Chapter 5
Cars and four-wheel-drive vehicles were filling the driveway as Melanie parked her Navigator on the street at the edge of the snow-and-ice-covered lawn. Balancing a plastic-covered cake container in one hand and her purse and car keys in the other, she lifted an Ugg-booted foot to close the car door.
The small sidewalk leading to the front porch steps had been cleared of all snow and ice, courtesy of Patrick. Before Melanie had a chance to figure out how to press the doorbell, Ashley opened the front door.
“Auntie M, you came! Ella is here and so are her mom and dad,” she said excitedly, as Melanie stepped inside the warm, festively decorated house.
Melanie laid her purse on an antique bench, careful to keep a tight grip on the cake container. She stooped down to Ashley’s eye level and gave her a one-armed hug. “Of course I did. I wouldn’t miss your Christmas party for all the money in the world,” Melanie said. Ashley grabbed her free hand and led her to the kitchen, where Stephanie was standing in front of the sink.
“Look, Mom, Auntie M brought a cake.”
Stephanie rinsed her hands off, and dried them with a paper towel. She took the cake container out of Melanie’s hands and placed it on the counter next to three other cakes.
“Should’ve kept it, huh?” Melanie said as she spied the desserts.
Stephanie leaned in for a quick hug, then stood back, grinning at her friend. “Nah, Patrick’s here. He’ll take care of whatever leftovers we have,” Stephanie assured her. “Bryce has been asking about you.”
Blushing, Melanie shook her head. “He’s just being polite, Steph.” She wished everyone would stop trying to throw her and Bryce in one another’s path. She’d met him more than once, and, yes, he was attractive, and, yes, she liked him, but she had a feeling Bryce wasn’t into the “healthy, outdoor type” such as her. No, he probably preferred tall, skinny blondes with little or no brains. He was just too good-looking, she kept thinking. Men like him didn’t date women with brains. She looked at her faded jeans and snow-covered Uggs. Definitely a Colorado kind of girl. It didn’t matter that she wore a Stella McCartney sweater, or that her blond hair was really her blond hair. Guys like Bryce went for the glamour girls.
“Melanie, how are you? It’s been too long,” Bryce Landry said as he entered the kitchen.
Melanie’s heart did a double beat when she felt him come up behind her. She took a deep breath. She could actually smell him. He smelled like winter. Pine and something else she couldn’t identify. She felt her face turning ten shades of red. Thankful he couldn’t read her mind, she turned to face him, and said, “Thanks, it’s nice to see you, too, Bryce. You’re right, it’s been too long.” She cringed at her words. What if he thought she’d been fantasizing about him?
Melanie couldn’t help but admire Bryce’s good looks. He certainly wore them well, she’d give him that. Dressed in a black turtleneck sweater and black jeans, his ebony hair hanging over his ears and down the back of his neck, he was extremely sexy, certainly not the look of a history professor, or at least any that she’d had in college. He stepped away from her as though he just realized he’d been standing in her personal space a bit too long. He had both hands out in front of him, fingertips upward, palms splayed up and out, as though he were trying to physically push himself away from her.
Melanie felt his gaze. She glanced at him before turning back to Stephanie. She could still feel his eyes boring a hole into her back. Without thinking, she whirled around and turned to face him.
“Is there something else?” The words were out of her mouth before she had a chance to stop them.
Bryce smiled at her. “Yes, actually there is. I want a piece of that cake you brought. I didn’t know you were a baker. Thought it might be nice to sample the wares.”
Melanie felt sucker punched, right in the middle of her stomach. Was he implying what she thought he was implying?
Sample the wares . . .
Apparently he caught his faux pas. He nodded at the row of cake dishes on the countertop. “There are four cakes to choose from. I wanted to try yours first.”
Before Melanie or Bryce could put their feet into their mouths again, Stephanie removed a saucer from the cabinet and a fork from the drawer and handed them to Bryce. “Try them all.”
He took the saucer, fork, and a cake knife Stephanie held out for him. He sliced into the black forest cake, hefting a giant slice onto his plate. Digging his fork into the chocolate confection, he crammed his mouth full. Melanie couldn’t take her eyes off his mouth. Why hadn’t she noticed before how sexy his mouth was? A full upper lip, and the lower, slightly thinner. And that one front tooth, it was slightly crooked. Mesmerized, she stared at him while he devoured the cake.
Stephanie cleared her throat so loudly it startled Melanie. She took a deep breath and started coughing, which then turned into choking. She bent over gasping for air. Taking as deep a breath as her coughing would allow, she inhaled and exhaled a few times before getting her throat to open up again. Drooling like a thirsty dog, Melanie wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her Stella McCartney sweater. Stephanie handed her a glass of water.
“I must confess, I don’t always have this effect on women,” Bryce said.
Melanie looked at him over the rim of her glass. Before she could stop herself, she tossed the rest of the water in Bryce’s face.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I don’t know—”
Bryce lifted his clingy black sweater over the top of his head, revealing a most perfect six-pack. He slung the garment over his shoulder, a grin the size of the moon on his handsome face.
“I’m not going to ask why you did that because I know you’re going to tell me.”
Mortified, humiliated, and ashamed didn’t begin to describe what she was feeling. “I don’t know what . . . I am so sorry! I have no clue why . . .” There wasn’t anything she could say to defend her action. She was as baffled as the next person.
Stephanie passed Bryce a wad of paper towels. He mopped up the remaining drops of water on his face.
I should have stayed at home with my book and my teapot, Melanie thought. Appalled by her actions, she tried to come up with an explanation, but couldn’t. Maybe it was just one of those knee-jerk reactions, something in her subconscious. Whatever it was, she’d never been quite as embarrassed as she was now. Shaking her head from side to side, Melanie looked at the floor, then her gaze traveled up a pair of heavily muscled black-clad legs. When her eyes came to rest on his flat abs, she looked up quickly and focused her gaze on Bryce’s sculpted face. “I’m sorry. I have no idea why I did that.” Lame, she knew, but she had no other explanation to offer.
Bryce tossed the crumpled paper towels in the garbage can, then slipped the black sweater back over his head. Melanie could see the darker spots where the water had soaked the wool. On the positive side, at least no one but Stephanie had witnessed her act of stupidity.
“Stop apologizing,” Bryce said with a sly grin. “It was only water. I’m just lucky it wasn’t coffee.”
Melanie focused on her surroundings, because she had a fear that if she didn’t, she might do or say something else out of character: oak cabinets. Dark brown granite countertops, flour scattered all over the top. Cream-colored curtain above the bronze sink. Stove. Refrigerator. Dishwasher. Cake containers on the countertop. A burning smell.
Okay, she was focused. Now if she could keep her hand under control, she’d survive until she could safely come up with an excuse to leave! Fire, the place was on fire!
“Something’s on fire,” Bryce said casually as though he were talking about the weather.
“Oh my gosh! The cookies!” Stephanie grabbed two oven mitts, and yanked the oven door open. Gray smoke billowed out in one giant puff. She carefully pulled a baking sheet topped with little black mounds of what must’ve been meant to be cookies out of the oven. Stephanie dumped the ruined cookies in the sink. “I can’t believe I forgot the cookies! I promised the girls they could decorate them.” Stephanie shook her head and began scrubbing the burnt mess off the baking sheet.
“It’s my fault, Steph. I’m sorry. I’m going to visit the girls and Ella, then go home. I can’t seem to do anything right these days,” Melanie said, irritated at herself. If she hadn’t tossed that water at Bryce, the cookies wouldn’t have burnt.
“Oh stop it, you two,” Bryce said. “It’s cookies. I say let the girls start a new batch. Let’s air the place out first.” He leaned over the sink and raised the window. A small gust of icy-cold air filled the room.
Bryce grabbed a kitchen towel, fanning the smoke toward the window. Melanie grabbed a place mat off the small table and followed Bryce’s moves. Stephanie backed away from the sink, allowing them the room they needed to fan the smoke toward the window.
Melanie hoped this scene wasn’t indicative of her future. If so, her hopes of adopting would surely go up in smoke.