Free Wyne and Chocolate (Citizen Soldier Series Book 2) by Donna Michaels

genius.”
    “Yeah,
thanks for the idea,” Mason said, squeezing her hand.
    She
returned the squeeze. “You’re welcome. Glad something good came from my reign
of terror on skis.” Something good came from his touch, too. Hot, little sparks
of awareness that tingled down her body, waking up long dormant needs.
     His
gaze was dark and devilish as he leaned close. “I’m sure I could teach you to
ski without falling down.”
    Her
stomach fluttered and heart rocked against her ribs. She was sure he could
teach her a good many things. Things her good parts were clamoring to learn.
    Apparently,
they were going to have to be uneducated a while longer, as he must’ve realized
he was holding her hand and that his siblings had noticed because he released
her and sat back.
    “What
about ice skating, Jill? Can you skate?” Keiffer asked, no doubt fishing for
another funny tale of her inadequacy.
    Far be
it for her to disappoint. Just in time, too, because she needed the distraction
and hardly noticed the loss of Mason’s heat. Much. “Yes, actually, I can skate.
I learned at Rockefeller Center when I was seven,” she said. “But not without
the paramedics being called in.”
    “Oh,
no.” Lea frowned, concern darkening her pretty blue gaze. “Were you hurt?”
    A grin
tugged her lips. “No. Not me.”
    “Let me
guess,” Keiffer said. “You took out two lawyers and a stock broker.”
    Her grin
increased. “Close. It was one lawyer and an elf.”
    “Elf?”
Mason frowned.
    “It’s
New York. They dress in all sorts of things on the ice. Besides, this had been
close to Christmas.”
    “You
took out a Christmas Elf?” Now Ethan was leaning forward, staring at her, gaze
hovering between amused and horrified.
    “Technically,
I didn’t take him out. He did that all on his own,” she said. “Him and his
curved boot. It kind of got stuck in the lawyer’s skate and they took each
other down.”
    She
shivered, remembering how horrible she’d felt freezing her buns off, literally,
as the whole fiasco played out around her.
    Mason
slid her a glance. “And what part did you play?”
    “A small
one.”
    “Define
small.”
    “Very
little.”
    He
laughed. “Which consisted of…?”
    “Someone
bumping into me, then me falling on my butt, which caused the skater behind me
to jump over my sprawled out body, trip and fall, but not before grabbing the
nearest person, who grabbed the nearest person…”
    “I get
the picture.”
    Mason
nodded, big smile on his face that completely took her breath.
    The
table was laughing again.
    “A
ten-person pile up on the ice.” Keiffer chuckled.
    She
nodded. More like twenty, but they didn’t need to know.
    Mason’s younger
brother smiled at her. “I’m almost afraid to ask if you snowmobile.”
    “I’d
like to learn, but I should make sure my insurance is paid up first.”
    Again,
the Wynes laughed, and warmth spread through her body at having provided them
with some enjoyment without being ridiculed or reduced to tears for being
stupid. But the Wynes would never do that. They were good people who understood
flaws and didn’t condemn. They accepted. Like the Martelli’s, her mom’s side of
the family.
    After
her dad died in a construction accident when she was four, her mother hadn’t
handled it well, and they’d moved in with her Papa Martelli. Life had been
pretty good. Her grandfather, a lonely widower, had made the best cannolis and
happily taught Jill all he knew about baking. They were the best six years of
her life, until Papa died of a stroke when she was ten. Her mother didn’t like
to be alone and married several times, uprooting Jill until she’d graduated
high school and was old enough to dorm at college. That’s where she’d met
Donny.
    “You’re
in luck.” Keiffer continued. “Mason’s taking some guests snowmobiling tomorrow,
and there’s still room for two more.”
    The
handsome guide at her side studied her, lazy gaze half-daring her to