Hot Chocolate Kisses (Sugar & Spice)

Prologue

Onyx Trejo

Glitter.

She had added glitter to the paint for my kitchen.

The color suggestion she had made was perfect. I liked it more than I wanted to admit. But the glitter? Why was this beautiful curly-haired curvy goddess working at the hardware store so damn cruel?

Even after covering it up with four coats of paint, I could still see the slight glimmer beneath. The shit wouldn’t cover up. A muscle at my jaw twitched and clenched as I leaned against the kitchen counter drinking my coffee.

And I hated to admit, it looked good.

I even missed the way the kitchen had first sparkled after I applied that first initial coat and walked into my sun-filled kitchen the next morning.

My lips twitched at the reminder. I hadn’t been able to believe my eyes when I saw it, torn between my head ready to explode and pride that my little snowflake had that kind of moxy to fuck with me after I had been an unsufferable ass.

The front door jingled and jangled like someone was having a tough time opening it.

I wasn’t worried. This was our routine. Austin and mine.

Bash used to stop by, but now he was busy with my sister.

My baby sister. I winced and batted away the thought as I chugged down my coffee.

She’s happy. He’s happy, I reminded myself. That was all that mattered.

“Jesus,” Austin groaned. “You need to change that fucking door. It swells,” he muttered, and I rolled my eyes.

The front door was perfectly fine.

The problem was that Austin was hungover as hell from his late night at the biker bar I swore stayed open later for him when he was on a bender.

The idiot. He had work in a couple of hours, and at our age, there was no magic elixir that would help kick him into shape on time.

He’d be paying for it, and it was freaking karaoke night.

I almost felt bad for him. Almost. The jackass still believed in some long-lived curse the men in his family suffered by.

Instead of facing shit head on, he went and hid under a bottle. Or two, knowing Austin.

He stumbled into my kitchen and winced. Judging by the dark circles beneath his eyes, I knew he hadn’t slept at all.

“Fuck, is it just me, or do the walls still sparkle?” he complained. I nodded.

“They do,” I muttered, reaching for his mug and pushing it closer to the edge.

Not needing to be told twice, he filled it up and started gulping it down black, unbothered by the strong, bitter coffee.

“How many coats have you done now?”

“Four.”

“You think…” he started to say. I turned to look at him, prying my attention from the walls that reminded me of the woman who had been unknowingly worming her way under my skin.

“What?” I asked. He blinked and turned his own pale gray-blue gaze to me.

“Nothing.” He shook his head and winced. “Got any Tylenol?” I pointed to the cabinet behind him.

“What?” I asked.

“I’m just thinking that’s a lot of paint, yeah? I mean, I can see two coats of paint not covering it up, but four? Is there any chance you think she’s still adding glitter to it?” he asked, pouring himself another mug of coffee before turning to the cabinet where I kept pain relievers.

“Still adding…” I opened and shut my mouth. My eyes scanned the walls. Fuck. Why hadn’t I thought of that?

Was she?

“No, I mean…” I ran my fingers through my hair and surprised even myself when I laughed.

Loudly.

The sound was rough because I wasn’t used to doing it anymore. Between running the brewery and all the special events, it had taken me three months to find the time to repaint the kitchen.

I turned toward the gallon of paint I’d used last sitting by the door that led to the backyard. I’d left it because I was too tired to walk it to the shed I kept out there.

“Pass me a butter knife,” I said to Austin. My eyes focused on the paint around the bucket. Was it sparkling? Was it just my imagination.

My little snowflake.

My lips started to twitch. Did she really get me?

I heard Austin slowly move about before he finally handed me what I needed.

I popped open the almost empty gallon of paint and stared down at the liquid glimmering at me.

It had settled some from sitting the last week, but right on top, there was no denying a hint of shimmer.

Not exactly glitter but a hint of something that would make the walls sparkle.

Fuck me, Candy Kane got me good. The little hot-chocolate-drinking brat!

And even though I should have been pissed enough to call Rusty, her uncle, I found myself grinning.

Me! Grinning! What the hell was wrong with me?

My hands might have itched to spank that full ass of hers, but it wouldn’t be out of anger.

I’d never raise a hand to a woman in anger, especially not Candy.

No. There was a need flowing through me, heavy and heady, that sang with unadulterated need.

Primal desire shot through me for the curvy goddess who always smelled like peppermint and even in the middle of summer, I’d seen drinking hot chocolate.

The girl, no, the woman was aggravating. And that was saying something since I had been raised with four sisters.

“What did you do to her?” Austin asked, snapping me out of thoughts that would have left me with a fucking hard-on I didn’t need to be sporting around one of my best friends.

“What?”

“You had to have done something.”

“What makes you––“

“No woman does this“—he pointed at all the kitchen walls—“for no reason. What did you do to her? How did you piss her off?” I opened and shut my mouth. That ugly thing in my gut grew at the reminder of that day early in the summer.

Fuck, how the hell had it already been four months since I’d first seen her? Really seen her?

“I said something stupid,” I muttered. Regret filled my veins, making quick work of the heat that had been lying beneath disappear.

“What you say?”

“I was…” I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed.

The memory burned me. “I was pissed and in a bad mood and spouted something off when I didn’t know she was behind me,” I summarized, not giving him specifics because I sure as fuck didn’t want to repeat the stupid crap that had come out of my mouth.

She had come into the brewery with some of her friends. Lola, the new librarian, Libby from our local flower shop, and Jackie, our town’s very own pink-haired social media influencer.

The four of them had been around the bar, and I hated to admit, they had just been another group of girls looking to have a good time. But when she walked in and joined them? Those curves and long, thick dark curls bouncing in a pretty ponytail? I’d been a goner.

And it irritated me.

One look, and I knew she would be mine, whether I had the time for it or not.

For the next hour, I’d found any excuse possible to get close to the group. To refill their drinks and smile and flirt. Shocked at the way everything inside of me had gravitated towards her. Pulled and drawn me to her.

But I’d stepped into a pile of shit when an old buddy of mine came in. Older than me, eyeing the group of girls way too young for either of us, like he didn’t give a shit. Like he was up for the challenge. And the way his eyes were pinned on Candy’s ass had almost made me see red.

I’d seen that look in his eye before. He was a nice guy, but he was all about getting in and getting out. Hitting it and quitting it. He wasn’t the dating, hearts and flowers type. But then again, who was I to judge? Up until Candy had stepped into my life, I hadn’t been, either.

In an attempt to steer him away from giving them attention, I’d said something stupid. And she had been right behind me when I said it.

The one in blue? She’s kind of a big girl, no? The words had felt like acid on my tongue as I’d said them, but I knew he’d start looking elsewhere. But then I turned around and saw the hurt in her eyes as she stood behind me. Fuck.

I’d thought I’d lost the chance at finding the love of my life, until by chance, the next morning, I’d stepped into Rusty’s Hardware. The old man had introduced me to his niece. The one who he was training to leave the store to because he was getting ready to retire.

And because I was me, I once again put my foot in my mouth, saying something like she was a girl, what did she know about home improvement and tools.

She hadn’t liked that.

Not. At. All.

Leaning against the door that led outside, I looked at the walls again. The way they shimmered and shined made something inside of me soften as I pretended to listen to Austin give me shit before he went on to summarize what he got himself into the night before.

All the while thinking it was time to grow a pair and get my girl.

It was time to find out firsthand if those hot-chocolate-laced kisses would be as sweet as I imagined these last four months.