Page 4 of Hot & Bothered

“We can finish up here,” Pasha said. “You’ve already done so much. It’s past midnight, so head on home.”

“You’re sure?”Peyton asked.

Pasha and Heath both nodded. “Absolutely. We still have to put out gifts, fill stockings and eat the cookies and drink the milk left for Santa.”

“On it,” Heath said, heading to the living room and the hearth where a plate of Christmas cookies and a glass of milk sat, along with two drawings from their son and daughter, Raze and Eve. Heath downed the cookies and the milk in record time.

“Most parents just take bites and a few sips, I thought?” Jace asked. “Because Santa gets food at every house, he doesn’t have enough room to eat all the food everywhere.”

Heath shrugged his massive shoulders. “Whoops.”

“We’ll walk you out,” Pasha said, following Peyton and Jace to the door. Heath was right behind his wife.

“Thank you so much for your help, you two. It was the most beautiful day.”

“For the most beautiful couple,” Peyton added. “Rayma deserves nothing but good things.”

Pasha’s brown eyes grew watery. “That she does.”

The four of them exchanged hugs until everyone had embraced.

“Merry Christmas and drive safe,” Heath said, hanging out the front door and waving.

“Merry Christmas,” Jace and Peyton replied as they made their way down the shoveled stone path toward Jace’s red Dodge Ram. He’d already turned it on when they were in the house, so hopefully it would be toasty warm.

He opened the door for her and helped her climb up into her seat like a proper gentleman, then he trotted around the hood and climbed in behind the steering wheel. “Where to, m’lady?”

Peyton bit her bottom lip for a moment. “Umm … your place?”

Thick, white flakes hit Jace’s windshield as he slowly drove toward home through the city. He loved the consuming quiet that came with a snowfall. Not to mention the way the drop in temperature made him feel more alive than ever.

He’d never been a person who tolerated the heat very well. He’d rather take a vacation to a ski lodge and do some back country downhill than lie on a beach as the enormous ball of fire in the sky slowly roasted him.

His building came into view and he hit the automatic door opener for his underground parking garage. He was just renting his apartment downtown, but it was a nice unit. There was a gym in the building and he had a slightly obscured view of the harbor.

The woman in his passenger seat started to laugh. “This is where you live?”

His hackles tickled the nape of his neck.

What was wrong with this place?

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “That a problem?”

Peyton shook her head, a playful glitter in her eyes. “No. But I literally live right there.” She pointed to the apartment building across the street. “Eighteenth floor. You can see my window from here.”

Jace’s body temperature returned to a cool ninety-eight-point-six, and he grinned. “No kidding?”

“We’re neighbors.”

“Seems—”

“Convenient,” she finished.

“I was going to say, a coincidence, but your word works, too. So, now I’ll ask, your place or mine?”

She bit her bottom lip again. “My place is a mess.”

“Mine it is, then.” He drove down into the garage, the orange glow of the overhead lights leading him to his assigned stall.

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