Christmas Kiss

Chapter Five

After stepping out of the shower, I realized I don't have my hair dryer, my hair is going to take forever to dry. Looking in the mirror, my hair is half way down my back.

"Well shit" I had to say looking at myself. I decide to wrap my hair back up in the towel hopefully it will suck most of the water out of it while I do my makeup and get dressed.

There was a knock at the door, checking myself once over, I thought it worked, my hair was still damp so I threw it up in a braid. Makeup was light but nice and I decided on a nice pair of dark jeans and a sweater that hung off of one shoulder.

Yes, my fashion boots were on as Steve called them. I opened the door, and holy hell Steve cleans up sharp. He was in a dark pair of jeans also, a nice black button-down dress shirt and a dark jean jacket with the wool inside. A nice pair of logger boots that were black.

When he walked in, he was wearing a cologne that smelled so good. "You look really nice Laura" he said smiling. His eyes softened when he looked me over. For some weird reason my stomach went into butterfly mode.

"Thank you, you really clean up nicely" I told him. I went to grab my jacket and we walked to his truck. He opened my door and helped me in, he shut my door and I had to take a breath.

His truck smelled just like him, and that made the butterflies even more active. Steve climbed in the truck and we drove off. "Where we headed?", "well I thought I would take you to the new Italian restaurant that just opened last week" he said.

"I hope that is okay?" he asked glancing at me, "that actually sounds perfect, love Italian" I said leaning back against the seat. He smiled and the radio was playing in the background.

The ride was nice, we spent the time talking about what we did growing up, not getting too deep on any subject right now, we just wanted to keep things light.

We pulled up to the restaurant, I was looking at it, "this is really amazing for this small town, it actually looks like a place you find over there. Steve smiled and got out, he actually came over and opened the door for me.

"Thank you" I said as he helped me out. I could tell he was about to take my hand but stopped himself. I had to smile, we both are nervous and not sure what to make of this.

Ever since we were little, we always had a connection, and I will admit I had the biggest crush on him, Steve could no wrong in my eyes. My butterflies are letting me know that we still might have a crush on him.

We entered and I was blown away, it was like stepping back in time. I have never been to Italy, but I could only imagine it would be like this. So beautiful. A stone fireplace off to the side, hardwood floor, every table had candles on it, the lights were low but you could still see.

Small charming booths, a few tables in the middle of the room, but we wanted a booth. Neither of us liked being in the middle of being watched. The tables were always were on displayed.

The walls were full of pictures that held memories for the owners I could imagine. The waitress came over and took our drink order while we were looking at the menu.

"What looks good?" he asked as he was contemplating what to have, "I'm not sure, everything looks so good" I said. "I think I just might get spaghetti actually, that has always been a favorite of mine" I told him as the waitress showed up with our drinks.

"That does sound good", Steve looked at me then turned to the waitress, "we will have spaghetti, and a side salad" he ordered for both of us. I sat there smiling, it actually felt good having someone do that for me.

After the waitress left, "I hope I didn't over step with ordering for you?" he asked, all of a sudden nervous that he did something wrong.

"Not at all, in fact it was really nice having that done" I told him and smiled to let him know I was being serious about that.

"Okay, just don't want to mess anything up between us, even though were getting to know each other again, I hate to have you pissed at me" he said smiling.

"If you irk me, I will let you know, so it won't happen again, but don't worry I can't really see you doing anything to make me that mad" I said laughing.

It was hard to get me that pissed, I have always been someone who was laid back and just went with the flow. Only thing I couldn't tolerate was liars, and cheaters. I had no use for people like that.

The waitress showed up with our food, we spent the next two hours eating and laughing. It was really nice spending time with Steve.

Once back to my cabin, Steve helped me out. "It's not supposed to snow till tomorrow night, I can come over and take you to get some stuff for the cabin for the just in case?" he asked.

"Actually, Steve that would be perfect since you have a truck and I do want to get some new bedding, and a few other odds and ends for this place. I was thinking of ordering another generator, a bigger one for here, what do you think?" I asked him.

He would know better than me on that kind of stuff, especially for around here. "That actually is a smart idea Laura, and also I wanted to pick you up a deep freezer so that way you are set for food in case a surprise snow storm hit" he said as we walked to the front door.

"Sounds great to me, so how about you show up around noonish?" I asked him. "I'll be here at that time, and you need help bringing in firewood before I leave?" he asked.

We both knew I could do it, but I don't think either of us were ready to call it a night actually.

"Sure, I would like the help honestly, and that way if you could do me a huge favorer and start the fire while I changed into comfortable clothes?" I asked him, with a shy smile.

I unlocked the door and we walked in, "go change and I'll get everything set up for you" he said and went to the garage to get the wood. I shut the front door and went into the bedroom.

I went into the bathroom and shut the door, looking at myself in the mirror "okay girl, we are just going to be friends, nothing more" I said, sure you are, my little inner voice laughed.

I went into the bedroom and changed into a pair of leggings and a long light shirt that flowed from my body was it was a soft material that felt like velvet on the skin.

I walked out, and Steve was bending over the fireplace and starting the fire up. I walked over and started up the coffee pot, it wasn't that late that the coffee would keep me up, but it gave me something to do instead of starring at Steve.

"Fire is going and your all set, I brought in a few smaller logs for you in case you wanted to keep it going a bit longer" he said leaning against the island.

"Thank you so much for everything Steve, I really do appreciate it" I said looking into his eyes. They were shimmering from the lights, "you're more than welcome Laura" he said.

"You want any coffee?" I asked, "I'm good and I should get going home, but I will definitely be here at noon" he said and walked over to me, he bent down and kissed my cheek, "I'm glad you're here, it will be nice to have my friend back" he said and left shutting the door behind him.

"A friend" great, just what I thought, even though my butterflies were dancing around hoping he would actually kiss me, but nope he just wants his buddy back.

Taking a deep breath and blowing it out, I grabbed my cup and filled it with coffee and went to sit on the couch and watch the fire, replaying the day and evening in my mind.

I sat my mug down and wrapped the blankets around me, settling on the couch I closed my eyes, listening to the fire dance along the logs, crackling as they always do.