Page 10 of You Make It Feel like Christmas
They’d reached the first step of the porch when Nick took her hand loosely, just his fingers linking with hers. Maisie looked up at him.
Nick leaned closer. “I was an idiot to blow that chance. What would it take for a second one?”
She shook her head, not believing him even though that look in his eyes was every bit as intense and honest as it had been when he’d told her that the thought of anything happening to his sister and nephew kept him up at night sometimes.
Asher pulled open the front door. “I can’t reach the blender,” he said impatiently.
Maisie pulled her hand from Nick’s and went up the steps.
“I hope you didn’t try. We don’t need you getting hurt, buddy.”
When Maisie glanced at Nick, she saw a small wince as he took the step. Asher took her hand, pulling her into the house.
“Can I help make the snowmans?”
“You bet.” Focus on the cute, funny, sweet kid. Not on the hot hockey player saying things he might not mean.
Asher, of course, hurried ahead of them.
Nick trailed behind and Maisie felt her senses heighten, tuned in to him more with every step.
The kitchen was a very cool blend of retro and modern.
All-new stainless-steel appliances, white cabinetry, a large butcher block island with one of those copper ceiling pieces to hold pots and pans.
Very well equipped for someone who said they didn’t cook much.
If Maisie had a kitchen like this, she’d make cooking her hobby.
Asher was sitting on the counter when they walked in. Nick hurried past her, scooped him up.
“Hey. What if you fall? Don’t climb stuff when no one is around to watch out for you, okay?”
Maisie heard the edge of worry in his voice and she wondered if Nick was just an overprotective uncle or something had happened to Asher before.
Asher nodded, threw his arms around Nick’s neck. “Sorry.”
Nick kissed the top of Asher’s head as he set him down. “It’s okay. I just don’t ever want you to get badly hurt.”
“Like you did?” Asher asked.
Maisie sucked in a breath. Right. She saw he’d been hurt on the ice. She might have watched the footage and done some worrying herself.
Nick’s gaze flitted to Maisie for the briefest second before he went to the cupboard and pulled out the blender from a higher shelf.
“I’m okay now, Ash. But yeah, like that. You have to be careful and think ahead about stuff.”
“How did you get hurt?” Maisie asked quietly, standing at the edge of the counter.
Setting the blender on the island, he pulled a couple of bananas from the big red bowl that was designed to look like fruit was coming from Santa’s belly.
“Uncle Nick fell down on the ice. My mom cried really hard,” Asher said. He’d grabbed strawberries from the fridge and set them on the counter.
Nick’s mouth tightened again and Maisie’s chest tightened painfully. She gave him a soft smile, then looked at Asher. “I’m glad he’s okay now. Do you guys have yogurt and coconut?”
Together, they gathered the ingredients and Maisie laughed several times as Asher had something to say for every single step. They used yogurt, coconut, and bananas.
“You ever get tired, kid?” Nick ruffled his nephew’s hair.
The broody, tight-lipped man she’d met the first time, before the wedding started, softened noticeably around Asher. It was… sweet.
“Mom says I hit a wall and crash but I don’t hit any walls,” Asher said.
The blender whirred as Maisie’s mom and Ellie joined them. Asher pressed the button, standing on a step stool Nick put out. His grin stretched his little cheeks.
“Mom, we made snowmans,” he said.
Ellie laughed. “Snow men , and I heard that’s what you were in here doing.”
They poured the smoothies into white paper cups while Ellie and Laura chatted at the countertop.
Asher frowned. “It looks like a melted snowman.”
Nick stifled a laugh, making Maisie grin. “Right now, but we forgot the most important part. Do you have a black marker and an orange marker?”
Asher nodded. Getting off the stool, he ran out of the room, coming back seconds later with two markers.
“Okay, I’ll show you how to do one and then you can do the others.” Maisie took the black marker and drew two eyes and a series of dots in the shape of a smile on the cup. Switching colors, she drew an elongated orange triangle between the eyes and mouth.
Asher laughed with delight and Maisie was struck with a bone-deep desire to one day have her own family. Her own version of what Nat and Kyle, Jake and Colt, Lexi and Will, or even her parents had.
Looking at Nick, seeing he was watching her, didn’t help her fluttery emotions.
“Your turn,” Maisie said before busying herself with putting everything away.
Nick lifted the snowman cup she’d decorated and took a drink. When he lowered it, there was a bit of smoothie on his top lip. Staring at her as his tongue swiped across the spot, he pressed his mouth closed, made an mmm sound.
“Delicious,” he said. “What other secret skills are you hiding?”
Her mom and his sister laughed, maybe missing the innuendo she heard in his tone. Maisie bit the inside of her cheek, willing her face to not turn red as heat spread over her skin.
“None,” she squeaked out, grabbing a snowman smoothie for her sister.
He knew all of her secrets. He’d gotten her to spill more of them in one night than other men had managed in months.
She’d have to work a little harder to keep her feelings wrapped tighter or she’d fall right back into wanting him.
Her future was in Seattle and his was… everywhere.
It was just some holiday-induced hormones.
Plus, she’d already fallen once. Twice would make her a fool.