11. Nix
Chapter 11
Nix
“ O kay what’s going on with you Nix?” Torey stared at me with a mix of curiosity and sympathy as if she already knew what or rather who was responsible for my melancholy mood. “You haven’t been the same since before the storm.”
“Nothing’s going on, I’m fine.” I wasn’t fine. Not at all. “It’s just been busy catching up on everything that was at a standstill for three and a half days.” That was also true and work kept me busy, too busy to think about a certain sexy billionaire who had undeniably rocked my world.
“Pants on fire, Nix.” Her sing-song tone made me smile but the determined look that followed it told me I wouldn’t get out of this without an explanation. “You’ve got exactly ten minutes before the cookie bake-off begins to tell me. Or else.”
“Fine,” I rolled my eyes, knowing when I was beat. “Things with Lee got a little complicated. And fun. And hot. And now they’re over, it’s taking time for me to adjust.” That was the most succinct way to tell the story.
“Oh, that’s not nearly enough,” she laughed and bumped my shoulder. “You got busy with your mortal enemy and fell for him in three days? He must be dynamite in the sack.”
I rolled my eyes but my reluctance to talk about it while I set up all the ingredients for each cookie station didn’t stop the blush that stained my cheeks. “Dynamite is too mild to describe it.”
Torey’s eyes widened. “Oh. My. God. This is amazing!” Her smile faded and her shoulders slumped as if my earlier words just sank in. “So why is it over?”
“Seriously? How about because he’s out to ruin the town.”
“So he’s a cold, unfeeling billionaire?”
“No,” I sighed. “He’s not.” Which made it all even worse.
“He was mean to you?”
“No, he was a perfect gentleman. Charming and considerate.”
“And not bad in bed so, help me understand.”
I glared at my best friend and then down my phone for a time-check. “We have different values and after a while it would get really old, arguing about it all the time.” At least that’s what I told myself when I missed him too much.
“You like him. For real?”
I nodded. “I didn’t mean for it to happen but there’s only two things to do when a snowstorm hits and there’s no power.”
“Talk and screw,” she finished for me. “I say give it a shot and see where it goes. A little bit of heartache never hurt anyone.”
“I’ll remember that when you find yourself in this situation.” The horrified look on her face was enough to pull a laugh from me. “And now it’s time to judge the bake-off so this conversation, as thrilling as it is, is over.” I made my way to the stage where Krista Jensen introduced me and the two other judges, and judging got underway.
I hated that my heart wasn’t in the bake-off, it was one of my favorite parts of the Christmas Festival and Lee Lancaster ruined it. The cranberry pecan cookies were delicious, almost as delicious as the macadamia nut gingerbread cookies but it all tasted like sawdust. Even the winner, a white chocolate, orange cranberry shortbread was mostly tasteless on my tongue.
By the time we crowned the winner I was beyond ready to call it a day and head come, crawling into bed and not obsessing about a certain gorgeous developer until I drifted off to sleep. After the obligatory photos, I headed towards the park exit but a familiar voice stopped me in my tracks.
“Just where do you think you’re going?” Torey’s voice held a hint of amusement and annoyance.
“I was planning to have a nap. I have a headache.”
“No you don’t.” She wrapped her arms around me and turned back towards the next event. “You have a mild case of the I miss him’s and I won’t let you wallow.”
“Why not,” I whined. “Mostly because you signed us up for the tree decorating competition and I’m no quitter so come on.” She smiled as if she knew she’d successfully thwarted my plans to not wallow. “I hate you.”
“You do not,” she insisted as we signed in to claim our tree and box of goodies. “You love me to pieces.”
“Not right this moment.”
Torey threw her head back and laughed. “This is a misery of your own making. Who cares that you have this one thing that doesn’t mesh, everything else does right?”
I nodded.
“Then focus on that. Besides, he might bite his toenails and the rest won’t even matter.”
“Gross.” Lee was much too cultured for such barbaric behavior.
“Right? Think about that instead.”
“No, thank you.” What were the odds that the universe would send me a man who was smart and beautiful and rich and sexy as hell, only to make him Lee Lancaster? “I just need to move past this and I will. It was only a few days.”
“A few incredible days, it sounds like.”
I smiled. “They were, but they also weren’t real. Who we are out here in the world is who we are. The version of us inside my house was a fantasy.” A really good fantasy but still just a fantasy.
“Only you can decide if it stays just a few days of fantasy or a potential lifetime of reality.”
“Yeah, because it’s totally up to me.” I rolled my eyes and turned my attention to the box of ornaments and lights first and then the box of craft supplies so we could make our own tree decorations. The cold air suddenly sizzled and a hush fell over the crowd as if a celebrity was in our midst. Nope, not a celebrity. I refused to turn around because I knew who I would find and I knew it because I felt his presence and worse, I felt the weight of his gaze on me.
“Damn, he’s pretty.” Torey’s mouth hung open and that’s when my curiosity got the better of me. “You didn’t say his brother was Lancaster.”
I didn’t want to look into why her words filled me with relief so I looked at the two brothers, each gorgeous in their own way, as they walked in our direction. “His brother is Lancaster,” I offered blandly.
“Nix.” His voice was deep, slightly pained and his eyes, though filled with joy, seemed sad. “This is something else.” He motioned around the festival grounds with a wicked smile. “You undersold it.”
“There’s nothing like seeing it for yourself.” Our gazes locked and it was as if everyone else around us disappeared. It was as if no time had passed since we were holed up in my house, exploring each other physically and mentally.
“Well as awkward as this is, I think I’m going to go anywhere else but here.” Torey stood abruptly, breaking the mood. Her cheeks blushed furiously when she took another look at Lee’s brother, a gorgeous, rock & roll version of Lee. “I’m Torey and I’m a huge fan but I promise not to fan girl too hard if you want to get away from this unholy awkwardness.”
Mac’s face split into a magnificent grin and he held out his big hand. “Mac, nice to meet you Torey.” He slid Lee an amused gaze. “I’m getting secondhand awkward so I’m game.”
“Hey,” I called after Torey. “You’re my partner here.”
“Lee can take my place. You two have a lot to talk about.” She waved over her shoulder, not casting me a single look back, a wide smile on her face as she laughed at whatever Mac said to her.
“Traitor,” I mumbled under my breath.
“I can go if you don’t want me here,” he offered because he’s not a cold billionaire, but a very warm and very caring man.
“It’s not that,” I said, waving off his words. “I thought I’d have more time before I saw you again.”
“You’re not ready?”
I shook my head without meeting his gaze.
“Good because I’m not either, but here I am. I needed to see you again.”
I looked up at his admission. “You did. Why?”
“Because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. I know all the reasons—the one reason,” he clarified, “that this might not work but there are so many others for why it might. It could.”
A loud whistle sounds and Wallace Jensen, Kyra’s husband, started the clock. “Happy decorating!”
We got to work or rather I got to work because it seemed as if Lee hadn’t decorated a tree in too many years to be of much use. “Untangle those lights, please.”
He grabbed the lights and got to work. “I like you Nix and I don’t like very many people, most days I’m not sure I like myself but I like you.”
“I think we’ve covered this. I like you and you like me. That doesn’t change the rest of it.”
“No,” he agreed. “It doesn’t but it also doesn’t mean that we should write off whatever this is. It’s hard to find people you like, harder still to find people you want to be around with and without your clothes on.”
I laughed, which drew interest from the team at the other end of our shared table. “Sorry.”
“Just agree that we can spend more time together.”
My heart leapt at his suggestion but the pragmatic side of me reared her logical head. “And just pretend the rest of it doesn’t exist?”
“No, just, I don’t know maybe we see if everything else is so good, so spectacular that this one little thing is just a blip.” He flashed that irresistible grin that was absolutely contagious.
“I’ll bet that smile gets you anything you want.”
He shrugged, mouth kicked up into a lopsided grin. “This might surprise you but I’m not known for smiling much. My bargaining skills get me what I want, most of the time.”
Now why did that give me shivers? “Interesting. So you don’t use your charm?”
He laughed outright at that. “No one who knows me has ever accused me of having charm.” He leaned forward with a conspiratorial smile. “I think you bring it out of me.
Oh boy. “I don’t know what to say to that.” My heart fluttered in my chest and my belly was doing backflips.
“And here I thought there was only one way to stun you into silence.”
His words shocked me. Then they turned me on. “Lee.”
“Don’t say my name like that in public, Nix.”
Oh, this was fun! “Like what, Lee?”
He growled and grabbed the box of ornaments, tossing them on the tree haphazardly.
“What are you doing?” I barely got the question out through my laughter.
“Decorating the damn tree, what does it look like?”
“Um, like a tornado blew through the place?”
“Your fault,” he growled and finished the tree in record time, using every last ornament, garland and tinsel in the box.
Unsurprisingly, we didn’t win. “Congratulations to the Mason Twins for their unique tree. To the rest of you, better luck next year,” Wallace said, giving our tree major side eye.
Lee grabbed my hand and led me out of the park. “Can we get out of here and talk?” He was already pulling me before I answered.
“Sure. Where?” I was all smiles and my heart fluttered as I waited anxiously for his answer. Did he want to go back to my place or his place and get naked? Did he want to talk? Or did he just want to clear the air?
A grin split his face. “Definitely not your place or mine. I’d like to talk first.”
First. That meant he still wanted me, just not now. “Okay, what do you want to talk about?”
“You. Me. Us.” He grabbed my hands in his and looked around before his lips found mine. The kiss was hot and tender, I felt aroused and cherished at the same time. When Lee pulled back my breath caught in my throat. “I’ve missed those lips.”
“They’ve missed you too.” I hummed my pleasure at his taste and his words. “You wanted to talk?”
“Yeah,” he growled and put a few feet of distance between us without releasing my hand. “Talk. I think we should give us a chance. A real chance.”
I wanted that too, more than I even let myself admit. “And just forget the rest?”
He nodded. “At least it until we’re forced to deal with it. My aunt used to tell me I excelled at borrowing trouble and for the first time in my life, I don’t want to. I’ll pay the bill it when it arrives.”
“So we go into this with our eyes wide open but we hope for the best?” That wasn’t exactly my style of doing things but I had a feeling it was new to Lee as well.
“Something like that. All I know is that I want to know more about you and spend more time with you, laughing and talking and fucking.”
That’s all I wanted too. “Okay then, I’m in. Let’s spend now and worry about the bill later.”
Lee’s lips twitched and then a stunning smile broke free. “Perfect. Now I just have one more question.”
My brows rose and my own smile broke, wide and excited. “Your place or mine?”
I nodded. “Yes. Either. Both.”
Lee seemed more than satisfied by my answer as he took me by the hand and dragged me to his luxury SUV without another word.