Her Surprise Engagement

by Cari Lynn Webb

  “I have time.” Nichole poured herself another cup of coffee and slid onto the barstool to give herself a good view of Chase’s prep station. In minutes he had sausage cooking and a red sauce simmering. The scent of spices and good food filled the air. But she still had the advantage—comfort food was a family standby. “I need to boil water and open a box.”

  Chase laughed and chopped broccoli like a trained chef, at ease and confident. He worked without a recipe. Relied on taste and patience.

  Nichole preferred exact measurements and directions more specific than Mix a little. Add a dash. Their cooking styles hardly meshed. She motioned toward the dishes gathering in the sink. “If I cook the hot dogs in the pasta water, I only need one pan.”

  “This is part of the joy in cooking.” Chase added the cooked sausage, noodles and chopped vegetables to his sauce. Then inhaled the steam from the pot. “Creating is fun.”

  Watching Chase cook was fun. More than fun. He made her want to take more risks like asking if she could help. Like testing the boundaries of that we. Opposites could balance each other.

  She remembered his favorite things. He’d loaned her his sweatshirt and kept the fire going all night. He’d also respected her wishes about Wesley. That hardly made him right for her. Even if her heart tumbled more than once, tugging her ever closer to the pillow wall and Chase last night. And tempting her even now. “You don’t really think eleven-year-old boys are going to willingly eat spinach and broccoli, do you?”

  “I do. It’s all in the preparation.” He waved his hand over the casserole dish he’d started to assemble and smiled at her. “Want to taste a sample?”

  She wanted... Her mouth dried. “I’ll wait.”

  “Probably for the best.” He nodded. Grated more cheese, sprinkled it over the casserole, then slid the dish into the oven. “One taste and you’d probably be tempted to cheat later.”

  Nichole sputtered on the coffee she sipped. “I’ll have you know that’s the bestselling mac and cheese in the nation for a reason.”

  He drew a spoon around the empty pot, scraping up the last of the sauce and held it up. “And this is the best-tasting baked ziti sauce for a reason too.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “It’s made from the heart.” He stuck the spoon in his mouth and grinned. “Just like Nonna’s.”

  “Now you’re cheating.” Nichole jumped off the stool and rounded the island, closing the distance between them.

  “How am I cheating?” He tossed the spoon on the island counter and locked his gaze on her.

  She had his full attention now. All she’d wanted the entire day. She charged forward, straight through every caution sign. “You’re using Nonna’s recipe.”

  He held up his hands. “Those are all I know.”

  And all she knew was that she’d displaced her common sense. All she knew was the heat from Chase’s gaze encouraged her to cross all kinds of boundaries, pillow walls and defenses. Nichole stepped into his space, placed her hands on his chest and forgot to be practical. She leaned forward. Chase met her halfway. Their lips came together.

  And their kiss intensified into something beyond strangers. Beyond friends. Something meaningful and lasting. That lingered and searched and learned. Both gave and received. Something that sent hearts soaring above the clouds.

  Nichole surrendered completely.

  A pounding echoed on the front door. The doorbell chimed as if set on repeat.

  Nichole jumped back, flattened her hand over her racing heart. “They’re early.” And she was caught.

  Chase held on to her waist and her gaze. “You have to get the door.”

  And catch her breath. Her gaze dropped to his mouth—only a quick dip—and kick-started her heart again. “That was...”

  “Something we’ll definitely be discussing later.” Chase gripped her shoulders, turned her toward the door before she could finish her thought. He whispered, “We might need to add new options to our agreement.”

  Or not. And kissing definitely could not be repeated. No matter how much she wanted to. Nichole opened the door to two excited boys and Brooke, holding twin grocery bags.

  The boys asked to pick out their bedroom first, tossed their snow boots on the deck and raced upstairs. Nichole led Brooke into the kitchen.

  Chase dried his hands on a towel and greeted Brooke. “I’ll go help Dan with the rest of your stuff.”

  Brooke hefted the bags onto the counter and nudged her elbow into Nichole’s side. Her eyebrows raised. “Did you celebrate last night?”

  “No.” Nichole shook her head. Not last night. And right now, she’d lost track of their business arrangement and broken her own rules. She’d warned Chase to keep his distance. He’d listened. Now she had to heed her own demands. “We had no heat.”

  “Sounds like the perfect time to make your own together.” Brooke laughed.

  Dan wrapped his arm around Brooke’s waist, Brooke leaned her head against his shoulder. Both nodded in unison and worked to keep their own grins restrained. They were a couple—united and in love. Chase and Nichole were united in their business arrangement.

  “Make your own what?” Chase stood in the doorway leading to the laundry room, snow in his hair and a one-sided grin on his face.

  “Never mind.” Nichole filled a pot with water, turned the burner on high and blamed the warmth in her cheeks on Alden. He’d fixed the heater too well. “I need to make the mac and cheese.”

  Wesley slid across the hardwood floors in his socks and grabbed an apple off the counter. “Don’t forget the hot dogs.”

  “Already on it.” Nichole smoothed out her smile, squashed the triumph in her voice. “We have two options for dinner. Mac and cheese with hot dogs. Or...”

  “Baked pasta with a meat sauce,” Chase said.

  With her next words, Nichole would wipe away Chase’s expanding grin. “With broccoli and spinach.”

  Wesley scowled as if his apple suddenly turned rotten. “There’s spinach in the pasta?”

  “And broccoli?” Ben stepped beside Wesley and wrinkled his nose.

  “Vegetables are good for you,” Chase offered. “And you won’t even know they’re in there.”

  Wesley bit into his apple, chewed slowly. His gaze remained fixed on Chase as if he’d suddenly turned into one of his puzzles. “How do you know?”

  “You’ll have to trust me.” Chase closed the distance and held out his fist. “At least try it and if you don’t like it, your mom will finish it.”

  “Cool.” Wesley fist-bumped Chase. Both wore matching grins as if they were suddenly united.

  She wasn’t helping Chase win. Nichole pressed her hand over her stomach. “I don’t know. I’m going to be pretty full after eating all that yummy mac and cheese.”

  “What’s going on?” Dan looked at Nichole, then Chase and back to Nichole. Suspicion wove through his voice. “What are we missing?”

  Brooke tapped her finger on her mouth. “We’re definitely missing something.”

  “Nothing is going on.” Nichole spread her arms wide and added a more lighthearted note to her words. “We just have options for dinner. Everyone likes options.”

  “Like at a restaurant,” Ben added.

  “Only at this one, you can eat all you want.” Chase fist-bumped both boys, then opened the oven to peer inside. “How’s that mac and cheese coming, Nichole? Baked ziti is just about ready.”

  “Only need seven minutes and the feast can begin.” She poured the noodles and hot dogs into her pot and grinned at Chase. “Funny. I’m already considering what sounds good for breakfast tomorrow.”

  “Who’s cooking?” Wesley asked. “’Cause if it’s Mom, you can have toast or cereal. Those are her specialties.”

  Chase swiped his hands over his mouth as if catching his laugh.

  Ben
stuffed his hands in his back pockets. His toes wiggled inside his socks. “My dad’s specialty is funny-shaped pancakes.”

  “With chocolate chips,” Dan added. “Those are the best part.”

  Nichole drained the noodles and prepared the mac and cheese according to the directions on the side of the box.

  Chase pulled his casserole out of the oven and set it on the counter. “We haven’t determined who’s cooking breakfast tomorrow.”

  “We’ll know soon enough.” If cooking breakfast meant another stolen kiss, Nichole might not object. But kisses and cooking together had never been part of their original agreement. And amendments had to be avoided. Other options need not be discussed. After all, Nichole’s heart had no veto on their agreement.

  Brooke handed out plates to the boys. Dan located the silverware and napkins.

  “Remember, it’s all you can eat. Don’t stop until you’re full.” Nichole pulled a serving spoon out of a drawer and waved it over the dinner options like a wand. But there was nothing magic in her and Chase cooking together or their kiss.

  How many lies could she tell?

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “TEN MINUTES LEFT,” Dan yelled from a ladder and set the head on their towering snowman. “Better get those finishing touches done. Losers have to clean up the breakfast dishes and that syrup has been hardening on the plates all morning.”

  A snowball bounced off Nichole’s shoulder. She glanced over at Brooke, her snowman-building teammate, and brushed the snow off her jacket. “Hey. What was that for?”

  “We aren’t going to win if you keep sighing and daydreaming about your new husband.” Brooke sorted through a pile of clothes they’d grabbed from a closet inside the house.

  “I’m not sighing.” Nichole knotted a scarf a little too tight around her snowman’s neck. “I’m simply checking out the competition. I already cooked breakfast this morning. I don’t want to clean up too.”

  “It’s okay if you are daydreaming about him.” Brooke leaned around her snowman and lifted her eyebrows up and down. “He is your husband.”

  Except he wasn’t. Nichole smashed a carrot into her snowman’s head and glanced over at Wesley and Chase, their competition in the snowmen challenge. Wesley and Chase had laughed, plotted and planned the past hour. Then laughed even more. Heads always together and sharing more high fives than she could count. The only break Wesley took was to rub his glove under his nose. Chase never tired. Never lost his patience. Never stopped listening to Wesley.

  But Nichole was Wesley’s team. Chase was only temporary. Their arrangement short-term. If she started relying on Chase, then expectations developed that Chase could be something more permanent in their lives. Her heart would start to believe again, and there’d be no going back. Then Wesley would get hurt. Chase had to remain on his own team.

  “Time,” Dan shouted. “Hands off the snowmen.”

  And Nichole had to keep her mind off Chase, off repeating stolen kisses, and off imagining that something more real existed between them. Something that could last past contract notarizations and app sales. The head on her snowman listed to the side as if doubting her resolve.

  Dan called the teams together. Wesley spread his arms wide and shouted, “May we present Zombie Snowland.”

  More than a half dozen snowmen covered their Zombie Snowland in various stages of formation from full bodies to heads only. Broken twigs served as arms. Their rock eyes drooped into their half-formed mouths. They’d added a sports drink to stain the snow of their zombies’ bodies bloodred. And even wrapped one poor normal-looking snowman up in a rope, held by a zombie. Nichole granted them high points for creativity, despite wanting to split up their team.

  “It’s an infestation of zombie snowmen.” Chase grinned and high-fived Wesley. Their rapport natural, genuine and growing stronger. “It was all Wesley’s idea and it was awesome.”

  Wesley nudged closer into Chase’s side. Chase’s praise straightened his thin shoulders. Nichole frowned into her scarf. She complimented her son often. But next to Chase, Wesley looked even more confident. Even more sure of himself.

  “Cool.” Ben’s awestruck mouth dropped open. “You guys totally win.”

  “But you guys have the tallest snowmen ever.” Wesley smiled and pointed at Ben’s snowmen.

  Ben and Dan had built two extra-wide bases and then kept stacking more snow mounds one on top of the other. Dan had retrieved a ladder at the halfway mark and tapped in Chase for assistance. The effect was two massive, towering snowmen that looked ready to stomp all over Zombie Snowland.

  Wesley continued, “They’re giants and almost reach the sky. That’s even more awesome.”

  Complimenting the rival team. Had Wesley learned that from Nichole or Chase? It shouldn’t matter. But those pesky connections that could turn into deep bonds kept interfering. She had to be responsible for Wesley’s life lessons. Chase had to be responsible for keeping his distance.

  “What about ours?” Nichole set her hands on her hips. “If the giants and the zombies take each other out, our snowmen are the last ones standing.”

  “Clearly we should win just for outlasting everyone else.” Brooke nudged a carrot nose back into her snowman’s face.

  Wesley shrugged. “But yours are just plain snowmen.”

  Ben’s eyebrows drew together, and he nodded. “Yeah. They’re really plain.”

  Dan stepped beside Chase. The pair made an effort to pretend to consider Brooke’s and Nichole’s snowmen. Then they nodded in unison, their expression as grim as the boys’. The foursome completely united.

  “That was the challenge,” Nichole argued. It was a snowman challenge, not a team building exercise. “To make snowmen. We did that.”

  “Ours even have hats and sweaters.” Brooke buttoned the sweater on Nichole’s snowman. “And we absolutely met the challenge to build the best-looking snowmen.”

  Brooke and she were also a great team. Brooke had even helped Nichole make breakfast that morning. Chase had kept his distance and played video games with the boys. And she hadn’t been the least bit disappointed. Nichole frowned; tallying her lies was becoming harder and harder. “The challenge wasn’t to build the best zombie attack.”

  “You think it’s the best zombie attack.” Chase grinned.

  “She did say the best,” Dan pointed out.

  “Boys win.” Ben and Wesley high-fived. “Can we go explore before lunch?”

  “We should’ve expected this.” Brooke groaned beside Nichole. “We know they like to gang up on us for every challenge.”

  “We have to come up with a better plan before game night this evening,” Nichole whispered. She’d lost her bet last night with Chase. The boys had eaten most of Chase’s casserole themselves, especially after Chase had helped himself to a huge portion of the baked pasta and finished every bite. Nichole had clearly underestimated the Chase factor in more ways than one.

  “Not so fast.” Dan caught the boys by their jackets before they sprinted off to explore. “I’m coming with you and you won’t argue about it.”

  The boys rounded on Dan and listed off the places on the property they wanted to check. Dan finally raised his hands and said, “Just lead the way. I’ll follow.”

  The trio bounded off toward the back of the château.

  “I’ll go in and start washing the dishes.” Brook headed for the stairs.

  Nichole gathered the extra clothing they hadn’t used for their snowmen.

  Chase picked up a scarf, shook off the snow and set it gently on the pile she held. He asked, “Want some help with lunch?”

  She wanted help remembering their kiss had been a mistake. She wanted help putting a wedge between him and her son. She wanted help reminding herself this was all pretend. “We’ve got it. Don’t you want to go explore with the boys?”

  He tugged her hat o
ver her forehead. “We never talked about that kiss. Or our options.”

  There were no other options. But she’d lain awake thinking about their kiss most of the night, until she finally decided she’d created a simple memory for later. For the nights she couldn’t sleep, and the loneliness joined her. Nothing wrong with that. “It was a late night after we finished dinner and playing cards.”

  “We have time now and no one to hear us besides the snowmen.” He tipped his head toward the snowmen. One corner of his mouth tipped up, offering a different sort of suggestion.

  No one would see if she kissed him again. No. She already had enough memories of kissing Chase. Two to be exact. More than enough. Nichole hugged the clothes pile tighter and locked her hands together to keep from reaching for him. “I should really go help Brooke. She’s worse than me in the kitchen.”

  “Then you do need my help.” Chase set his hand on her lower back and walked with her up the stairs. He held the door open for her, but set his hand on her elbow and stopped her just inside the doorway. He leaned in and whispered, “I know you don’t want to talk about that kiss. But at least tell me I’m not the only who can’t stop thinking about it.”

  Nichole closed her eyes, willed that shiver to recede. Ordered her heart to stand down. And opted for one of her son’s favorite defaults when he wanted to avoid getting in trouble.

  Deny. Deny. Deny.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “HEY, YOU GUYS!” Wesley barreled through the back door. Snowflakes dusted the floor around him, jarred free by his unrestrained shout of glee. “Guess what we found?”

  Chase slid the pancake griddle into the lower cabinet on the island and closed the door, removing an obstacle from Wesley’s erratic path. Chase remembered running into Nonna’s back porch or his mom’s kitchen, yelling guess what I discovered. The discoveries had ranged from snails, slugs and snakes to wild mushrooms; bird feathers and bird eggs to turtles, possums and earthworms. Every discovery, down to a broken piece of colored glass had always been better than the last. He considered the boys and the mountains outside and decided the options were endless. And seriously intriguing.