Emotion flashed in his eyes, something she couldn’t quite read. He raised his bite. “To unexpected twists of fate.”
Chapter Eight
What the hell were they doing? From the moment Selena had unwrapped the fruitcake with the USA Times web address on the card, Jace had known exactly what was sitting on her counter. The magic fucking fruitcake. The one that was supposed to make people fall in love.
Ever since the beginning of December, the whole town had been talking about the ridiculous article. He usually ignored that kind of thing, but Andrew had had a lot to say about love these days. His brother was always looking for a reason to talk smack about how Jace thought he was too good for the women who flirted with him at the garage. About how one day some woman was going to bring him to his knees. So while he was supposed to go over the details of a classic Mercedes 1955 Gullwing Coupe, his brother had pulled the article up on his phone and read the highlights aloud. An anonymous sender, a cryptic note, and a fruitcake that had people falling in love. Bullshit. It must be the Wild Turkey talking.
“Maybe whoever is behind these fruitcakes will take pity on you, bro,” Andrew had said, slapping Jace on the back.
“It would take a hell of a lot of magic to make me eat fruitcake. Forget the falling in love part,” Jace had said to his brother.
But there he was, in the middle of Selena’s kitchen, eating a piece of the goddamn fruitcake. What had compelled him to talk her into tasting it? It had taken him years to get over her, so it couldn’t be that he wanted to go through that again. And he definitely didn’t believe in magic. But when he put the note together with the article Andrew had read to him, all that he could think about was this: What if Selena ate it when the pizza dude came for a delivery? Or if the neighbor with the Hummer came to check on her, and they ended up in bed?
Hell, no.
He didn’t believe in this magic bullshit, not even a little bit. Still, he wasn’t willing to take the risk. Magic or self-fulfilling prophesy, if there was any chance that Selena would fall in love with someone, he wasn’t letting another man step in. The last time, she ended up with that tool Darren. This time, he wasn’t taking any chances.
Jace swallowed down the bite of cake and raised his eyebrows. Surprisingly good. He took another bite and glanced over at Selena. She was staring down at her near-empty plate, her brow furrowed. Like something had just occurred to her, something that had surprised her. Slowly, he took another bite, his eyes fixed on her.
“This fruitcake is actually tasty,” she mumbled, a bit of wonder in her voice.
Jace’s mouth was full, so he grunted in agreement. No declarations of love yet. The magic was probably just gossip, something that Sacred Harbor already had more than its fair share of. He wasn’t disappointed. He had just tasted the damn cake to make sure. Nothing wrong with that.
Selena frowned. “What do you think is in it?”
Jace snorted. “A cup or two of Wild Turkey.” He took the last bite and nodded over to the empty skillet on the stove. “Anything would taste good after cocktail sausages.”
“Hey, I like that stuff,” she said, giving him a little shove.
“This is better.” He loaded up a bite on his fork and glided it around like an airplane flying toward her. “Open up.”
Selena rolled her eyes.
“Come on,” he said with mock seriousness. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”
She sighed, and he headed the fork toward her again. But as she opened her mouth, he swooped it away and ate the bite himself. Selena huffed in exasperation.
“You’re such a child, Jace.”
He lowered the fork and turned to move closer to her, their bodies almost touching.
“Not even close,” he whispered.
She licked her lips. Goddamn, this woman did something to him. He loaded up the fork one more time and slowly brought it to her lips.
“I don’t know if I trust you this time,” she said.
Was she talking about the airplane game or something more? Maybe it didn’t matter. The last couple of days had already taken enough crazy turns for him to start second guessing it now. Her call in to the garage. The bomb she’d dropped about her divorce and full-time residence just outside Sacred Harbor. The anonymous fruitcake package. He probably should have hightailed it back to his house long ago. But he hadn’t. He was here, facing his sexy ex-girlfriend, and the Wild Turkey was starting to take effect on him. Which meant it was surely getting to her, too. He did a little loop with the bite of cake loaded up on the fork.
“You can trust me, Selena,” he said. “You know me.”
The corners of her mouth turned up. “That’s the problem. I know you well enough to know this is probably a bad idea.”
But she didn’t move away. Her lashes fluttered closed, and she parted her lips. Damn, the temptation was overwhelming. And it was so hard to remember why he was resisting anymore. Time to stop resisting. Instead of feeding her another bite of fruitcake, he leaned over and brushed his lips against hers.
A sharp inhale. A moan so soft he almost missed it. Then she leaned forward and kissed him back. Her lips lingered against his, their breaths mingling.
Yes. Yes. He had thought about this so many times since he dropped her off. The taste of her lips. Her scent. Her body shifting closer. Now it was happening again. Selena was kissing him. Tomorrow, he’d be kicking himself for getting tangled up with her, for letting the tiny spark of hope come alive inside, hope beyond reason that the rumors of magic were true. But right now, that didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered when the relief of kissing her was running through his body.
