Jaci Burton - Melting the Ice

“I’m going to see you to your door. It’s the way I was brought up.”

She stopped. “Oh . . . so now you’re being a gentleman?”

Apparently, he wasn’t taking the bait, either, because he merely smiled and held the door for her while she went inside and to the elevator. Clearly she wasn’t going to be able to get rid of him, so she stepped into the elevator and rode with him to her floor, then walked to her door. Key in hand, she unlocked her door and turned to him.

“Thank you for dinner.”

“Why don’t you invite me in for an after-dinner drink?”

“I might be dumb, Drew, but I’m not stupid.”

“Not sure I know what that means. Can I use your bathroom?”

She rolled her eyes at the obvious ploy. “No.”

“Come on, Carolina. It’s kind of urgent. I had a lot of wine and it’s a long ride back to my apartment.”

“Fine.” She stepped in and closed the door while he made his way down the hall. She hung up her coat and went into the kitchen to put the kettle on to boil to make tea.

“What are you doing?”

She jumped, her thoughts lost in what she was going to be working on tonight, along with the tea. She turned to face him. “I’m making tea.”

He wrinkled his nose. “No coffee?”

“I do have coffee.”

“Good. I’d love some.” He shed his coat.

Drew was the worst guest ever. She followed him into the living room. “Don’t you have a car waiting?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t you think you should go downstairs and get in it?”

He blew into his hands. “No. He’ll wait. Do you want me to make the coffee?”

She let out a frustrated sigh. Drew was either utterly dense or deliberately trying to piss her off. He wasn’t stupid, so she was going with the latter. Surely he knew she had work to do and that she wanted him to leave.

She should just ask him to go. Damn her upbringing. Her mother would kick her butt if she found out she’d thrown out a guest, even if it was Drew. The Prestons always treated company with a smile. They were always polite.

Ugh. She wanted to boot his annoying ass right out the door. “No. I’ll make the coffee.”

She put water in her brewer and stuck a brew cup in, then pressed the button to start the warming process and grabbed a cup.

“Cream and sugar?” she asked him.

“Black is fine for me.”

She prepared her tea, then his coffee. “Why don’t we go into the living room and sit down?”

“Okay.”

She mentally relaxed her jaw, which had tightened when Drew had invited himself to stay. Thinking of all the sketching and notes she had to make, she forced her shoulders down and tried to relax.

Always be a good hostess. That was the Preston way. After all, he couldn’t stay all night long.

Could he?

She glanced at her watch. It was eleven thirty.

And it was going to be a long night.

* * *

DREW SHOULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD SPORT AND LEFT Carolina at the door, but there was something about this woman that got under his skin.

He couldn’t just let it go—let her go.

Besides, she was just so damn polite. She should have stopped him downstairs. Or at the door. She should have been rude to him and told him to take a hike. Instead, she’d been gracious, letting him come in when he’d given her that bogus excuse about needing to take a leak. Then she’d even made him coffee, when any other woman would have kicked his ass out the front door.

Typical Preston manners. He’d seen it plenty in Gray’s parents, especially his mother. God knew Gray didn’t have the same manners. Gray would kick your ass if you needed it, though he still possessed elements of etiquette—more so than any of the other guys, anyway.

But Carolina—she was a piece of work. He’d done his best to annoy her, and she still gave him the Preston stiff upper lip and air of politeness.

He’d really like to ruffle her feathers a little, to bring out the passion he knew lurked just under the surface. He’d made her burn once, had turned the ice queen into a molten, bubbling volcano of sexual lava. He’d seen glimpses of her today, when she thought he wasn’t looking. The glances she leveled at him, the way her body turned in his direction. It was like she wanted him, but she resisted.

He wanted that erupting volcano of a woman again, not this cool, reserved specimen of polite society.

He took a seat on her sofa, which he knew irritated her. She wanted him to leave. He wanted to talk to her. “Are you going to Washington to be with your family for Thanksgiving?”

“I don’t think I am. I have so much work to do. Are you going home?”

“No. I have a game right after, so I’m just going to hang out here. A bunch of us are going to serve the homeless for Thanksgiving.”

She leaned back. “That’s . . . really nice of you.”

He shrugged. “Better than hanging out in the apartment playing video games.”

“I have to admit, this surprises me.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. It just does.”

“I have a heart, Carolina. Despite what you might think about me.”

She took a sip of tea. “I don’t think anything about you.”

“Don’t you?” He smiled at her.

“No. I don’t.”

“Why don’t you spend Thanksgiving with me and the guys?”

He loved the way her eyes widened, the look on her face like a cornered animal, searching for a way to escape.

“Oh. I don’t think so. Like I said, I have to work.”

“It’s Thanksgiving. No work that day.”

“That’s the reason I’m not going home. I need to be productive.”

“You need to be thankful for everything you have that day. Or show your appreciation to others for everything you have. Work the rescue mission with me and my friends.”

He had her now and she knew it. “Okay. Fine. I’ll do that for a few hours, then I’ll come back and work.”

“Sounds great.” He laid his coffee cup down. “Speaking of work, I’m sure you have some you’d like to do, so I’ll get out of your way.”

She stood up so fast she created a breeze. “I’ll walk you to the door.”

She opened the door. Drew leaned in and brushed a kiss on her cheek. “Thanks for coming to the game, and hanging out with me at dinner.”

Again she wore that surprised look, which made him happy. He liked keeping her off balance.

“Thanks for inviting me to the game. It’ll help with my line.”

He gave her a smile. “Anytime, babe. I can’t wait ’til we work on the underwear.”

CAROLINA HAD INTENDED TO SPEND THANKSGIVING immersed in her work, not elbow-deep in gravy. Yet here she was at the mission, surrounded by a half dozen men a foot taller than her and a crowd of people hungry and waiting to be fed.

It was amazing. The mission was filled with people, and instead of being alone and lonely, she was facing smiles and listening to raucous laughter, both behind and in front of the counter where she was serving up turkey dinner.

She supposed she had to be grateful to Drew for dragging her out of her apartment today. She would have likely eaten a salad and spent the day watching the parade and missing her family. Instead, he’d picked her up at seven a.m. and she’d met four of his teammates, who’d immediately hugged her and told her she was now one of the Travelers. Drew even brought her a team jersey to wear today, though it was miles too big for her. But Colin Kozlow, one of Drew’s teammates, had told her she looked cute.

Cute. Just great. Avery Mangino, the goalie for the Travelers, had asked her if she was Drew’s girlfriend, since the jersey she wore had Drew’s name and his number. She vehemently said no, which had caused Drew to smirk and all the guys to give him a hard time.

She liked the hard time part, and as long as they weren’t hitting on her, which they weren’t, she was fine with it.

Actually, they were a great group of guys, all missing their families as much as she missed hers. Most of them had stayed in the city for Thanksgiving because their families lived too far away to visit.

“We’re getting short on gravy,” Carolina said to Lakeesha Divant, the director of the mission.

“I’m on it,” she said. The woman was like a general, shouting orders to some of her staffers.

Carolina had been in awe from the moment they’d walked into the mission this morning. Everything had been set up and ready to go, the food had been prepped the night before, so all they had to do was start serving when they opened the doors. It saddened Carolina to see that even at seven thirty in the morning a line had already formed outside.

People were homeless and hungry, and they knew today would be a good day for a full, hot meal. Of course the mission provided a hot meal every day, but there would be a big crowd on Thanksgiving, and the regulars wanted to be sure to get in line early.

“Here’s a refill on the gravy.” A big burly guy brought the container out.

“Thanks, Jim.” She’d familiarized herself with all the staff this morning, making it a point to get to know everyone who worked there. Some of them were formerly homeless themselves, and now were thrilled to have jobs working at the mission. Lakeesha made them work hard at it, too, and they were all grateful to be earning their keep.

“Just workin’ up an appetite for that great lunch we’re all gonna eat later.”

Carolina grinned. “My stomach is already growling.”

She served for another couple hours, until the crowd began to thin around one thirty.

“Not even one complaint,” Drew said, who’d come up behind her. He’d spent most of his time in the kitchen, so she hadn’t seen much of him other than when he helped Jim with restocking.

She moved out of the way as another of the staff took her place. “Why would I complain?” she asked as she untied and removed her apron and swiped a loose hair from her eyes.

“You worked hard today.”

“It was worth it. Just look at how happy everyone is.”

“Yeah. For some of them, it’s the only meal they’ll eat today.”

She hated thinking that.

“And I’m hungry, so how about we eat?” he asked.

She nodded. “I’ve been smelling that delicious food for hours. I’m ready to grab a plate.”

They did, and found a seat with Lakeesha and a group of older men who made room for them at their table.

“These are our veterans,” Lakeesha said, introducing her and Drew to Ronald, Oscar, Lewis, and Bailey.

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” Carolina said. “Thank you for your service.”

“Ma’am,” Ronald said. “Thanks for serving up the meal today. It’s mighty good.”

“I think you can thank Lakeesha and her staff for all of the work that went into preparing the meal. I just helped serve.”

“But without all of you who give up your Thanksgiving, we’d never be able to do all this,” Lakeesha said with a smile. “And our people would have to wait in even longer lines. So thank you.”

Carolina looked over the men, unable to imagine what they’d been through in their lifetimes. “I can’t think of a finer group to spend Thanksgiving with.”

“Me, too,” Drew said, then asked them all when and where they served. The men launched into a discussion of their military service, and while Carolina ate, they fascinated her with war stories, some from Vietnam, some from the Gulf. She noted they avoided anything unpleasant, preferring instead to share positive, fun stories about brotherhood and good times shared.

She didn’t blame them. She was sure there was plenty of unpleasantness that stayed with them at all times. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be living on the street. Today was a day to share happiness and fond memories, and she was delighted to be part of it.

After a while the men, and Lakeesha, wandered off, leaving just her and Drew at the table.

“Where are the other guys?” she asked, looking around.

“They took off. They ate during an earlier shift and they’re going to congregate at Avery’s place to watch football.”

She arched a brow. “And you didn’t go with them? I thought that was a guy thing to do on Thanksgiving Day.”

“I brought you here. I’ll see you home.”

Again with the acting like a gentleman thing. She didn’t know what to make of him. “You didn’t have to do that. I can make my own way back home.”

“I’d never abandon you like that, Carolina.” At her look, he said, “Not this time.”

“No, really. Feel free to abandon me. I’m fine with it.”