Jaci Burton - Melting the Ice

But Carolina—she was a piece of work. He’d done his best to annoy her, and she still gave him the Preston stiff upper lip and air of politeness.

He’d really like to ruffle her feathers a little, to bring out the passion he knew lurked just under the surface. He’d made her burn once, had turned the ice queen into a molten, bubbling volcano of sexual lava. He’d seen glimpses of her today, when she thought he wasn’t looking. The glances she leveled at him, the way her body turned in his direction. It was like she wanted him, but she resisted.

He wanted that erupting volcano of a woman again, not this cool, reserved specimen of polite society.

He took a seat on her sofa, which he knew irritated her. She wanted him to leave. He wanted to talk to her. “Are you going to Washington to be with your family for Thanksgiving?”

“I don’t think I am. I have so much work to do. Are you going home?”

“No. I have a game right after, so I’m just going to hang out here. A bunch of us are going to serve the homeless for Thanksgiving.”

She leaned back. “That’s . . . really nice of you.”

He shrugged. “Better than hanging out in the apartment playing video games.”

“I have to admit, this surprises me.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. It just does.”

“I have a heart, Carolina. Despite what you might think about me.”

She took a sip of tea. “I don’t think anything about you.”

“Don’t you?” He smiled at her.

“No. I don’t.”

“Why don’t you spend Thanksgiving with me and the guys?”

He loved the way her eyes widened, the look on her face like a cornered animal, searching for a way to escape.

“Oh. I don’t think so. Like I said, I have to work.”

“It’s Thanksgiving. No work that day.”

“That’s the reason I’m not going home. I need to be productive.”

“You need to be thankful for everything you have that day. Or show your appreciation to others for everything you have. Work the rescue mission with me and my friends.”

He had her now and she knew it. “Okay. Fine. I’ll do that for a few hours, then I’ll come back and work.”

“Sounds great.” He laid his coffee cup down. “Speaking of work, I’m sure you have some you’d like to do, so I’ll get out of your way.”

She stood up so fast she created a breeze. “I’ll walk you to the door.”

She opened the door. Drew leaned in and brushed a kiss on her cheek. “Thanks for coming to the game, and hanging out with me at dinner.”

Again she wore that surprised look, which made him happy. He liked keeping her off balance.

“Thanks for inviting me to the game. It’ll help with my line.”

He gave her a smile. “Anytime, babe. I can’t wait ’til we work on the underwear.”

CAROLINA HAD INTENDED TO SPEND THANKSGIVING immersed in her work, not elbow-deep in gravy. Yet here she was at the mission, surrounded by a half dozen men a foot taller than her and a crowd of people hungry and waiting to be fed.

It was amazing. The mission was filled with people, and instead of being alone and lonely, she was facing smiles and listening to raucous laughter, both behind and in front of the counter where she was serving up turkey dinner.

She supposed she had to be grateful to Drew for dragging her out of her apartment today. She would have likely eaten a salad and spent the day watching the parade and missing her family. Instead, he’d picked her up at seven a.m. and she’d met four of his teammates, who’d immediately hugged her and told her she was now one of the Travelers. Drew even brought her a team jersey to wear today, though it was miles too big for her. But Colin Kozlow, one of Drew’s teammates, had told her she looked cute.

Cute. Just great. Avery Mangino, the goalie for the Travelers, had asked her if she was Drew’s girlfriend, since the jersey she wore had Drew’s name and his number. She vehemently said no, which had caused Drew to smirk and all the guys to give him a hard time.

She liked the hard time part, and as long as they weren’t hitting on her, which they weren’t, she was fine with it.

Actually, they were a great group of guys, all missing their families as much as she missed hers. Most of them had stayed in the city for Thanksgiving because their families lived too far away to visit.

“We’re getting short on gravy,” Carolina said to Lakeesha Divant, the director of the mission.

“I’m on it,” she said. The woman was like a general, shouting orders to some of her staffers.

Carolina had been in awe from the moment they’d walked into the mission this morning. Everything had been set up and ready to go, the food had been prepped the night before, so all they had to do was start serving when they opened the doors. It saddened Carolina to see that even at seven thirty in the morning a line had already formed outside.

People were homeless and hungry, and they knew today would be a good day for a full, hot meal. Of course the mission provided a hot meal every day, but there would be a big crowd on Thanksgiving, and the regulars wanted to be sure to get in line early.

“Here’s a refill on the gravy.” A big burly guy brought the container out.

“Thanks, Jim.” She’d familiarized herself with all the staff this morning, making it a point to get to know everyone who worked there. Some of them were formerly homeless themselves, and now were thrilled to have jobs working at the mission. Lakeesha made them work hard at it, too, and they were all grateful to be earning their keep.

“Just workin’ up an appetite for that great lunch we’re all gonna eat later.”

Carolina grinned. “My stomach is already growling.”

She served for another couple hours, until the crowd began to thin around one thirty.

“Not even one complaint,” Drew said, who’d come up behind her. He’d spent most of his time in the kitchen, so she hadn’t seen much of him other than when he helped Jim with restocking.

She moved out of the way as another of the staff took her place. “Why would I complain?” she asked as she untied and removed her apron and swiped a loose hair from her eyes.

“You worked hard today.”

“It was worth it. Just look at how happy everyone is.”

“Yeah. For some of them, it’s the only meal they’ll eat today.”

She hated thinking that.

“And I’m hungry, so how about we eat?” he asked.

She nodded. “I’ve been smelling that delicious food for hours. I’m ready to grab a plate.”

They did, and found a seat with Lakeesha and a group of older men who made room for them at their table.

“These are our veterans,” Lakeesha said, introducing her and Drew to Ronald, Oscar, Lewis, and Bailey.

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” Carolina said. “Thank you for your service.”

“Ma’am,” Ronald said. “Thanks for serving up the meal today. It’s mighty good.”

“I think you can thank Lakeesha and her staff for all of the work that went into preparing the meal. I just helped serve.”

“But without all of you who give up your Thanksgiving, we’d never be able to do all this,” Lakeesha said with a smile. “And our people would have to wait in even longer lines. So thank you.”

Carolina looked over the men, unable to imagine what they’d been through in their lifetimes. “I can’t think of a finer group to spend Thanksgiving with.”

“Me, too,” Drew said, then asked them all when and where they served. The men launched into a discussion of their military service, and while Carolina ate, they fascinated her with war stories, some from Vietnam, some from the Gulf. She noted they avoided anything unpleasant, preferring instead to share positive, fun stories about brotherhood and good times shared.