Page 13 of Promise Yule Be Mine (Christmas Falls: Season 2)

13

KODY

" W hat are you working on?" I looked down at Nova's notebook.

He set his pen down.

"What do you think? Making sure you two have a wedding to go to at the end of the month," he answered and I laughed.

I felt sorry for the guy for having to manage our ridiculous arrangement without knowing the full truth. He probably thought we had a few screws loose or something, but as much as I'd have loved to tell him, I didn't think it would help the situation. Besides, Jenna and I had made a promise and I was a man of my word.

I may have been a sad excuse of a person, but at least I was that.

"I know, you tease, but I swear everything else is taken care of," I told him.

Indrani stopped by the bar to pick up an order for her table and she smiled at me.

"You say that…" He smiled and brought his hand up to his ear and played with his earring. "I'm also trying to put my schedule in order but I'm so tired. I feel like I need a nap for, like, the first time in my life."

"Well, we do have a very comfortable couch in the snug." I pointed to the back, to the adjacent semi-private room.

He laughed. "No, I'll be fine. I think it's just work catching up with me."

I grimaced. "Did Jenna's trip set you back? Are we keeping you from your work?"

I couldn't believe I hadn't even thought to ask him that until now. How terrible of me. Was I that selfish or had I been so distracted by my feelings for him that I'd lost my freaking mind?

"Don't worry about it. I don't have any Christmas weddings. There's a lot I can do via emails. I've just had such a busy summer and fall I haven't had a chance to breathe yet." He wasn't just trying to appease me. He was telling the truth. I didn't know how I knew, but I did.

"So…in a way, you're saying Christmas Falls has become an impromptu getaway?"

He chuckled. "I guess so."

"Well, I'm glad to hear it. We love having you here." And boy, wasn't that the truth. "It's just…such a shame Jenna isn't here so you can catch up as friends too."

"I know," he answered and I offered him another glass of wine before I was pulled away by more orders.

As the evening picked up, so did business, which was expected. Only somehow I'd ended up without anyone else on the bar with me.

"Where's Jacob?" Indrani asked as she watched me juggle two tickets at the same time. Gosh, cocktails were such a nuisance when it was busy.

"I don't know and I haven't had a chance to call him," I told her.

She looked from me to Nova to her tickets. "Do you want me to jump behind the bar?"

I shook my head. As much as it would be appreciated, she wasn't very good at the bar and besides, she had her tables to take care of. I'd just have to find a way to make it work all on my own until Jacob or Nate turned up.

"Are you doing this all alone?" Nova asked when I stopped in front of him to put together a margarita.

His eyes went wide and his forehead wrinkled with concern.

"Afraid so. Seems like my guys decided to play hooky today."

He tutted. "That's not fun. I'll help." He jumped from his seat and put his notebook away.

"No! You don't need to. I couldn't ask that of you."

He raised an eyebrow. "You don't need to ask. I'm offering."

"I appreciate it, but I don't want to?—"

He put his hand up, almost to my face, his palm inches away from my lips and he raised his voice. "Kody, I'm helping you whether you like it or not," he said before he jumped behind the bar, put his tote bag on a shelf under the back bar and turned to me. "Where do you want me?"

I studied him for a second, the only chance I really had to delay, and the butterflies in my stomach fluttered, spreading the warmth of their flight to my chest making my heart pound faster, louder.

Why was he so sweet? Why was he so perfect? Why couldn't he be a douchebag so I could loathe him?

"I…" I started before I caught my breath. I swallowed down any and all feelings and tried to focus on the task at hand, as difficult as it was. "How are you with cocktails?"

He pursed his lips from side to side. "I make a mean mojito but I'm pretty hopeless with anything else." He was cute, looking at me all guiltily, as if I’d expected him to be a pro barista or something.

"Right. Okay. That's fine. Why don't you take care of the other drinks and I'll tackle the cocktails."

"Now that I can do." He gave me the thumbs up and leaned over to read the first of the flurry of tickets.

I forced myself to peel my gaze off him and focus on the margarita I'd been trying to make for the past century, but I kept sneaking glances at him, finding his way behind the bar, searching for bottles of wine, the right beer in the taps, or the right liqueur and I couldn't help but smile.

It might have been a stressful night, but he made it…he made it a breeze. So much so that the sweat and breathlessness were soon replaced by laughter and rhythm. We worked around each other like a well-oiled machine. As if we'd done this a hundred times before, even with the many questions he had for me.

Even when he made a mistake, it didn't stress me out or frustrate me. Not that I got easily frustrated at work unless it was hectic like today. Besides, I couldn’t get frustrated with him anyway, considering he was doing me a favor and didn't need to be here.

How could anyone in the world get mad at the man biting his lip and batting his eyelashes with embarrassment for misreading an order or using the wrong glass. I couldn't imagine anyone being able to tell him no, let alone get angry at him and well, if anyone could then they were probably heartless to begin with.

"Gosh, I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me." He buried his head in his hands and groaned.

"Hey, don't even start. It's not your fault Mad Elf and Elfmas Merlot have practically the same code on the system. If anything, I should be thanking you because you made me realize it's so similar I need to change it. I knew there must be a perfectly good reason why inventory on Mad Elf was so low."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," he whined.

I smiled, grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him gently.

The act almost stole my breath away. It made the hairs on the back of my neck rise and my heart get back its erratic rhythm, and yet somehow I didn't let any of that stop me from speaking, by some divine intervention, I assumed.

"Listen to me, Nova Myers. You're an amazing guy who literally dropped everything to help me. Trust me when I tell you something, it's not to make you feel better, it's because it's the truth and I don't know how to thank you."

His Adam's apple bobbed as he watched me. He was still and so so close I could fill my lungs with his apple-scented perfume. It reminded me of warm apple pies by the fireplace, or a late-night hangover-induced apple turnover binge.

It made me salivate and freeze at the same time.

"I…" he said. "You…erm…I…"

I watched his lips, waiting, craving, resisting. Was it possible he felt the same way about me as I did for him?

"Hey Kody, are table fifty-one's drinks ready?" Indrani asked, causing me to break away from the spell Nova had cast on me.

Nova looked away, smoothed his clothes as if he'd been caught with his pants down and turned to Indrani.

"Sorry. Just missing the wine. One sec," he said and went to get the glass of Elfmas Merlot.

Indrani moved her gaze from him to me and narrowed her eyes.

"What?" I asked.

She bit her tongue for a moment then shook her head. "Nothing. No. Nothing."

She might have said it was nothing but she still looked at me funny, even after Nova returned with her missing drink, and for the rest of the night.

Had she seen something she shouldn't have? Did she think I was cheating on Jenna or something? Or was my stress about the situation making me project?

No matter what way I wracked my brain I couldn't figure it out and I couldn't confront her about it. What if she confirmed my suspicions and I fumbled my way through the lies Jenna and I had woven?

"Thank you so so much," I said again.

We'd finally called last orders and there was an end in sight.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay? There's so much cleanup to do." Nova looked around the chaos all around the bar, left by diners and Trivia Night participants alike.

"I would feel rotten if after all that I made you clean up. Don't worry. I've got it. Go home and I'll see you tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have come up with a way to show you my gratitude by then."

Nova blew raspberries. "You don't need to find any way. I'm good. As long as you're still available for our little road trip."

I grimaced and he sighed.

"We're going to Springfield for the cake testing? Remember?"

Oops. I'd completely forgotten about that. In my defense he'd told me like four days ago or something, the night we’d done the invitations.

"Please tell me you're not working?" he said.

"I must have had the foresight because I'm not," I told him.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Great. I'll pick you up at nine."

I gave him a captain's salute. He laughed, picked up his tote bag and went home.

It might have taken me forever to turn the bar back into its spotless self but it barely registered as I replayed the events of tonight over and over in my head.

True to his word, Nova was there at nine on the dot the next morning. He even brought me coffee from Jolly Java. I turned my nose up at it and he glared.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said, taking the coffee from him. "It's just we've been boycotting Jolly Java in this household."

Nova groaned. "What? Why? Don't tell me you're one of the people who’s frustrating Rocco with their stubbornness?"

Rocco?

He was on first name basis with the new owner? What the hell?

Why do you care, Kody? He's not your boyfriend!

"Well, we were really close to Joelle and Holly who owned it before and he's taking all of their character out of their business."

"Well, he's got to make it his own. Are you telling me you haven't tried to put your signature on The White Elephant since you took over?"

I bit my lip.

"You haven't?"

"It's scary. What if people hate it?"

His grimace turned into sympathy and he brought his coffee closer to his face. "If people hate it you can always revert back to the old ways, but no risk, no reward."

"Maybe that's why everyone still goes to Mom and Dad for everything."

Nova nodded and I wondered for the millionth time how and why he'd entered my life too late.

Why couldn't I have met him before? What if he was the one?

"Can I use your bathroom before we go?"

"Sure. Use the one upstairs, second door on the left. The downstairs bathroom is having a moment."

"‘A moment’?"

He laughed and went up the stairs. Two seconds later Nikita appeared.

"Hey. What's Nova doing here?" he asked.

I told him about the plan for the day and his expression darkened.

"What?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

"You're spending an awful lot of time with Nova, aren't you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you jealous, little bro?"

"Moi? Jealoús?" he said in a mock French accent.

"I thought you liked Nova."

"Pfft. That's yesterday's news. Literally. But why do you care?"

I made a face and shook my head. "I don't."

"Right. Because you decided to call it quits on love and start a family."

"Correct," I said.

"With your best friend, AKA chaotic mess of a girl."

"Hey!" I groaned.

"Come on, Kody. I love her like a sister but she is a mess. And she's dragged you into it with this arrangement ."

"She didn't drag me into anything. We both agreed."

"But you've changed your mind, haven't you?"

"No," I said, a tad too defensively.

"So you don't like Nova?"

I shook my head but even that felt like a betrayal to the kaleidoscope of butterflies that had spread their wings all over my chest and belly.

"Is that why you're spending so much time with him?"

"He's my wedding planner, Niki. Of course I have to spend time with him, or did you forget Jenna is stuck abroad?"

"Right," Niki said. "Stuck. Abroad. No, I didn't forget. But no one would blame you if you did."

"You're talking out of your ass now."

Niki shrugged. "What can I say. It likes to sing."

"Gross."

"Whatever, big bro. I'm taking the dogs out. Don't be nice. Get a little wild while I'm gone, won't you?"

I grumbled but he didn't seem to care. He turned his back, clipped the dogs on their leads and shot out of the door, leaving me to stare after him.

As if I wouldn't love to let loose, to go wild. To claim Nova.

But I couldn't. I just…couldn't.