A Winter Wonderland

by Rebecca Hunter

  “You know she’s already read all of them,” said his dad. True.

  His father’s speech was slower now, and in a large family with a long history of talking over each other, it had taken some adjustment. The smaller the group, the better, and, frankly, it was a hell of a lot easier to make room for his father in the conversation without his mother. Talking for him was her way of worrying about him, so Jace was trying hard to be understanding, but sometimes…

  He propped himself in the corner of the kitchen and took a swig of his beer. “Let me guess. Drake can’t make it tonight.”

  Andrew smirked. “Emergency at work.”

  “What a surprise,” Jace said dryly.

  Their older brother had moved to New York City after college and had been working seven-day work weeks since. Not that Jace was one to judge, especially considering the fact that he had just come from the garage, but at least he made it.

  “So,” his father started, “W-what kind of a car was your tow?”

  Jace stiffened. He didn’t want to get into the particulars of this car. Or its owner. But his father had taught Jace everything he knew about cars, and now that he could no longer work on them himself, he lived vicariously through Jace. This was their point of bonding…usually. So he gave his father the bare minimum.

  “Mercedes, newer model.”

  His father narrowed his eyes, and for a minute Jace was sure that he knew exactly whose car it was. But then his father waved his hand dismissively. “Whoever owns that car has taken shitty care of it if it’s already breaking down.”

  Jace let out the breath he had been holding. His father didn’t know what kind of car Selena had. Of course not. Jace was the only one who had been watching her from an uneasy distance since she came back.

  “Definitely neglected.” He hoped his father hadn’t heard the gruffness in his voice. It hadn’t just been the car that was neglected. After the way Selena kissed him in her hallway, he had all sorts of ideas about what else had been neglected and what he could do about it. Though he was trying like hell not to have those thoughts right now.

  “What color was it?” His brother’s voice startled him and his dad jerked his head around to Andrew. Andrew put his hands up. “Just trying to get in on the male bonding that goes on in this family.”

  Like hell. Andrew had made it clear that he had zero interest in cars. Jace knew exactly what Andrew was doing, and he swallowed back a few choice words for his brother.

  His father had turned back to Jace, waiting for the answer, so Jace shrugged, like the question meant nothing. “Red.”

  The lack of reaction on his face told Jace that his father still had no idea whose car it was. But Andrew knew. And there was no way in hell he was going to let his older brother open this can of worms for the family–not until Jace knew what the hell he was going to do about it.

  “You can come on down to the shop and check out the color, Andrew,” he said dryly. “See if you have any expert advice.”

  His father smirked at that. Usually his brother would have bristled at this comment, which would have led to a few rounds of insults, but Andrew wasn’t easily distracted. He was staring at Jace, and with one eyebrow raised, he manage to convey all the same doubts that had been circling in Jace’s mind since he answered Selena’s call. Could anything good come out of seeing her again? Was heartbreak worse the second time around? What the hell was Jace thinking?

  Their silent stalemate fizzled out as voices floated from the basement, growing louder. Footsteps thumped up the stairs, and Lizzy appeared first. She tipped her chin at Jace, smiling.

  “You’re late.”

  “So I’ve been told,” he said, trying his best to wipe all traces of emotion from his face. Lizzy’s smile faltered a little, so he turned away to give Mary Louise a kiss on the cheek. Talk was filling the kitchen, the way it always did in the Wilkinson family, but Andrew was still standing by the turkey, uncharacteristically quiet. Jace circled the counter and stood next to his brother under the guise of helping.

  “Not a word, Andrew,” he muttered under his breath. “Especially not around Mom. I mean it.”

  His brother shook his head slowly. “This is not a good idea, Jace. You’ve managed to avoid her since she came back into town. There’s no reason why things can’t continue that way. I know you’ve both moved on, but—”

  “She called for a tow, for Christ sake. Was I supposed to leave her by the side of the road, just because things ended badly however many years ago?”

  “You know exactly how long it’s been since you’ve seen her.”

  It was true, so Jace said nothing, just stare down his brother, willing him to leave the subject alone. “It was just a fucking tow, Andrew.”

  “Maybe. But you and I both know how easily you could get caught up in her again.”

  It hurt to hear those words spoken aloud, even if they were accurate. All the giddiness from kissing Selena had dissolved. He already knew how their story ended. In the end, she left.

  These thoughts were exactly why the subject of Selena was not up for discussion.

  “This conversation is over,” grumbled Jace. “And don’t fucking mention this to anyone.”

  Andrew had the nerve to chuckle. “I definitely won’t ruin Mom and Dad’s day with this bit of information. But beyond that, I’m not promising anything.”

  Chapter Six

  The next evening, Jace parked his pick-up in front of Selena’s house and turned off the engine. The rain pounded on the windshield, echoing inside the cab. Andrew was right. He knew Andrew was right. But he’d spent the entire drive coming up with reasons why he still should check in with her in the middle of a storm. Because she was alone with no car, and the storm was getting worse. Because Andrew and Mary Louise had sent him home with too much food, and it shouldn’t go to waste. Because he’d forgotten to get Selena’s phone number for the car repairs. Because she had left three packages in the back seat of her car, including one from her parents, all the way from Mexico, which she probably wanted to open.

  But all of these reasons were excuses. The truth was he just wanted to see her again, now that he had had a little time to digest their first meeting. No expectations, just deliver the packages and the food and head home. Though getting everything to her doorstep in good condition would be a challenge.

  The neighborhood still looked empty, though a couple houses glowed with soft lights. Next door to Selena’s place, a car was parked in the driveway. A Hummer. Who the hell drove one of those things? The kind of guy that owned a beach house in this rich-ass neighborhood, apparently.

  Jace peeked up at Selena’s house again. The chains of tiny white lights glowed through the house. And then he saw her in one of the windows, hunched over something. He was too far away to see much more than just her hair and the shape of her face, but it didn’t matter. His heart jumped in his chest, and he closed his eyes.

  Her teenage bedroom had faced the street, right on the porch that stretched across the front of her house, and there were nights when he’d drive by and see her, studying at her desk. Sneaking in was out of the question, and she’d never sneak out, despite the fact that she was only a few feet from the ground. But he’d park out of sight and tap on her window, and they’d talk in whispers for hours. And kiss, too.

  Nine years had passed, and if he was in a reasonable mood, he could understand her choice. Her parents had left their home country behind and moved to the United States. They had pulled long hours, her father as a migrant worker and her mother cleaning houses. Neither of them had more than a basic education. For most of Selena’s life, her parents had given up any semblance of comfort to make sure their only daughter had opportunities they hadn’t. And it weighed on every single choice Selena made. Including her choice of men.

  But even if he could sympathize with her dilemma, he was not—and never would be—a consolation prize. Why the hell was he still thinking about this? Andrew w
as definitely right. It was too easy to get caught up in her again. Maybe he should just go home.

  Jace rested his fingers on the ignition and glanced once more at the window where she sat. Sleet streamed down his truck, and he had to lean across the cab to get a better view. This time, she was looking out into the darkness, right at his truck.

  Damn.

  It was too late to drive off, not if he didn’t want to look like a stalker. Besides, it was better this way. She was out here alone, and if he had driven off, he would have spent the night thinking about her, wondering if she was okay. Now, he would probably be spending the night thinking about her in much different ways.

  The image was there before he could stop it. His body over hers, her fingers digging into his arms as he—

  Shit. He swiped a hand over his face and shook his head. Enough. He’d deliver the packages and the food and get his ass home.

  Jace grabbed the bag of Tupperware dishes and stacked the boxes on top of each other. He took a deep breath and opened the truck’s door. A gust of rain hit him in the face, but he pushed forward, balancing the teetering load under his chin as the door slammed shut. He dodged the puddles that were pooling at the base of her driveway and headed up to the house. The awning above her porch did nothing to stop the icy water from pelting at his back. This delivery idea was looking worse by the minute.

  He knocked, and Selena’s face appeared in the frosted glass. She opened the door and stared at him.

  “Jace?”

  “Yeah, me,” he said roughly. “I just wanted to drop off—”

  “Get in here,” she said, tugging on his arm. “You’re letting the rain in.”

  He stepped inside, and she pushed the door shut and locked it. They stood in the muted quiet of the little entryway, the storm pounding at the door. Close enough to touch. Selena blinked up at him, her eyebrows raised in question.

  “I, um, brought the packages you left in your car,” he finally said.

  She blinked.

  “Oh, right,” she said quickly, reaching for them. Her warm hands brushed against his, and she looked away. “Thanks.”

  His gaze drifted down her body slowly, taking in the oversized Christmas sweater, her red-and-white striped leggings, and a pair of red socks. He fought a smile. She definitely wasn’t expecting company tonight. His eyes drifted back up a bit. The candy cane pattern hugged the curves of her legs... Damn, he was ogling her. Jace’s gaze snapped back to her face.

  “Oh, right. The outfit,” she said, smiling. “It’s…”

  “Colorful?”

  She chuckled. “Very diplomatic of you.”

  “I like it.”

  The beauty of Selena’s smile was in her eyes. When she really smiled, they sparkled and laughed and tempted him to be the one to make her happy, again and again. But that wasn’t how their story went. What he felt now was just the echo of old memories and the undercurrent of lust that was deeply woven between them.

  Time to leave.

  He took one last drink of that smile, but this time he saw something more in her eyes. Desire. Like he wasn’t the only one who had spent the day thinking about that kiss in her doorway. And he just couldn’t make himself go. Instead, Jace lifted his hand to her face and traced a path down her cheek with his fingers. Her smile faded, and her cheeks flushed.

  “Want some company for a while?” he asked softly.

  She bit her lip, and her brow wrinkled. Her gaze traveled down his body, taking him in. He was dripping on her front hall carpet, and the bag of leftovers still dangled from his hand. Then, a hint of a smile quirked at the corners of her mouth.

  “Company would be nice,” she said. “You should warm up, and I still have your blanket.”

  Jace nodded, his heart thumping in his chest. He let out a quiet sigh of relief as he bent down to unlace his boots. They were just spending a little time together, nothing serious. He stepped out of them and slipped off his coat, hanging it by the door. The desire, the spark of connection after all these years wasn’t just his overactive imagination. Maybe they could suspend the past for just a few hours.

  Jace followed Selena up the stairs to the open living room and kitchen. The place was impressive, with its high ceilings and exposed beams, even more so considering that he had heard it was a second home. The room was filled with expensive-looking furniture, curtains, blankets, and a bunch of other crap someone else probably would appreciate. A little potted fir tree sat in the corner, sparsely decorated. A string of white lights lit it up, and more of them glowed around the big stone fireplace and the large windows.

  Jace walked over to the kitchen’s island and set down the bag of food.

  “The bathroom down the hall has a shower if you want to warm up,” she said and held out his blanket. “Just set your wet clothes outside the door and I’ll throw them in the dryer. You get to be naked under a blanket this time.”

  He chuckled and took it from her.

  “What’s in the bag?” she asked.

  “Leftovers from the engagement dinner last night,” he said. “Turkey, mashed potatoes, two kinds of pie. A step up from cocktail sausages.”

  “I already ate,” she said quickly, turning away from the food.

  He surveyed the kitchen. An empty bowl, a glass, and a few cocktail sausages left in a skillet. She couldn’t be that full. But the food was from his family, one of their many complications, and her message was loud and clear: Let’s keep this simple.

  His eighteen-year-old self might have been hurt, but he had nothing to lose with this woman tonight. Jace gave her a little smile, shrugged and started down the hall.

  “Suit yourself. I’ll go get naked.”

  Chapter Seven

  Bad idea. Jace was in her house, and she had just pointed him toward the shower and told him to strip. Now she couldn’t get the thought of his naked body out of her mind. The water running down all those muscles…

  At least that’s what she remembered about him: smooth, hard muscles across his chest and arms and stomach. There was a time in her life when Jace was hers, and she had been too torn about whether they had a future together to fully appreciate it. If she had a chance to explore again, just for a little bit, she’d—

  Stop. Selena froze that thought before it went any further. If she did any exploring of Jace’s muscles again, it wouldn’t—couldn’t—be tied to the past.

  She walked toward the bathroom and grabbed the clothes Jace had dropped on the hallway floor. All of them. His pants were soaked through, but his shirt was only wet around the collar, where the rain had seeped down the opening in his raincoat. Um, she wasn’t going to stare at his boxers, wondering what he’d look like taking them off. She buried them in the pile and gathered it in her arms.

  The scent of Jace hit her hard. The shirt smelled like him, and the memories flooded back faster than she could stop them. It felt good, so she let her mind travel down that road just a little more. Sitting on his lap in his car, the one place they could be alone. Her parents could never, under any circumstances, know she’d had sex before marriage. They didn’t accept that things were different for her than they had been back in their hometown in Mexico. That a woman wasn’t ruining her chances for marriage if a man found out she wasn’t a virgin.

  She and Jace had been careful, so careful. How many times had they parked by the beach and eased the front seats back? She’d learned to wear skirts on Friday nights senior year, so she wasn’t squirming out of jeans in the passenger seat of his Corvette. Positions, firsts, and so much fun. She’d given him his first blowjob there. It had lasted thirty seconds max, and he narrated the experience with all sorts of swearing and groaning that had her both giggling and turned on. And then he had gone down on her.

  A rush of pleasure ran through her. Shit. She was standing in her hallway fantasizing about her teenage sex life. Who had her best sex at eighteen? Hopefully, not her.

  Selena gave a quiet snort o
f laughter and headed downstairs. She threw the clothes into the dryer, then returned to the kitchen. The island countertop was loaded with Jace’s wet delivery. She peeked into the bag of food, and the smell of pecan pie flooded her senses.

  She inhaled the sweet, buttery scent. If she had chosen to return Jace’s calls, to come back the summer after her freshman year instead of taking an internship in Boston, would she have spent today eating pie and celebrating Andrew’s engagement, too? Selena sighed. Maybe. But she would have probably dropped out of college. He’d wanted her to stay so badly, and when they were together, she had wanted it, too. That was the problem. If she had dropped out of college, she never would have forgiven Jace—or herself. How many times had she gone over the choices she made?

  Selena resealed the lid and blinked her eyes a few times until the burning subsided. It was too much. Time to shut off the past and focus on the present. She pushed the bag aside and unstacked the three, damp packages from the back seat of her car.

  The one from her parents was the smallest. What would they send her? Something in silver, something to remind her of the little town they’d finally returned to, with help from her and Darren. Darren had been generous early on in their relationship; that much she could say about him.

  The door to the bathroom opened, and Selena looked up just as Jace emerged from the steam. With only a towel wrapped around his waist. Oh, God he was gorgeous. Jace had filled out in the best way possible, his shoulders wider, his arms bigger. There was a spray of hair across his chest, and the trail down to his towel was a little thicker.

  Her gaze darted up to his face as her cheeks heated up. No gawking at her high school boyfriend allowed. His too-long hair hung over his forehead, uncombed, and his lips quirked up in a smile.

  “The blanket is a little scratchy,” he said. “Got anything else?”

  He sounded almost apologetic, as if he knew what being nearly naked with her might do for both of them. Maybe he was just as wary about dragging that up as she was.