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“Ha! That’s an understatement. But I love mornings, so I’ll make you a nice cup of coffee and bring it to you in the morning. And you can give me some kind of sign when it’s safe to talk to you.” He tipped his chin in a perfunctory nod. “What other faults do you have?”
She laughed. “None—that was it. Let’s hear yours.”
“Okay... I tend to throw my dirty clothes at the hamper instead of into the hamper. And I’ve been known to leave the cap off the toothpaste tube.”
“Oh, no. I’m
afraid that’s a deal-breaker. I’m particular about my toothpaste.”
“Separate tubes?”
“Maybe. I’ll have to think about it.”
“Seriously though, we should talk about some things,” Josh said. “Like... children. Do you want children?”
“You mean, other than Jace and Chloe?”
“Right.”
“Yeah, I do want more.”
“You do? How many?”
“I don’t know... Maybe three or four more?”
“So five or six kids?” Josh sounded surprised. “Wow. Okay. I guess I don’t object to the idea, but I’ve never imagined it.”
“I think you’ll be a good dad. You’re good with Jace. And Chloe, too.”
He bent his head and spoke into her ear, sending shivers down her neck, “And you’re a really good mom, too.” Then he moved his lips gently down to her cheek and his hand rose up to rest his fingers against her jaw and turn her face upward. Her heart began to pound as she realized it was about to happen. He was finally going to kiss her. She grasped through a fog to remember the last thing she’d eaten. Thanks goodness, it was a chocolate dinner mint. If only she’d applied some berry flavored lip balm to her chapped lips.
“Uncle Josh! Aunt Charlie! Look I’m holding the reins all by myself!”
Josh jerked his face away and dropped his hand like a guilty teenager. “That’s great, Jace.”
With her heart still racing, Charlie took a deep breath of icy air to calm herself. She could see a certain disadvantage to having kids around, but in their case, the kids were the reason they were together at all. If it weren’t for Jace and Chloe, she and Josh wouldn’t be getting married, so she could hardly resent Jace’s presence. “Are you having fun?” she asked Jace.
“It’s easy!” he called back, “And Randy says I’m the best nine-year-old sleigh driver he’s ever seen!”
“Be careful, and pay attention,” Josh warned. With Jace once again captivated by driving the horses, he lifted his hand to cup her chin toward him. “Now... where were we?” He gently caressed her forehead with his lips, trailing ever so slowly downward toward her mouth.
“Josh?” she whispered between quickening breaths.
“Hmmm?” he answered, zoning toward her lips.
“We need to talk.”
He grumbled, “Now? Couldn’t we talk later?”
“But it’s about this.”
“This?”
“Yes, this. The physical stuff. We’re getting married in three weeks, but we’re not in love yet. So we probably shouldn’t get too physical before we’re in love.”
“But surely we can kiss a little, right? That’s not too physical, is it?”
“No, I guess not. But I thought it might confuse the issue,” said Charlie
