Santa or Frosty or whoever was just fucking with her. All Shae had to do was go to work and bake. That’s all she had to do, but no. The rapid reindeer had relocated from her stomach to her brain. How could someone worry so much about texting a guy? Hours, she’d spent literally hours, getting herself worked up about wanting to text Aidan and not texting Aidan too much. Shae got herself so worked up that she ruined at least two batches of chocolate and three batches of caramel just thinking and waiting for Aidan’s “well this has been fun, but you’re kind of annoying me” text that nevercame.
Every time one of them had a free second, they were asking each other about their day. Aidan felt bad about the ruined confections even though he had no idea why Shae had let them go to shit. And then she’d ask him how things were going in the world of online real estate. He sounded stressed, but happy. Shae completely understood. Starting your own business was no joke. She’d had her own adventure finding a storefront she could afford, even with a healthy loan from her parents and hergrandmother.
One afternoon when Aidan sent her a picture of their newest listing, she knew he’d been bitten by that independent business bug. It was a simple craftsman with smoke damage and bad plumbing and electric, exactly the sort of listing they needed for their site. Shae felt herself smiling as she looked through the interior shots, thinking of the first batch of cupcakes she’d made in her very own professional kitchen. She hoped that PrimeRealty lived up to the dreams Aidan had forit.
The few nights they were apart, texting with him seemed like the easiest thing to do after a long day. Easier when those texts quickly turned to sexts and Shae found herself getting off to the simple, but ridiculously hot messages from this ridiculously hot guy she was seeing. The next morning it would start all over again. Aidan doing laps through her head, on the back of one of those rapid zombie reindeers, flustering Shae to the point where she knew all she could do was breathe and bake. She had to do something about it and she would. Soon. As soon as she saw Aidan one moretime.
Date night arrived, and now that she was standing across from him she realized what the problem was. Shae liked Aidan. A lot and not in the way that made her feel light and fluffy and good, like the economy was suddenly going to bounce back and nations around the globe would start to practice the true meaning ofdemocracy.
No, her feelings for Aidan made her feel completely out of her element and out of control. When she got to his apartment she assured herself it was just butterflies. That worked until she laid eyes on Aidan standing in his doorway, still in a dress shirt, sleeves rolled up and an actual “Kiss the Cook” apron draped around his neck. Shae held up a brown Sweet Creams bag in herhand.
“I brought lemonbars.”
“Hey. Come onin.”
“It smells great in here,” she said, setting down the sweets she’d made just for their nighttogether.
“Not sure I’ve had those before—don’t take off your coat just yet.” Shae froze and shrugged her jacket back onto hershoulders.
“I thought I was a slow cooking genius, but my stew needs another hour,” he said as he closed the door behind her, then led her into his small galley kitchen that looked like it had seen better days. There was evidence of his culinary skills all over the counter. Bits of red potatoes, the ends of carrots and celery, and the fat that had been trimmed off of a whole lot of beef. Shae smiled as she glimpsed an unopened can of biscuits on the edge of the counter near thefridge.
“Are we going somewhere in that hour?” Shae asked and then almost fainted when she turned and saw the way Aidan’s face lit up at herquestion.
“Yeah. There’s something I want to showyou.”
“Okay.”
Shae waited while Aidan shed his apron and grabbed his own coat, then pulled out his phone. “Let me just set a timer. O...kay. Youready?”
Shae swallowed and forced herself to smile. “Yeah, let’s go.” Her whole body warmed as Aidan took her hand and led her down to the parking garage where his car was waiting. After they pulled out on the road, he reached over and took her hand again. Shae looked at his face as he explained where they were going and all she could think about was the feeling of his fingers intertwined with hers. Then all she could think about was kissing him. Shae wanted Aidan so bad she knew nothing good could come fromit.
7
Dear Santa,Please save me frommyself…
If things keptup this way, Shae was going to let Aidan plan the rest of their dates for the rest of their lives. Not that they would be together for the rest of their lives, but she didn’t hate the way he seemed to know exactly how to dial up the romance and splendor. There were several places to view over-the-top residential holiday decorations, Candy Cane Lane in Torrance being the most well-known in the county, but Aidan took Shae to this small cluster of houses in Beverlywood that had really outdoneitself.
There were a few other looky-loos cruising the neighborhood. Luckily it was a Thursday night and they were able to drive around unencumbered to check out the elaborate red, white and blue theme that stretched from one end of the block to the other. Aidan explained that during the weekend the house in the center blasted a few holiday favorites early in the evening and the lights on each house blinked to the beat. Shae only knew two of her neighbors. She couldn’t imagine coordinating something that spectacular with so manypeople.
Aidan held onto her hand the whole time she stared out the window in awe. Thousands and thousands of lights. Thanks to traffic, they couldn’t spend too long taking it all in, but Shae didn’t care. The neighborhood was so beautiful. She’d driven around Los Angeles plenty of times with her family over the years to check out the lights. Harvin had killed the tradition, choosing instead to spend time at her ex-brother-in-law’s house watching football and talking basketball. Not that Shae had anything against sports. Her ex just had a certain way of making the holidays...not fun. When Aidan’s thumb gently stroked over hers, she forced her mind back to the present, pushing Harvin and his bullshit to the dark pit in the corner of her thoughts where hebelonged.
“What do you think?” Aidanasked.
“It’samazing.”
“One day I’m going to buy a house. One that needs extensive renovations,” he laughed. Shae joined him with a smile. “And then I’ll figure out how to hang enough lights that you can see the place from orbit. Also, there will be enough room in the backyard for a bouncycastle.”
“I’m sure your kids will love that,” Shaeteased.
“Who said anything about kids? Have you been in a bouncy castlelately?”
“Haveyou?”
Aidan nodded with a sort of hilarious cockiness. “Oh yeah. Last summer at my nephew’s birthday party. Time of my fuckinglife.”
“Well, you get that house and your lights and your bouncy castle. I’ll stop by with cookies and lemonade and make sure you haven’t twisted yourankle.”
“Never. I’m all about bouncy castle safety.” Suddenly Aidan leaned over and kissed Shae on the mouth. She returned the kiss, pressing closer to him for just a moment. Her eyes blinked opened when he pulledaway.