It had been a solid hour since Adele disappeared, and for most of that hour, there’d been a steady beat of music coming from her bedroom. As Jace guessed she was taking a bath (a usual routine of hers after a long trip) he knew that music was making its way through two rooms and a closed door. She must’ve been listening to it at a pretty loud level (a usual routine of hers when she was upset).

He was by no means happy about the circumstances that brought Adele and Katie to the cabin—and if he ever ran into Troy Slater, the piece of shit was going to get a fist to the face—but there was something about not being alone in the cabin that had his sour mood turning around. He was beyond appreciative of the distant beat of Adele’s music, and Katie’s feet padding against the hardwood floors had brought a genuine smile to his face. That was saying something, especially as he hadn’t sported a smile in a while now.

Speaking of Katie, she was currently lying next to him, burrowed beneath the flannel blanket. She’d been dead to the world for the last half hour or so, lightly snoring with her black nose sticking out of the red and black fabric.

He absolutely loved dogs, but with his traveling schedule during the hockey season, he couldn’t get one. It wouldn’t be fair to be gone half the year. Lucky for him, whenever Adele was around, it was a sure thing that Katie would be there too. Jace took advantage of puppy time at every opportunity, and Katie had no qualms with that. He gave her more attention than anyone (well, second to Adele of course), so it made sense that she gravitated to him.

It was then that the music echoing beyond Adele’s room stopped and about thirty seconds later there was a light click as the door opened. She emerged no longer armored in all black but wearing a pair of light gray yoga pants and a baggy green sweatshirt that read Make It Work across the chest. Her hair was damp and hanging loosely around her shoulders while her face was makeup free. Her feet were covered in a pair of fuzzy pink slippers that just might be the least intimidating things Jace had ever seen in his life.

In one of her hands there was an empty wine glass, the other held a sketchpad. Not saying a single word to him—or even glancing in his direction for that matter—she walked right on by and headed for the kitchen. Clearly, her sour mood hadn’t been improved by her bath.

Slowly getting up from the sofa so as not to disturb Katie, Jace followed Adele into the kitchen. Her sketchpad was now sitting on the counter and she was pouring herself another glass of wine.

“So is this how it’s going to be for the next couple of days, you ignoring me?” He leaned his hip against the counter, folding his arms across his chest.

Adele turned to look at him, a muscle ticking in her jaw. “I’m not ignoring you, Jace. I’m just not in a talkative mood.”

“I see that. But you do know that I didn’t do anything to you, right?”

Her brown eyes lingered on his face for just a second before she turned away. “I know that,” she said as she grabbed her wine glass and took a sip, heading for the stove a few feet in front of him.

As she passed by him, something sweet and familiar filled his nose. Something that made him oddly nostalgic but he couldn’t put his finger on why. He was just about to ask what that scent was when Adele lifted the lid from the pot and another scent completely took over his senses and his brain.

For the last hour, the smell of rosemary, thyme, sage, onions, and garlic had slowly been filling the cabin, but as that lid came up, a wave of savory scented goodness hit him in the face.

Jace’s stomach growled long and loud. He was already hungry again.

“I’m not sharing with you,” Adele said as she grabbed the big metal spoon on the stove and started to stir the contents of the pot.

“See, and now you’re just being a mean soup lady.”

“‘Mean soup lady?’” She let out a huff of air on a laugh. He found that he was actually pretty proud of himself for accomplishing it what with her current mood.

“Yes. Mean soup lady who is keeping all of her delicious soup to herself. Did you skip that day in kindergarten where they taught you that sharing is caring?”

“I must have.” She looked over her shoulder at him, eyes narrowed and the corner of her mouth twitching just slightly. “Besides, this is actually stew. So I must be a mean stew lady. And I know how much you eat, Jace. Half of this would be gone within the hour.”

“Not if I make grilled cheese sandwiches.” He might not be the best chef in the world, but his grilled cheese sandwiches were unrivaled, something that Adele knew full well.

She didn’t even hesitate. “Fine,” she agreed before she turned back to the pot. “That’s a fair trade.”

Jace couldn’t stop the grin that split his mouth, the second one he’d sported since Adele had gotten here. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think there was the smallest of possibilities that this Christmas wasn’t going to be the worst ever.

And it was all because of the beautiful, grouchy woman in front of him. She might not always be grouchy, but she was always beautiful. Jace had thought it from the moment he’d met her, but it was the only thing he’d allowed himself to think.

She was Logan’s baby sister after all, and there’d been a line drawn in the sand from the very start when it came to her. Logan had made it clear he’d kill Jace if he ever even thought about her as anything other than a friend. As Jace didn’t have a death wish, he’d kept his hands to himself.

It went further than stepping on Logan’s toes, though. Over the years he’d gotten incredibly close with the James family. For the first time since his mother died, Jace had finally felt like part of a family, and he’d had no intention of messing that up.

But still, line in the sand or no, he had eyes and Adele was beautiful. There was no doubt about that.

Opening the utensil drawer next to her, she fished out a spoon and dipped it into the pot. She slowly lifted the spoon up to her lips before lightly blowing on the contents. It was a few seconds before she swallowed, clearly mulling things over. Then she set the spoon down and started grabbing the jars next to her, adding a few more spices to the pot. Jace pushed off the counter and headed for the refrigerator, opening the door and pulling out a beer. If Adele was already drinking, he might as well join her. Besides, it was after five.

“I’m guessing your family doesn’t know you’re up here, otherwise Logan would’ve told you I was staying here for a few days.” He grabbed the hockey stick bottle opener that was stuck to the side of the fridge with a magnet, popping off the cap of his beer.

“They thought I was going to spend the holidays with Felicity. I’m calling them after I finish this glass of wine to let them know my plans changed,” she said as she reached for the wine glass next to her and took a sip.

“Need a little liquid courage?” he asked as he took a pull on his beer.

“Something like that. I just have no doubt it’s going to be a long conversation.”

“Have you talked to them since…”—he trailed off trying to find the right words—“…everything went down?”

Her shoulders stiffened but she didn’t look over at him, just continued to add a splash of this and a dash of that to the pot. “Mainly just my mom. My dad had little to say besides that he was going to kill Troy if he ever saw him, and that was pretty much the same speech that I got from both of my brothers, too.”

“I imagine your mom made some threats as well.”

“Oh, yeah, she did. And quite colorful ones at that.”

“Well, they aren’t the only ones who’d like to give that pretty boy a piece of their mind.”

“Pretty boy?” She looked over at him, surprise in her eyes. “Isn’t that a bit of the pot calling the kettle black?”

“Aw, are you saying I’m pretty, Adele? That’s so sweet of you.”

She rolled her eyes at him as her mouth twitched again. “You know me, I’m just the sweetest,” she said before giving him a saccharine smile. Continuing to stir the pot with one hand, she turned away from him as she grabbed another spoon from the drawer and dipped it into the stew. Pulling it up, she held it out for Jace. “Here taste this for me and see if it needs anything else.”

Jace moved closer to her, setting his beer down before reaching up and wrapping his fingers around her wrist to steady her hand. He blew on the steaming stew for a couple of seconds before guiding the spoon into his mouth.

Dear Lord, this woman could cook. It had been a long time since Jace had had homemade chicken and vegetable stew…probably last Christmas, actually. He almost groaned from how good it tasted, but he managed to keep that to himself. No need to seem too eager. She might make him trade for something more.

His eyes moved to her face and there was a split second there when he thought he saw something in her eyes…something he hadn’t seen there before…something that looked an awful lot like desire. But no, that couldn’t be right. It was a trick of the light. Had to be. And just as soon as it had appeared, it was gone. He pulled the spoon from his mouth, and let go of her hand.

Adele quickly turned away and dropped the spoon into the sink with a loud clang like it had burned her. She cleared her throat before asking, “Is it good?”

“Yeah.” He nodded slowly, studying the side of her head. “It’s very, very good.”

“Good. Well, it’s ready.” Her voice sounded a little off as she reached for the lid and put it back on the pot. “So you make the grilled cheese while I go make that phone call to my family.”

Not looking at him, she grabbed her still mostly undrunk glass of wine and quickly retreated from the kitchen. At the sound of her footsteps, Katie got up from the sofa, shaking the blanket from her back before she followed Adele into the bedroom.

Jace watched her go, wondering what the hell that had all been about.

All right, well, she was screwed. Totally and completely screwed.

Adele hadn’t even made it two hours without something happening. First, Jace had gone and made her laugh, and then she’d had to fight multiple smiles. Those were two things that had been few and far between the last couple of days. It had only gotten worse when he’d gone and gotten protective of her, saying he wanted to show Troy a piece of his mind as well. She’d managed to cover up that moment of surprise, but it had still done something funny to her chest.

Then there was the icing on the cake of it all: he’d gone and touched her.

To say she went all stupid when his long, strong fingers had wrapped around her wrist would be an understatement. Stupid being the operative word. It wasn’t like it was the first time they’d ever touched. It hadn’t even been the hundredth. Not even close. It was just that usually she could keep it together…today she apparently couldn’t.

Her defenses were being tested more than ever and it wasn’t as easy for her to hide her emotions like it usually was. Troy had already waged war against her feelings, finding a weakness in her armor and getting to her heart. And then his betrayal had gone and created a good-sized crack in that armor…a good-sized crack in her heart. If she wasn’t careful, that crack was only going to get bigger and bigger the longer she was around Jace.

The second she’d felt his skin on hers she’d forgotten how to breathe. Her lungs had seized up and her head had started to spin. His touch was far more effective at warming her than that hot bath had been. She’d been on fire within an instant.

To make matters worse (or really, to make her sanity disappear altogether) he’d gone and wrapped his lips around that spoon. It didn’t matter that he was doing something as mundane as eating. Anything—anything—that man did with his mouth should be outlawed. And there she’d been, with a front-row show.

Too much. It was all just too much.

Once her brain had reconnected with her body, she’d known she had to get out of that kitchen as fast as possible. And what did it say that she’d rather face the extensive line of questioning she was about to get from her family than spend another second in that kitchen with Jace?

Leaning back against the bedroom door, Adele lifted her wine glass to her lips and took a good long drink of it. She needed something to calm her nerves, and this was pretty much her only reinforcement. Well, the wine along with Katie, who’d followed her into the room.

Canine comfort was a real thing. The dog was currently doing her best to burrow under the covers, and Adele figured she might as well join her and get comfortable. She was about to have a loooooong conversation. It was inevitable, especially with the subject matter.

Adele set the wine on the nightstand before pulling back the fluffy emerald green comforter and sliding between the white and blue flannel sheets. Propping the pillows up behind her, she settled in, taking another swig of wine before grabbing her phone from the charger and pulling up her mom’s number.

“Hi, baby girl,” Edie James said after the third ring.

“Hey, mom.”

“How are you doing today?”

“Oh, you know, still humiliated beyond all reason and choosing to cope with my devastation by burying my head in the sand.”

“Avoidance is not the best policy, honey. Speaking of which, we all think you need to come down here for Christmas. Your father wanted me to say something yesterday, but I thought to at least give you a day to decompress with Felicity. You can’t spend the holidays without your family.”

Adele took another sip of wine, fortifying herself. “Well, mom, I have good news and bad news on that front. Which would you like first?”

“The bad news.” Her mother’s voice had taken on a displeased edge.

Edie James was a mama bear through and through. She had the ability to go from unassuming to intimidating as hell at a moment’s notice. She could also be shrewd beyond all measure.

“I can’t come home for Christmas.”

“You can’t come home for Christmas?” Edie repeated loudly, her displeasure razor-sharp now.

It was at this point that voices could be heard in the background, all protesting Adele’s news, her father’s being the most prominent. “What do you mean she can’t come home?”

“Shhhh,” Edie hissed. “I can’t hear. Hold on, let me go into the other room.” Adele could just imagine her mother in this moment, one finger shoved in her ear to block the noise from everyone else as she quickly hurried out of the room.

“Okay,” Edie said after a good ten or so seconds. “I’m on the porch. Please explain.”

“I can’t come because I drove up to the cabin to be alone. And now that snowstorm is hitting, so I can’t go anywhere.”

“You went to the cabin?” Edie said slowly. “But Jace is at the cabin.”

“Which leads me to the good news—” well, good news for her mother…it was actually just more bad news for Adele, “—I won’t be spending the holidays alone.”

“Apparently not. So you’re stuck in a cabin with Jace, huh?” The question was leading, and not all that surprising.

Another fun fact about her mother was that she was too damn observant for her own good…so was her brother Liam…and both of her sisters-in-law. They all knew how Adele felt about Jace. Luckily her father and Logan were the oblivious ones.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Hmmm, that remains to be seen. You do remember that cabin was where both of your brothers fell in love. Right?”

Fuckkkkkkkkk. It sure was. Both of her brothers had spent just a couple of days up here with the women who would later become their wives. But history would not be repeating. That story wouldn’t be happening for Adele, mainly because she knew for a fact that Jace Kilpatrick did not do love.

Clearly Adele’s mind had started to wonder at her mother’s last comment about the history of the cabin, but she pulled herself back to the moment and the conversation.

“…what with that storm blowing in, you aren’t going anywhere. Did you not check the weather before you decided to go up there?”

Adele rolled her eyes. How many more times was she going to get that question tonight? “No. Remember that whole me burying my head in the sand thing? I’ve been avoiding the news. I haven’t even turned on a TV.”

“Okay, well next time you decide to impersonate an ostrich, I’d appreciate it if you’d open up that handy-dandy weather app on your phone. I’m pretty sure they aren’t reporting on what that little scumbag did.”

“I defer, you make a keen observation.”

“You think? I can’t have anything happening to my baby girl.” Edie’s words were gentle but they still hit home.

Adele missed her mom more than anything, and she felt the corners of her eyes start to prickle. This was yet another reason she’d chosen to come up to the cabin. If her mother had given her even an ounce of sympathy in person, Adele would’ve lost it. Somehow she’d managed to keep her emotions in check and she really didn’t want that to change.

“I know, mom. I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted. Now, honey, prepare yourself, your father is about to come out here and I don’t think he’s going to be as easy on you as I was.”

“Ohhh, I don’t imagine he will be.” Adele took another sip of her wine. Dustin James was a good ol’ Irish teddy bear…when he wanted to be. She didn’t think this would be one of those occasions.

“Love you, baby girl. Call us tomorrow.”

“I will. Love you too, mama.”

There was a moment in which all Adele could hear was fuzzy interference over some mumbled words, and she suspected her mother’s finger was over the speaker. A second later her father’s disapproving voice was coming through the phone.

“So why is it you aren’t spending Christmas with your family?”

“Well, hello to you too, dad.” The sentence was out of her mouth before she could stop herself. She almost burst out laughing at the fact that she’d repeated the exact same thing Jace had said to her, but she somehow managed to keep it together.

But her father would not be deterred. “Adele…”

She sighed. “I drove up to the cabin.”

“But there’s a storm blowing in. Did you not check the weather?”

Adele lifted the glass of wine to her mouth and took a sip, deciding to turn that particular question into her own personal drinking game.