Page 11 of Imagine Me and You

She turned and went into the kitchen. Where she could get a momentary reprieve from Jace’s scent, his hot body and the looks that made her feel like she was being turned inside out.

Four

Saturdays were always slammedat the bakery. When Samantha got back to Jace’s that evening she was carrying a box of unfrosted sugar cookies and a tube of red icing, and she was ready to fall over.

“You’re late tonight,” Jace said when she walked through the door.

“Tidings of comfort and joy!” she said, holding out the cookies.

“Busy day?”

“Yes,” she groaned, setting the box on the sideboard that was just by the door. Then she took off her gloves, her hat and her coat and put them on the floor. “Where is Poppy?”

“I set her free. Back into the wild where she belongs. She should be making her way back to the Canadian wilderness as we speak.”

“Jace, where is my dog?”

“In front of the fireplace. She had a busy day following me around. I think she’s out of shape.”

“Yeah, we don’t do much in the way of ranching.”

“I didn’t figure. She did like playing in the snow though.”

“Aw, fun. I’ll have to go out with you both for a while tomorrow. Sunday, my blessed day of rest,” she said.

“Holiday orders getting heavy?”

“Around Thanksgiving I made so many pies my fingers were curled into claws for days, and it hasn’t slowed down much. Mince pies, apple pies, pumpkin pies. I have a special order in for a cherpumple.”

His dark eyebrows locked together. “What fresh hell is that?”

“It’s a pie inside a cake.”

“That’s wrong. You can’t put a pie inside a cake.”

“You can.”

“It doesn’t mean you should.”

“Some power-mad baker decided to wreak havoc with the order of the universe, I guess. I don’t know what to tell you,” she said.

Jace took his hat off and smoothed his hair, his muscles shifting beneath his tight T-shirt. He and Poppy must have just gotten back because he rarely wore a hat inside. “I like things to make sense. To go where they belong.”

He walked over to the coat closet and put the black Stetson up on the top shelf, then left the door standing open. A clear invitation for her to put her own stuff away.

She wouldn’t even grumble about it. She picked up her coat and other accessories and brought them to the closet, placing her hat next to his, and then put her gloves on the shelf by the door, right on top of Jace’s leather Carhartts.

She grinned at him in triumph. “I can adapt,” she said.

“Good,” he said. “Because I don’t very well.”

“Aw, be adventurous. Try a cherpumple.”

“I’m letting a dog sleep by my fireplace. I think that’s enough adventure in my life for the time being. I’m not eating some unholy dessert mash-up.”

“A cherpumple and a romantic comedy.”

“A beer andDie HardTwo.”

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