All's Fair in Love and Chocolate (Marietta Chocolate Wars #1) - Amy Andrews Page 0,38

into the thick wool of her scarf. The wind coming straight off Copper Mountain made the air feel as if it was made from tiny shards of ice and, although it was supposed to be fine tomorrow, it had snowed the last few days. But, even with the breath freezing in her lungs, the welcome of twinkle lights strung across the street cheered her and the glow from decorated store fronts up and down Main Street set up a similar glow deep inside Viv’s chest.

All dressed up for the impending Christmas, Marietta was utterly charming—despite the cold. There was something otherworldly about the town at the moment as if the recent snow and the spirit of the season had transported it back in time. Viv swore if she shut her eyes she could see and hear and smell the rush and bustle of bygone times. Kids having snowball fights in the streets, the slushing sounds as carriage wheels cut through melting ice, the aroma of wood smoke and roasting chestnuts and the spicy accents of mulled wine.

Dashing men in top hats throwing coats over icy puddles for women in long dresses.

Viv laughed to herself at her fanciful thoughts. She’d never found it hard to move on when it was time to go to the next store but she had a feeling Marietta was going to be different. Maybe it was the trials the store had faced, maybe it was turning failure around into success, maybe it was the people who were finally showing their kind hearts.

Maybe it was going home—going to the cottage—to Reuben.

Whatever it was, she didn’t think she’d be walking away so easy this time. She supposed that should scare the bejesus out of her but, perversely, it didn’t. Of course she was bound to get swept away in the charm of this picturesque small town in the wilds of Montana. She was used to cities that were big and impersonal, where there was noise twenty-four seven and buildings wherever a person looked and traffic.

So. Much. Traffic.

Marietta was quiet and sleepy, nestled in the foothills of a mountain that currently looked like a three-tier wedding cake all magnificent and bridal in her powdery veil of snow, a train of white flowing all the way down to Miracle Lake.

How could Viv not get caught up in the grandeur of the scenery and the allure of a simpler time?

Sure, she was going to miss it. But she knew from experience that she’d be way too busy setting up the next store to dwell on any sense of loss. And, in the meantime, she was going to enjoy her time in Marietta.

And with Reuben.

*

Reuben woke at five thirty the next morning, his body spooned around the warm, naked curves he already couldn’t get enough of, Vivian’s blond hair tickling his nostrils. The room was dark, the promised sun not yet up, no fingers of light poking through the blinds in Viv’s bedroom.

But he was definitely up.

She stirred slightly and he kissed her nape as he rubbed his erection against the cleft of her ass. “Happy Thanksgiving.”

Snuggling back into him, a sleepy smile in her voice, she said, “I know what you’re thankful for.”

“Oh I think you’re going to be thankful for it, too.”

She laughed. “That’s a very brave statement.”

Reuben frowned as his lips nuzzled the side of her neck. “Brave?”

“Interrupting my first opportunity for a sleep-in for over a month?” And then she yawned and stretched lazily against him, her back arching, her butt cheeks grinding—he suspected on purpose—so good into his cock that Reuben’s eyes nearly rolled back in his head.

“Sorry.” He grimaced as she settled back into him again.

Resigned to not pursuing the need raging through his system, Reuben mentally flicked off the lights that were super-charging his system, extinguishing each and every one. He dropped a kiss on the spot where the slope of her neck met the start of her shoulder—God he loved that spot—before easing back a little. He was determined to let her sleep, which meant removing himself from temptation.

Sometimes, despite his best intentions and the higher, more evolved reasoning of his brain, his dick—whose intentions were not best and whose evolution was even less so—went rogue on him. And he wasn’t giving that bad boy any rope.

Because he would, for damn sure, hang himself with it.

There were some things he could get ready for their surprise morning outing, which was the reason he was awake at half past stupid hour on a day they