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Charlee woke at dawn, once again glad she was alone in bed. Pushing things with Ace would not be a good thing. Did she even want to push things with him?
She took in a deep breath and let it out.Yes.
This time when she went to the kitchen, she heard Christmas music playing and smelled hot spices and peppers.
“Merry Christmas.” His smile melted her heart.
Impulsively, she rose on her tiptoes and lightly kissed him. “Merry Christmas,” she said against his lips before she backed away and smiled in return.
“Best Christmas morning ever.” His sexy grin made her belly tingle. “Just in time. What do you want on your omelet?”
She leaned down to scratch Ossie behind her ears. “I’d like everything, including the kitchen sink.”
“One garbage omelet coming up.”
Charlee climbed onto the stool at the breakfast bar and sang along to the Christmas song that was playing, something new by Kade Fields. He was a popular singer Bailey and Seth had met and made friends with in Hawaii. Kade had come to their wedding as a friend, but had performed as his wedding gift to the couple.
“I swear Kade gets better every time I hear him.” She watched Ace and thought about him shirtless again and sighed. Kade might sing even better now than before, but Ace just got sexier whenever she got a chance to stare at him without him noticing.
She really had to stop this, but she felt as if she might be too far gone.
“Kade goes fishing with Seth a lot when he’s not on the road.” Ace served up two omelets. “He’s a great guy to be around.”
“He reminds me a lot of George Strait.” She breathed in the smell of cheese, spices, and peppers. “The way you’ve been spoiling me with your cooking, I swear you’re going to have to roll me out of this cabin.”
“You’ll still look as cute as ever.” Ace made a motion like he was rolling a barrel out the door. “And that would mean I’d get to have my hands on you some more.”
Charlee shook her head. “You’re silly.”
He flashed her a grin. “But you love me anyway.”
Her face heated at the thought of falling in love with Ace.
“What are we doing today?” She took the plate he offered and set it in front of her.
Ace gestured to the window. “It’s stopped snowing. We can go out for a bit.”
She turned her gaze to look out and see a white world, but like he said, it wasn’t snowing. She hadn’t even noticed.
“At least we can get the radio station up here,” he said. “Weather report says it’s going to start snowing again before noon, and we’ll have another good one. We wouldn’t have enough time to get out of here and get your car dug out of the snow. But we can leave the cabin for a while and play in the snow.”
“Sounds wonderful.” She smiled down at the Australian shepherd. “Does Ossie play fetch?”
“She loves it.” Ace made his way around the bar and slid on the stool next to Charlee. “We can build Frosty, too.”
Charlee and Ace enjoyed their breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen, and dressed to go outside. This time Charlee wore a white sweater along with her jeans, a jacket, knit hat, and gloves. They pulled on their boots and headed out into the carport.
The snow was over four feet deep. Ace retrieved the snow blower from the large tool shed and cleared out the driveway in front of the garage. The storm would keep them in a little longer, but soon enough it would be time to leave.
Too soon.
Thoughts of leaving were like lead weights in her belly. She was enjoying this time too much with Ace.
What would happen when they got back to reality? Would they do things like go to the Korean restaurant and hiking in Sedona? And drinks at Nectars?
Her body tingled. She wanted that more than she’d realized.
After Ace cleared out an area, he got a rope dog toy out of his truck and played tug-o-war with Ossie. Charlee laughed at their antics. Ace threw a stick he’d retrieved from nearby, and the dog chased it into the snow, bounded through a drift and disappeared every time she lunged forward, then brought it back. It was clear by the energetic way she wagged her tail and the look of doggy joy on her furry face that she was having a ball.
