AllFreeNovel
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I smile but it’s stiff with frozen cheeks. “A few presents.”
“You really are Old Saint Nick, aren’t you?”
“I might be. Waiting on the white hairs though.”
“I bet they’ll come any day now.”
“Calling me old?”
She brushes past me, smiling as she says, “Maybe. Try to catch up, old man.”
I pause, watching her as she trudges on ahead of me. God she smells amazing. As sweet as her sugar cookies. Spicier than cinnamon. Each time she passes by, it feels like I’m a cartoon character, floating in the air as they’re drawn to a pie cooling on a windowsill. I could never get enough of it.
When I finally catch up to her, she’s brushing off the snow on a fallen log.
“Does this work?” she asks, gesturing to the log.
“Perfect.”
I drop my bag and fish out a thermos full of stew and a couple of bowls. Eva lets out a sigh as she rests her hands on her lap and glances up at me. “What do we have here?”
“Stew,” I say, handing her a bowl.
She looks at the bowl and then at me. Over to the thermos and then back to me as she raises an eyebrow. “Dare I ask what kind, Mr. Mountain Man?”
I untwist the cap, setting it down as steam escapes.
“Beef, potatoes, carrots, onions. A few secret ingredients I can’t share. It’s my mother’s recipe.”
Eva seems to relax at the mention of my mother.
“No squirrel?”
“Fresh out,” I say, handing her a steaming bowl.
She brings the bowl to her face, smiling as she breathes it in. “Smells delicious.”
“My mom used to make it for me and my dad while we were out hunting for a tree. No matter how frozen we got, her stew always warmed us back up in no time.”
“Good. I might be bundled up, but I’m freezing. Do I just…” She brings the bowl to her lips, tipping it back as she pretends to sip it.
“Spoons,” I say, scratching the back of my neck. “Knew I forgot something.”
I reach into my pack and take out a couple of spoons. I plop one in each of our bowls. She takes a spoonful, brings it to her lips, and blows, stopping me mid-bite.
Holy shit.
Heat pools immediately in my pants. Fuck the stew. Watching the way Eva’s lips purse when she blows heats me faster than this stew ever could. Add that to the list of things I never thought could be sensual.
She moans after taking her first bite, sealing my fate. I’m going to freeze to death out here because all the blood that should be warming my extremities is rushing between my legs.
“That’s amazing,” she says. “Compliments to your mother, she’s an amazing cook.”
“Yes, she was,” I say without thinking.
Eva sets her spoon down. She opens her mouth to say something but then closes it again as she stares up at the snow falling softly on us.
I know she wants to ask about my parents, but it’s not something I normally talk about. Never actually. I can’t remember the last time I talked about them. Even though my parents are an essential part of me, I keep the memories of them locked away inside me as though they’d fly away anytime I mention them.
