Page 38 of Cakewalk

“Adding that to our movie list!” he laughed. “Are you warm enough?” Putting his arm around her, he closed the small gap between them. He rubbed his hand up and down her arm, enjoying the feel of her body against his.

“I am now,” she said, snuggling into him. She took a sip of her drink, a soft moan escaping from her lips. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“You spend a lot of time up in the loft in front of either the computer or a typewriter. Are you writing a book? Like your godfather?”

“I’m pretending to write a book,” he corrected her. “It should come as no surprise based on what I’ve told you about my family that I’ve always wanted to be a writer. That was always my plan. But then I got drafted, and it was too good of an opportunity to turn down. Financially we’d be set for a very, very long time, and I figured I could still write in my downtime. That proved a lot harder than I thought. Then everything happened with Hannah, and I haven’t been able to write since. My muse died with her.”

“Holden,” Gigi gasped. The tears forming in her eyes about broke his heart, while still somehow endearing her to him. How was it that this beautiful woman he’d known such a short time seemed to feel his pain right along with him? “I’m so, so sorry.”

“I keep hoping that someday my muse will return. Just need the right spark,” he shrugged. “What about you? What did young Gigi want to grow up to be?”

“Promise not to laugh?”

Holden could hear the apprehension in her question, and he wished he had the magic cure to fix her confidence. It was a good thing her asshole husband was dead, or he’d be more than a little tempted to kick his ass.

“Of course.”

“A book editor.”

“Seriously?” He was taken aback by her answer. She had told him that she’d majored in literature in college, but it hadn’t occurred to him that an interest in publishing would have been the motivating factor.

“Yup. I’ve always loved to read, but I’ve never really been good with words. I figured being an editor was the best way to basically read all day. I mean, I know they do more than that, but that was still young Georgia’s logic.”

“Why would you think I would laugh at that?”

“Because everyone I’ve ever told has laughed at that answer,” she whispered, looking down into her almost empty mug.

“Well, I’m not laughing,” he whispered back, tightening his grip around her. “Are you still interested in that?”

“Oh no. I still like to read, but I don’t think I could do a job where I had to tell people their stuff wasn’t good. I’m not mean enough. Is it bad that I’m thirty-four and don’t know what I want to be when I grow up?”

“Only if it’s bad that I’m thirty-nine and don’t know either, sweetheart.”

“I never thought that I’d enjoy baking as much as I am though. It’s been so much fun to play with the recipes, even the ones I've messed up. Maybe someday I can have my own cake shop.”

“I think that you can do anything you put your mind to.”

Gigi twisted in his arms so she was facing him, pressing her lips to his. It might have been early December in Vermont, but every part of him was on fire. How could it not be with Gigi sitting in his lap. His erection surged, and he shifted underneath her, not wanting her to think this moment was about sex. He was enjoying being close to her, listening to her talk about her dreams. The flicker of candlelight danced across her face, showing off everything she was feeling. What Holden saw in her eyes made him feel like the luckiest man in the world.

“I don’t think I've ever been as comfortable with another person as I am with you,” she said softly.

Gigi’s words hit Holden like a wrecking ball, overwhelming him. He knew what these feelings were, he’d been here before—he was falling. But everything was still new and different, like he was experiencing it all for the very first time. She was bringing him back to the world he’d known before, one that he’d thought was lost forever.

“For someone who thinks she’s not very good with words, you certainly know what to say to get me going.”

“It’s easy with you.”

She twisted in his arms again, this time positioning herself between his legs and pressing her back to his chest. Making sure she was fully covered by the blanket, he wrapped his whole body around her, engulfing her small frame in his. The soft mewls she made let him know that she was enjoying this moment as much as he was. They sat and simply watched the small snowflakes that began to fall, glittering in the moonlight.

“It’s my first Vermont snowfall,” she said, mesmerized by the fluffy white prisms that started sticking to the ground.

“Just one of many firsts for us,” Holden said, thinking of all the other things he couldn’t wait to experience with her. If she was this taken by a few snowflakes, he could only imagine what she would be like once the holidays drew closer, and he couldn’t wait to be by her side for it.

“It’s so pretty,” Gigi commented, snuggling deeper into his arms.

“Just not quite as pretty as you,” Holden whispered in her ear.