Page 10 of Promise Yule Be Mine (Christmas Falls: Season 2)

10

NOVA

" O kay, I have to admit. I'm impressed with myself. Is that wrong to say?"

I flicked my gaze from the invitations on the table to him. The whole evening I'd been unable to look away, to breathe fully, to exist comfortably.

The wine had helped a bit, but it was as if a battle of wills was going on inside me. One that wanted to curl up next to him. To grab him by the neck and see what he tasted like. To card my fingers through his hair and succumb to his stare.

The other, the more reasonable one, had to be proper. He had to be professional. He had to remember who he was and what he was doing here.

I hated myself for feeling this way. For allowing this man to consume me so much that I forgot myself.

I'd never felt like that. I'd never been so completely overwhelmed by someone's…aura—was the only way I could explain it. Aura and charm—that I couldn't shake them off my mind.

Admittedly, it was twice as hard when we were in the same room, in the same space, sitting next to each other.

How had that happened?

The whole night I'd made sure to stay on the other side of him, to keep some sort of distance between us, a physical barrier that would save me from these feelings overwhelming my entire being, and yet here I was, sitting right next to him, so close if I dared move an inch I'd touch him.

"I told you you could do it," I said.

It was quite endearing, how little confidence he'd had in his artistic skills. Watching him start out with shaky hands, his eyes darting back and forth between my task and his as if he were afraid missing a step would lead to utter disaster, watching him get bolder and more comfortable until by the end he was doing better than me.

He reminded me of so many people I'd met over the years who believed any sort of artistic endeavor was innate and something you couldn't control. And yet he wasn’t like any of them.

The whole evening I wracked my brain to figure out what made him so special. What it was that attracted me so much to him because he wasn't the most handsome man in the world and even if he were that wasn't enough to make me so…wildly inappropriate around him.

The only things I could pin it down to was his eyes, his smile and his kindness. But even those weren't enough to explain it. There were countless men who were kind with beautiful eyes and beautiful smiles.

Maybe it was magic. I might never know.

"Well," he turned with the shy smile that had made many an appearance tonight and leaned back on the couch. "I had a great teacher."

He looked at me, so close I could feel his breath on my skin and all I could do was watch his lips, plump and inviting and so, so pink.

It was as if time stood still for a minute, an hour, maybe a whole day, imprinting the shape of him into my mind, burning it onto the back of my subconscious, something to haunt me for time immemorial.

"Nah," I finally said, remembering myself. "You're just a natural."

He blinked once, twice, his gaze penetrating the depths of my soul and I could do nothing to stop it. To prevent it, even.

"Thanks," he whispered.

Then, a moment later he sat up and took a deep breath. Wait, was he as taken by me as I was by him?

"More wine?" He reached for the bottle that had only dregs in it at this point.

I shook my head and my soul back to reality and put my hand up. "I…I'd rather have tea to be honest."

He smiled. "How about cocoa?"

"Even better."

He stood and retreated to the kitchen where he started making cocoa while I tidied up the invitations before putting them into tote bags so I could hand-deliver them tomorrow and post the rest.

When he returned, the whole house smelled of warm chocolate. The cup he offered me had a swirl of whipped cream and marshmallows as well as a scattering of M&Ms and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

"Quite the production," I said.

"Jenna and I love cocoa so it's always at hand. Is there a better cure-all?"

Right. Jenna.

Damn it. Why did I keep forgetting about my best friend?

"Thanks," I said and took a sip as he settled on the armchair opposite me as if he was putting distance between us too.

Maybe he'd realized how leery I'd been and was putting an end to it.

God, I hoped not.

"That's so delicious," I said.

"Chocolate always is," he answered and I bit back a retort about one of my brothers who could make even sugar taste crap.

"So…wedding planning, huh?" he said.

I nodded.

"What made you get into it?"

I wrapped my hands around the mug, the heat giving me the wake-up call I needed at this late hour to string two words together.

"I just love love. Always have. I grew up on Disney princesses and rom-coms so when the time came to decide what to do with my life it was the most natural choice."

"That's sweet. I love love too," he said.

His face softened even more, if that was even possible, and he took a sip. When he brought the cup down, there was cream in his mustache. I laughed.

"What?" he asked.

"You really can't feel it?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Feel what?" His eyes went wide in pretend innocence and I shook my head.

If he was going to play ignorant, so would I.

"What about you? Why bar management?"

He continued drinking his cocoa creating layers upon layers of cream and watched me. "It's the family business," he said.

"Yeah, but you don't have to do it if you don't like it."

"But I do." He smiled. "I love giving people a great experience, a nice meal, making their day special with something so simple as food and drink."

"That's sweet," I said, fully aware I was repeating his earlier statement about me.

He bit his bottom lip, studying me for a moment or two before he wiped his mustache and sighed.

"Have you booked your flight back yet?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Rebooked for tomorrow," I said.

"Oh," he replied. "So soon?"

Did he…did he want me to stay?

"Are there any things I need to take care of? Because I can postpone it again," I said, glancing down at the invitations.

"Oh, no. I…I'm sure it's all fine. We can handle things on our end," he said.

My phone beeped and I set my mug down.

"It's Jenna," I said.

*Jenna: Hey sweetie. I'm so sorry. I got your calls and messages but reception here is atrocious. I managed to find a decent spot finally. The invitations look amazing. Thank you so much. It doesn't look like I'll be back any time soon. Can you help Kody with his tux? He still hasn't picked one.

What the hell?

I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.

Did these two even want to get married? Why was everything such an afterthought? What was going on?

"Well, good news. I think I'm gonna stay," I said.

Kody narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. "Why? What did she say?"

"It seems I need to take you wedding tux shopping."

"Oh." He hissed. "That."

I bit back a growl that threatened to escape but internally, I let it all out.

Why did it start to feel like I was being punked? Had these two done anything for their upcoming nuptials?

The very next morning, I had my coffee at Jolly Java and stopped by The White Elephant to borrow Kody's car and do the rounds to hand-deliver the invitations we'd made.

There wasn't a single person who hadn't been impressed by them or who hadn't complimented me on them and I had to remind them it wasn't my wedding and it was all Kody's work. A wedding planner should never outshine the bride or groom.

The task took most of my morning and afternoon so when I got to the post office it was about to close, but I sweet-talked my way in and got the kind assistant to help me finish the job. I wasn't going to rest until I ticked this off my to-do list. Especially since I expected Jenna and Kody to spring something else on me at the last minute, and wanted to be prepared.

By Wednesday there was no news on Jenna's return so Kody got cover for the bar and we drove to Springfield in pursuit of his wedding tux.

"This is nice," he said, picking up a black, plain suit jacket and inspecting it.

I grimaced.

"You're getting married on Christmas Eve. Are you sure you want to go for black?" I asked.

I usually didn't find a problem with a black suit. It was most appropriate for most weddings. But themed weddings were different. And I was nothing if not a perfectionist.

A perfectionist who should have known better than to trust his BFF and her fiancé to take care of things themselves.

I wondered, not for the first time, just what sort of relationship these two had and if there was a different reason for them getting married other than true love, considering they hardly talked about each other.

"Oh. Maybe not. What were you thinking?" He looked at me as if hanging onto my every word, my every move. As if only my opinion mattered.

Oh God. Here I go again making shit up in my head and projecting.

"I…erm…I" I stuttered. "You can go for any color really. Pretty eyes never have trouble with most colors."

I almost facepalmed myself.

Had I really just said that? Really?

Kody smirked and put the black suit jacket back on the rack.

"Pretty eyes, huh?" he asked.

I sighed. "You know what I mean. Gray eyes go with pretty much anything, although we should probably keep it on-theme."

I turned and located the less traditional suits, marching right for them but not before taking a moment to squeeze my eyes shut and wishing this was all a dream. I was ready to wake up now.

But I didn't.

And I'd just embarrassed myself to my client. Again.

And been inappropriate. Again.

"Here," I said with bated breath. "How do these look?"

I handed him a deep emerald suit but I didn't wait for an answer as I put another shade of dark green into his hands and then found the maroons.

"Hm…I don't know," he said after a moment and five suits later. "What do you think? I trust your judgment."

My cheeks warmed at the statement and I hoped to god he couldn't tell I was blushing.

Good thing I was Black and white people always had a hard time telling when we were blushing. Or bruised. Which might be one of the many reasons why we'd been so dehumanized by history, but that was a subject for another day.

"Uhm…yeah. Okay," I said. I took a deep breath and looked at the options again. "How about this one? Green makes your eyes stand out."

I pointed to the pine green tux and took the rest away so he could try it.

When he walked out of the changing room five minutes later, he took my breath away. Literally.

The green didn't just bring the color of his eyes out. It made all of him brighter, more beautiful although I wasn't quite sure how much handsomer he could get.

He was a vision to behold and the thing didn’t even fit perfectly.

He looked perfect anyway.

"You like it?" he asked.

I could barely utter a word but I swallowed my awe and pursed my lips. "What do you think?" I asked.

"I think….I think it's wonderful," he said and a smile grew on his face.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," I replied.

Wonderful.

So wonderful, indeed.