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“I work for an online company, Oleo. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it or not. I basically just return emails all day to unhappy customers,” I say with a roll of my eyes.
“You don’t enjoy it.” It’s a statement, not a question. Something about that has a shiver running down my spine, waking up certain parts of me for the first time. I’ve never been particularly interested in dating. In fact, I haven’t so much as kissed a guy. I thought maybe I was broken, but it seems as though I’ve saved up all of my attraction and lust for one surly millionaire lumberjack with electric blue eyes and an endearing frown.
“Avery?” Pax says, drawing me back into the moment.
“I don’t enjoy it,” I quickly recover. “But my schedule is flexible enough that I can spend my free time volunteering at the animal shelter downtown.” I finish hanging up the last strand of lights and move to stand to study my work. “How does it look?” I ask with a grin as I open my arms wide.
A gust of wind hits me, rocking me back on my heels and I drop down to my butt before I can topple over.
“Umph!”
“Alright! That’s enough decorating for today,” Pax calls up to me, his eyes a little wild with worry.
“I’m okay,” I tell him but he shakes his head.
“Down. Now.” His voice is harsh and commanding. Despite the cold and wind, I’m flushed head to toe just thinking about him speaking to me that way in the bedroom.
Holy crap, get it together!I scold myself.
Instead of bursting into flames or begging Pax to give me my first kiss, I roll my eyes at his response. Still, I move over to the ladder and head down. He holds it steady for me as I descend. When I’m a few rungs from the bottom, I hear a grunt and then feel large, warm hands grip my hips.
Pax lifts me easily, holding me against his body briefly before setting me down on the ground. I wobble slightly, my legs apparently turning to Jell-O at his touch.
As soon as he drops his hands, I spin around, my nose nearly crashing right into his chest. He rests his hands on my shoulders to steady me. Looking up at the giant, I can’t help but grin.
“Got any hot chocolate?” I ask, not wanting our time to end.
“No.”
I frown. Well, there goes all the progress I made.
Pax folds up my ladder, turning and heading back to my place.
“I can carry it!”
“I got it,” he says, striding across the snow dusted grass between our two houses.
My heart sinks as I stare at his back. It’s like he can’t wait to get away from me. I take a deep breath, enjoying the crisp winter air as I head past Pax to show him where to put the ladder.
“It was nice meeting you,” I tell him, giving him a smile.
“You too,” he says, shifting anxiously on his feet. The man looks so uncomfortable, I almost pity him.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say cheerfully, releasing him from his own awkwardness. I find it adorable, but I don’t want him to be embarrassed. I wave and head inside, though I can’t help but peek out from behind the curtains as I close the door, wanting to see my big teddy bear one last time.
FOUR
Pax
I’m a fucking idiot.
I’m fully aware of that as I head down the grocery store aisles in search of hot chocolate. I’m not even sure what aisle it would be in. I can’t remember the last time that I had a cup of hot chocolate. It’s such a frivolous, impractical thing, though I have a feeling Avery would disagree. She looked mildly shocked and a little disappointed when I told her I didn’t have any on hand.
I head down the coffee aisle and let out a sigh as I finally spot the boxes and containers of hot chocolate. There’s a dozen of them and I can feel my eye starting to twitch as I stare at all of the different varieties. Milk chocolate, white chocolate, peppermint, dark chocolate… what the fuck do I know about this stuff? What am I doing here?
I spot a box boasting of double chocolate and mini marshmallows. I instinctively know my clumsy curvy angel is going to want all the sugar she can get, so I grab several of the boxes and shove them in my cart.
Heading over to the dairy section, I grab a can of whipped cream too, tossing it on top of the hot chocolate. What else would Avery want? Caramel? Candy canes? Chocolate sprinkles? I don’t know, so I decide to get it all.
