Wyne and Chocolate (Citizen Soldier Series Book 2) (9 page)

Lea
stepped close. “What’s up?”

“Theresa’s
babysitter has an emergency, so she needs to go home, and I need to get to my
shop.” She sent Mason an apologetic smile, wishing she could’ve prolonged the
euphoric feeling he’d supplied today.

“I’ll
take you back to the resort,” Lea offered, but Ben shook his head and stepped
forward, deep frown marring his brow.

“Oh no.
You’re not leaving me here to piggyback my brother. Sorry, hun. I’ll take Jill
back.”

Her
friend glanced from one Wyne to the other and smiled. “Damn, I would’ve paid
good money to see that.”

“Me,
too.” She giggled and was rewarded with a deliciously dark look from Mason. He
stepped right to her. “I’m taking a rain check on that ride, Fireball.”

“We’ll
see,” she replied with a grin, unwilling to give in so easily, even though,
yeah, she was very easy around him.

Lea
handed her keys to Jill. “Take my car. I’ll be fine. Ben has his truck.”

“Thanks,”
she said, and five minutes later, was holding onto another handsome Wyne, but
this time, there was no thundering pulse, or fluttering belly involved. Those
chaotic responses were reserved for the dark-eyed guide.

When
they returned to the resort, Ben parked the snowmobile by the garage where they
were kept, and being a typical Wyne, he helped her off and held onto her while
she found her
snow
legs.

“Easy
there,” he said, holding her arm. “Sorry you had to cut your day short. You’re
good for my brother. I couldn’t believe I actually heard him laugh today. It’s
been a while. Thank you.”

Throat
suddenly hot for no stupid reason, she nodded, thankful she was still wearing
her head gear. Her heart ached for the guy who had his heart ripped out, and
yet, she didn’t want it to, because that meant something. It meant
Mason
meant something to her. She wasn’t ready to cop to that just yet.

“Thanks
for bringing me back,” she said, finally removing her helmet and handing it to
him. “I’m sorry I cut into your time off with Lea.”

“Actually…”
He scratched his temple. “I wanted to talk to you anyway.”

Her brows
rose. “Oh? What about?” She held her breath and silently prayed…
Please don’t
let it be about Mason again
.

“Lea.
And Valentine’s Day,” he replied.

She
couldn’t help the sigh of relief that whooshed from her mouth, and smiled. How
sweet. He thought enough of her friend to order her something for the most
romantic day of the year. Her final Valentine’s Day with her husband was spent
at the ER getting his stomach pumped. 

“What do
you have in mind?”

He
returned the smile, but she could tell he was a little nervous by the way he
toyed with the helmet gripped tightly in his hand. “Well, you can sculpt
chocolate, right?”

“Yep. I
can make anything you want. Any size. Any shape.”

“Even,
say a…jeweler’s box?”

Her
heart dropped to her knees then shot back up, bypassing her chest to lodge in
her throat. Oh my God… “Y-yes. I can.” She couldn’t stop the grin, even though
she needed to be sure. “This is for a ring, right? Not a necklace or bracelet,
because that’s a different shape.”

“For an
engagement ring, yes,” he confirmed, excitement and terror fighting to claim
his expression.

“No
problem, and oh, my God, congratulations.” She launched herself at him and
hugged him, then immediately stepped back, and looked around to make sure no
one saw. “Sorry. I’m assuming it’s a secret.”

“Yes.”
He grinned, no doubt completely amused by her antics.

“I won’t
say a word, but dang I’m so happy for you two.” She pulled up the notepad on
her phone and jotted down the specifics of flavor, design, embellishments and
engraving, promising to have it ready the day before Valentine’s Day. “I’ll
call you sometime this week with a price and to show you a mock up on paper. Is
that okay?”

“Perfect.
Thanks, Jill.” He winked, before disappearing into the garage with the
snowmobile, leaving her with her happy thoughts on the new commission.

It was
jobs like these that Jill enjoyed the most. The ones that came straight from
the customer’s heart, and she strived to capture exactly what they wanted to
convey to their loved one. It was as exciting as it was gratifying, and she
looked forward to this one more than any other, because it was for her dear
friend, the first one she made since returning to the Pocono Valley.

No way
would she screw this up. She was going to make the edible box look like the antique
Ben had requested. Her goal was to take Lea’s breath away and make her friend
cry…in a good way.

This
wasn’t like being commissioned to create ten chocolate roses so some slick dick
could give them to ten different women. No. This was the real deal, and she was
thrilled to have a few weeks to perfect the piece.

The
first thing she needed to do was work on consistency. What she couldn’t figure
out today at the shop, she’d figure out tomorrow at home. Her heart raced with
excitement.

This was
going to be her best batch of chocolate yet.

T
hree batches of chocolate and six hours later, Jill decided to
call it a day, and take back the snow suit, coat, gloves and boots she forgot
to leave at the resort. She’d been forced to work in her socks all day. Her
very bright, multi-colored toe socks. Yeah, she was nothing if not entertaining
today.

Business
had been good, and so had the customers, but her thoughts had been on making
chocolate and hitting it out of the park for her friend. And when she hadn’t
been thinking about Lea, her mind and body had perfect total recall of Mason’s
heat, strength and the delicious play of muscles in his incredibly lean body as
she’d wrapped her limbs around him and held tight.

Oh,
sweet baby Jesus, when he’d taken those corners…

Hot
flashes had ensued. At the shop, too. The back door had been opened and she’d
welcomed the cold breeze. Three times. Yeah. Pathetic. Again. She was acting
like the virgin he’d mentioned.

Muttering
a curse, she slipped the jacket and boots on, grabbed the bibbed suit and her
purse, then locked up and headed to the resort.

Her
reasons for heading there now were logical. Purely logical. Tomorrow would be
another busy day. They might need the suit. It was also her day off, and she
hoped to sleep in a little because she was going to be up half the night making
chocolate, which would make taking it back after she woke up, a bit too late.
So, heading there now made sense. It had nothing to do with the fact Mason
would be done with work for the day and might be around. Nope. Nothing to do
with that at all.

And she
was still telling herself that when she clomped through the lobby of the resort
twenty minutes later. She walked past reception and headed straight toward the
back where she took a left and made a noisy trek to the rental desk.

The
closed rental desk.

Her gaze
fell to the sign on the counter with the hours clearly marked. Seven a.m. to
five p.m. Great. It was going for six-thirty. How was she supposed to return
the gear with no one there?

At least
she could retrieve her regular boots and coat, hat and scarf. She clomped her
way to the woman’s locker room and pushed on the door. It didn’t budge. Oh,
goody, locked. Now what?

She
could go home and try again tomorrow and kiss her sleep-in good-bye. Go to
Timbers and see if one of the Wyne brothers was there. They’d help her get into
the locker room and make sure the suit, gloves and boots got back where they
belonged. She could also knock on Ethan’s door, the family door to the Wyne
section of the lodge she’d used with Lea once.

Jill
hated to disturb the family. But she hated to take home their property even
more.

Deciding
on option number three because it was closer than Timbers, Jill tried to
tip-toe in the big snow boots, causing some of the guests to smile, and a few
to laugh. Giving up on being quiet, she clomped the rest of the way to the Wyne
door, sucked in a deep breath, and knocked. She wondered briefly why she was
even bothering to try. The way the past half-hour was going, surely no one was
home.

But
within ten seconds, the door swung open to reveal a shirtless Mason. He
hesitated, glanced behind him as if to call someone else to the door, then
seemed to think better of it and turned to face her.

“Hey,”
he said.

She was
thrilled at the fact he wasn’t sure what to do with her either, and also
thrilled he stood before her, hair wet from a recent shower, tiny drops of
water running down his broad shoulders, begging her to take action. So she did.
She watched their decent as they slid over his muscled pecs, ripped abs, and
the start of a delicious V his wranglers cut across.

Her hot
flash was back, this time much stronger, so strong her body practically hummed.

“Hey,
Jill,” he said, slight quirk to his mouth.

Damn, he
had a great mouth.

“Did you
need Ethan or something?”

Forcing
her eyes front and center, the haze lifted from her mind. “No, you’ll do.”

He
raised a brow, leaned a forearm against the door and grinned. “Will I now…what
did you have in mind?”

Ah,
crap
. The haze threatened to return, and the heat pooling low in her belly
wasn’t helping her to remain in control. It was helping her to turn stupid. 

She
lifted the suit in her arms, flashed him a peek at the boot on her foot and
smiled. “I need your help to get into the locker room so I can retrieve my
stuff and return these. I left in a hurry today and forgot to change first.”

“Ah, but
clunk
is a good look on you,” he joked, moving back and motioning her
inside. “Come on in while I grab my shirt and keys.”

She
followed past a large living room and down a hallway, her gaze salivating over
every single ridge and muscle that rippled on his back. The man was perfection.

“Wait
here, I’ll be right down,” he said, then disappeared up the stairs she knew led
to the rest of the apartments, thanks to her one-time visit with Lea a few
weeks ago.

The
place was quiet, empty. She removed her coat and turned around to salivate
anew. God, she loved the Wynes’ state of the art kitchen with every stainless
steel appliance imaginable, and a big, beautiful, center island. Her creative
juices flowed as she lovingly stroked the gorgeous granite counter. Oh, the
things she could create…

“Do you
need a moment?”

She
jumped and twisted around, but her clod hoppers didn’t cooperate and she
managed to trip over them. Ungracefully. Her purse flew east. Coat and snow
suit flew west, while she headed south. But instead of becoming intimate with
the beautiful hardwood floor, her face met with something much…harder. And hot.

Mason
caught her arms, but her head brushed his stomach, and she got a face-full of
crotch as her knees hit the floor.

And what
a crotch. He smelled great, too. All shower fresh and male.

“I think
I need
two
moments,” she mumbled against the bulge in his denim.

Then she
lost it and began to laugh.

He
joined in, and together, they slid to the floor and rolled onto their backs.
She wasn’t sure how long they laid there and laughed, but her stomach was sore
by the time she was able to catch her breath and wipe the tears from her eyes.

“Oh,
man, if anyone had caught that on film, we’d make some good money from that
funniest video show,” she said with a lingering giggle.

“Yeah,
well, that gone wild show would’ve paid twice as much,” he said, then shifted
onto his side and smiled down at her. “Are you okay?”

No. Hell
no. Not when he stared at her with concern and mischief in his eyes. The
mischief she could take. Hell, she wanted that,
ached
for that, but the
concern? That was a game changer. It gave her false hope. Made her feel wanted.
Important. All good things. Very good things.

Until
they were gone. Until he decided he didn’t want her. Until she wasn’t important
anymore.

Wasn’t
loveable enough.

It had
happened too many times before. With her step-fathers. Now, she understood they
had left because of issues with her mother, not with her, but as a child, she’d
carried the blame.

It left
scars.

They
started off happy, and adoring, saying sweet things, wonderful things, making
her feel wanted and loved. Then something changed. She couldn’t figure out what
she’d done wrong and eventually accepted they just stopped loving her.

Experience
with Donny was exactly the same. So, she concluded, her lovability had a timer.
Sometimes it just took longer for it to expire.

How long
would it take with Mason?

Didn’t
matter. She refused to think about it now. That was a question best saved for
when she was alone. Right now, she had a different question in mind.

Would he
taste as good the second time around?

“Yeah,”
she finally answered with a smile, lifting her hand to touch his face, loving
the feel of stubble rough against her palm. “I am okay.”
For now.

His
answering smile washed away lingering doubts from the past, bringing back the
warm and toasty feelings she was beginning to crave.

“Same
here,” he said, cupping her cheek with his hand as he slowly lowered his mouth…

“Uncle
Mason! We got it! And pizza, too!”

The
young yell came just before the door slammed and footsteps echoed down the
hall.

In the
blink of an eye, Mason yanked her to her feet, and she was standing by the time
his nephew, Tyler, came barreling into the room, then stopped.

“Hi,
Jill! I didn’t know you were here,” the cute six-year-old said with a grin.
“Are you going to watch the movie and have pizza with us, too?” He turned to
Ethan who had come up behind him with the large square box. “She can stay,
right, Dad?”

“Of
course.” Ethan nodded with an apologetic tilt to his head.

Mason
turned to her, identical apologetic tilt. “Some girls aren’t into super heroes,
Tyler. I’m not sure it’s Jill’s thing.”

She
glanced at the DVD clutched in the little boy’s hand. Keeping up on current
trends was a must in her business, so she recognized the super hero immediately
and smiled. “Oh, you have the third one. I’ve seen one and two. I’d love to
know what happens in number three,” she said, deciding to forget the
inadequacies of her past and allow herself some fun, and that perfecting Lea’s
chocolate could wait a few hours.

“Yeah!
Me, too! It’s gonna be great. The last one had the lizard. This one has an
electro guy.” Without taking a breather, Tyler pointed to the snow suit and
asked, “Jill, why is your coat and stuff on the floor?”

She held
back her groan, having hoped to retrieve them before anyone noticed. She
should’ve known better. “Because your uncle startled me, and I tossed my stuff
everyone. It wasn’t pretty, Tyler. I jumped like a scared kitten,” she said
with a shake of her head, then pointed to the ceiling. “I’d barely come down
from there when you walked in.”

The boy
laughed. “No way!”

“Yes,
way.” She nodded.

“You’re
funny,” he said like it was the greatest thing ever.

She
winked. “I get that a lot. You want to see something else that’s funny?”

“Yeah!”
He grinned from ear to ear, anticipation twinkling in his eyes.

She
clomped past the silent, smiling Wyne brothers, sat on the couch and happily
pulled off the clod hoppers. “Check out my socks.” She wiggled her toes, clad
in another pair of toe-socks. The theme this time—Super hero.

Tyler
rushed forward, hit his knees and stared down at her socks. “Oh! Those are
cool! I want a pair. Dad?” He shot to his feet and ran to his dad. “Can you get
me a pair for my birthday next week?”

“I’m not
sure if they make them in your size, buddy. But I’ll try,” Ethan said,
amusement coating his tone. “Maybe Jill can help me with that.”

“Of
course.” She returned his smile, having already made a mental note to check the
website where she’d purchased hers online.

“And the
cupcakes.” Tyler tugged on his dad’s hand. “Ask her about the cupcakes.”

She
stood and walked toward them. “You need some for school?”

“Yeah.”
The little boy nodded. “Last week, John Tupper brought in green ones with
dinosaurs on them he made with his mother. Everyone thought they were the
greatest.”

Noting
sadness dulling his eyes, Jill knelt down in front of him. “What kind would you
like? Super hero ones?”

“Can you
do that?”

She
nodded. “Yes, I can do that, especially when I wear my super hero socks. And
you could help me, too.”

“I can?
You’ll come here and bake them with me?”

She had
meant at her shop, but the importance of making them in his own kitchen wasn’t
lost on Jill. “Sure, if your dad and uncles don’t mind.” She glanced at both
Wynes who nodded.

“Of
course we don’t mind,” Ethan said, relief easing the sadness from his gaze.
“Thanks, Jill.”

“Yeah.”
Tyler smiled wide. “Thanks!”

She
wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but when the little boy threw himself at her
and hugged her tight, she nearly lost it in a different way. God, she
understood. She got it. He had one terrific parent, but still needed…
longed
for the other. To have that acceptance. Hugging the boy close, she glanced up
at Mason, noting appreciation and something else, something unreadable pass
through his dark eyes. Then she glanced at Ethan and caught his pained
expression before the widowed father quickly hid it behind another smile.

Tyler
drew back, his gaze bright and happy, all of the sadness completely gone. “If
Uncle Mason doesn’t marry you, will you marry my dad?”

The ache
in her heart increased tenfold. She ached for the little boy. She ached for his
father. And she ached for the little girl inside her who knew exactly what he
meant.

Careful
to keep her gaze off of Mason and Ethan, and her voice light, she winked at
Tyler. “I don’t have to marry anyone to be able to make you cupcakes—”

“And
candy,” Mason added, stepping closer to offer her a hand. “Don’t forget Jill
has super hero powers when it comes to candy, Tyler.”

Heat
rushed into her face and limbs as she grasped his hand and rose to her feet.
“Thanks,” she said, basking in his words of praise and the warmth of his gaze.
“Now…will there be popcorn involved with this movie?”

“Absolutely,”
Mason said. “That’s my department. Tyler, you and your dad take the pizza and
plates and get the movie ready while Jill and I get the popcorn.”

“Okay.”
The happy boy pulled his dad to the big screen TV on the far wall as his uncle
tossed a bag of popcorn in the microwave and pulled a big bowl from the
cupboard.