Winter Heat

by Kennedy Fox

  The following morning, after showering with Noah, which turned out to be a revelation, the cold air struck my cheeks as I stepped outside, watching as Matilda dashed into the snow. I let her frolic for a few minutes before clipping on her lead and walking her down the long driveway. By the time we returned, I could smell coffee when we began walking down the hallway after I had divested myself of my jacket and boots.

  Noah smiled over at me from where he stood at the counter. “Coffee’s ready.”

  Somehow, although last night and this morning had both been momentous occasions for me, I felt suddenly bashful. The morning after was something I had limited experience with. I hadn’t had no experience with it, just not very much.

  I managed something like a smile as I crossed over to him. “Thanks for making coffee.” Matilda looked up at us expectantly. “Oh, you need breakfast,” I said to her.

  “I’ve got it,” Noah offered. “Get your coffee.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’ve watched you feed her. It’s not complicated. You have a measuring cup and her food in a bin.”

  I wasn’t used to having help with anything, not even feeding the dog. Of course, Quinn helped plenty with things like that at home, but no one else did.

  “Okay.” I turned and started pouring a cup of coffee, thinking I shouldn’t be this flustered about any of this.

  The sound of Matilda’s food falling into her bowl met my ears, followed by her wolfing it down in her usual fashion. With coffee in hand, I crossed over to the windows, looking out over the snow-covered yard.

  I felt Noah’s presence seconds later. He stopped behind me, dropping his head and pressing a kiss right at the base of my neck. Goose bumps chased in the wake of his touch, and I took a shallow breath as butterflies tickled my belly. I needed to be casual about this, but he wasn’t making it easy.

  Turning, I took a swallow of coffee. The rich, dark flavor slid across my tongue, steadying me as I swallowed. I decided honesty was the only option.

  “I don’t really do this, so I don’t know what to do.”

  “Do what?” he countered.

  I was relieved he had a mug of coffee in his hand and took a sip as he rested his hips on the edge of the windowsill. This house had deep, tall windows, tall enough to stand in with the windowsills wide and generous.

  His eyes held mine expectantly. “I’m a single mom, Noah. That should explain everything.” Pausing, I took another sip of coffee. “I don’t know how to do this casual thing,” I added, my hand kind of flailing in the air, representing how I felt inside.

  He nodded slowly. “Well, it’s just you and me until Christmas. That’s five days away. I don’t see why we can’t enjoy our privacy thoroughly.”

  Okay, thoroughly was just a word. Yet it represented how I’d felt last night with the way he took care of me. I flushed from head to toe, heat suffusing me. I knew my cheeks were bright pink as I stared back at him. “Oh.”

  Absolutely brilliant reply on my part. My cheeks got even hotter.

  “I mean, unless you’d like to limit us to last night, or this morning, I should say.”

  I shook my head slowly.

  Chapter 10

  Noah

  “I think we should get a tree.”

  Sasha stared up at me, her cheeks pink from the cold. She was wearing a knit hat with a little pom-pom on top. She looked adorable and fetching. I’d discovered I had a thing for girls who gave off a wholesome vibe.

  Because I’d given up trying to pretend I didn’t have it bad for her, my boots crunched on the snow as I closed the distance between us and dipped my head to brush my lips across hers. I hadn’t meant for it to happen, but in a fiery second, my tongue glided against hers, and we were about to get hot and heavy right here on Main Street in Haven’s Bay.

  “Well, hello, Noah and Sasha,” a voice said.

  I lifted my head to see Sherry Levesque smiling at us. We were standing just beyond the parking area for Bay Bistro. She had a bag looped over her wrist.

  Sasha turned away from me quickly. “Hi,” she squeaked.

  “So nice to see you two again. You’re getting a Christmas tree for the house, right?” Sherry pressed.

  I wondered just how long she’d been nearby. “Of course,” I said quickly.

  “You should go to Haven’s Trees. They still have some good ones left. Emile and I just went the other day. I always wait until the week before Christmas.”

  “How come?” Sasha asked.

  Sherry leaned forward, and speaking in a conspiratorial tone, she replied, “Because they go on sale then.”

  “Good point,” I said approvingly.

  “Well, I need to get back to the restaurant,” Sherry said with a bright smile. She patted Sasha on the forearm as she passed by. “So good to have you back in town.”

  A little while later, we walked through rows of Christmas trees. “Are you sure you want to get a big tree?” Sasha asked.

  “Yes. My family will love it. We’ll decorate the living room. I’ll get a wreath for the front door and then put one of these trees in the bay window.”

  Sasha seemed amused but went along with it. As Sherry had advised, we did find a good deal on the tree. When we went to pay for it, I also purchased a jug of cider and some hot fudge.

  After we climbed in the car, Sasha commented, “Ted sure knows how to make some extra cash during the holidays. I bet everyone gets fudge and cider on their way out.” She was referring to Ted, the guy who’d run this Christmas tree farm for as long as I could recall.

  “Of course, they do,” I replied with a chuckle.

  That night, I cocked my head to the side as we surveyed the Christmas tree. “What do you think?” Sasha asked.

  “It’s perfect.”

  We didn’t have any decorations other than the lights we’d picked up at Haven’s Bay Grocery, and the tree glittered prettily in the window. Matilda had sniffed at the tree curiously for a few minutes, but otherwise, she let it be.

  Sasha looked up at me, biting her lip. “What are we going to tell your family?” In addition to my younger sister and brother, Dallas was coming up with his wife and toddler son.

  “About what?” I countered even though I knew exactly what she was asking.

  Her lips pressed in a line. “Us. I think we should just not say—”

  I cut her off because I’d already thought about this. “We’re not going to pretend nothing’s happening. We both live in Boston, and I want to see you when we go back.”

  “You do?” she squeaked.

  “Yes. Is that a problem?”

  Sasha looked very uncertain, a twitch of worry forming between her brows as she chewed on her pretty pink bottom lip. Fuck me, her lips were made for kissing, and I wanted to kiss her. Badly.

  She swallowed. “I guess I thought it was just a fling,” she said slowly.

  Somehow, that annoyed me. “You’re not a fling to me. I hope you want to see me when we’re back in Boston.”

  “You know I have a daughter, right? I’m not all that glamorous to date,” she said flatly.

  “I’m not either. I work a lot, and it can be high stress. I want a chance to see where this goes. I’d love to meet Quinn when you’re ready.”

  Chapter 11

  Sasha

  “What?” Thea asked, her eyes wide as she stared at me.

  “I know, it’s crazy, but I… well, I really like him.”

  Thea’s eyes widened as a smile stretched slowly across her face. “Oh my God, this is perfect.”

  “It is?”

  She gave me a long look. “Yes. You are an incredible mother, and that absolutely should be your first priority, but you also deserve a little romance. So does Noah.”

  Later that evening, we opened presents under the Christmas tree and toasted the holiday with yummy hot cider. Noah’s arm rested across my shoulders as we sat in front of the fire and laughed with his family. In a funny way, this was the closest thing to famil
y I’d ever had growing up. And I almost needed to pinch myself to realize Noah really wanted a chance with me.

  Epilogue

  Noah

  CHRISTMAS EVE - ONE YEAR LATER

  I reflexively checked my coat pocket. For perhaps the fiftieth time in the past hour, I confirmed it was still there.

  “Do you have it?” Quinn whispered, loud enough that the very whisper itself echoed in the foyer.

  I cast a warning look, albeit a bemused one, at Sasha’s daughter. “Yes, I have it.”

  “I’ll be right there!” Sasha’s voice carried to us from the hallway upstairs.

  Quinn tapped the toe of her chunky black leather boot on the floor. “You know,” she said as her eyes arced around the foyer and down the hallway, “you need to step it up on furnishing this place.”

  I chuckled, arching a brow as I looked back at her. “You don’t say?”

  Quinn, who looked so much like Sasha it was startling sometimes, nodded as she pushed her glasses up her nose. “Yes. You don’t have anything other than a coatrack in here. You need like a table and maybe a rug or something. This could be a room itself. I’m just grateful you got a bed for the guestroom.”

  I grinned. “You know, we don’t live here,” I pointed out.

  Since last Christmas, Sasha and I had actually come up here for a few weekends. Suffice it to say, we didn’t use that time to furnish the house. We had other things to do. Sasha had pointed out that dating a single mother wasn’t glamorous, which turned out to be true, but dating anyone who had a life wasn’t glamorous. Occasional weekend getaways gave us a little freedom. Quinn was an awesome kid, the best, as far as I was concerned.

  “How about we go to that furniture store the next town over? Pretty sure they’ll be closed for Christmas Day, but they’ll probably be open the day after.”

  Quinn’s eyes lit up. “Perfect.”

  A flash of trepidation stole through me. Quinn liked things bright, and I didn’t know if my siblings, who technically had a say since we jointly owned the house, would have an opinion on that. I dismissed the concern quickly. They’d all welcomed Quinn into our family, and honestly, most of us could only make it to this house periodically.

  At the sound of footsteps, I glanced up to see Sasha descending the stairs, and my breath seized in my lungs for a moment. She always looked gorgeous, but tonight my anticipation had me on edge, and everything felt sharper, including how beautiful she was. Her hair was down, which was rare. My girl was a practical girl, and I loved that about her, but it was nice to see her hair loose on occasion.

  She wore fitted jeans with low heeled leather boots paired with a cream silk blouse and a bright silk scarf. Her lips were shiny, and I wanted to kiss that lip gloss right off.

  I knew any PDA would lead to Quinn snorting. So I made do with sliding my arm around Sasha’s waist when she stopped beside us. “Are we ready?” she asked.

  “We’ve been ready,” Quinn said with a sly grin.

  Sasha didn’t even bother reacting to Quinn’s comment. She was a master at not engaging. All things considered, Quinn only occasionally got too much attitude.

  Sasha turned and snagged her coat off the coatrack by the door. As we walked out into the crisp winter air on Christmas Eve, Quinn commented, “Noah’s going to let me start furnishing this place.”

  Sasha’s eyes widened when she glanced at me while we descended the front steps.

  “We do need some more furniture. We’ll see what we can find,” I said easily.

  We drove into downtown Haven’s Bay. Our small hometown was spruced up for the holidays. There were wreaths mounted on the streetlights and holiday lights glittering on the big tree in the town green beside Main Street. Most of the homes had lights strung along the rooftops.

  I smiled to myself, recalling our Christmas tree shopping venture just the night before. We’d let Quinn pick, and she decided we needed to take the most forlorn-looking tree. “To make it feel good,” she’d said.

  A few minutes later, we sat in the parking lot at Emile’s. “Now,” Sasha said as she looked over her shoulder at Quinn. “We’ll be back before nine o’clock. You’d better be here.”

  Quinn let out a put upon sigh. “Of course, I’ll be ready. You know the people who own this place. I’m sure they’ll text you if I leave.”

  We were dropping her off at a small holiday gathering organized by the town’s theater group. Quinn had gotten involved with her high school theater program in Boston and made a few friends through a regional traveling theater program. One of those friends actually happened to be from Haven’s Bay.

  “I know,” Sasha said, her lips pressing in a line. “We’ll go have dinner and be back later. Have fun.”

  Quinn leaned forward and kissed her mother on the cheek before climbing out of the car and jogging across the parking lot. She waved, and the sound of the holiday sleigh bells on the door jingled as she disappeared through it.

  “Let’s go have dinner.” I backed up and rolled slowly out of the parking lot.

  “Am I too overprotective?” Sasha asked as I drove the short distance to Bay Bistro.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know that any parent can feel too overprotective. I think all you can do is try to find a balance. It’s the best you can hope for.”

  A short while later, Sherry was beaming at us as she filled our wine glasses. “Should I leave the bottle?” she asked.

  “Just one for me. I’m driving. Do you think you can finish that bottle yourself?” I teased with a glance at Sasha.

  Sasha rolled her eyes. “No. Just one is good for me too.”

  After we ordered our food, my heart was thudding rapidly, the sound of it echoing in my ears. I’d told myself to wait until dessert, but I was too restless to relax.

  I made a quick decision, sliding my hand into my pocket. The small velvet box warmed as I held it loosely in my palm under the table.

  “Sasha?”

  Her lashes swung up, and she held my gaze. I usually considered myself to have at least some eloquence, but I couldn’t seem to do this any way other than bluntly. “Will you marry me?”

  Sasha’s mouth fell open in a pretty O, and her eyes went wide. “What?”

  This time, I remembered to bring the ring out from under the table and open the small box.

  Sasha

  I stared at the ring—a simple platinum band with a row of sapphires along one edge. That alone had tears stinging my eyes. Because he remembered that Quinn worried about conflict diamonds, and as a result, so did I. Because when you were a mom, it was an endless experience of vicarious worry.

  I swallowed, trying to calm the emotion threatening to catch me in a riptide as it rushed through me. “What?” I repeated.

  Noah’s eyes held mine, his gaze steady and sure. “Will you marry me?”

  I pressed my palm to my chest, almost fearful my heart might beat its way out. “Are you serious?”

  “I’m so serious I even asked Quinn about it,” he said somberly.

  I gasped. “Oh, my God. Yes! Of course, yes.”

  I wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing and almost knocked my wine over when I moved from my chair and all but threw myself into his lap.

  Noah, because he was that kind of guy, reached over to steady the wobbling wineglass with one hand as he wrapped his other arm around my waist and held me close.

  “For a second there,” he murmured, his lips near my ear and sending a hot shiver through me, “I thought you might say no.”

  I lifted my head, immediately ensnared in his ebullient gaze. “Not a chance.”

  He slipped the ring on my finger. Just then, Sherry appeared by our table again, a smile on her face and her eyes absolutely beaming with joy. “Is this what I think it is?”

  I lifted my hand, and she inspected the ring, oohing and ahhing and then offering us a bottle of champagne.

  “We’d love the champagne, but can we take it home?” Noah asked with a gleam in his
eyes.

  “Of course, but why wait?” Sherry asked.

  “Because we’re picking Quinn up after this, and she’ll want to celebrate with us,” Noah replied.

  Sherry slapped her palm against her chest, her eyes going misty. “Oh, you are a good man.” She squeezed his shoulder and then gave us our privacy.

  I kind of forgot we were in a restaurant when I leaned up and kissed Noah. When I drew away, he murmured, “We do have an audience, you know.”

  My cheeks flushed. “I was already a scandal here. A kiss isn’t going to make it any worse than getting pregnant when I was in high school.”

  He chuckled as I slipped off his lap and returned to my chair.

  Later that night, we refused to let Quinn have any champagne. “Really?” she pressed.

  “Yes,” Noah said firmly.

  “Let me see your ring again, Mom.”

  She sat at an angle across from me on the big sectional in the living room. The Christmas tree lights were twinkling over by the bay window, and a fire was flickering in the fireplace as I leaned over to once again show her the ring.

  She bit her lip, her gaze a little bashful when she looked up at us. “I love it.”

  “Thanks for giving Noah your blessing,” I replied.

  “Well,” she said when she leaned back and brushed her hair off her shoulders with a flourish. “It was necessary. Now, I have a show to watch. Can I go upstairs?”

  “Off to your room,” I said, laughing when she leaped up from the couch.

  Matilda followed her up the stairs. Noah had set up a TV for her in the guestroom upstairs the last time we came here with her.

  I leaned into his shoulder. “All that power’s going to go to her head,” I teased.

  I felt his shrug and then he leaned over to dust a kiss across my lips. “So what? I love you, you know.”