The corner of his mouth tipped up into a lopsided grin, and it seemed like it lifted her insides right along with it. “With what?”
“My boss has been riding me really hard.”
She couldn’t resist smiling at her own joke, and he shook his head, his expression grave. “Really?”
“Well, I haven’t really had occasion to make a joke like that before.”
For a second they were just sitting there, smiling at each other. Then she had a feeling that if anyone were to look over now, they weren’t doing the most convincing job of seeming...normal. Her breath caught, and he shifted, brushing against her slightly. Her heart started to beat harder. Even in a room full of her family, being near him like this turned her on. It was a marvel to her that she hadn’t realized before how beautiful he was.
That she hadn’t been obsessed with his looks every moment of every day since they’d first met. Suddenly, she couldn’t even remember how she’d seen him before. It was like another lifetime, that moment when she had felt like the blue in his eyes had changed. Now it was like they’d always been this way. This blue. That sliced through her protective walls and reached the very center of her soul.
That captivated her and held her in place. That compelled her to get closer to him. To press her mouth against his.
“Break it up, you two.”
They jerked away from each other and both turned toward the sound of the admonishment. It was Ryder, who was clearly kidding, and was obviously not paying all that much attention to what was really happening between them.
“We were just talking about when we should actually do Christmas presents. Since I think West and Pansy are going to be on their honeymoon on Christmas.”
“Why don’t we open presents after the wedding?” Pansy asked.
“Won’t you be doing your wedding presents and having your reception?”
“Yeah,” she said. “But we’re the ones getting married on Christmas Eve. And anyway, it’s mostly family that’s coming.”
She felt Logan stiffen just slightly beside her. No one else would notice, but of course she did.
Of course. Family. Family would include West’s family.
Logan’s family. He didn’t do Christmas morning, but he did often come and have Christmas dinner with them, and it would mean a lot of...well, a lot of Daltons around.
“I think it sounds great,” Ryder said. “A great big family Christmas get-together.”
“Yeah, thankfully Tammy Dalton is helping with the food,” Iris said. “It’s nice to have another set of hands.”
“My sisters-in-law will bring things, too,” West said. “My half sister not so much. McKenna doesn’t cook. And she was furious at the implication she ought to get involved in that kind of women’s work.”
She knew no one could see right between herself and Logan. And she found herself moving her hand to touch his. He looked over at her. Her lips twitched. He seemed to understand.
That she was offering comfort. That she was trying to make sure he knew that she cared.
Yeah. The things that Pansy had been worried about seemed pretty valid right now. Because the whole orientation of the room seemed different. She was rooted to Logan’s side, and everything that Pansy was talking about in regards to her wedding seemed to matter the very most to her in terms of how they touched the man by her side.
“I’m going to make the wedding cake,” Iris said. “And I have huge plans for it.” She sounded excited, genuinely excited. And then she saw the light in her sister’s eyes get even brighter. “Hey, bachelors,” she said.
Colt and Jake looked up. Rose felt somewhat...pleased that Logan didn’t.
“Yes?” Jake asked.
“I’ve been thinking about...things. Like what I want to do with my life.”
“Oh, so only small stuff, then,” Colt said.
“Right,” Iris responded. “Anyway, I want to do something with cooking, and I was wondering how much guys like you might pay for home-cooked meals.”
“Well,” Jake responded, “I get your home-cooked meals for free.”
“But if you didn’t?”
“I’d definitely pay for them.”
“I thought you were thinking about the bakery?” Rose asked.
“It won’t be enough,” Iris said, “not at first. But cooking is what I do, so I don’t see why I can’t find a way to make all my strengths support each other.”
And suddenly, things with the world seemed a little bit more right. Because she hadn’t helped Iris at all with her meddling. But it looked like Iris was going to help herself.
And it made Rose a little bit sad that yet again, she hadn’t been all that helpful, and if anything she had potentially caused harm. But it didn’t really matter how Iris found happiness, as long as she did. Maybe she’d been wrong to assume that her sister needed romance to find happiness.
Maybe she just needed...cake.
And what about you?
She looked back over at Logan.
Love.
She genuinely hadn’t wanted to fall in love.
But now she had to think about what Pansy had said. Was that what this was? Was that what it had always been?
Chatter had moved on around them, questions being lobbed back and forth about Iris’s bakery, and then things shifted to weddings, presents and football.
But things inside of her had not shifted. She was still thinking. About her place in the world. Her place in the family. And love.
Where it came from.
If you had to earn it.
If kisses and sex made it appear. Or if love, in all of its multifaceted states, was just there. Part of who you were. Down in your bones. And what it took was a shift to bring it out. For Pansy, a new person coming into town. For her, the light hitting Logan’s eyes a little bit different one afternoon when he came in the door.
And for her family... It was born in them. Then it had shifted and changed when tragedy came. They had cared for each other as they’d needed to.
But maybe it wasn’t about earning or doing.
Maybe there was just an inevitability to it
