Page 31 of Maid in Heaven

Ava shrugged and smiled, downing the last of her second martini. The cacophony of busting billiard balls, country crooners, riotous laughter,and loud conversationsseemed to swell.

“It’s loud. Would you maybe want to go for a walk?”

“Yeah.” Ava nodded, looking around. “I can barely hear you in here.”

Will fished out his debit card and held it out forthe bartender. “Check,please.”

The bartender nodded and scurried off with Will’s card. Within a few moments,she handedhim a pen and several receipts, one of which had a string of ten digits and the words ‘Call me. Carly’ below. Will fought the urge to roll his eyes at the phone number as he scribbled his tip and signature.

Ava thanked him for the drinks, collected her things, tied the belt of her coat, and started for the exit.

“Wait.”Will pulledopen the front doorof the bar, greeted by a wall of arresting air, and gestured to the frigid snowdrifts outside. “After you, beautiful.”

“Which direction?”

“That way.” Will pointed to the left.

Ava nodded and strutted out of the bar, sashaying the way Madison insisted, exaggerating the movement of her hipsa little with every step.

Willstudied her entrancing form as if she werea swaying pocketwatch in the skilled hand of a hypnotist.

Nearly at the corner, Ava slipped on some half-frozen slush. Will lunged forward a step and steadied her.“Whoa. You alright?”

Ava nodded, clutching his arm closer to her ribs. Partly for stability. And partly becausetouching Will filled her with a giddy excitement she hadn’t felt in…

Well, maybeever.

They took a few more steps before Ava’s worn boot tread slipped again. She tumbled, legs failing her like a newborn deer. Will thought fast and reached out, wrapping his arms around her, catching her before she could fall to the concrete. Suddenly stabilized, their bodies were pressed together. She could feel his abs pressing into her with every deep breath.

Ava looked up at him from inside his embrace, faces dangerously close.His irresistible smile broadened, making her kneesfeel like jelly.

“I’ve seen women fall for me before, but jeez,”he said with a laugh.

The sound of it bulldozed Ava’s defenses.

He gazed down, words catchingin his throat. “I have a place in mind that I think you’d love. It’s still a shorttrek, but it might be treacherous in those boots.Hold onto my hand for balance.”

Ava nodded and interlaced herglovedfingers with hisbare hand. She felt a sudden rush of heat racefrom her bellyto her face.

As Ava waddled beside Will, she tried to remember the last time she’d held handswith anyone. It had to have been the better half of a decade, surely. Well before her weddingto Dan,before his chivalry vanished like a feather in the wind. Before years of complacency and infidelity and nights spent pondering what she’d done wrong. Before the vicious fight about the positive pregnancy test in the kitchen trash…

A pregnancy test that wasn’thers.

A gust of wind dustedAva’s face with fine powdered snow, dousing her tainted trip into years past with winter’s icy glitter. She walked in silence, his hand bathinghers with a radiant warmth.

The man was a human furnace, she decided.

Will tugged gently and turned toward the door of one of the shops in the plaza.

Ava stepped back, pulling her hand from his to read the sign. “TheMount Olympus Cafe.” Two faux pillars were stationed at each side of the door,lending the modest exterior a Greek theme.

“If you don’t like coffee, this place makes a mean hot cocoa, too. They make their marshmallows in-house.”

Ava moaned a little at the thought of it and smiled. Will held the door open for her, and they both wafted in with the cold. The scent of ground coffee beans and warm, frothed milkfilled the air.

“I’ve walked past this place so many times but have never come inside.”

“Well,tonight is a night offirsts,” Will said, gently placing a hand against the middle of her back. “If they were open right now, I’d take you next door and buy you someactualsnow boots. Like, ones withtread.”

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