Falling By Firelight (Christmas Romance)

by Rose Ivory

  Falling by Firelight

  A Christmas Romance

  ROSE IVORY

  Copyright © 2018 Rose Ivory

  All rights reserved.

  Other Works by Rose Ivory

  Contemporary Romance

  THE SKY FLETCHER SERIES

  Volcanic (#1)

  Subtropic (#2)

  Chaotic (#3)

  STAND-ALONE

  Falling By Firelight: A Christmas Romance

  Erotica

  NOT FOR LOVE NOVELLAS

  Barback (#1)

  Book #2 Coming in Nov 2018

  CHAPTER ONE

  KATE ROCKED HER hips in time with the swinging tune that filled her kitchen. She pulled eggs, milk, and heavy cream from her fridge, wiggling along as she grouped them on the counter. Her love of Christmas music was admittedly expansive, covering just about every genre and style, but she had an especially soft spot for instrumentals. Especially those with some groove. Instrumentals fell easiest into the background, drifting listeners gently into the holiday mood. And instrumentals were the best for conversation, which right now Kate was itching to have.

  She lifted up onto her tiptoes to reach her dry goods shelf, home to endless varieties of flour and sugar. Kate might have been slight in stature, but she only used the step stool when it was an absolute necessity. At the muffled sound of keys in the door, she fell back to her heels and smiled.

  “Katie?” a warm female voice echoed through the hall.

  “Already in here!” she called back. Kate abandoned the sugar in favor of wine. She filled the two glasses that waited on the counter as Elena blustered into the room. Wrapped in layers of thick, decadent knits, she looked more like a GAP holiday model than a pediatric nurse. When it came to appearances, Kate and Elena were yin and yang. Where Kate’s smooth skin was a creamy porcelain, Elena’s had a rich golden tone year-round. Where Kate’s hair matched the hue of the darkest chocolate, Elena’s was honey blonde. Kate had a slight, gently curved figure, while Elena was built more like Sofía Vergara. But no matter how different their exteriors, their personalities were the perfect compliment.

  “What, wine?” Elena pulled off her navy beanie, shaking out her voluminous curls. “Is that festive enough for making Christmas cookies?”

  Kate’s emerald eyes shot wide. “I’m sorry, how is wine not festive? It’s festive year-round! A celebration in a glass!”

  “I guess so.” Elena slid onto a stool and pulled one of the glasses toward her. “I just thought we’d have eggnog or something.”

  “Do you even like eggnog?”

  “Sure. I mean, it’s basically the white person horchata.”

  Kate let out a laugh, then took her own glass in hand and leaned on the counter. “I guess that checks out. But wine is right for dishing, and you came here with dishing to do!”

  Color swathed her friend’s cheeks. The blush jarred Kate, seemed almost unnatural on her bold, domineering friend. Elena took no nonsense, said what she felt, basically ticked all the strong independent woman boxes. “I do have some dishing,” she admitted, eyes on her glass. “But I don’t wanna get too carried away about it.”

  “Meaning what?” Kate asked. She took a sip of cabernet as Elena nervously swirled her own.

  “Meaning that I don’t want to overreact. Or get too excited. It’s really early days. I mean, it was just one date.”

  Kate rolled her eyes. “And basically a month of flirting leading up to that date.”

  “Still.” Elena shrugged. “I don’t wanna jinx it. Or get too fixated on it, but, I mean…” groaning, she crumpled onto the counter, “it was so damn good.”

  Kate looked at the tousled back of her friend’s head, waiting. When Elena didn’t go on, just remained glued to the granite, she sighed. “You’re gonna have to help me out, babe. I can’t tell if you wanna talk about it yet or not.”

  “Let’s start the cookies first?” Her muffled voice was gentle, straining with hope.

  “Sure.” Kate went back to retrieve the flour and sugars while Elena peeled herself off the counter.

  “Good. Great.” She took a slug of her wine, then glanced around at the twinkling lights, shimmering garlands, and oversized ornaments that adorned the space. “Wow, Katie. Is this what you did all day?”

  “Mhm,” came her absentminded reply, still concentrated on assembling everything they’d need, “it was my day off.”

  “And you stayed in all day?”

  Kate shot her a look. “Oh no. Tonight is about your stuff. You are not flipping it around on me.”

  Elena’s dark eyes widened in mock surprise. “I’m sure I do not know what you mean.”

  “Of course not.”

  “I was just suggesting, that maybe, maybe it might be nice to go out when you have the time. Because then you might find someone with whom to have ‘stuff’ of your own.”

  Kate took in a deep breath, one that filled her nose with the smell of browning cinnamon sugar. Her candles made it hard to stay cross. So did Elena’s sweet expression. She means well, Kate reminded herself. And it’s not like she shouldn’t be interested. We’ve always been like this. It makes sense. Just, the thought of going out there and trying to make something happen after—

  She closed her eyes, shook the thought from her head. “I’ll have my own ‘stuff’ when the time is right, Elena. I trust the universe to take care of me.”

  “Ha! When you just happen to meet a guy, right? Which will happen…where? You’re only ever two places, and no men are ever going to spend time in your store. At least not on purpose, and definitely not single ones. So mostly likely, your delivered-by-the-universe guy will be a burglar! You know, since he’d have to break into your house to find you.”

  Ouch. “I’m not that bad. I’m just a little bit of a homebody.” The hurt in her eyes must have been clear, because Elena’s face softened.

  “No, I know, babe. Just joking around.”

  “I know. Because you’re so so funny.” Kate grinned and began to roll up the sleeves of her oversized, beige cardigan. The patches on the elbows reminded her of something that a grandpa would wear. Or a professor. She didn’t often wear it out in public, but it was one of the coziest things she owned. “Well, we can get started, but I still want to hear about the guy.” She moved to the sink, washing her hands as she spoke. “You met him at the hospital, right?”

  “Yeah.” A melty smile claimed Elena’s full lips, but snapped away quickly as she pointed a stern finger at Kate. “But he wasn’t a patient! Nothing like that. That’d be inappropriate.”

  “Of course.”

  “We met when he brought in his friend, for a really severe burn.”

  “Oh God.” Kate winced. “That part I didn’t know.”

  “Yeah, I don’t talk much about the burns for, well, obvious reasons.” Elena grimaced. When something made her cringe, with her seen-it-all nursing mentality, Kate knew it was really bad.

  “He brought in his friend?” she asked. “There was no escort by like, the fire department?”

  “Oh, no. Not that kind of burn.” The whisper of a smile returned to Elena’s face, just slight enough to maintain professionalism. “He was trying that deep fried turkey thing. Like, filled an actual metal trash can with scalding oil. To dip it in.”

  Kate recoiled in horror. “Oh noooooo!”

  “Yeah. Not his best Thanksgiving.” Elena shook her head, pulling herself back from that bit of the memory. “But David, the friend who brought him in, is much more traditional. If we ever got married, he’d never try to take the turkey from me.”

  Kate laughed. “You don’t even like to cook!”

  Elena
shrugged. “But who doesn’t want to do the traditional mom thing on Thanksgiving? Tie a bow in the apron, fill all your babies’ bellies? There’s a special level of respect you get when you’re the provider of the feast.”

  Kate glanced around at her kitchen. The warm lighting. The counter spilling with bakeware and ingredients. It wasn’t that she didn’t want the same thing. She did. And she’d almost had it. Been so, so close. But since it all went downhill, she hadn’t let herself dwell on that fantasy life. She couldn’t. It hurt too much.

  Sensing the emotional shift, even through Kate’s poker face, Elena popped up from her stool. “Alright, babe. Let’s finish this glass and get our hands dirty.” A devilish smile curled the corners of her berry-tinted lips. “Besides, you know you only get the nasty details when I’m boozed up.”

  Kate grinned back. “Then we better get started.”

  Several glasses of wine later, Kate and Elena leaned against the cabinets as their bodies wracked with laughter. Seated on the countertop, legs swinging, they were positively gleeful.

  “I don’t believe you!” Kate cried. She took another swig from her glass, wiping a tear from her eye.

  “Oh but you should. Because it’s true. The peeing kid, the size of, of,” Elena raised her hands, joining her index fingers and thumbs together to make a circle, “like this. Right on the cheek.”

  “And he’s a grown, adult man?”

  “Mhm,” Elena hummed through her giggle.

  “Who has a real, adult job?”

  “Yes, ma’am. A high powered attorney. Mmm.”

  “And besides this, cartoon, his body is…?”

  “Clean, ripped, perfect.” Elena sank against the wood paneling at the heat of the recent memory. “You’d eat sushi off it. And want to. You’d pay him to let you!”

  Kate’s cheeks flushed. “I don’t think I’d want to eat sushi off anyone’s body.”

  “Bullshit!” Elena spat. Kate erupted in another fit of giggles as the oven timer sounded. Quickly, she slid down from the granite. With a level of precise care that only surfaces when drunk, Kate pulled on her oven mitts. As she went to retrieve the gingerbread, Elena wrestled a cork from the neck of a new bottle of wine. The second that the oven door swung open, a spicy aroma flooded the room. “Jesus, that’s good,” Elena moaned.

  Kate delicately moved the tray to the cooling area, beaming in spite of herself. They will be. They always are. Baking had been a huge part of her childhood. A huge part of her relationship with her mother, and a hobby that stuck. The kitchen was littered with cookie trays. They’d made four varieties, from snickerdoodle to peanut butter blossom. The many layered scents, so sweet and rich, gave the illusion that they were drinking in Seattle’s most luxurious bake shop.

  Elena passed Kate back a full glass of wine before beelining for the couch. She kicked up her feet, tossing her head back in an air of exhaustion. “Please tell me we’re ready for a break?”

  “A break? I mean, baking-wise, we’re done.”

  Elena’s eyes flew open, glinting with excitement. “Really?”

  “We just need to decorate yet. When they’re cool.”

  “So, not done,” she curtly replied. Elena took another drag from her glass and Kate joined her on the weathered red couch.

  “Close to done.”

  “We can’t eat all of these.”

  “Maybe not.” Kate shrugged. “You can always give them away. Everyone likes cookies.”

  The excitement returned to Elena’s face. She sat up straight, squaring her shoulders toward Kate. “That’s a great idea! That’s how you’ll meet someone!”

  “Wh-what?”

  “We’ll take cookies around to your neighbors! You literally don’t know any of them, right?”

  Kate’s shoulders tensed, hiked up closer to her ears. “I know of them. Mostly.”

  “The guy could be right out there!” Elena pointed out the window at the blustery, chilly night. “And if he was from your neighborhood, then you couldn’t complain, really, because you could still be a homebody! He’s basically already at your home!”

  Sending Elena a warning look, Kate cocked her head. “I’m not done hearing about your boyfriend with the bumper sticker of a tattoo.”

  Elena tried to keep her serious face, but quickly broke down and snorted into a laugh. “Oh god, bumper sticker. And it’s on his bumper.”

  Quick to keep the focus here, Kate jumped back in. “So, besides that one horrible life decision, you like him?”

  Elena melted against the cushions. She brought her knees close to her chest, hugging them. “A lot. Too much, maybe.”

  “Why too much?”

  “Because.” She took a deep breath, sighing down at her glass. “Because even if you want to be open to it, there’s always gotta be some kind of caution, right? Not to go too fast, not to let yourself read too much into it too early, not to think you know someone before you really do.”

  “Don’t I know it,” Kate mumbled. Leaning over, Elena pressed her shoulder against Kate’s. That kind of comfort, that understated warmth, was worth far more to her than a hug would have been. The slightest smile edged across Kate’s pout. “Thanks,” she whispered.

  “Ain’t no thang,” Elena quipped. “We’ve all been through it, one way or another. And it’s OK to not be looking. It’s OK to not be ready. But it also wouldn’t hurt to let the walls down just the tiniest bit.” Kate scoffed. “Or at least unlock the door. Right? Unlatch the deadbolt?”

  Begrudgingly, slowly, Kate nodded. “That probably needs to happen.”

  “Oh it does,” Elena agreed too quickly. “You seriously need to loosen the reigns, chica.”

  Kate took another deep swallow of wine. The depth of the flavor coated her tongue, gently warmed her throat. I do. This level of guarded isn’t just overkill, it could end up shutting me off entirely. It’d be too easy. She took a tentative breath, then winced. “We can give out the cookies. Tonight.”

  Glee sent Elena up from the couch, bouncing to attention with her wine glass raised aloft. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “Eeeeeeeeee!” Elena ran in place, feet nimbly padding in her wool socks on the wooden floor. Kate shook her head ruefully, though she couldn’t help but smile. Only her fiery friend could make this kind of preteen outburst look smooth, even cool. Everything Elena did was a dance. Just like her abuela. Kate’s grandmother was a sweet lady, but she definitely had not brought them up dancing. Or at least not dancing well.

  “Don’t get too excited.” Kate rose from the couch and headed back to the kitchen to prep the icing. “Most of them are at least 70 years old.”

  Elena wiggled her shoulders, hips, and artfully arched brows in tandem. “I’m not worried about most of them. We only need one.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  WARMED BY TOO much wine, or just the right amount, Elena and Kate bustled their way back to the cul-de-sac sidewalk.

  “What the hell was her problem?” Elena hissed under her breath.

  “You can’t exactly blame her,” Kate replied, shrugging. “If I gave up sugar I’d be just as bitchy. Actually, I’d probably be way worse.”

  “An addict like you? You’d be a nightmare.” The women giggled their way down the sidewalk. A deep bliss filled Kate’s chest. It was nights like these that made thirty-two feel more like thirteen. Or, at least, twenty-one.

  “I know. I have a problem.” A chilling wind swept through them and Kate tightened her grip on the multitude of Tupperware containers. The cookies still held the ghost of warmth, so it made a small difference. “But really, that just means that I bake and share. Which is good for everyone around me. And much less of a problem.”

  “Can’t argue with that.”

  “I mean, if I—“ Turning the corner, Kate came millimeters from running straight into a man. She caught herself just before making contact, a sharp backtracking movement that shook her to the core. The shock made her breath go ragged, her hands sha
ke. As Kate struggled to get her bearings, she looked up to find the man’s eyes burning down at her.

  “What was that?” he asked, something close to venom in his voice.

  “Excuse me, sir?” Elena’s words were sharp as she cut in. “She didn’t see you. There’s a bush. And frankly, you didn’t see her either, so I suggest you apologize for that tone.”

  “Wow.” The man shook his head. He was a good foot and a half taller than Kate, with slightly less of an edge over Elena. His down jacket was zipped up to the neck. In the biting air, he wore no scarf, hat, or gloves. His short hair was a dirty blonde, shockingly close to the honey hue of his eyes. Somehow the beauty of his clean-shaven face made the disdain radiating from it even more piercing. “I was moving at a reasonable pace. You two were running like—“

  “Like what?” Elena asked, cocking her head. “And so what? There are runners in this neighborhood, you know.”

  “Actually, everyone in this neighborhood is geriatric.” His jaw clenched into something like a smile. “So not a lot of running takes place, no.”

  As Elena and the stranger squared off, Kate found herself stuck. Staring. Pinned in place, with a voice that wouldn’t quite work. Not that she was trying to form words. She didn’t have any. In the process of steadying herself, she’d become wrapt in the visage of this tall, broad man. Something about him left her utterly still. Luckily, no one else seemed to notice that she was frozen. They were having far too much fun verbally fencing their way through introductions.

  “Well, Kate lives here.” Elena thrust a manicured hand at her companion. “And clearly she isn’t geriatric.

  The man flicked his eyes over to Kate. His gaze caught, held there for a moment. His face barely changed, barely registered, though something he saw gave him pause. The man shoved his hands deep into his jacket pockets, cleared his throat. “Fine. She isn’t a little old lady. I’ll give you that much. But she should have been watching where she was going.” Though his words carried a sting, they glossed past Kate, falling quiet next to the way his jaw tensed, the sharp line of it. It made the whole argument almost…invigorating. “I may be new to the block, but I seriously doubt this would have gone better if she’d run into a different neighbor. Most of them are well over the hill, so if she bowled them over, hips might break.”