Winter Heat

by Kennedy Fox

  “I wrestled with that too,” Vaughn grunted before tying up his laces. “But ultimately I decided you were worth the consequences.” Vaughn twisted to face me and grabbed my hand before tenderly looking me in the eye. His gaze was intense. It felt like we were the only two people out here. “I might be a little late, but I’m still in the fight, baby. I’m not letting you go just yet.” He leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on my lips that left me begging for more. “Let’s skate.”

  I had a death grip on Vaughn when we entered the rink. What looked like professional skaters started zooming past us. I glided a bit, my movements jerky and uncertain. Vaughn chuckled when I squeezed his arm tighter and clung to him. “This isn’t so bad,” I said.

  “You’re doing great, baby,” Vaughn said while pulling me along. We made our first lap without any mishaps, and I slowly started to gain confidence.

  “I totally got this,” I said while moving a bit faster. I went to let go of Vaughn, but he grabbed my hand tighter.

  “Not ready to let you go,” he explained softly. That was our whole problem, wasn’t it?

  “Neither am I,” I replied before looking down at my gliding skates. We kept skating, and as Adam predicted earlier, snow began to fall, giving the entire experience a truly magical feel. It wasn’t until a rambunctious couple of teens side swiped me that the moment came crashing to an end.

  I flailed my limbs and went soaring toward the hard ground, landing right on my ass with a scream. As promised, Vaughn went down with me, making an entire spectacle of it with a loud yelp, waving his arms as he went. Even though pain shot up my tailbone, I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “You really committed to that fall,” I said between laughs. He lay down and started yelling some more for effect. Everyone started staring, and I laughed even harder. “Oh my gosh, you have to stop.” My cheeks were sore from smiling so hard.

  “Kiss me,” Vaughn demanded. “I need CPR.”

  I leaned over him, pressing my palm to his chest while hovering over his face. Vaughn lifted up his hand and tucked my hair behind my ear. Time slowed. We stared at each other for a long moment, his dark eyes roaming my face with soft adoration. I leaned over and kissed him on the lips. And when I pulled away, he had a look of pure awe on his face. “Don’t leave me,” he pleaded.

  I wanted to tell him I’d stay. I really did.

  But instead, I opened my mouth and something completely lame fell out. “We should get up before someone runs over us.”

  I hated the flash of disappointment on his face, but I wasn’t ready yet. I couldn’t tell him I was staying. Something still held me back, and I was determined to sort it out. I wanted to decide with zero regrets.

  Chapter 6

  “So, do you have an answer for me yet?” Mary asked. I’d been avoiding her call for two days. I’d looked over her offer, and honestly, it was too good to pass up. It was nearly double what I was making now. I’d have more freedom, better benefits, and all the facts Adam kept spouting off about San Francisco made me want to at least visit and see if it was someplace I could see myself living.

  “I think I want to visit,” I explained. “I want to tour your building, look at some apartments, and see if it’s really somewhere I could see myself living,” I explained.

  “Great. I’ll have my assistant book you a flight. Tomorrow good?” Mary asked with a chuckle.

  I stared at Adam, who was pulling out all the ingredients for cookies in my kitchen and organizing the measuring cups by size and color. “I can’t. Adam has every day planned for Christmas activities. I can’t leave him.”

  “Bring him with you!” Mary exclaimed. “My treat.”

  I arched my brow. A last-minute trip with Adam? No. I once brought him to Minnesota to meet my parents, and he spent hours researching the plane we were on, things to do around my house, hotel reviews (because he didn’t want to stay at my childhood home and intrude). He would need more time.

  “I don’t think that would work for us,” I replied, aware that Adam didn’t like me sharing his quirks with outsiders. “But maybe after the holidays?”

  Mary let out a long sigh. “Do you really want this, Sena?”

  I blanched. “Of course, I do. I just need time. I want to make the right choice.” And it wasn’t just me who this decision affected.

  “Okay. Call me after the holidays, and we can plan a trip for you out here. I really think you’d be a good fit. If we need to negotiate your offer, I’m open to that too.”

  “Thanks, Mary. I’ll call as soon as the holidays are over,” I promised. We both hung up, and Adam pulled out his binder of recipes.

  “I thought we could start with a traditional sugar cookie. I’ve compared three recipes, and the consistency of this one bakes evenly, but the taste of this one was voted superior in a baking contest.”

  I let out an exhale. “I vote the one that tastes better,” I replied.

  “I had a feeling you’d say that,” Adam replied before carefully pulling out a laminated sleeve from the binder and setting it on the counter. I grabbed my apron and put it on, prepared for a day of very meticulous baking, when my doorbell rang.

  “Who is that?” Adam chirped while measuring flour.

  “Not sure,” I replied with a shrug before going to the front door to answer it.

  Standing in the hallway was probably my favorite version of Vaughn. He was wearing casual jeans and a corded black sweater, and two coffees from my favorite café down the street were clutched in his fists.

  “Vaughn? What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “I hadn’t heard from you since our date. Figured I’d stop by and see if you’d like to grab lunch,” he explained with a sheepish shrug. I was about to tell him that Adam and I were baking when my best friend called for me.

  “Sena! I need you to crack the eggs. You know I hate the texture, and the thought of salmonella makes me anxious.”

  “I’ll be right there!” I called over my shoulder.

  “Adam?” Vaughn asked with a smile. They had met a couple of times, but they hadn’t spent too much time together.

  “We’re baking cookies,” I explained with a smile.

  “Great. I love cookies,” Vaughn said before pushing past me and walking inside. Well, okay then. I followed after Vaughn, catching up with him just in time to see Adam eyeing an egg with his lip curled in disgust. Vaughn cleared his throat. “I’ll crack the eggs.”

  Adam stared at me, then back at Vaughn. Then at me again. And then back to Vaughn. “Hello, Vaughn,” Adam said while tilting up his chin. “Are you going to help us make cookies?”

  Vaughn looked at me and smiled. “If that’s okay with Sena?”

  I inhaled. “Yeah. I guess it’s a party.”

  “You can’t just eat the batter, Vaughn!” Adam scolded while swatting at Vaughn’s hand. I was scooping dough onto a pan and giggling to myself. Vaughn had no idea what he was getting himself into when he agreed to bake cookies with us. Adam took baking very seriously. It was like a giant chemistry experiment to him.

  “Half the fun is eating the batter,” Vaughn whined.

  “It won’t be fun when you get dehydration from irritable bowels and salmonella,” Adam snapped.

  Every surface of my kitchen was covered in treats. Adam liked to bake for all of his coworkers. He made them fill out a literal spreadsheet with all of their allergies, likes, and dislikes. He went all out on gift baskets and organized them by color and flavor pallet. It was kind of insane but extremely thoughtful.

  Vaughn walked up to me and bumped my shoulder. “How many more cookies do we have to make?”

  “Four dozen more,” Adam replied. “And some bread pudding. And homemade cinnamon rolls. We need more flour and sugar. I thought I measured correctly…” I didn’t dare tell him that I messed up and added the wrong amount to a batch of sad looking cookies. “I’m going to buy more. Please don’t let him stick his fingers in anything while I’m gone. Actually, just stop bak
ing all together. I don’t trust the two of you not to mess it up.”

  I stopped scooping the dough onto the pan, relieved for a break. “That’s fine with me.” I was worn out and ready to rest.

  Adam peered at Vaughn. “I’m going to the market by my house. It’s approximately an eighteen-minute walk from here. It’ll take me six minutes to grab the ingredients and check out, then another twenty minutes back. I am accounting for the weight of my grocery bags and tiredness. That gives you forty-two minutes to have sex before I get back.”

  Vaughn had just taken a sip of his coffee and started choking on it. My eyes widened, and it took all the strength I had not to launch for my best friend and strangle him. Vaughn coughed. “Good to know,” he finally said.

  “Stay away from my cookies,” Adam said before going out the front door.

  Removing my apron, I let out a huff. “Sorry about that,” I said before walking toward the living room.

  “He’s the best. I can see why you’re friends. Although I’m probably never signing up for baking again…”

  I laughed while plopping down on my couch. Vaughn sat down beside me and started massaging my neck. I nearly moaned at his skilled fingers. “Somehow, Adam and I kind of became a package deal over the years. He’s determined to go with me to San Francisco if I move,” I explained, hoping that we could actually talk about this. I needed to explore how Vaughn felt.

  “Do you think he’d be happy there?”

  I honestly didn’t know. “Maybe? He’s adaptable. He keeps sending me apartments to look at and facts about the city. But his career is here, you know?”

  “And what about you?” Vaughn asked. “Do you think you would be happy there?”

  I let out an exhale. “Mary’s publication is really awesome. It’s in a new space I’d like to explore, and I’d have a lot of decision-making power. Her offer is really good. But…”

  “But what?”

  “But it’s not New York. You’re not there. Adam isn’t there. I think I’m just scared of giving it up for you. What if we don’t work out? What if once the fear of losing me wears off, you lose interest? What if—”

  Vaughn cut me off with a kiss. He threaded his hands through my hair and tugged at my bottom lip with his teeth. I moaned as he pushed me down onto the couch and started pulling at the band of my leggings. He broke our kiss to whisper in my ear. “We’re going to work out, Sena. I’m not going to lose interest.”

  He kissed my neck. My collarbone. As he sunk lower and lower, I wiggled until his head was poised between my legs. “What are you doing?” I asked, my voice a rasp.

  With a devilish grin, Vaughn started pulling down my leggings. “I’m about to eat something sweeter than Christmas cookies, baby.”

  “Oh. You don’t have to do that—”

  “Shh. I have”—Vaughn checked his watch—“thirty-two minutes to make you come on my tongue. Do you want this?”

  “Y-yes,” I stammered.

  “Good. No more talking unless you’re screaming my name.”

  Chapter 7

  I smoothed my skirt for what felt like the thirtieth time today. When Vaughn invited me to Christmas Eve with his mother, I thought he was joking. She lived in a penthouse in the Upper East Side and was known for throwing luxurious holiday parties. I’d hoped that my prior plans would get me out of it, but Adam had been team Vaughn lately. He had a theory that if I was getting daily orgasms, then I wouldn’t move to San Francisco.

  His theory was proving to be right.

  But dinner with his mother felt…too real.

  “Stop fidgeting. You look perfect, Sena. Seriously, I’ve never seen a woman more beautiful,” Vaughn whispered in my ear as we rode the private elevator up to their home.

  “What if your mother hates me?” I asked nervously.

  “She won’t,” he promised, though his tone wasn’t all that convincing.

  Mrs. Richards might have owned the Jet Times, but it was rare anyone actually saw her. She retired just before I started working there and was happy to live up in her castle, blissfully unaware of all the hard work we did.

  The elevator doors opened, revealing a swanky party in full swing. Women in evening gowns were walking around, every square inch of the home was decorated for Christmas. Greenery and trees covered each corner. Waiters carrying trays were passing out cocktails and food. “May I take your jacket, miss?” a man to my right asked.

  “Oh. Sure,” I clumsily replied before Vaughn helped me take off my coat and handed it to him.

  “Hey, Jefferey,” Vaughn greeted with a nod before placing his hand at my lower back and guiding me to the dining room.

  “Who even are all these people?” I hissed.

  “No idea. My mother likes to beef up the guest list every year. Ah—thank you.” Vaughn grabbed two flutes of champagne and handed one to me.

  “What if they recognize me from the drunk walkout I did at the holiday party?” I asked while nervously looking around. “What if your brother says something?”

  “My brother was high as hell at the holiday party. He probably doesn’t even remember.”

  That was reassuring. Yet another reason I wasn’t really looking forward to working with him, should I accept the new position at Jet Times.

  “Oh! Vaughny!” a woman exclaimed. “Come here, son.”

  I straightened my spine and turned around to look at the woman that called Vaughn. She was wearing a emerald green sequined Christmas dress that fell all the way to the floor and had a slit up to the thigh. Her bottle blonde hair was curled tightly against her head, and the bright diamonds on her fingers glistened under the twinkle lights. She had red lipstick, false lashes, and a plastic expression. She looked like she had spent a lot of money on Botox, and her stiff expression echoed that. She held out her hands for a hug, and Vaughn sighed while gliding over to her.

  “Mother,” he greeted, though there was no warmth in his tone.

  “Oh, darling, it’s so good to see you,” she exclaimed loudly before wrapping him in a hug and saying, “You were supposed to be here an hour ago. It’s embarrassing.”

  He pulled away, his smile tight. “I apologize, Mother, I was helping Sena pick out a Christmas tree today, and we lost track of time.”

  It had been a wonderful day. Vaughn, Adam, and I went to a local tree farm and spent hours comparing heights, branch thickness, and the overall aesthetic of each tree. Adam was exceptionally picky about his Christmas trees—as he was about everything else. Vaughn and I spent most of the time hiding and stealing kisses.

  “Oh? And who is this?”

  Vaughn placed his hand on my lower back. “Mother, this is Sena. She works at the Jet Times. I’m hoping she will be my replacement.”

  “Oh! A coworker. Nice.”

  My cheeks burned from embarrassment. Vaughn and I hadn’t exactly explained our relationship to one another. Labels felt a little too intense at the moment, especially since I was still talking with Mary about the San Francisco opportunity. But I was definitely more than a coworker. What exactly did you call someone that you were regularly hooking up with? Friends with benefits? Trial run girlfriend? Vaughn must have sensed my unease, because he opened his mouth to speak once more. Unfortunately, I’d never know what he was going to say because his mother interrupted him.

  “Julia Love is here. The mayor’s daughter. She asked about you, and I promised her you’d sit at her side for the dinner. I think you two would make a cute couple, don’t you think?”

  “Mom. That’s not—”

  “Oh! There she is. Julia! Come here!”

  My cheeks burned from embarrassment, and I turned to look at the woman approaching us, immediately wishing I could hide the moment I saw her. Julia Love was stunning and exactly the sort of woman I’d seen on Vaughn’s arm over the years. Model-like looks. Plush lips. Long legs. Breasts that were practically spilling out of her designer dress. “Vaughn! It’s so good to see you again,” she said before leaning in and kissi
ng the corner of his mouth. I took a step backward. Yep. I wanted out of here.

  He cleared his throat. “Good to see you too.”

  “Why don’t you show Julia the patio? She’d love the view of the city,” Mrs. Richards insisted.

  “I don’t want to leave Sena—”

  “Nonsense!” Mrs. Richards exclaimed. “I’m sure she’ll be just fine. Go! Have fun.”

  My eyes burned as Julia grabbed Vaughn’s arm and started walking him to the door. “Please? Oh, I’ve heard it’s just beautiful.” Even her voice was perfect. Sultry. Soft.

  Vaughn stared at me, panic on his face. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

  I swallowed and nodded. “Sure thing.”

  I watched his back as the two of them disappeared outside, a heavy feeling in my stomach. It suddenly became painfully clear why I was so terrified to make things official with Vaughn. This was his life. He was always around women like Julia Love and attending wealthy parties.

  “I know you,” Mrs. Richards said before taking a sip of her drink. She looked me up and down, the sweet pleasantries of earlier gone.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “You’re the girl that Vaughn resigned for. The girl that got drunk at the holiday party and made a spectacle of herself.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but I didn’t know what to say. “Mrs. Richards,” I began, but my words died in my throat.

  “Do you see them out there? Julia is a nice girl. Ambitious. Comes from a good family. They look”—she paused— “right together, don’t they?”

  I followed her gaze and frowned when I saw the two of them looking over the skyline and laughing about something. Julia touched his shoulder. She leaned in. Her face was inches from his…

  “Why don’t you go home, Sarah, was it?”

  “Sena,” I corrected her, my throat clogged from emotion.