Cody Madsen and Olivia Dixon are actually the stars of my *upcoming* release (Feb 25th), Best of Four. But readers have already gotten to know these two in the first three books, She's the One, It Takes Two and Best of Three. And they have a bit of a past that I was happy to reveal in this short holiday story! Enjoy!
Two
years, one week and three days ago
There was nothing sexy about gingerbread
men. Especially ones that were really
just big
blobs
of gingerbread with a foot sticking out here and there. There was also nothing sexy about sugar
cookies. Especially ones that were burnt
on the bottom. And there should be
nothing sexy about his best friend’s little sister muttering words that would
have shocked her mother while putting colorful gumdrops on the top of green
Rice Krispie treat trees.
But Cody Madsen found himself a little
tighter in his blue jeans when he stepped into Olivia Dixon’s kitchen. She was beautiful. Her jeans were faded across the butt, her
hair was escaping the twist on top of her head, she had green frosting smeared
up one arm and cocoa powder on her left thigh.
And he wanted to kiss her.
But then again, he wanted to kiss her
nearly every time he saw her, green frosting or not.
The timer on the oven went off,
startling him. She turned away from the
table where she
had
at least four different kinds of cookies spread out and saw him.
“Cody!”
“Hi.
Didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”
Of course, with Bruce Springsteen belting out his version of Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, she couldn’t
have heard his knock or him coming in through the front door.
She reached for the stereo that sat on
the shelf where she kept her cookbooks and turned down the volume. “No problem.”
“Conner asked me to come over and get
his cooler. He said he sent it home with
you after the last tailgate.” Among other things, Cody and Olivia’s brother
Conner, played on the local amateur football team, the Omaha Hawks,
together. Once a month, the guys hung
out with fans pre-game at the Hawks sponsored tailgate party.
“It’s in the garage,” Olivia said,
gesturing toward the door.
Cody started in that direction, but
something in her eyes made him stop. He’d
only been able to appreciate her from the side.
Now looking at her straight on he realized she’d been crying.
He frowned. “You okay?”
She sniffed, but nodded. “I’m baking for
the bake sale at St. Anthony’s.”
St. Anthony’s was the big local trauma
center where Conner, and their buddy Ryan, worked as paramedics. The Christmas bake sale was an annual event
that raised money for Christmas gifts for the local women and children’s
center.
“It smells great.”
It did.
Underneath the aroma of burnt sugar.
“My gingerbread men are more appropriate
for Halloween, my Rice Krispie trees are too mushy, I’m out of coconut, and I
can’t even get the sugar cookies to turn out.
And,” she went on. “I have to come up with a unique recipe for the
contest and everything I’ve tried has ended up in the garbage.”
It was obvious she was distracted. Olivia was a fantastic baker. He’d had her cookies, pies, cakes and
brownies in the years since he’d met Conner in college. They were all amazing. Almost as amazing as his.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
She sniffed again and shrugged.
“Nothing. I’m just stressed about getting the cookies done.”
“How many are you doing?” There were a lot of cookies in that kitchen already.
“Ten dozen.”
“Ten?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Baking makes me happy. It comforts me.”
“You need comforting?” He hated that idea. Olivia was the sweet one of the Dixon Divas—as
she and her three sisters were collectively called. She was the bubbly optimist. Everyone loved that about her. Cody loved that about her. She was one of those people that could put
you in a good mood no matter what else was going on. He hated to think she was anything less than
happy.
“No.
I just need to make six dozen more cookies.”
“I’ll help.”
Her eyes widened. “You’ll help me make cookies?”
Well, hell, he hadn’t really meant to
say that but… cookies he could do.
Comforting a woman, he wasn’t so sure about and he suspected that she
did actually need comforting.
Cody tossed his keys onto the counter by
the coffee pot and rolled up his sleeves.
“I’ll help you make cookies.”
She looked wary. “Do you know how to make cookies?”
“Olivia,” he said, stepping to the sink
to wash his hands. “I’m going to blow
your mind with how I make cookies.”
Her expression brightened. “Well, I haven’t had my mind blown by a man
in a long time.”
He paused and looked at her. Was she flirting? Did she mean that the way his mind had taken
it?
Her cheeks were pink. “In the kitchen,” she added. “I haven’t had my mind blown by a man in the kitchen in a long time.”
Yeah, he could blow her mind in any room
she wanted.
He focused on the running water. No he couldn’t. She was his best friend’s little sister. His
best friend who had seen Cody watching Olivia across Trudy’s Tavern three
months ago and said “Don’t even think about it.” Cody’s response had been “nothing to worry
about man”. It had to be. Conner knew things about Cody’s past with
women that gave him good reason to worry about Cody getting involved with
someone Conner cared about. The fact that
it was his little sister… yeah, never gonna happen.
“Tell me about this unique recipe you
have to come up with,” he said, reaching for a towel.
“It’s for the Cookie Contest. Winner gets a hundred dollars to donate to
their favorite charity.”
Feeling a little more composed with talk
of cookies and charity, he turned to face her.
She was beating something in a big
plastic bowl with a vengeance. And
wearing a deep scowl. He rescued the
innocent cookie dough, setting it to the side.
“What do you have for the contest so
far?”
She sighed and reached for the huge mug
sitting in the middle of the stove, then leaned against the counter. “I’ve done a peppermint sugar cookie that
wasn’t pepperminty enough, I tried making mocha gingerbread men—” She wrinkled
her nose. “—that were a disaster. And I tried an eggnog cookie recipe that was…
okay.”
He looked around. “Where are the remnants?”
She leaned to the right, revealing a
plate of cookie pieces behind her. He
reached for one but she didn’t move, which meant that his body ended up closer
to hers than it had ever been.
He was instantly hit by heat and the
urge to put his lips against her neck.
As he slowly straightened, he caught the scent of peppermint. But it wasn’t coming from the cookies.
“Schnapps?” he asked.
She sipped from her cup again and
nodded.
“You tried the schnapps in the cookies
to make them more pepperminty?”
She smiled. “I put the schnapps in my hot cocoa to make
my attitude better.”
“Bad day?”
She shook her head, but said, “Yes.”
“Is the schnapps helping?”
She drank again. “Yes.”
He bit into one of the peppermint cookie
pieces. It was good. It wasn’t amazing, but it was good. “I can fix these cookies,” he said. “Does that help?”
She looked at him in surprise. “Yes. That would definitely help.”
He moved toward the collection of
ingredients she had spread out on the counter top. “I think it’s interesting that you didn’t
realize what you needed to do here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Peppermint cookies are good, but chocolate peppermint cookies are
awesome.”
She opened her mouth, then looked down
at her cup, then up at him. Her mouth
curved into a smile. “I guess I’m a
little slow today.”
Cody started measuring and
stirring. “Yeah, what’s going on?”
“I went to the grocery store for
supplies. I ran into George.”
He glanced at her. Her eyes filled with
tears and Cody abandoned his bowl and spoon, instinctively stepping
forward. He didn’t know who George was,
but the encounter had clearly upset her.
That made him want to punch George.
“He was with another woman.”
Ah. The fact that she was upset about
George being with another woman probably meant he wasn’t her accountant. Cody reached out and ran his hand up and down
her arm. “I’m sorry, Liv.”
She smelled like chocolate and
peppermint. He loved both.
“You were dating a man named George?”
Cody asked, trying to concentrate on the issue.
George making Olivia cry. The
fucker.
“Yes.
And George is apparently dating a woman named Maggie.”
Dammit.
He definitely wanted to punch George.
“But he took her to the grocery store.
That’s not very romantic.”
“They were buying whipped cream and
chocolate syrup.”
Cody thought about that. “Ice cream?” he suggested.
Her eyes filled again. “George has sensitive teeth.”
Cody thought about that. Then laughed. “You’re better off without George.”
“It’s not his fault his teeth are
sensitive to cold.”
“George was buying whipped cream and
chocolate syrup with another woman, Liv,” Cody said gently. “He’s an idiot.”
She shook her head. “It’s me.”
“It’s not you.”
“It is.
I told him…” She trailed off and
sniffed, wiping her hand over her wet cheek.
The motion left a streak of green
granulated sugar behind. Which went
along well with the powdered sugar that dusted her hairline at her temple, the
red frosting that was smudged on her neck and the streak of chocolate at the
corner of her mouth.
Cody felt himself move in closer without
even thinking about it. “You told him
what?”
Please God, don’t let her have said she
loved him. Cody wasn’t completely clear
on exactly why that idea put a huge knot in his gut, but it did.
“I told him I wouldn’t sleep with
him. It was too soon. I wasn’t ready.”
Cody let out a long relieved breath. Relieved
was a strange emotion to be feeling about it, but he decided it was too
complicated to spend much time on at the moment. “I think that’s amazing. Good for you.”
One eyebrow went up. “Amazing?”
“You deserve a guy who will wait and put
every effort into winning you over.”
She shook her head. “Why do men only think of sex? I mean, is it
really that important?”
Cody shrugged. “Well… yeah.”
“But with the right woman… a guy would
be willing to wait, right?”
He looked into those big blue eyes, the
tendrils of blond hair escaping her ponytail, the bright red apron that covered
her and said, “Absolutely.”
“So, what’s wrong with me?”
“Not one damned thing.”
She stared at him for a moment, then
shook her head. “I think what’s wrong is
that I only wanted to kiss him.”
“That doesn’t make you wrong.”
“It means that I was with the wrong
guy,” she said, setting her cup down.
There was something in her eyes, and her
voice, that made him swallow hard. “It might just mean you weren’t ready to
move to the next level with him.”
“That’s strange considering that with
you I’m ready for the next level right now.”
Her words rocked through him and now he couldn’t swallow. “Wh…wha…what?”
“You heard me.”
“You’re drunk.”
She shrugged. “I’m tipsy. But it’s not
like this is the first time I’ve wanted to kiss you.”
“Liv,” he said, his heart twisting in
his chest. “We can’t.”
“You don’t want to kiss me, Cody?”
She reached behind her and untied her
apron. She slipped it over her head and
tossed it to the side.
He blinked.
“What
are you wearing?”
She looked down and smiled. “My ugly Christmas sweater.”
“Why?”
“It was supposed to cheer me up.”
The sweater was a light knit in shimmery
gold. Except for the two Santa-type
mittens curving around either side and covering her breasts. The bottom said “Feel the joy”.
He couldn’t resist his own smile. “Did it work?”
“A little.” She moved closer. “Not as much as kissing you would.”
He
took a deep breath. She was tipsy. But she was also sad. He hated that George had chosen Maggie over
Olivia. She understandably needed some
reassurance. He was a big fan of hers,
so he could easily assure her that she was amazing. “You’re gorgeous and sexy
and sweet and any guy would be a damned fool if he didn’t kiss you every chance
he got.”
She looked him straight in the eye. “Prove it.”
Yeah, he’d kind of known that’s where
this was going.
Even as he stepped closer and put his
hands on her hips, he knew he shouldn’t.
Even when he lifted her up to the countertop, he knew he shouldn’t. Even when he stepped between her knees, lifted
his hand and wiped the chocolate from the corner of her mouth then licked it
off, he knew he shouldn’t.
But he did anyway.
He pulled the clip from her hair and
tossed it over his shoulder, he ran his hand through her hair then cupped the
back of her head.
He took a moment to appreciate the way
her breath caught. The way her pupils dilated. The way her cheeks flushed.
Then he kissed her.
And it turned out that the chemistry he’d
imagined between them, was very, very real.
The kiss went from sweet to spicy in two
seconds. She gripped the front of his
shirt, arching closer. He opened his
lips over hers and she moaned, allowing him to stroke his tongue deep, tasting
the chocolate and peppermint and the underlying deliciousness that was all
Olivia.
She wrapped her legs around his waist.
He slid his hand up under her sweater,
stroking her spine, her ribs, then cupping her breast.
Feel the joy, indeed.
She whimpered as he brushed his thumb
over the hardened tip.
Just as he heard the front door bang
open.
“Liv, we’re here to help!”
Cody ripped his mouth from Olivia’s as
her sister, Amanda, called to her.
“Damn,” Olivia muttered.
Cody stepped back, taking a deep breath
and trying not to notice how gorgeous she looked with her hair tousled and her
mouth wet from his.
She pressed her lips together and pulled
her ugly sweater down as she met his gaze.
“Damn,” she said again.
Yep, that about summed it up.
Olivia slid off the counter as her
sisters came into the kitchen.
Cody reached for the bottle of
peppermint schnapps.
Want the recipe that Cody whips up?
Click here for Cody's
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Cody and Olivia get their full story February 25th! Mark your calendars for Going for Four!
Counting
on Love, Book 4
It’s
either true love…or the biggest mistake they’ve ever made.
Cody Madsen has stayed away from Olivia
Dixon for almost two years—technically. Even though he talks to her every day
and sees her every weekend. But there’s no kissing, touching, or telling her
how he really feels. Because they’re just
friends. Anything more than that
would mean crossing the line that Olivia’s older brother—Cody’s best friend—has
firmly drawn between them.
Olivia wants what her three sisters
have—true love. She could almost believe she’s found it with Cody, if it weren’t
for the fact that her brother won’t have it. And he’s never steered her wrong
before. Her head is telling her to trust her brother, but her heart won’t let
go of Cody.
Her solution? A dating site where
she and Cody can each find their “Perfect Pick” once and for all.
But when the site yields some
unexpected results, their real feelings come front and center. And they have to
decide if it’s worth the risk to cross the line from friendship to love after
all.
Warning: Contains a starry-eyed
romantic, a wanna-be Knight in Shining Armor, and chocolate chip cookies. A lot of chocolate chip cookies.
You can also catch up with Cody, Olivia and the whole gang right now with
She's the One, It Takes Two and Best of Three!
And there's MORE!
Tidings of Comfort & Schnapps
Part TWO is at my blog! :D
For
more information about this event,
check out last Friday's post!
And remember that all comments here get entered
to win your very own ugly sweater kit! You can also comment over on our Sweater Season event page for a chance to win, or hey, post an
ugly sweater pic there for a chance to win a $50 gift card!
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