This was crazy.
It was only lasagna.
Nick’s house came into view, and I was shocked at how beautiful it was. Three slate steps led to a large porch, which wrapped around the front and side of the log home. There were huge picture windows on each side of the front door.
Before I even reached the steps, Nick opened the door and smiled.
“Nice to have you, neighbor.” He grinned, stepped outside, and reached for my hand. “The steps might be a little icy.”
The moment his fingers wrapped around mine, I felt the connection again and looked up to see if he noticed it, but his expression remained unchanged.
“Thanks for inviting me over.”
“Pleasure’s mine.” He let go of my hand the second I was on safe ground, and my heart dipped.
“Such a beautiful home. I didn’t know it was a log home. You can’t really see it from the road.”
“Thanks. It’s been a labor of love.”
Once I stepped inside, I knew exactly what he was talking about. Every beam, post, and beautifully carved banister created a welcoming foyer. The same slate from outside had been carried into the entry, and an open second-story looked down from above.
To my left was a living room and to the right, a dining room. I could smell the garlic and basil from the lasagna wafting through the air. Kissing definitely wasn’t on the menu.
“Smells delicious.” I glanced at Nick, who gave a quick nod.
“Thanks. It’s just setting up. I can give you a tour, if you’d like.” He smiled, reaching for my hand again.
“I’d like that.”
“So down this hall are the kitchen and the great room with a pretty mammoth hearth. It’s kind of the centerpiece of the house. I wanted to make sure I could see it from the kitchen and the dining room.”
The house looked modest from out front, but it was really spacious inside. The great room was two stories high. I looked up and saw more of the exposed beams and a balcony overlooking the great room.
“Upstairs are bedrooms and a bonus room.”
“The furniture is so gorgeous,” I said, admiring the sectional that had an ornately carved wood frame and a beige fabric covering overstuffed cushions.
“Thanks. I’ve really enjoyed getting to make all the pieces.”
“You made all these?” I asked, scanning the stools dotted along the granite breakfast bar, another smaller dining table in the center of an eating nook, and a large, blocky, rustic coffee table.
“Yup. It’s what I was born to do.”
I saw a glint of pride surface behind Nick’s gaze, and I could see he loved what he did.
“I can see that.” I nodded, admiring the space.
“Would you like to see upstairs?”
“Sure. It’s probably the only time I’ll see it, so why not?” I grinned, and he parted his lips but shut them quickly without saying a word.
“What?” My brow arched.
“Nothing. There’s another staircase over here. It’s not as fancy as the one out front, but it does the job.”
He opened a door next to the kitchen and turned on a light. It felt like a secret corridor as I scaled the steps after him.
“This is the only part of the house that has drywall, and I’m looking forward to getting rid of it, but I just haven’t had the time.”
“Well, you’ve obviously been busy.”
We reached the top, and I spotted the balcony overlooking the foyer, but to my immediate right was a short hallway.
“This is the owner’s suite.”
“I take it that’s you?” I grinned.
I couldn’t have picked out a better room for Nick if I tried. The king-size bed was rustic and masculine, but the gray duvet and matching pillows piled on the bed threw me.
“I didn’t take you as a duvet kind of guy.” I walked into his bedroom and he quickly followed, chuckling.
I glanced out one of the windows that pointed toward the front of the house. There was a distant glow between the branches of thick conifers.
“Is that my little cabin?” I asked, craning my neck to see better.
“It is.” He smiled.
“Were you spying on me?” I teased, knowing I’d be nothing more than a tiny dot.
“Absolutely.”
I followed him out of the bedroom and across the balcony, where I could see into the foyer on one side and the great room on the other, until we hit another hall with the remaining bedrooms.
There was something off about Nick since I’d arrived. The carefree Nick that I’d gotten used to seemed to have disappeared, replaced with a quiet version. By the time we walked down the stairs into the foyer, it was driving me nuts.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, looking into his brown eyes. “You seem a little more uptight than at my house.”
His lip quirked up slightly and he shook his head.
“Sorry. I’m just . . .” He stopped himself.
“What? Do you need me to go back home? I can. It’s totally fine if Tinder is calling.”
Nick’s low, gravelly hum of a laugh echoed into the foyer, and I got a tingle from my head to my toes.
“So what’s up with not dating people on the island?” I asked.
His eyes widened.
“You’ve seen how small of a place it is. Can you imagine how well that would work come break-up time?” He cocked his head toward the kitchen and I nodded, following right behind.
“So you’re assuming any relationship you have would go down in a blaze of glory?” I questioned.
“It’s a known fact.” He pulled a knife out of a wooden block and began cutting into the lasagna. It looked amazing, and so did the garlic bread sitting next to it. “Relationships and me are like a pickle and peanut butter sandwich.”
I smacked the counter and he jumped.
“Have you actually had pickles and peanut butter?”
He stopped cutting and looked at me oddly. “No. Have you?”
“Yeah. I have, and it’s surprisingly good. It was a dare in college.”
“If you think that’s a good combo, you might not like the lasagna. It’s pretty basic.”
“All I’m saying is that you shouldn’t shut yourself off from the possibilities. You might like pickles and peanut butter.”
“Possibilities from what in particular, Holly?” The way he said my name made me want to stand in front of him and do jumping jacks and point at myself.
“See? You don’t even know what the possibilities are. Talk about missing out in life.” I took a piece of garlic bread and sat in the chair, pretending not to sulk about my permanent friend status as he poured us each a glass of wine.
Chapter Seven
“Is that a hot tub?” I asked, taking the last bite of the most amazing lasagna in the history of noodles. I was pointed toward the back window, and all through dinner, I’d tried to figure out what I was looking at on the patio.
“It is.” He sat back in the chair.
“My boyfriend in high school always tried to get me into his. Well, there were a lot of things he tried to get me to do.” I glanced at Nick and he was smiling.
“He wasn’t able to convince you?” Nick asked.
“Nope.”
“Poor guy. Well, I guess I shouldn’t even bother then.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin, and I forced my eyes from lingering on his lips. Men weren’t supposed to have such luscious lips.
Maybe the second or third glass of wine was getting to me. Maybe he had average lips and the alcohol made them look bigger.
“It’s freezing outside,” I told him.
“That’s what makes it so relaxing. You just sink into the steaming water and let your worries drift away. It’s even better when it’s snowing.”
“Sounds nice.” And it did.
“It is nice.” He stood up. “Ready for some limoncello sorbet?”
“That sounds even better.” I took my plate and the almost empty bowl of garlic bread
over to the counter and watched him move through his kitchen, opening the freezer.
“How about if I try a pickle and peanut butter sandwich, you’ll go into the hot tub with me?” He spun around holding the sorbet.
“Now?” I chirped.
“Or whenever. It doesn’t have to be tonight.” He licked his lips and his eyes fell to mine.
“I don’t have a suit,” I muttered. “Not that it matters, I guess. You’ve seen me in the equivalent of a bikini top.”
“True.” He nodded, lifting his gaze.
“Is this a dare?”
“Would it help or hurt the cause?” He asked, his brows furrowing together.
“I rarely turn down a dare.”
“Then it’s a dare.” He smirked.
“From one neighbor to another?” My brow arched.
“A dare from one friend to another.”
Friend.
I narrowed my eyes at him before glancing toward the hot tub.
“Can we eat the limoncello in the hot tub?” I asked.
He dropped one of the bowls on the counter and scrambled to catch it before it hit the floor.
“I don’t see why not.”
Now or never.
“Then, I’ll meet you out back.” I didn’t bother to look at Nick as I made my way to the sliding glass door, but I felt his eyes on me every step of the way.
Afraid I was going to talk myself out of it, I unlocked the door, walked out onto the concrete patio, and removed the hot tub cover. The fresh smell of chlorine mixed with the chill in the air was odd, but somewhat exhilarating, especially as the water hissed and snapped with bubbles. I glanced through the window and saw Nick in the kitchen, scooping the sorbet and looking like this kind of thing happened every day of the week.
I suppose for him, maybe it did.
I looked behind me and beyond the patio. Looked like nothing but forest.
I could do this.
I took in a deep breath and slid down my skinny jeans, which were already too tight from dinner, and quickly pulled my sweater and camisole up and over my head. I draped everything over the hot tub cover and climbed up the steps, dipping my toe in first.
The water wasn’t quite scalding, but it was really hot. I glanced into the house again, and he was turning around so I slid into the water before he could see me.
The heat wrapped around most of my body as my neck stuck out of the water.
“I wasn’t sure you were actually going to do it,” Nick said, coming onto the patio.
“I’m a woman of my word.”
I noticed he tucked a new bottle of wine under his arm as he handed me my bowl of sorbet.
“Champagne,” he said after seeing me eye the bottle.
He set it on a patio chair and walked back into the house, where he grabbed a couple of flutes.
I took a bite of the sorbet and closed my eyes from delight. It was like I was experiencing sensory overload. Between the sweet and tart of the sorbet, the chill in the air, the heat under the water, and Nick, I could barely keep my head on straight.
“This. Is. Amazing.” I opened my eyes to see Nick tugging his sweater over his head, and my breath caught.
It shouldn’t have. I knew this was the process. He wasn’t going to get in with a sweater and jeans, but I wasn’t really thinking this through.
“You okay?” he asked, tilting his head.
“Totally. I’ve just never had sorbet this good.” I smiled and took another bite, watching him bend over, presumably to take his jeans off.
Neighbors. Friends. Whatever this was, it made my night interesting.
Before climbing in, he popped the cork on the champagne and poured us each a glass. He set them in the cup holders and balanced his bowl next to them.
He didn’t bother with the steps. Instead, he hoisted himself up with his arms, and his body moved like a male gymnast as his legs came over the top and he slid into the tub with barely a wave in my direction.
It was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. It didn’t hurt that he was wearing black boxers.
“You okay over there?”
“Doing just fine, friend.” I grinned and took a sip of my champagne.
“Don’t chug it. The bubbles can really get to a person in a hot tub.”
“Do you tell all the women that?” I giggled and his expression fell slightly.
“Actually, you’re the first.”
“The first you told that to or the first to climb in the hot tub?”
His smile returned and he looked up toward the sky.
“You’re the first anyone to be in this thing besides me.”
“Really?” I asked, completely not expecting to hear that.
He nodded and took a bite of the sorbet.
“It’s just kind of my place to relax.” He watched me carefully, and even though I was ninety percent underwater, a wave of goosebumps ran across my skin.
“Well, by the looks of it, you need a place to relax. You work your fingers to the bone.” I took a gulp of champagne instead of a sip. “Besides making your home a home, designing and building all the furniture inside it, and running a company, you have to devote hours upon hours chugging away back and forth on the ferry, keeping your Tinder profile up-to-date. It’s gotta be exhausting.”
He laughed and put his empty bowl on the ledge.
“Life can be very exhausting,” he agreed.
He was a few feet away from me, sitting on one of the hot tub’s reclining benches. It would be so easy to float over to him, but he looked at ease and like he was truly enjoying being out here with his neighbor-turned-friend.
I just couldn’t ruin his night like that.
“You’re a fun girl.” His eyes connected with mine and a shiver shot down my spine. There was something about the way he was looking at me that made me wonder if maybe I should float in his direction.
“I have my moments.” I smiled, propping my bowl in his before leaning back in the water.
“Something tells me you’re full of them.” He stretched his arms along the edge of the hot tub.
I shook my head. “Only since I moved here. Fireweed is freeing. I don’t have angry bosses, disgruntled clients, or an apartment that smells like whatever my neighbor is cooking. Plus, I have a job that is fun. What more can I ask for?”
Nick’s smile widened. “What more could you ask for?” He nodded. “Exactly. Life is pretty good.”
“It is.” I sank back and rested my head against some sort of pillow contraption.
“What brought you out here?” he asked as the Jacuzzi bubbles popped around my ears.
“I got let go from my job as an investment adviser. I’d been there for seven years, so my severance package was pretty decent. My sister talked nonstop about Fireweed, and when I visited, I fell in love. I used my entire severance package on Frank’s place and haven’t looked back since.”
“Wow. I’m impressed.”
Nick’s knee knocked into mine, and I immediately felt like I was back in tenth grade again, where every touch and connection was jolting.
“It’s been a wild ride so far. My parents are coming out to visit us at Thanksgiving. They’re a bit judgy.” I laughed.
“You sound nervous.”
“They make me that way. Always have and always will. My sister and I didn’t exactly follow their plans for us.”
“Which were what?” he asked, genuinely interested.
“Go to college, get married, pop out some kids, live down their cul-de-sac, and let them babysit their grandchildren.” I smiled.
“My sister and I got to the first step, but after that, my parents’ plan blew up. It will make Thanksgiving extra fun this year since I lost my job, am still single, and have a house in disarray. I’d hoped to at least have Christmas lights up or something to make it look like I have life under control.”
Nick laughed and moved his arms over the water, creating a gentle ripple.
“Christmas lights always mak
e things better.” He grinned. “But I hear that. I was supposed to go to law school, or at the very least, enter some graduate program, but four years was more than enough for me.”
“I promise I won’t bring up Tinder after this, or at least not for the rest of the night, but I’m curious why you live on Fireweed if your entertainment is mostly centered across the water?”
“I love the people here. I love the lifestyle. The other . . .” He shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s just for fun, and regardless of what your sources think, I’m really not all that successful.”
“Well, recently, you’ve been one of my main sources.” I giggled.
He laughed and nodded. “Exactly my point.”
A few minutes of silence sat between us, but it wasn’t awkward. It was just peaceful. My mind had stopped spinning about my parents coming out and all the house stuff I had left to do, and things felt blissful.
“So what else did the high school boyfriend not get his way with?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I asked, trying to feed him some of his own medicine.
“I really, really would.” Nick floated closer to me, and I took the last sip of my champagne. “Would you like some more?”
“I wouldn’t want you to have to get out.”
“I can reach it from here,” he assured me.
Before I had a chance to answer, he stood up, reached over the hot tub toward the bottle on the table, and snagged it. His body was dripping wet as he poured us each a glass and then repeated the process to put the bottle back on the table. He looked delicious and perfectly in reach, considering all the alcohol I’d downed.
I dropped my gaze quickly toward the bubbling water before he spun back around.
“So you ripped out your high school boyfriend’s heart and—”
“Not even,” I protested. “He was a total creep. I caught him cheating with his sister’s best friend during one of her sleepovers. It was the biggest high school scandal to hit that town in years.”
“Must have been a small town.”
“Painfully small. After that, I decided I’d wait to find the love of my life in college.”
“How’d that work out?” he asked.
“Not well.” I laughed. The champagne was definitely getting the better of me, and I was happy for it. “I went with the same guy for the first two years of college, but when that ended eerily similar to what happened with my first boyfriend, I boycotted relationships.”
Tempting Love on Holly Lane (Island County Book 5) Page 6