by Lucy Lennox
“Naw, man. It looks really nice. Calm, you know? Becky said she and Nancy feel like they work in a fancy hotel now.”
“Thanks. I have to admit, I really enjoyed doing it. I didn’t realize how much fun it would be doing interior design. Usually I just stick to clothing.”
“He’s extremely talented at both,” I said, leaning over to kiss his cheek. “You should see what he’s done to Xander’s old cabin just in the last couple of weeks. It’s like a designer chalet inside.”
I felt Oz lean into me despite scoffing at my compliments.
Wade kept Oz talking for a few more minutes, and it became clear to me that he’d overheard more of Oz’s and my conversation than I’d originally thought and was trying to keep Oz distracted. The exam room walls and doors were notoriously thin, so I wasn’t surprised. I caught his eyes flicking several times over Oz’s shoulder to Zoey’s exam room until Doc Sharma came out.
“Well, like I said,” Wade finished. “See you out in the lobby. Take your time.”
He shot me a wink before making his way out to the reception area.
Oz turned to the doc. “Did you find anything else?”
Doc Sharma’s face softened. “No, Oz. All you can do for her right now is help look after her and keep her relaxed as much as possible. She has a list of instructions, as well as prenatal vitamins and a nutrition booklet, and you can make an appointment for her to come back in next week to follow up. Since it’s the holidays, be sure to check with Nancy to see when we’re here next week.”
I remembered we were scheduled to go to Bennett and Xander’s wedding on Christmas Eve two days from now. I needed to figure out a nice way to box up the homemade brew I’d made them as a wedding gift. I’d come up with a recipe that Bennett would like as much as Xander and wanted to present it in something nicer than just a cardboard box with a sticky bow on it.
When Zoey emerged from her exam room, the three of us headed out front to make her next appointment and introduce her to Wade. Before Zoey even looked his way, Wade’s jaw had dropped and his back had straightened.
Well, well. What do we have here?
“Wade, come meet Oz’s good friend, Zoey, from New York,” I said with a knowing grin.
Wade swallowed and stood up, approaching slowly like he was afraid of being rebuffed. I looked back at Zoey and tried to see her from Wade’s point of view. She was a stunningly beautiful woman. Her skin was a creamy bronze and her green eyes shone with excitement as she stared at the ultrasound pictures Becky had brought out for her. One hand rubbed her belly absently through the oversized white cable-knit sweater she’d borrowed from Oz’s closet while the other reached out to share the pictures with Oz.
When Zoey finally looked up at Wade, she almost dropped the photos.
“Oh. Hi. Ah… hi,” she stammered.
Wade’s tall, muscular frame made her look tiny by comparison. He reached out a hand to shake.
“I’m Wade McCreary,” he said. “I heard you might need a ride up to Oz’s place.”
Her inky eyelashes fluttered for a half second, and Oz looked over at me with wide eyes.
Are you seeing this?
I winked at him.
Sure am.
“Oh, ah… yes. If… I mean, if that would be okay. I don’t want to put you out or anyth—”
“No, no,” Wade cut in. “It would be my pleasure. As long as your husband wouldn’t mind a strange man driving you…”
If Zoey sensed the desperation in Wade’s leading question, she didn’t indicate it.
“No husband,” she corrected. “Just me. And whoever the heck this little guy turns out to be.” Her hand continued rubbing the bump under her sweater as she blushed up at Wade.
“Oh,” Wade said softly. “I’m sorry. But…” He cleared his throat. “But it seems like you have some good friends here more than willing to make up for that. And as far as ready-made surrogate families go, you couldn’t have come to a better place than Haven. My brother and I moved here a few years ago after our parents died, and we haven’t felt alone ever since. So now that you’re here, I’d say it’s not really just you and this little guy after all, is it?”
He smiled at her then, and it was like the fucking sun came out in both of their faces.
I wasn’t sure either of them even realized that they left the clinic without giving Oz or me a second glance.
After a few errands in town and a lengthy roam through the grocery store, Oz and I were finally on our way back up the mountain toward home with a truck full of supplies.
“The last thing she needs right now is to fall for some guy,” Oz griped for the millionth time since leaving the clinic. “What does she need a man for, anyway? She has me.”
I reached over and grabbed his hand, threading our fingers together the way he liked.
“Oz, sweetheart, you are so fucking cute when you pout, I can hardly stand it.”
He pushed out his bottom lip without realizing it. “I’m not pouting. This is serious. I don’t even know this Wade guy.”
“I do. He’s a very nice man. I think the only thing I don’t like about him is his brother, Keith,” I teased. Keith had asked Oz out three or four times since Thanksgiving, and it was getting on my damned nerves. At this point, I was fairly sure he was just doing it to troll me.
“What’s wrong with Keith? He’s sweet.”
Before I opened my mouth to snap out a disagreement, Oz turned and stuck out his tongue at me.
“Oh, ha ha. You wouldn’t think it was so funny if he’d been asking me out these past couple of weeks,” I said.
“Now who’s pouting?”
Oz pulled up our joined hands and pressed kisses across my knuckles before getting to my thumb and drawing the whole damned thing into his hot, wet mouth.
“Jesus Christ, Oz,” I groaned. “Do you want me to drop this truck in the ditch?”
He pulled my thumb out of his mouth and pressed my hand against the fly of his jeans where a giant erection sat ready to be devoured. It set my own cock throbbing, and I groaned again.
“Just push the snow tires button and we’ll be fine,” he teased.
Chapter 23
Oz
I shouldn’t have been surprised to find Wade still at my cabin when we got home, but I was. As soon as we arrived, the two of them seemed to realize how much time they’d spent getting to know one another over a cup of tea, or three, and Wade made a hasty exit.
While Jake unloaded the truck, I grilled Zoey to within an inch of her life. She was kind enough to humor me through the first few questions until her hormones kicked in. Suddenly, I had a lap full of my best friend and hot tears were sliding into the front of my fleece.
“What the hell?” I asked. “We were talking about a sexy mountain man. What’s with the crying?”
“He was just being polite. No one will want a single mother with a new baby,” she sobbed against my chest. “I’m going to be alone forever.”
“Not true. Now who’s the drama queen in our relationship?”
Jake’s voice came from the kitchen. “Still you, sweetheart.”
“Not helping,” I called back. “Listen, Zo. You know I was just being selfish, right? If you like Wade, I think you should feel free to flirt with him all you want. What harm could it do? Jake says he’s a nice guy. He owns the most popular pub in town and his brother owns a sandwich shop. They’re very well-known in Haven and—”
Zoey sniffed. “Don’t listen to me. I’m just being weird. I have to admit, I’m kind of envious of what you and Jake have. He adores you, Ozzie.”
I looked over toward the kitchen to see if I could determine whether or not he heard her. She’d lowered her voice, but I knew from experience the man was stealthy.
“The feeling is mutual,” I mumbled.
“I’m happy you finally found someone who sees how special you are. I can tell you two are in it for the long haul.”
My heart dropped and I shook my head, feeli
ng the early rumble of heartbreak deep in my gut. “Not the long haul, Zo-Zo-Bug,” I said. “Just the short term. He’s moving away in February.”
She snorted. “So you’ll go with him. It’s not like you can’t design from anywhere.”
Movement out of the corner of my eye drew my attention toward the kitchen. Jake stood against the doorframe staring at me with a guarded expression on his face. I wanted to scream and cry at him that it wasn’t fucking fair–that I wanted the long haul, hell, I deserved the long haul with him. But I knew it was no use. As sweet as he’d turned out to be when it came to me, the one issue he absolutely would not budge on was the finite term of this whatever-it-was between us.
I swallowed the huge lump in my throat and tried my best to push those feelings away for the millionth time since he and I had gotten together.
“Have I told you yet about this Winter Carnival I’ve been working on and the pageant costumes I’ve helped make?”
Zoey let me change the subject while she leaned her head against my shoulder and listened to me pontificate on all the pretty things I’d helped design for the carnival the following day. I was halfway through my descriptions when I came to a screeching halt.
“Shit. You can’t come.”
She didn’t lift her head up to ask me what I was talking about, and I realized she’d fallen asleep against my shoulder. When Jake rounded the corner to bring us some drinks, he saw me look up at him with wide eyes.
“The carnival is tomorrow,” I said. “She can’t come.”
He set the bottles of water down on the table and helped me lay her down on the sofa and pull a blanket over her before reaching out to pull me into a hug.
“Then we’ll take a million pictures and give her a slideshow on the laptop when we get home,” he said quietly in my ear. “Don’t even say what I know you’re thinking.”
“I can’t go. I’m not going to leave her alone.”
He pulled back and cupped my jaw before kissing my cheek. “Wade must have figured it out before you did, because as soon as he got home, he texted me to ask if he could come by and keep an eye on her tomorrow.”
“He what?” a groggy voice croaked from under the pile of blankets on the sofa. “Did you say Wade’s coming over? What did you say? Did you tell him yes?”
She had a sweet smile on her face and I realized that if nothing else, I could love Wade McCreary for making my best friend feel like a million fucking bucks.
The following morning, I was dead asleep being spooned by my favorite doctor when he slowly began kissing the back of my neck and running his hands up and down my skin. Without a single word, he rolled me onto my stomach, donned a condom, and slid inside my body, moving his hips in slow, firm strokes–in and out until I was awake and breathless.
“Yes,” I gasped into the pillow, coming awake to the delicious feel of hard, slick cock; strong, grasping hands; and a hot, wet mouth across my shoulders. My orgasm had started building well before I was fully conscious and by the time I knew what was happening, I was shooting my release between my stomach and the sheet while Jake growled his own climax against the back of my neck.
“Oh god,” I panted, still feeling my body’s intermittent squeezes of his cock inside my channel. “Fuck, Jake. God.”
“Mm-hm.”
“Oh my god.” I could barely catch my breath, and I already wanted him again. “Please, please wake me up like that again sometime soon.”
“Mm.”
I turned my head and saw his hair sticking out everywhere and his eyes still half-closed. A deep pillow crease cut across one cheek and his lips were puffy and red. I let out a laugh.
“You awake or were you just sleep-sexing?”
“Mmpfh.” He lay back down along my back and buried his face in my shoulder.
I wiggled my ass to get him off me so I could rescue myself from the wet spot and shuck off the sheets. He rolled to one side and peeked up at me. “Shower and back to bed?”
After crawling over to kiss his face, I grinned down at him. “Shower and Winter Carnival. Today’s the day. We’re going to make breakfast for preggo over there first and then we need to bundle up.”
I jumped up and made my way to the bathroom, deliberately ignoring his grumbles about perky morning people.
When he finally came and joined me in the shower, I reminded him that I wouldn’t even be awake right now if it hadn’t been for his own morning eagerness.
“Wood,” he mumbled into my chest. “It was morning wood, not eagerness.”
“Just so we’re clear,” I said into his dripping hair. “I wasn’t complaining.”
When we were finally clean, fed, and ready to go, Wade showed up to Zoey-sit my best friend and the Judas dog who’d apparently decided to adopt Zoey the minute she’d arrived in town. I was secretly glad Zoey had Boo’s love and snuggles, though, even if I did miss the little ball of half-fur between Jake and me while we slept.
Once we arrived in town, the day seemed to fly by. Silver foil stars and angels were laced across the main street high in the air, the Colorado winter sun glinting brightly off them. Vendors had stalls all up and down the road, everything from hot chocolate and baked goods to handcrafted holiday gift items. There were groups of kids from the local dance studio performing numbers every half hour on a low stage at one end of the road and church choirs and carolers crooning holiday songs from one at the other end.
The entire town seemed to be out and about to celebrate the season with each other, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. Jake and I took advantage of the fresh air and bright sun to shop for a few small holiday gifts for our friends and came across an antique wooden milk crate with an elaborate iron handle that would make the perfect container for Jake’s craft beer bottles at the wedding the following evening.
After stashing it in the truck, I pulled Jake down the road to a holiday stall where I found a few bits and pieces, including the perfect white burlap ribbon and a strand of silver stars to go with it.
“What’s that for?” Jake asked.
“I’m going to make a fancy bow for the beer crate. You’ll see,” I told him. “And then I’m going to make Bennett, Xander, and Lucky matching scarves for the wedding.”
Lucky had mentioned the ceremony taking place outside, and I realized I had the perfect Oscar de la Renta green and red cashmere boucle I could use to make a set of matching holiday scarves for the three of them.
I was in the midst of reaching for another, larger piece of the burlap material when Jake suddenly stiffened at my side. I turned to look at him and saw that he’d gone white as a ghost, his vision fixed on the small crowd of people a few stalls down. Jake’s eyes were wide and his breathing began coming out in pants as he quickly scanned the area around us, then focused his attention back on the crowd.
“Jake?” I said softly as I tried to make sense of his demeanor.
He looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack.
“Jake,” I repeated, this time grabbing his hand. He jerked it from my grip and looked down at me as if he was surprised to see me there. Then his eyes shot back to the crowd. A tall man with dark hair separated from the crowd and began walking our way. The way Jake was looking at him was freaking me out.
“Do you know Mr. Tash?” I asked.
“What?” Jake asked, his gaze once again jerking to me.
“Mr. Tash,” I said, nodding to the man who was about a hundred feet from us. “He’s Becky’s uncle,” I added.
Jake studied the man for a moment, then began to relax. “Oh, yeah,” he murmured. “He, ah, looks different.”
Mr. Tash waved at us as he walked by and Jake waved back, but it took him several beats before he stopped looking around us. “You okay?” I asked, though I knew he wasn’t. It was just my way of inviting him to explain what the hell I’d just witnessed.
“What? Yeah, of course,” he said quietly. “Just lost in thought, I guess.”
He’d been a hell of a
lot more than that, but I let the subject go when he pointed at the ribbon in my hands and said, “Is that the one you’re going with?”
An hour later, after a cup of warm cider, Jake was himself again and was in the process of pulling me down to the stage at the end of the street where the pageant was to be held.
Sure enough, five of the students whose outfits I’d helped design or make were performing in the production of the Christmas pageant. We cheered like crazy when they took their final bow, and Jake insisted on taking photos of me with each child when the pageant was over. Nothing made me happier than when one of the student’s fathers tackled me into a bear hug when he saw me.
“You have no idea what a difference you made in my son’s life,” he said with damp eyes. “He wants to be a fashion designer now and made his own costume for the drama production he’s in this semester. Thanks to you, he believes he can do it. His mom and I have been trying to tell him to follow his heart, but for some reason, he still thought he had to grow up to be a lawyer or accountant or something. Having role models like you and his drama teacher, Anastasia, have made such a difference to him, Oz. Thank you again for volunteering your time to help with this event.”
He hugged me again, and I caught sight of Jake over the man’s shoulder. He was beaming with pride, and I rolled my eyes at him to cover up the fact my heart was going to overflow or downright explode any minute.
Thankfully, it was getting colder out and most of the food trucks and vendor stalls were closing up shop already. The day had flown by, and I was eager to get home and check on Zoey before spending the rest of the evening sacked out in front of the fire. Jake put his arm around me and tucked me into his side.
“Excuse us, Frank. It’s time to get this guy home before he turns into an Ozsicle. Tell Melanie Merry Christmas and be sure to tell Josh what a great job he did in the pageant.”
Once we said goodbye to all the people we knew on the way back to the truck, the day’s excitement caught up to me. As badly as I wanted to ask Jake about the incident earlier in the day, I was too out of it to bring it up, and when Jake poured me into the passenger seat, I was out cold before the engine even turned over.