late on the evening before Thanksgiving.” She pursed her lips. “Then you’d better stop kissing me like that.” He bent down and pressed his lips to her neck. “You mean like this?” “Jacob Jones!” Her face heated. “Stop!” He smiled. “Okay.” She crossed her arms as he stood up and went toward the kitchen. “Come back.” He turned to her with a sly grin. “Don’t you have cookies to bake?” She rolled her eyes and got up. Sighing, she got the recipe and gathered the ingredients for snickerdoodles. They wouldn’t be as good as Ginger’s, but she’d give it a try. Jacob watched her as she measured and stirred. She looked up from the stainless steel bowl. “Can you preheat the oven to 350?” He walked over to the oven and pushed the appropriate buttons. She tried to keep her mind on the batter she was mixing with the wooden spoon and off of Jacob’s biceps. Concentrating on the task at hand, she scooped dough on to the cookie sheet. Jacob snatched a bite of uncooked dough and shoved it in his mouth. Her eyes widened. “You’re going to get food poisoning. That has raw eggs in it!” He shrugged. “I’ve been eating cookie dough all my life. Hasn’t hurt me yet.” She shook her head and handed him the cookie sheet. Seeing him bend over must have gotten her flustered, because when she went to put the flour back in the fridge the container slipped out of her hands, sending a burst of flour all over the kitchen. A white cloud of dust filled the air. Jacob laughed. “It snowed early this year.” “Oh, you think it’s funny, do you?” She grabbed a handful of the flour and playfully threw it at him. “Really?” He smirked and grabbed some flour to throw back at her. Within seconds, every surface of the kitchen was covered in white, including them. Ellie started laughing so hard she sat down on the floor to catch her breath. Jacob sat down beside her. “You look like a snow angel,” he whispered, and he brushed away some of the powder from her hair. She looked up to his flour-covered face and grazed his face with her fingertips. Their bodies couldn’t resist the pull any longer. The first batch of cookies weren’t the only things heating up in the kitchen. She unbuttoned his shirt one button at a time when what she really wanted to do was rip his shirt off as fast as she could to see his muscular chest and feel his skin on hers. His expert fingers ran up and down her hips then pulled her to him. He kissed her neck and whispered in her ear. “You’re gorgeous.” Need surged through her. She smiled and lay back on the flour-covered floor. Jacob ran his fingers through her hair and touched his hot lips to ear. She closed her eyes as they explored each other’s bodies until they both found complete bliss. *** Making love on the kitchen floor covered in slippery flour had been the best night of Jacob’s life. Ellie was all he had ever wanted in a girlfriend and now she would soon become his wife. Somehow he had gotten lucky enough to get a do-over. He wished they could have met before everything bad had happened to them. Things would be so different. But past was past and what was done was done. Ellie placed Milo in his car seat like a pro. She’d make an amazing mom. Milo reached his chubby fingers up and grabbed Ellie’s hair while blowing raspberries. Maybe things were just as they were meant to be. “You think anyone will know?” Her cheeks turned pink. She started to reach for her earring and stopped. It’d been a while. Maybe she was breaking the old habit. “I don’t care if they do.” The pink shade of her cheeks deepened as she fastened her seat belt. “I hope we have enough cookies since we burned the first batch.” Jacob laughed. “But it was so worth it.” *** Maisie opened the door with a wide smile. “Happy Thanksgiving!” She held the door open for them all to shuffle inside. The house was warm and smelled like heaven. With their dog,