Chapter Eight
As I step inside, the warmth of the cabin wraps around me like a cosy blanket.
I head over to the fireplace and relight the fire, the motion coming to me like second nature.
I really am getting pretty good at it. A smile spreads across my face as the first few hesitant flames catch.
I stand back, watching over it, ensuring it grows strong.
“You are the fire queen!” Juniper announces, giving a round of applause.
I chuckle, feathering my hand as I take a playful bow. “I try,” I say, shrugging and feigning nonchalance, though the warmth of her praise makes my heart flutter. I hold up my empty mug. “Now, I don’t know about you, but I could use another drink.”
“Ditto.” Juniper takes my hand, leading me to the kitchen.
My hand is warm in hers, and it’s weird that it’s not weird to be holding it.
“Well”—Juniper holds up the still-frozen bottle of white wine—“I guess that’s out of the question.”
I laugh. “I was thinking something more along the lines of hot chocolate?” I raise an eyebrow. “Do you think Willow would have stocked some … or maybe sent you to grab some truly decadent, pompous, dark cocoa, darling?”
Juniper chuckles at my impression. “You know, had I actually stuck to the list she’d given me, we would have all starved by now.” She starts rummaging through the kitchen cupboards. “And I don’t care how gorgeous her PicPosts are—”
I bite down on a smile, watching her work. I think I may have accidentally riled her up.
“—people aren’t meant to survive solely on olives and fancy fucking ham.” She closes one cupboard then opens the next.
“Hey. I wholeheartedly agree.” I stand at the sink, out of the way. “Though I do also like olives and fancy ham,” I say, goading her a little.
She whirls around, gaping at me. “You love pizza!” she defends with mock outrage.
“Oh yes,” I say, trying to keep a straight face. “It’s very romantic.”
Juniper puts her hands on her hips and pouts. Then her expression shifts into something more playful as she says, “Well, there is just something about a triangle which can be very—” She cracks up. “Bah! I’ve got nothin’!”
I laugh too. “You tried!”
She blushes. “I did.”
“There are three sides to every story … every slice?” I say then shake my head abruptly. “Nope. Nope. We killed it.” I giggle some more.
Juniper rolls her eyes. “Ethan was right, innuendos are not my forte.”
As if his ears were burning, Ethan waltzes in. “What was I right about?” he asks, a glint of mischief in his eyes.
We laugh and wave him off.
“Hey, it’s not often I actually get to be right,” he insists.
“Oh, that’s not true.” I walk over to him and reach up to ruffle his scruffy half-flattened trapper hat hair. “You get things right all the time”—I smile up at him sweetly—“after I’ve told you exactly what to do.”
He sighs, bending to kiss the top of my head. “Oh, you,” he all but growls in my ear, and my heart flutters some more.
“Aha!” Juniper grabs a gold tin from the back of the cupboard and scrutinises the label. Her gaze follows the words, and her expression morphs from one of delight to disgust. “Black forest and dark chocolate … tea?” She grimaces, and we giggle at her obvious horror.
I sigh. “No hot chocolate for us then.”
“Wait!” Ethan says.
He rushes off, and Juniper and I look at each other quizzically before she shoves the tin back in the cupboard—way, way back.
“You have this?” Ethan holds up the block of Cadbury Dairy Milk I smuggled here from home. The sight of its perfect purple wrapper alone is enough to make me salivate like one of Pavlov’s dogs.
“You, sir”—I march over to him and pluck the chocolate from his grasp—“are a genius!”
Ethan grins like the cat who’s got the cream—or, rather, the man who’s just made his wife’s day.
I take it straight over to Juniper. “Have you ever had good chocolate?” I ask with a cheeky grin.
She huffs but easily returns my smile. “You English are such snobs about your chocolate!”
“Only because your chocolate sucks,” I say matter-of-factly. I crouch to retrieve a small pan from beneath the sink. “Can you grab the milk, please?” I ask, and she does so with another eye roll.
“Your majesty.” She hands me the carton, and I chuckle.
“I think I’m gonna go check on the fire.” Ethan hitches a thumb over his shoulder then scoots out of the room with a wink, leaving us to it.
I warm the milk on the stove then snap off a row of delicious Cadbury’s milk chocolate. Only the very best. I pop a few squares into the pan and continue stirring. Then I snap the next row and do the same again, only I save the last square, holding it out for Juniper to try.
“Close your eyes,” I command, and Juniper walks over to me and does so, her mouth slightly open, waiting. I pop the square into her mouth and watch as her face lights up.
She nods. “Mhmmm.” She nods some more then swallows. “That is good stuff.”
I turn back to my pan with a satisfied smile. “You don’t say.”
As the milk turns from white to a rich brown, I take the pan off the heat and set it aside to find clean mugs.
“Looks good.”
I turn to find Juniper right in front of me, a stunning smile on her face and a single square of chocolate pinched between her thumb and forefinger.
“Now close your eyes,” she says, and my god, the way she says it, and the way she’s looking at me right now— Fuck.
I close my eyes and wait, my lips slightly parted, for that sweet, sweet taste on my tongue.
But the chocolate doesn’t make it to my mouth. Instead, I feel Juniper’s breath against mine. Then her lips press to mine, and her kiss is so much better than all the chocolate in the world.
I go weak at the knees as she wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me closer. My hands flutter to her waist, and I pull her in as our kiss grows deeper.
I swear sparks are fucking flying. Fireworks. The lot.
Ethan clears his throat, and we jump apart, Juniper’s cheeks flushing as red as mine feel.
“Um …” His eyes are wide, but he doesn’t look angry or upset, just in shock. “I …” He looks from me to her, from her to me. “I …”
I go to him. “It’s okay,” I say. “We’re okay.” I blink up at him, praying he’ll understand. I cup his face in my hands then draw him down to me, kissing him, the heat of Juniper’s kiss still heavy on my lips.
He kisses me back but is the first to pull away. “Is um … all chocolate an aphrodisiac?” His voice pitches awkwardly, and he looks shaken. “Or um … just the proper English stuff?”
There’s a beat of silence. Then I take his hand. “Sweetheart?” I glance back at Juniper. “We’ll be back in a bit, okay?” I tell her. “Oh, and try the hot chocolate,” I say with the smallest smile. “Before it um … goes cold.”
She holds my gaze, worry in her eyes. Then she nods and gives a thumbs up of all things. “Got it.”
Back in our room, the room we shared with Juniper last night, the room Ethan woke up to with his arms around Juniper still, her body held close to his own, back in that same room, we perch on the bed like two strangers on a bench.
“Hey.” I turn to face him head on. Then, dammit, I hold his gaze like I’m holding onto a liferaft.
“Hey,” he says back, his voice quiet, his light dimmed.
“Do you wanna talk about it?” I ask softly.
“I um …” He looks down, clasping his hands then twiddling his thumbs. Round and around they go, and I want him to look at me, to talk to me. To forgive me … if he feels I’ve done him wrong? He takes a deep breath then releases it slowly. “I think I’m okay,” he says after a while.
I nod. “Okay.”
“It’s just—”
I tense up but try not to show it.
“Like, I know we’ve talked about it before. I mean, fuck, it’s been kinda implied since last night that we were both okay with this—” He rubs the back of his neck, and though he looks stressed I resist the urge to jump in and reassure him.
I wanna know how he really feels.
“I guess it’s just, y’know, the reality of seeing you actually kissing someone else.” He frowns. “I mean, it’s different when we’re talking about celebrities, or I dunno, the hot lesbian chicks on your PicPost feed or whatever—”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “The hot lesbian chicks?”
He suppresses a smile. “Yeah. Like that one … you know. With the abs?”
“Oh. Right. Yeah.” I huff a laugh. “Okay, sure. You got me there.”
“Right?” He smiles properly, and relief floods through me. “Anyway … I guess it was just different when it was hypothetical. Like, this is … real. Like, really real.”
I chuckle at his verbiage. “Remind me again what it is you do for work?”
“Hey. Us teachers can be basic bitches too.”
“Okay, fine.” I grin back. “So, now that it’s ‘really real’,” I say playfully, and Ethan presses his lips, which nevertheless curl up.
“Yes?” he asks with a sigh.
“Do you want it to stop?”
He focuses on me, and I guess we have to be serious for a minute. “Tell me this: how would you feel if it had been the other way around?” he asks sheepishly. “Like, what if I’d kissed Juniper instead?”
“Do you want to kiss Juniper?”
His eyes widen, and his cheeks pink. “That’s not what I said …” He squirms.
Now, I’m smiling. “So, do you?” I ask again, terrified yet kinda turned on by the idea.
“Fine. Yes. Yes I do,” he says, finally. “But it doesn’t mean I don’t still want to be with you,” he adds, and there’s so much anguish in his expression, I can hardly bear it.
“I know.” I reach for him, taking his hands in mine. “Trust me. I know.”
He bites his lip. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” I tell him. “Because I feel the same way.” I squeeze his hands then stare right into his gorgeous face. “Because I know I want to be with Juniper, and I am still head over fucking heels in love with you.”