my heart thundering away the way I can from his proximity. “I didn’t need anything.”
“Mm. I wish you had given me some sort of task. I can handle making sure you're satisfied.”
I swear I must have heard him wrong, because there’s no way he just said what I think he did. He has a way with getting my jingle in a jam to the point I can’t think when he’s close enough to kiss. Or climb.I’d happily do both.I swallow before whispering, “I couldn’t think of anything.”
He shakes his head, with a click of his tongue, and something tells me he’s thinking of putting me on his naughty list. Maybe my dream about that the other night holds some merit after all. I watch with rapt attention as he steps away and heads for the entryway. He reaches toward the narrow, tall table against the wall by the jackets, and I finally notice a large red and green cup from the Tasty Sip sitting there. In the next beat, he’s back and holding the cup out to me.
“What’s this?”
“Your favorite,” he acknowledges, and I swear his cheeks seem a little pink with his admission.
My mouth drops open in pleasant surprise, “You brought me acapp?”
And is there an ulterior motive behind this? He doesn’t strike me as the type to add salt to my drink or anything, but he does seem like he’d be one to use it to bargain or take a few sips. You know the ‘quality control’ excuse men like to use. Yep, I’m betting he’s a taster, and the prospect of his lips being where mine will soon be should bother me more. Okay, simply put, it doesn’t bother me at all, and that’s a total red flag in operation:Willpower Around My Ex.
He nods, “Yep. With holiday spirit on top and all.”
He remembered my sprinkles and mini marshmallows? Who is this man?
“Wow. This is nice, thank you. I can’t believe you went in there on a holiday to surprise me.”
He shrugs. “I’d go in every day, if you wanted me to.”
My eyes widen, stunned that he just admitted that out loud. Don’t get me wrong, Sean was always a sweet guy when we were younger, but he’s taking it up abignotch for some reason. Especially, after all of my diabolical accidents I’ve had around him. Talk about embarrassing, and the sad part is, I haven’t done anything worth mentioning to make karma my enemy right now.
