“Well, it’s out of the wind and—”
“No, it’s actually warm. The heat’s running.”
“Oh.” And that thought made him go cold. “Are you sure?”
She headed into the kitchen and switched on one of the burners. With a small hiss and a click, the flame lit. “The gas is back on.”
“Are you sure there wasn’t some just left over in the lines?” Maybe it was selfish, but he didn’t want the gas lines fixed. He didn’t want her to have the option to leave the farm. Not yet.
They got their answer via a flier stuffed in the mailbox. Notice from the gas company that the breach had been repaired and all was well just in time for Christmas.
“We can come home.” She sounded less enthusiastic about that prospect than she would’ve a week ago. That gave him hope.
“Don’t.”
“Jace— ”
He could see that sense of responsibility creeping back and scrambled to head it off. “You’re all settled in at the farm. The kids are having fun. My parents are having a ball spoiling them silly. Stay and finish out that country Christmas I promised you.” He took her hand and pressed it to his heart. “Stay and see where this goes.”
Chapter 7
He'd be going back to school soon. What could really come of the next few days? A part of her wanted to just walk away, get back to her normal life, where everything made sense, where she was in control. But a bigger part looked into his earnest face, into those big brown eyes and wanted to stay in the fantasy he'd created. Even knowing it would end—had to end—she wanted those days with him. Wanted to take the time to pretend that she was just a girl who had the luxury of being courted by a sweet, handsome guy.
What harm could it do?
"Seems a shame to miss out on the chance of having a white Christmas out at the farm."
"That it does." He lifted the hand he still held and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.
The gesture made her knees go weak. She'd given him the green light to romance her. As a start, she absolutely couldn't fault this. Anticipatory nerves sparked, and Tara felt herself sway toward him, wishing he'd put those lips to better use.
But he didn't press his advantage. With one last stroke of his thumb that left her palm tingling, he let her go. "Shall we wrap?"
The nerves which had knotted up her belly loosened. "You want ribbon or paper?"
"Paper. My bows look like Kip's chew toys."
"Paper it is, then." Tara gathered up the supplies and brought them into the living room. Despite her vague disappointment, she liked that he didn't push. It'd been so long since she'd played this game, and she'd never played it all that much to begin with. She'd been too focused on her training to spend much time on dating. She wasn't sure of her footing. For a dancer, who always had her balance, that was a rather scary place to be.
Jace kept up a steady banter during their wrapping session, making her laugh by putting bows in his hair. He was easy to be with. Easy to talk to. Just...easy. Tara didn't feel like she needed to be constantly on guard with him. And that made her realize exactly how much she was on guard the rest of the time. The fact that she could relax around him might've been the best gift he could've given her.
She caught herself looking at his mouth.
Then again...
But maybe he was right to hold off and take things really slow. It would hardly do for him to kiss her now, when they'd just decided she'd stay at the farm for the rest of the holiday. What if it was a dud of a kiss? Then things would be all weird. No. Better to ease into this.
The clock was ticking on toward nine by the time they finished up and headed back out to the farm.
"I absolutely did not mean to abandon your mom with the kids this long."
"She'd have called if she was having problems. She did manage to raise two of us just fine."
"Still."
"Did you have fun today?"
Tara looked over from the driver's seat. "More than I've had in longer than I care to remember."