Page 130 of A Very Merry Enemy
I’ve been looking forward to seeing her since I dropped her off at her parents’ house this morning. We’ve barely texted throughout the day, but each time we did, I’d grin at my phone like a lovesick teenager. I get out of the truck and walk to the front. It’s locked, but Holiday sees me, and her whole face lights up.
She unlocks the door, and I step inside, pulling her against me before she can say a word.
“Hi,” I say against her hair.
“Hi, yourself.” She melts into me. “I thought you were working late.”
“This is late,” I tell her.
She pulls back to look at me with a teasing smile. “I’m almost done with the dough.”
“Great.” I bring her to the back and kiss her because I can. Because she’s here and she’s mine and I don’t have to hold back anymore. She tastes like sugar and coffee.
“Last night was…” She bites her lip.
“I’ve been thinking about it all day.”
She swallows hard. “Me too.”
We move into the kitchen and she places the dough she was working on in the fridge.
“I was thinking we could make some ice cream today,” she tells me, pulling out ingredients. “We’ll have to time it perfectly because it tastes like shit when it’s refrozen.”
“If it’s too much, we can ditch the idea,” I say.
“We’ll try it,” she tells me. “It was delicious. But I have a recipe that would work perfectly.” She’s already flipping through her notebook with handwritten notes. “We’ll want to make sure the texture is right.”
I love watching her work and seeing her in her element, completely focused and confident. This is who she is—passionate and driven and so fucking talented.
We work side by side for the next hour, mixing heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla.
She precisely measures ingredients while I follow her instructions. We’ve fallen into an easy rhythm, moving around each other like we’ve been working together for years instead of weeks. It’s wild how easily we picked up where we left off. Never could’ve predicted it.
Every so often, I steal a kiss because I can’t help it. Or she’ll brush against me and I’ll pull her close for a moment before we go back to work. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted.
“What are you smiling about?” she asks, catching me watching her.
“Nothing.”
She reaches up and kisses my cheek. “Horrible liar.”
Holiday pulls the ice cream out of the churner and dips a spoon inside it, feeding it to me. My eyes go wide. “Wow, HoHo. That’s amazing.”
“It’s no Blue Bell, but…”
“It’s incredible,” I tell her, stealing an ice cream kiss. “I want to eat it off your body.”
“Oh, well, we can arrange that,” she says, pulling me close, when there’s a knock on the front door.
Holiday looks toward the front and then freezes.
“Fuck,” Holiday whispers.
I turn and seehimstanding outside. Dominic Laurent is wearing a fake, charming smile that makes me want to punch him in the face.
“I’ll handle it,” I tell her and head for the door.
“Lucas—”
