Jace flipped the grilled cheese on the griddle. There were pops and sizzles as the fresh side of butter hit the hot iron. The already cooked side was grilled to perfection, a beautiful golden brown.
He knew these were going to be some of the best he’d made as the ingredients he had were excellent. Once he’d seen the storm on the news, he’d run into town to stock up on groceries before it hit. He was good and ready to put his mad grilled cheese skills to use.
The last twenty minutes had been spent getting everything prepped and ready to go. The first step had been coating the slices of sourdough bread with a generous amount of butter. Then he’d loaded all three sandwiches (two for him and one for Adele) with fresh mozzarella, Gouda, aged cheddar, thinly sliced heirloom tomatoes, prosciutto, and fresh basil. There was also a sprinkling of paprika, his special ingredient.
A masterpiece if ever there was one.
He was just flipping the last sandwich when, for the second time that evening, Adele emerged from her bedroom with an empty wine glass and Katie at her side. Jace saw the two of them out of the corner of his eye. Katie veered off for her old spot on the leather sofa while Adele headed for the kitchen.
“How was the firing squad?” Jace turned to her, grabbing his beer from the counter and taking a sip.
“About what I expected it to be.” She walked past him and to the wine bottle on the counter, pulling out the cork, and filling her glass. “They were all super happy that I didn’t know about this storm.”
Her sarcasm was clear, but Jace felt like he’d be remiss if he didn’t say anything on that subject either. “Well, you should’ve checked before getting in the car to drive up here.”
Adele frowned as she lifted her glass to her lips and took a sip. “Okay, I’m done hearing about my weather fuck-up. Can we move on? And not to my other recent fuck-up either.”
“I’ve already said my piece on that jackass. I wasn’t going to say anything else.”
“Good, so from here on out, this is a Troy-free zone.” She waved around the cabin with her empty hand. “Got it?”
“Just to be clear, do you mean the kitchen? The cabin? Or all of Tennessee?”
Her eyes narrowed and her mouth was still set in that stern line he knew so well. “All of the above.”
“Understood.”
“Perfect. Now are you almost done with those sandwiches? I’m starving.”
“Just about,” Jace said as returned his focus to the food.
“I’ll set up for dinner. Do you want to eat at the bar?” She set her glass down on the counter as she reached for the silverware drawer next to him.
“Yeah, the bar is good with me.” Jace pressed the spatula down onto the sandwiches, watching for the first signs of melted cheese.
As Adele moved around the kitchen, Jace found that he was aware of every move she made. Getting him plates for sandwiches, filling up two bowls with stew, opening another beer for him, and pouring both of them two tall glasses of water. He liked her being there, and he realized it wasn’t just because he wasn’t alone anymore. He specifically liked her there.
It didn’t surprise him. He always liked it when she was around. They fit into each other’s orbit…each other’s space…each other’s lives. He’d missed her these last few months. Sure he’d seen her a few weeks ago at Thanksgiving, but that hadn’t been the same, mainly because Troy had been there. He’d disrupted the balance, because he wasn’t supposed to be there, wasn’t supposed to be with Adele.
Jace turned his head just slightly to look at her. Her back was to him as she folded two paper napkins in neat triangles. She’d set up the whole bar, complete with placemats and salt and pepper shakers. She never did anything half-assed, always full service with her. Jace couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten in and not sat in front of the TV.
Her hair was mostly dry now, hanging down her back in slight waves. He followed them down and before he knew it, his eyes caught on her butt. The woman had curves, and she filled out those yoga pants nicely. A little too nicely.
Before his brain had a chance to reconnect with his body to remind him he shouldn’t be looking where he was looking, Adele turned, totally catching him staring at her ass.
Her eyes widened in surprise. “What?”
“Just looking at your hair.” He shrugged trying to disguise where he’d actually been looking. “I like the new color.”
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, not buying it. “Thanks.”
“It’s cool how it changes.” He gestured up and down with the spatula.
“Ombré.”
“I’m sorry?”
“It’s called ombré.”
“Oh, well, it’s pretty.” Not wanting to keep eye contact under her continued scrutiny, Jace turned away, returning his focus to the sandwiches. It was a good thing too as they were done cooking. He turned off the burner before unstacking the plates next to him. He slid one sandwich onto one, and two onto the other. Grabbing the knife on the cutting board, he sliced all three sandwiches diagonally.
Plates in hands, he headed for the bar where Adele had set everything up, and slid the plates onto the placemats next to the bowls of stew. Adele rounded the bar too, glancing at him with that lingering confusion still in her eyes. Well, she could just join the club. Luckily for him she said nothing on the topic as she lifted herself up onto the barstool. Jace joined her, relieved with her lack of questions, because he had absolutely no explanations.
Neither of them spoke as they took their first bites, Jace’s of the stew and Adele’s of the grilled cheese. However, she was the first to make a sound, one of deep satisfaction low in her throat. It made something flip in his belly.
“This is perfect, Jace,” Adele said before she took another bite.
“Thanks, so is this.” He indicated the stew with his spoon, trying to focus on the meal in front of him and not the woman next to him.
“Thank you. It’s not too bad for a snowy night.”
“Hey,” he looked over, shaking his head as he pointed his spoon at her. “I thought we weren’t allowed to talk about the weather.”
“Not the weather as a whole. Just the part with me not checking for the storm,” she said as she grabbed her wine glass and took a sip.
“So many rules. Well, are there any others I need to know?” Like how I shouldn’t be looking at your ass? “Or any other things I’m not allowed to talk about?”
She paused for a second before she turned to look at him. “No Christmas music, or Christmas movies. In fact, no Christmas, period.”
Jace paused with his spoon halfway to his mouth. “What was that? Did I hear you correctly? Or did I just momentarily black out?”
Adele putting a ban on Christmas? That couldn’t be right. The woman sitting next to him loved Christmas. Like, looooooved it. She was the one baking Santa Claus-shaped cookies with her mom every year, and decorating the tree, and choosing the lineup of the Christmas movie marathon. Hell, she was the one who’d bought him the first stocking he’d had since he was a kid: a penguin wearing a tailcoat. It was probably somewhere up in the cabin attic.
But, come to mention a Christmas ban, where were Adele’s reindeer slippers? And her candy cane pajama pants? And that hadn’t been holiday jingles echoing from her room earlier.
Adele looked away from him before shrugging her shoulders like her anti-Christmas plan was no big deal, but he knew better. Plus, her shoulders stayed down in that slumped position. “I’m just not feeling it this year.”
“Because of the jackass?”
Her head snapped in his direction. “That’s an off-limits topic, remember?”
“But—”
She cut him off. “No buts.”
Well, that wasn’t true. Case in point even with this Christmas revelation, he was still thinking about her ass. Good Lord, what in the world was wrong with him? He wasn’t entirely sure, but never let it be said that he couldn’t multitask.
“Okay, fine. No Christm
as,” he said before he grabbed one of the halves of a sandwich and bit into it.
“I don’t know why you care anyway. It wasn’t like you were up here planning on celebrating alone.”
He finished chewing and swallowed. “You’re right,” he agreed. “I wasn’t. But this is you, Del. You love Christmas. It’s your holiday. It’s your season.”
“Not this year.” She shook her head. “This year I’m boycotting.”
“Boycotting?” He nodded slowly before taking another bite of his sandwich.
“Yes. Boycotting. Can we move on from this now?” She asked as she pulled her bowl of stew closer to her and took a spoonful.
“Yeah. Whatever you want.” He nodded, except nothing about this was sitting well with him. First off, it was beyond out of character for her. Second, for the first time since she’d gotten to the cabin, she looked sad (even if she was doing her best to hide it, he wasn’t blind). Up until that moment, her major emotion had been anger.
He hated seeing her sad. So ban on the topic or not, he was going to get to the bottom of it. Adele James not celebrating Christmas made absolutely no sense to him. None at all.
And it wasn’t the only thing not making sense to him either. There was something weird happening, a shift between them that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. It was made all the worse when they were cleaning up at the end of dinner. Katie was excitedly crunching on her food in the corner while Adele was putting the leftovers away and he was loading the dishwasher.
He’d just finished with his task when she walked past him on her way back from the refrigerator. For the second time that night, he caught a whiff of that sweet smell lingering around her.
He didn’t even think about it, just leaned in close to her and took a deep breath.
Adele turned to him her eyebrows raised high. “Did you just sniff me?”
“Yes.” He reached for her wrist, lifting it to his nose and taking another deep breath. “What is that scent?”
“It’s…” She trailed off, looking more confused than ever. “It’s almond-scented bubble bath…and lotion.”
“Almond? Where would I have smelled this before?” He breathed in again.
“I…I have no idea.” Her voice dropped to a breathy whisper. “My mom and I both bake with it a lot. Cakes and—”
“Cookies?”
“Yes.”
“That’s what it is.” A memory came to mind of them in that very cabin. “It was Christmas Eve, and you and your mom were in the kitchen while I helped Logan, Liam, and your dad set up the tree and string the lights. You made cookies that smelled exactly like this.”
Adele swallowed hard, and then took an unsteady breath. Jace realized he was running his thumb back and forth across her wrist, and if he didn’t know any better, he’d think her pulse was racing. Maybe that was because his was racing.
It was then that she pulled her hand away, and took a step back. “Yes. My mom and I put almond extract in our sugar cookies.”
He nodded. “Mystery solved.”
“Apparently.” She took another step back and quickly turned away and back to her task of putting the food away, a weird vibe clearly in the air around them.
He was trying to think of something to say to Adele when Katie bounded away from her empty bowl and started circling around the kitchen.
“Oh, she wants to go outside,” Adele snapped the lid onto a Tupperware container before she reached for the towel on the counter next to her.
“I got it.”
She spared a quick glance at him before she nodded. “Thanks,” she said before she turned away again.
Jace stared at the back of her head for a second, still beyond unsure of whatever that moment was that had just happened between them. But he was sure of one thing. “Hey, Del?”
She paused from ladling the soup into smaller containers and looked over her shoulder.
“Even though that scent makes me think of Christmas—” And you. “—Don’t ban it, too.”
Hesitating for just a moment, she nodded. “I…I won’t.”
And with that, Jace headed out of the kitchen to the front door, wondering if the cold air and the snow coming down outside would clear his head.
He wasn’t holding his breath.
So that was three more things to add to the Adele was so totally S-C-R-E-W-E-D when it came to Jace list, a list that was starting to get long.
Too long.
Number one, she’d caught him staring at her ass. That had never happened before. Second, not only had he noticed she’d changed her hair—something he’d never once voiced before—he’d said it looked pretty. And third—and most confusing—he’d smelled her…multiple times…and then he told her he liked the way she smelled.
There was also the fact that he’d touched her, again. This time it had been more intense than the last time. Way more intense. At this rate, she was going to spontaneously combust. Well, she might as well help the fire burn with some alcohol.
Pouring more wine into her glass, she looked at what remained in the bottle and just dumped the rest in. It was almost to the top now. Perfect.
Grabbing the glass she headed into the empty living room. It was a pretty cozy space with the two sofas made of soft brown leather. They formed an L in front of the television mounted on the wall and had a good view of the fire burning in the corner.
Speaking of the fire, it needed to be tended to. She stoked the embers and added two more logs. It was only a few seconds before flames started to climb up the fresh wood.
Jace had been outside with Katie for the last five minutes or so, but the reprieve was over as the front door opened and man and beast came back inside. Katie did a full body shake, getting rid of the snow that clung to her fur. Grabbing the towel hanging from the coat rack, Jace rubbed Katie down, drying her off the best he could. Once she had enough, she headed for the kitchen to get a drink of water, tail wagging all the way.
“How’s the snow?” She asked as she set her wine glass down on an end table and grabbed a thick woolen blanket from the back of one of the sofas. Wrapping it around her shoulders, she curled up in the corner, leaning against the armrest.
Jace took off his jacket, hanging it up before shoving the gloves in the pockets. “Slowed down a little, but I’m sure it will pick back up.” Hands now free, he reached up, ruffling the snow from his hair.
The gesture made Adele’s fingers itchy again. She reached for her wine glass and took a sip to do something with her hands.
“Want to watch something?” He nodded to the empty screen as he walked by the bar and grabbed the beer he’d started at dinner.
“Yeah. But not Vikings. My mood is already dark enough as it is. I can’t take anymore.”
“Here,” he sat down on the empty sofa and tossed the little black AppleTV remote into the air. “Your choice.”
Adele caught it easily. “You’re giving me all of the power?”
“For tonight.” He shrugged. “I’m a little blood and gored out anyways.”
“I’ll take it.” It was a small gesture, but she appreciated it nonetheless, her bottom lip curling up into a smile as she directed the remote to the TV. Pulling up Netflix, Adele scrolled through the queue, searching for something happy.
She didn’t have to search long, stopping when she got to one of her favorite shows, and clicking the button to take her to the first episode of the newest season.
“What’s The Great British Baking Show?” Jace asked settling into his seat.
“Only one of the greatest reality TV shows of all time.” She’d binge-watched the first three seasons when she discovered it, but hadn’t had time to watch the fourth yet.
“Really? The greatest?” He lifted his eyebrows in question.
“Yup.”
“Are these like world-class bakers or something?”
“Nope, amateurs.”
“Okay…and what do they win?”
“A cake stand.”
&nb
sp; “That’s it?” He clearly wasn’t impressed.
“Says the man whose entire career is based on winning a glorified cup.”
“Hey, it’s not a cup, it’s the Cup.”
“Mmm, hmm.” Adele rolled her eyes. “Just watch the first episode. I defy you not to fall in love with Mary Berry.”
“Okay, okay. Just press play already.”
“Stop telling me what to do,” Adele said before she pressed play…but not because he’d told her to.
This was a very different take on a Netflix and chill kind of evening for Jace. One, there would be no sex. And two, this wasn’t the kind of show he would’ve ever picked to watch.
Coincidentally, the second episode was all about cookies, or biscuits as they called them on the show. With each new creation, it had Jace wondering where Adele’s almond laced sugar cookies would hold up against these bakers. He was also wondering if they tasted as good as he remembered, or if that scent on her skin was somehow intensified because of her.
He wasn’t sure, but what he was sure of was that it was messing with his mind. That scent lingered in his head all through episode one…and episode two…and three…and four. And then before he knew it, it was after eleven o’clock.
Katie was passed out on her dog bed in front of the fireplace, Adele was lightly yawning from where she was curled up under the blanket on her sofa, and Jace was sprawled out on his sofa.
“You up for another?” he asked looking over at her.
Adele turned to him, a smile curving that pretty mouth of hers in a very I told you so sort of way. “Maybe just one more, but after that I’m calling it a night.”
The next episode started to play. Jace settled in as the camera panned to the two hosts. “Sounds good. I’m getting tired too.”
Over the last couple of months, it had become necessary for him to get a good, long, exhausting workout in daily. Otherwise, it was no sleep for him. Unsure of the next time he was going to get outside, he’d gotten up early that morning and gone for a ten-mile run. It was catching up to him now.
The thing was, for the first time in a long while, he was at peace with what was going on, and looking forward to whatever the following day would bring.
An Unexpected Christmas Page 4