Then, her mind turned to Ayden. He was a man so determined to block himself from whatever constituted a true commitment. He’d not only found himself, but placed a concrete barrier around his perimeter to keep people from getting in, or himself from getting out.
“I think you and Ayden should start a family as soon as you’re married.”
“I agree.”
Grace glanced up to find Jolene’s smiling face tilted down at her. The woman had a way of making a person blush, even without saying much.
“I see everything’s working out between you and McCabe. I told you he was a fine catch.”
Grace nodded believing Jolene knew more about Danielle’s visit to Mistletoe than she wanted anyone to know. Did Jolene, somehow, have a stake in Ayden not selling Ida and Connor McCabe’s dream home, too? Perhaps Jolene, a surrogate mother of sorts, wanted to see him happily settled as much as Maggie, by whatever means possible. Ambushed. Poor Grace didn’t have a chance.
****
Ayden gazed at Grace holding Nate with keen interest. It appeared so natural for Grace to have a child resting in her small arms, her lips curved into a smile, her angelic face luminous and awestruck.
For today, he didn’t want to think about her leaving or why she came here. He just wanted to get her alone and memorize every delicious curve and cherish every intimate moment. For this reason, he chose not to take the call from Fitz. If he had answers about Danielle, Ayden didn’t care to know them until after he’d made love to Grace one, two, ten more times. Giving her up wouldn’t be easy, but it was inevitable, unless he stood willing to propose. That, he could never do.
Still, the guilt of what he was doing gnawed at him. He’d made a pact with Grace to find her sister, and all he’d done was ask a few questions and toss the job to Fitz and Hogan. Despite the fact that Danielle was a grown woman who’d left California on her own accord, he should have done more, instead of placing the responsibility on someone else.
Nonetheless, he continued to gaze at Grace, fascinated by how easily she fit in with everyone. Even Jolene sat and talked with her for a few minutes, something the woman said causing a blush to creep in to Grace’s smiling cheeks. He wondered about their conversation, good ole Jolene not shy about anything when it came to men or relationships.
Deciding a rescue was in order, Ayden stepped across the room, leaning down to give Grace a tender kiss on her forehead.
“There you are,” Jolene said with more energy than a caffeinated teenager. “I was just talking to Grace here about the Christmas Eve Eve Dance, and was wondering if you had the chance to ask her yet. As pretty as she is, you’ll have someone whisking her away from you before you ever knew what happened.”
He sent the woman a warning glance. He loved her, but sometimes, she was as meddlesome as Maggie. “I’m afraid Grace has a wedding to attend to at the same time.” He didn’t mean to bring up Danielle, especially since Jolene was the only one who knew exactly why Grace was here. However, instead of commenting, the woman clamped down on her lips and then shot Grace a quick smile.
“Well, I’m going to go see if Maggie needs help in the kitchen,” the older woman said with a quick slap of her knees.
At that moment, Nate woke and rooted around for something to eat. Grace, unable to help the child, handed the baby back to his mother. “I think he’s looking for something I can’t give him.”
Sarah giggled. “This little guy eats more than Neil, and I thought that was impossible.”
With that said, the young woman ambled away, allowing Ayden to sink down in the empty space on the loveseat beside Grace. He wanted to get her alone and play the rum cake game again.
Then, she shot him with the inevitable question. “Have you heard from your friend, yet—the one who’s trying to find Danielle?”
He hesitated before shaking his head. “Nothing yet.”
Beside him, Grace dropped her shoulders in defeat. “I think you were right.”
He canted his head. “Right about what?”
“Danielle. She is leading me on a wild goose chase. It doesn’t make sense. None of this makes sense.” She closed her eyes for a brief moment, adding, “I don’t even know why I’m still here.”
Ayden brushed her cheek with his knuckle and then leaned in to whisper in her ear. He loved the delicious smell of her skin. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about our pact already?”
She shivered before pulling a few inches away from him. “Maggie. Right. It’s just that it feels so natural to be with you and to be here, I keep forgetting.”
He never had the chance to ask her to explain what she meant. Behind him, Maggie announced dinner in her usual way: with a silver spoon and a bottle of champagne.
At the large table with mismatched chairs, Grace settled beside him answering a bombardment of questions about her family, San Francisco, and her job as a baker.
“Oh, you must tell us how you two met, Grace.”
Ayden halted his fork of pumpkin pie at mid-bite, unsure if Grace could pull off telling the lie of the century. It was almost like the moment in Hawthorne’s store where she stood lifting her lips toward his, her body shaking, unsure and afraid of what the next moment might bring for them.
“Um, well, I.” She gave up and exhaled a loud breath.
At the last possible minute, Ayden flew in to save her, telling everyone the truth and not some made-up story. “Believe it or not, we met at O’Shannon’s. I saw her across the room, and…the rest is history, you might say.”
Sarah sighed next to Neil, placing her arm around his neck and giving him a kiss on his freckled cheek. “I remember the first time I met Neil. He drove by and splashed my clean uniform full of black sludge. It was love at first sight. Then he invited me to the Christmas Eve Eve Dance, and I knew we’d spend the rest of our lives together.”
“Come on, baby. Lay one on me.” Neil paused the drumming with his fingers to give his wife a sweeping kiss on her lips.
The place erupted in whoops and claps as Ayden turned to Grace. She was staring at the affectionate couple, and he wondered what she was thinking. Instead of asking, he touched her arm, caressing the velvety softness of her skin. “You can repay me later for bailing you out a few seconds ago.”
She scoffed, and he chuckled. He liked having her here, sharing her with his family and friends. Still, he believed he accepted this because she would be leaving soon. The thought pulled him into a foul mood, immediately.
“It’s time to decorate the tree, Uncle Ayden. Hurry!” Collin jumped up to grab his hand. Everyone laughed and stood, chairs scraping across the hardwood floor and feet shuffling to follow him and his enthusiastic nephew into the living room. From his peripheral vision, he watched Grace glance at the tree and then touch her index finger to the place the branch had made its mark above her eye.
“Are you all right?” He stepped close beside her.
She jumped, not hearing him approach, and then nodded. If she had anything to say, she never got the chance as Collin pulled on her shirt, calling her Aunt Grace and asking if she could help Ciara put one of the ornaments she’d made for her dad on the Christmas tree.
With ease, she lifted Ciara to place the homemade reindeer, shaped like her tiny foot, on the side closest to her. The little girl giggled and hugged her before waddling over to the box to retrieve another ornament.
“You’re very good with children,” he said, absently.
She sent him a sideways glance. “Well, since I planned on having eight of them, I should be.”
He hadn’t expected that reply, and he realized too late the extent of his temper. “Eight? Is that how many you and Rick plan on having?”
It didn’t take long for Grace to turn on him. “No. Eight is how many I wanted before my life fell apart. After all the women you’ve dated, Ayden, you should realize by now that we hold on to false childhood fantasies until there is no hope left.”
By this time, their conversation had gained some atte
ntion, and he wanted nothing more than to turn back the next few minutes and enjoy having her there. As Maggie jumped in with a nervous offer of spiked eggnog, he grabbed Grace’s hand and pulled her into the empty kitchen. He let go and paced between the steel stove and refrigerator, decorated with fingerprint art and smiling portraits of a happy family.
Time passed without him volunteering why he’d brought her all this way. He supposed she filled in the silence with her own interpretation of why they were there.
“Are we here to talk about the break-up?
He exhaled and stepped backwards until his back stood flush with the narrow pantry closet. He crossed his arms and canted his head, curious to see what she’d say. “All right, since you brought it up, what do you think we should do?”
Too late to hike back on this slippery slope, he waited for Grace to give him an answer. “I…I guess we could start with something we seem to do best.”
“What’s that?”
“Argue.”
He drew back. “We don’t argue that much, Grace. Even if we did, what do you suppose we’d argue about?”
She shrugged, and it irked him how she’d learned how to disguise her feelings. “I don’t know,” she answered. “I could accuse you of cheating on me or something.”
He glared down at her, insulted. “I’d never do that.”
She opened and closed her mouth several times before bringing in a long inhale. “What if I demand you marry me?” She jutted her chin out, defiant and challenging.
He didn’t hesitate to give her an answer. “Too predictable. Think of something else.”
Her arms fell straight to her side. “Fine, what if you ask me to marry you, bent on one knee, and I-I…do we have to talk about this now? I’ve had too much to drink to fight over what we need to fight over in order to never see each other again.”
She cupped her hands over her face. Helpless. He hated that feeling. He also hated that Grace depended on him to provide her with answers. Frustrated, he lashed out.
“Christ, what do you want from me?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Grace closed her eyes, taken aback by Ayden’s temperamental mood and the weight of what he’d asked. She wanted to believe he was falling in love with her, just as much as she was falling in love with him. She’d tried to play his game, using his rules, and had come up the loser. She believed ABBA sang it best.
Hurt, she pushed away just enough to glance up into the hardened lines of his face. “I want, when this is all over, to have a good night of drinking to make me forget all about you.”
The corners of his mouth lifted. “I will not let you forget me, Grace.”
She shook her head. “You can’t have it both ways.” At that moment, she didn’t want to leave Mistletoe angry or bitter. Ayden had done nothing wrong. From the beginning, he’d been honest about what he wanted and what he expected.
Cautiously, she lifted her hand to his cheek. “I don’t know how to separate the emotional from the physical. God knows I’ve tried with you.” She paused to swallow the lump in her throat. “Ayden, I don’t know how many more nights we have together, but I don’t want to spend them arguing over things we are unwilling to change. You might not like it”—she paused to bring in a deep, courageous breath—“but I’ve fallen in love with you.”
He stared at her, unblinking. She expected that reaction and didn’t want him to say something out of pity. When his lips parted on a reply, she rushed to silence him.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen, and I don’t expect you to say something to make me feel better about it. Until I leave, I’m going to love you without boundaries or limits.” She exhaled, feeling some relief to her confession. “Then, I’m going to go home, throw away all my romance novels, and take charge of my life for a change.”
She finally relaxed and stepped away. Just as she shifted toward the door, he cleared his throat and spoke, his words full of raw emotion. “I don’t think I’ve ever been less deserving of anyone in my life.”
She kept her back to him. “I’ll get Maggie. She might need some help with…something.” To her relief, everyone stood or sat, talking to the closest person to them. She noticed they all had a plate of her apple streusel cream puffs.
“Oh my gosh, Grace. You have to give me this recipe. Neil’s on his third one.” Sarah finished her last bite.
Not trusting her voice, Grace said nothing. For the remainder of the evening, she stayed busy clearing the table and organizing leftovers into Tupperware bowls for people to take home.
“Please be patient with Ayden,” Maggie said, drying the same plate she’d started on a few minutes before.
Grace forced a smile before raising her head toward Ayden’s sister. She was such a pretty woman: young, thin, and optimistic.
“You scare him to death, I think,” Maggie continued. “He’s so afraid of losing you that he can say the most reckless things to see what you’ll do, to see if you’ll run or stay.”
Grace wanted to laugh at Maggie’s assessment of their bogus situation. She wanted to tell the woman, so badly, how Ayden didn’t care whether Grace walked off a cliff or walked out of his life. Well, not as dramatic as that, but it felt like it, sometimes.
“Anyway, thanks for doing the dishes. Sarah always helps, but with Nate, well, you know.” Maggie finally placed the dish in the cabinet and gave Grace a long hug.
Adopting one of Ayden’s tactics, Grace tried keeping her emotions under lock and key and followed behind Maggie into the living room. The lights were off; it was time for the McCrery tree-lighting ceremony. She didn’t see Ayden until he slid in behind her. Despite the way they had left each other earlier, he wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her firm against him. Unafraid.
“Countdown,” someone called out.
“Five, four, three, two, one,” the congregation said in unison.
Grace blinked and found the room lit with the most beautiful Christmas tree she’d ever seen, the tree she and Ayden had found together. She brought in a heavy breath and placed her hands over her mouth. Everyone clapped, Ciara hopping up and down in front of the tree, excitement causing her to twirl and giggle like a dancing fairy.
Maggie quieted the gaiety by going to the middle of the room to make a firm announcement. “Now, everyone knows in Mistletoe, there’s a lot of kissing that goes on. So, for those of you who came with someone, or found someone”—she paused to send a wink in Kevin’s direction—“find your significant other and lay one on them.
Unsure of Ayden’s reaction at this point, Grace turned inside his arms. “We really don’t—”
“Shhh.” He cupped the side of her face.
Grace closed her eyes and waited for his firm lips to find hers. The contact made her heart sputter and her knees knock. For a brief moment, she even thought her feet lifted off the ground. She ignored the warning bells and sirens, allowing him to lure her in again, understanding the consequences and accepting them without regret.
“Ayden,” she sighed against his mouth. Then, as quickly as he kissed her, he pulled away. On shaky legs, Grace waved goodbye to the gregarious crowd and stepped into the night, the frigid air whipping across her heated skin.
As routine, he helped her up, walked around, and slid onto the hard leather seats. They didn’t talk much, and she wondered if her confession had made things more awkward between them.
“I have to stop by Hawthorne’s for something,” he said. “Would you mind waiting out here?”
Surprised to see the store’s lights on and Mrs. Hawthorne standing at the counter, Grace shook her head. He pulled to the curb and strode inside, the woman beaming at his approach. While Grace waited, the radio played “Silver Bells,” one of her favorite holiday tunes. When the song ended and another began, she dug into her pocket to check her phone. No sooner did she go to put it back when it vibrated with an incoming call.
Grace’s heart gave a strange beat, unsure what conversation awaited her on the o
ther end. Hello,” she said, in the darkened cab.
“Hello, Grace. I think you should come home, now.” It was her mother’s voice, and it was different from the last twenty or so calls she’d received from her.
Grace’s stomach sank to the floor. Not so long ago, she couldn’t wait to hear those words. Tonight, they turned her cold and numb. “What about Danielle? Don’t you want me to find her?”
Grace knew she sounded desperate, as if grasping for any excuse to stay one more day with Ayden.
“Danielle purchased an airline ticket for you. She’ll send you the details. I’ll pick you up at the airport tomorrow and explain everything when you get here, okay?” Her mother paused. “For the life of me, I can’t figure out what got into your sister’s head.”
Grace didn’t know either, but instead of saying she wanted to stay in Mistletoe a few more days, she gave in. “I’ll call when I land.”
Grace pulled the phone from her ear just as Ayden opened the door and hopped inside. He didn’t ask whom she’d talked to, and she didn’t volunteer.
At Hearth’s Gate, she left him in the foyer, ambling upstairs to begin packing.
In a daze, she folded his shirt and stuffed it under a few of her things. The window remained broken, the night air chilly on her back.
“Are you leaving me?”
She glanced up to find him standing in the doorway, his magnificent and powerful form resting against the doorframe, arms crossed, and his features unreadable. No matter how many times she looked at him, her heart still fluttered like an infatuated groupie.
“My mom called. She says it’s time for me to come home.”
He pushed away from the wall, walked inside, and sank onto the bed close to her suitcase. She stopped what she was doing, stepped around, and plopped down beside him. Before he could say anything, she pressed her mouth to his and kissed him with more emotion and physical contact than she’d ever allowed herself to give.
In Mistletoe Page 20