Chapter 5
Chapter Five
“Ithink you might be a genius,” Vax mumbled through a mouthful of Riya’s chocolate walnut bread.
She only smiled as she poured molten chocolate into the small molds she’d left to chill out in the snow. She was making one of her most popular confections. The hard outer shell was a smooth chocolate in the shape of a snowflake and in the middle was a light, fluffy coffee cream.
Over the past two days, Vax had provided invaluable help to Riya.
He’d done everything from keeping a fire going in the hearth almost all day, every day, to kneading dough, shelling the roasted cocoa beans, grinding them for all of the chocolate confections, and so much more.
They’d woken early in the morning and worked until they were so exhausted that they both collapsed well into the evening before starting all over again in the morning.
“I swear, if I stay here much longer, I’m going to need new clothes. I’m not sure my waistline could handle it.”
Riya snorted, “You need new clothes regardless. Those thin pants aren’t going to keep you warm on our journey to the city in three days for the Yule celebration.” She laughed, smiling to herself until she turned to face him and saw his expression.
His red eyes were wide, and he was staring at her with a look that had her smoothing her hair anxiously and wiping at the flour that was inevitably on her cheek. There was so much in the air between them, a tangible thickness that kept her frozen in place.
“You,” he started, but paused, clearing his throat. “You want me to go with you?”
Riya wanted to laugh because, of course, she wanted him to go with her.
She wanted him to go everywhere with her.
That thought had her bringing a hand up to cover her mouth.
He was studying her with a earnest, unblinking gaze, and she felt her entire center melt like chocolate left too long by the fire.
“Yes,” she finally breathed, and Vax took a small step toward her. His red eyes seemed to glow in the firelight, and the air between them vibrated with electric force.
Riya held her breath, not daring to utter another word as Vax took another step, then another, until they stood only inches apart.
She could feel the heat of him, a rolling, inviting wave of warmth, and she nearly swayed towards it, suddenly desperate to feel that heat against her bare skin.
The pulse in her throat quickened, and a giggle almost escaped her at the absurdity of this moment, surrounded by candies and baked sweets, flour dusting nearly every surface like fresh snow.
But Vax didn’t seem to notice anything, his eyes fixed solely on her as his knuckles grazed her cheek, leaving a trail of warmth before his fingers found their way to the nape of her neck.
Again, that impossible, velvety fire radiated from his skin, and she sighed, angling her head up to look into his exquisite pink face.
His eyes searched hers with that same vehement concentration he’d had with the map when he first arrived, as if the longer he stared, studying every inch of her features, he might be able to figure out how to get home. Or maybe he just wanted to memorize this moment before it vanished.
She would be damned if she let this moment pass.
Feeling emboldened, Riya reached her own hand up around his neck and pulled his enticingly plump pink lips to hers.
His lips were soft, tasting of chocolate and coffee cream.
The sheer fiery touch of them against hers tunneled through her, blossoming in her cheeks, tingling down her arms, pulsing between her legs.
It was intoxicating, and she wanted more.
Vax kissed her as if he had been waiting for this exact moment his entire life.
He was gentle at first, but grew hungrier as if he were a man starved.
Riya’s fingers tangled in his hair, and Vax pulled her flush against him, his large hands wrapping around her waist. The temperature rose in the small cottage, and she half expected his skin to ignite beneath her touch, and that only made her want more of him.
She wanted it all, every piece of him laid bare before her.
The thought made her moan, and he smiled against her lips.
When he drew back, they were both breathless, and his eyes were wild with passion as he said, “If we go any further, I think we might melt all of your hard work.”
Riya frowned, not understanding until he nodded at the tray of chocolates behind her, no longer beautiful, solid snowflakes, but melted puddles of chocolate and cream.
All she could do was laugh. She couldn’t very well be annoyed, not after a kiss like that.
The moment she looked back at Vax’s smiling face, her thoughts scattered like flour in the wind.
She glanced back at the ruined confections and then to his lips, desperate for more.
The chocolates were already ruined, so why stop now?
But before she had the chance to pull him down to kiss her again, he said, “I’ll take the blame for it, I do run a little hot.
” He reached around her, the motion so easy and familiar it was hard to believe he’d only just arrived in her life.
He scooped a finger through one of the puddles and sucked it clean.
“Honestly, I think they taste better this way. Shall we continue?”
Vax brushed the back of his hand against her cheek and cupped her chin as he leaned down until his lips were hovering tantalizingly over hers. “We can make more later.”
Riya nearly gave in right there, but then the thoughts of the Yule festival slammed back into her head, and she managed to pull away from his grip and skate around him until she was standing several feet away.
“We only have three days before Yule, and we aren’t even half finished.
If I don’t get this done on time, they’ll riot in the streets. ”
Vax narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. “That seems a tad extreme.”
“It’s tradition,” she whispered, looking away from his inviting eyes. They were like a siren’s call pulling her in. “I have to finish.”
She shooed him toward the sack of cocoa beans, pointedly ignoring his smirk as she set about salvaging whatever wasn’t fully liquefied from her ruined snowflakes and poured it into a bowl.
There was no time to indulge in…whatever was happening between them, not if she wanted to keep her reputation intact.
Without the Yule profits, she’d barely scrape through the harshest months.
Riya pressed her lips together, trying to force down the memory of their kiss; it lingered, the taste of chocolate and coffee cream haunting the corners of her mouth.
Vax eyed her from across the room, but said nothing, his hands busy with the mortar and pestle.
He moved with a natural ease, no sign of the illness or injury left, and she suspected he was exaggerating the muscle soreness just to get her to fuss over him.
It was irritating, in a way that was not at all irritating.
He seemed perfectly content to grind beans and snatch bites of whatever confection was close at hand.
Sometimes he just watched her, that half smile playing at the edge of his mouth, as if he could sense her scramble to keep the day on task and not let her mind wander to the way he had tasted.
By night, she was bone tired, hands raw, every muscle screaming.
She’d thrown herself at her work, but Vax kept pace with her, matching her batch for batch, never seeming to grow weary.
If anything, he worked harder the more she asked of him, like no challenge was enough.
Yet every so often, she’d catch him staring at her with that hungry, earnest gaze, and she started to look forward to those moments even more than completing a fresh batch of chocolates or sweet bread.
Each day, the snow deepened. The world shrank, a slow hush falling over everything except their little cottage, where they kept hard at work, day and night.
There was a growing comfort between them, a rhythm—mix, knead, bake, box, wrap—that worked its way into Riya’s bones, warding off the dread that would sometimes come during this time at the thought of traveling through ice and snow alone into the city.
Each night, she lay awake longer than usual, not because of nerves over the looming festival, but because she was imagining the brush of Vax’s hand at her waist, the feel of his lips, the little flick of his tongue against hers, the warmth of his mouth on her skin.
She’d never known heat like that, it was invading her senses, winding its way into her every thought.
It was during the third evening, after they’d boxed the last batch of confections, that Riya found herself staring too long at Vax’s hands, wishing they were holding her the way they had three days prior.
He’d finally let the fire die down, and she could see the exhaustion in his features from using his magic for days on end.
“I’ll take these final boxes out to the shed. We should both get some sleep before heading out for the festival tomorrow morning.”
Vax merely nodded, and by the time she got back to the cottage, he was already in his spot amidst the pillows and blankets she’d loaned him on the floor.
The flicker of the low flames in the hearth cast shadows against his features, accentuating the way his gaze trailed after her as she took off her boots and furs, making her way to the bed.
The air in the cottage suddenly felt too thick, both of them too aware of each other's presence in ways that had nothing to do with confections or keeping the fire going.
Her belly fluttered, nervous under his stare. She had no idea how to handle this. She should be basking in relief at finishing the Yule stock and looking ahead to tomorrow's journey. But now it was just her and Vax with nothing to occupy their time but sleep.
Taking a deep, calming breath, Riya got under the covers in her bed, making a point to look up at the ceiling and not at him. Vax let the fire die down to mere embers, casting them into darkness.
“Goodnight.”
She nearly flinched at his soft words, far too close to her where he slept on the floor next to her bed. If she wanted, she could reach down and touch his soft red hair. But she shook those thoughts away, closing her eyes and said, “Night.”
There was a moment, right before sleep claimed her, where she found herself unable to resist reaching out into that quiet darkness and felt a hand grasp hers—a heavy, blisteringly warm hand closing gently around her knuckles.
In the morning, she would decide if it was just a dream, that she had only wished for his touch, a symptom of this odd longing she had for this strange man who’d somehow ended up on her midnight sands at the very moment she needed him to.
Because at the end of all of this, if he didn’t stay, she wasn’t sure her heart could handle it.