Chapter 6
six
Cole
“Maybe you can focus on the construction while I plan the decor?” Reese suggests.
I shake my head as I look through the different sizes and shapes of gingerbread we have to work with. The other three couples are all working on their designs already.
“Why not?” Reese asks. “It’s playing to our strengths.”
I turn toward her. “Reese. We’re making this house together, from start to finish. Your losing streak stops today.”
She grimaces. “It doesn’t count when you’re the only reason I’d be winning.”
I grab her hand and pull her with me to the table Tess designated for us. “With the things I’m going to teach you today, your next gingerbread house will be able to withstand an 8.5 earthquake.”
She smiles, and not for the first time, I get distracted by it. She may be a dental hygienist, but that doesn’t explain the way her smile lights me up like a Christmas tree.
“That would be impressive,” she says. “But just so you know, I’m not very competitive.”
“You may not be, but your boyfriend is.”
Her lashes flicker ever so slightly at the word boyfriend. “I thought we were here to have fun.”
“Competition is fun.” My gaze slides over to Megan and Brady, who are shoulder to shoulder as Brady sketches on the paper in front of them. “Are you really telling me you don’t care if they beat us?”
She watches them for a few seconds, and I wish I could eavesdrop on her thoughts. Is she still in love with him? How much does it hurt to see him with one of her closest friends?
She probably feels like she wasn’t enough for Brady.
Completely crazy. She deserves more than that guy. If he made her feel she wasn’t enough or wasn’t desirable, I know my goal here, and it’s not just winning a gingerbread house competition.
Her nostrils flare slightly, then her gaze slides back to mine. “I wanna win.”
My mouth pulls into a smile. “Good, because I was invested in this whole situation”—I gesture gently toward Brady—“before we came, but now?”
Reese arches a brow as she waits for me to continue. There’s the smallest hint of challenge in her expression. It makes me braver than I usually am—maybe braver than I should be.
“I hope you’re ready for me to turn up the heat.”
For a millisecond, I could swear Reese is about to draw back. Instead, she takes a step toward me, then slides her hands up my chest.
I almost choke on my own heartbeat as her eyes meet mine, the competitiveness burning bright.
A little smile curls her pink lips. “Consider it turned up.”
The sudden need to kiss her charges through me like a flash flood, obliterating every other thought and emotion in its path.
I could kiss her. I think she’d let me right now.
“Six minutes!” Tess calls out from her table.
I blink, my heart thumping like I just got caught stealing. “We’d better get our plans laid.”
Reese lets her hands drop from my chest. “Lead the way, foreman.”
My heart is still beating faster than usual as we lean over the blank sheet of paper and start planning. Brady and Megan seem to be making some sort of castle, Hannah and Tyler are working at what seems like a high-rise, and Tess and Dylan’s sketch looks like a tiered mansion.
After a little back-and-forth, I suggest we model our gingerbread house after our house.
Her house.
My old house.
Whatever.
“Will ours be too boring?” Reese asks.
“Haven’t you ever watched HGTV?”
She scoffs. “I don’t live under a rock.”
“Okay, and what happens on every single episode?”
“They find a $100,000 dollar problem they didn’t expect.”
“Exactly. I guarantee your friends have all bitten off more than they can chew, but you and I?” I chuck her under the chin. “We’re being smart, and it’ll pay off. Trust me.”
“It’d better,” she teases.
We sketch out our general plan—a quick, shoddy one because Tess’s timer goes off before we can do much else. Luckily the plans for the real thing are in my head.
We divide and conquer to get our hands on the pieces we need, plus some extras in case we run into any issues. I get all the pieces I was assigned, then glance up just in time to see Reese and Brady reach for the last remaining square piece.
Their hands bump, and they look at each other.
Time switches to half-speed for a few seconds while I watch them and wait for Reese to take the piece. She was there first.
She makes a gesture like she’s about to take it, then withdraws. “Sorry.”
“All good,” Brady responds, grabbing the square, then heading back to Megan.
Annoyance flickers through me as Reese looks up at me and grimaces.
Did she really just let him take it? Is she that sprung over the guy? I thought she wanted to win.
She comes over to me with the pieces she amassed, her teeth clenched. “Now what do we do?”
I consider bringing up the fact that she just let her ex take a structurally integral piece of our gingerbread house so that he and his new girlfriend, who happens to be one of her best friends, can beat us.
But that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to build her up.
“Now we adapt.” I grab one of the last rectangular pieces of gingerbread. “We can cut this one to size. But first, the foundation.” I grab the first of the frosting bags Tess gave us and hand it to Reese. “Lay the foundation.”
She looks at me like I just asked her to lay an actual foundation. “The foundation…as in the part of the house that affects the integrity of everything that comes after?”
I smile. “Just spread a thick layer of frosting…let’s say eight inches by sixteen inches.” I draw the general shape with my finger.
Brows raised like she needs me to know I may regret delegating this particular task, she steps in front of our canvas—a shiny metal baking sheet—and starts squeezing out the frosting.
I glance up to see who else has started on their structures, and my gaze meets Brady’s. He’s watching us as Megan squeezes more frosting at the base of the wall she’s holding.
His eyes quickly dip away, but it’s the reminder I need.
I said I was gonna turn up the heat, didn’t I? And it’s feeling a little chilly in here.
I step behind Reese and set my hand on her waist.
There’s the slightest pause that has me holding my breath, then she continues her task.
“Perfect,” I say. “Keep it as steady as you can. I can set down something straight as a guide if you want.”
“Not necessary,” she says. “I happen to have very steady hands.”
She’s not lying. There’s no wobble as she glides the frosting along the pan in an impressively straight line.
“Job requirement,” she explains with a satisfied smile.
Out of the corner of my eye, I note Brady watching us again as she finishes the third side of the foundation.
I scoot my body closer and rest my cheek against her hair, breathing in the sweet smell of her shampoo.
Her hand stops, and her head slowly turns, just enough that my lips graze her cheek. They tingle like I just swiped Icy Hot across them.
“You’re distracting me,” Reese says.
“You started it,” I say. “Get back to work.”
She laughs, and with our bodies so close, I don’t just hear it; I feel it.
“You’re very bossy,” she says, starting the last edge of our foundation. “I’m gonna call you Old King Cole.”
“As long as that means you worship me,” I whisper into her ear.
It’s a ridiculous thing to say, but I can’t help myself. I like to see how Reese catches whatever I throw her way. It keeps her from thinking about Brady and Megan.
Her hand gives the slightest wobble, a little blip in the otherwise perfectly straight line.
A little thrill rushes through me. I should want a perfect foundation—I’m a stickler on the job—but thinking I might’ve been the cause of that little quiver brings a whole different level of satisfaction.
I don’t even care if Brady saw it.
“For the record,” she says, “you don’t worship kings.”
“Swearing eternal fealty will do.”
“Watch yourself, Your Majesty, or you’ll find yourself with a full-scale rebellion on your hands.”
My mind is more focused on what’s in my hands right now, which is Reese’s waist. “Sounds like fun to me.”
Once the foundation is filled, we start getting the walls up.
“What in the world are you doing?” she asks as I set my phone on top of the wall she’s holding up.
“It’s a leveling app. Not perfect, but better than nothing.”
She laughs, and the wall shifts.
I look at her severely. “Do you mind?”
“My bad,” she says, all amused penitence.
I resituate the phone. “I don’t think this wall is to code.” I set my phone aside and shake my head. “Shoddy workmanship. That’s what it is.”
“Hey.” She hip-checks me, but I snatch her by the waist and pull her flush against me.
Her eyes lock on mine, smiling just as brightly as her mouth. “You gonna fire me?” She rests her forearms on my shoulders, and it simultaneously feels like the most natural thing in the world and the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me.
Her energy is intoxicating, but instead of making everything feel fuzzy, it heightens my awareness. I feel all ten points of contact between my fingers and her waist. I want to tighten my hold to keep her where she is.
“I’ve gotta do something to you,” I say.
Her gaze intensifies, slipping to my lips, then right back up.
I should kiss her. Right here. Right now. It would be the most normal thing in the world to everyone else. It’s part of the act.
But it still feels like a big deal, and part of me doesn’t want to kiss Reese in front of all these people. I want her to myself.
“And you wonder why you lose every year, Reese!” Hannah shouts from the other side of the big kitchen. “You two may be in la-la-land, but here on earth, your two hours are ticking.”
I smile and take a step back. “A guy is why you’ve lost every year?”
She snorts. “No one’s brought a guy until this year.”
It shouldn’t make me happy to hear that, but it does. I like that I’m the only one Reese has shared this yearly tradition with.