She smiled at the guilty look on his face.

Nick laughed. “Yeah. A bunch of the guys in the unit shared a condo two blocks from here. We used to come eat all the time. The food is great. You can’t go wrong with their French toast or pancakes.”

She nodded and was glad the incredibly fast waiter brought a pot of coffee and two mugs. She noticed Nick liked his coffee light and sweet like her. It made her smile.

“Got enough sugar there?”

He raised a brow. “Look who’s talking. I saw all the sugar packets you dumped in yours.”

She laughed. “Yeah. It’s the only sweet thing I have. My mom tried to break me of the habit, saying it’s not good for me and that I’d gain weight. But I only have sugar in my coffee.”

He glanced at her lips then back at her eyes. “You’re in good shape. A little sugar won’t hurt you.”

She shook her head and sipped her coffee. “I work out and eat super healthy every day or I’d gain the eighty pounds I lost. But sweet coffee is still my undoing.”

“Well, I hope you’re ready to cheat a little today.” He winked. Her resistance crumbled at his heated look.

“Maybe a little.” Who the hell was she kidding? She was ready to say fuck the food and eat him up.

Nick had been right. The French toast was to die for. After breakfast, they were back in his car, driving north.

When they stopped at an elementary school, she gave him a confused look. “What are we doing here?”

Another wink. “You’ll see.”

Cars were parked and people were going inside with children. At the front, there was a woman with a clipboard telling everyone where to go. She saw Nick and smiled wide.

“Captain Gates! Thank you for coming back. We missed you while you were in the hospital, but the kids are excited to see you this year again.”

“Thank you, Orla. We’re going to head over to the class,” Nick said and took Addy’s hand and guided her down a hall.

They went into one of the classrooms that had tables formed into a big circle and kits every two seats. There were already kids opening kits and when they saw him, they squealed and jumped up and down.

“Captain Gates,” one of the older boys said. “I am ready to win this year.”

Addy followed Nick to the table at the front, where a kit for making a gingerbread house sat. Nick turned to her and smiled. “Kids, this is Ms. Addilyn Walton. Addy, these are the kids. They’re here for a gingerbread house building competition. Everyone gets a basic kit, extra candy can be found by the back window. Today,” he pulled Addy close. “We are the judges. We are looking for creativity and how badly the design makes you want to eat it.”

Addy laughed. “That sounds good to me.”

The two of them built their own house with icing holding up the walls and her love for white really showed when she covered their roof with more white icing she called snow.

“You’re a terrible architect, Ms. Walton,” Nick told her. “Our roof is gonna cave in thanks to your million pounds of heavy snow.”

She tossed snowflake crystals on the roof, making it even heavier. “But it’s so pretty.”

A few of the kids laughed and that’s when Addy glanced around and realized she’d used candy cakes as columns to keep her front porch up, but she still had a ton of gumdrops waiting to be used.

“What are you thinking, love?” Nick whispered by her ear.

“What the heck am I supposed to do with these?” she asked, pointing at the gum drops.

Nick cocked his head pensively. “Hm. What about making a bench?”

Only he would think to make a gumdrop bench. It worked and looked great next to their little way-too-white house. Once they’d judged and all the kids got some kind of recognition, they went to the back of the school, where the rest of her surprise awaited, according to Nick.

They were going sledding. She’d never done that in her life. Not even as a kid. Her parents had taken her and Gracen skiing all over Europe, Switzerland, and the best resorts in Colorado, but she’d never done anything as fun as sledding.

By the time they were ready to go, her coat was soaked, her clothes were soaked and her hair hung in damp clumps, but she’d never laughed or smiled as much as she had with Nick. They’d fallen off the sled so many times. The kids felt bad for them at one point.

When they got to her building, she took him to her penthouse and sighed the moment the warmth from her fireplace greeted them. She’d turned it on from her phone as he parked so it would be nice and cozy when they got upstairs.

“Do you want hot chocolate?” she asked. “I got the stuff to make some. Old school style.”

He stripped off his wet coat and boots and padded to where she sat, got down on his knees and helped get her boots off. “Old school?”