Page 50 of Season's Schemings

“Ihad it first,” Adam grumbles like a child, fingers closed around the pickle possessively.

“No. Your reflexes are too slow, boy.” Dot chuckles. “Sebastian beat you. He may have gotten there second with Maddie, but he was first with the pickle, that’s for sure. It’s Sebastian’s pickle now.”

I’ve been at the cabin for just over two hours now, and I am confident that I already have a solid ally in Adam’s grandmother.

Adam grudgingly goes to hand it to me, but I stop him. “That’s okay, he can keep it,” I say, adopting the same gentle tone that I used to talk to Allegra-the-hockey-hating-kid at the toy drive.

“But it’s your pickle, Seb,” Maddie says with a small smile, like she’s realizing that I have the upper hand here and my nonchalance is making Adam look petty as all hell.

I have the urge to make her smile again. Because this guy hurt her and humiliated her, dammit. On national TV, no less. She might be my temporary wife, but nobody messes with the people who are important to me. Ever.

I look pointedly at the little three-inch ornament in Adam’s fist. “Nope, that’sdefinitelyAdam’s pickle.”

Elizabeth gasps, Adam looks vaguely confused, and Maddie lets out a strangled burst of surprised laughter. Fueled by this, I wrap my arm around my wife and kiss the top of her head. “Now that the game is done, shall we go get a drink?”

Maddie nods, looking at me like I hung the moon as we walk into the kitchen. When we’re out of earshot of everyone, she practically convulses with laughter. “That was genius, Seb.”

Which is nice to hear and everything, but it also makes me strangely sad. All I did was subtly insult her ex’s manhood. Not exactly original or smart. For Maddie, the bar’s so low, it’s practically rolling around on the floor.

“The guy’s a tool,” I tell her lightly, filling up two glasses with sparkling apple juice.

She hops up on the counter. “I wish Jax had been here to see that. He never liked Adam. I think he’ll like you, though.”

“Good,” I say, and I mean it. I want her brother to like me—I can already tell that he’s the only person in this family that actually seems toknowMaddie.

“And he’ll talk hockey with you. He likes to watch it.”

“But you don’t.”

“Sure I do.”

“Yeah right. Wayne Jetski ring a bell?”

“Fine.” She smirks at me. “I like to watch whenyou’replaying.”

The compliment is unexpected. The type of comment that makes you feel warm inside, and then feel like an idiot for feeling warm inside.

But even stranger than those unexpected warm feelings is the fact that thoughts of my marriage have begun to take center stage in my mind. For the first time in forever, hockey is background noise—Maddie is my focus.

I really do like my temporary wife. More than I ever thought I might.

We’ve only been married for a matter of weeks, but I can already see when she’s tensing up. When she needs me to crack a joke to lighten the mood, or hold her hand to give her the confidence she deserves to have in the first place. Because Adam is clearly an idiot for leaving her, and I wish I could make her see that.

She deserves better. And if I can help her get anything from this marriage, it’s the realization that she deserves a gentleman who treats her like a queen.

After everything that she’s done for me, the least I can do is be the best husband in the world for her.

19

MADDIE

The next morning is Christmas Eve, and I wake up to an early Christmas present in the form of a very shirtless Sebastian Slater sprawled out beside me in bed.

And… wow. Imustbe on the nice list this year.

I take a moment to admire his sleeping form. He’s dressed in only a pair of gray sweatpants and is lying on his side, one arm flung over the pillow wall, one tucked under his head. His face is peaceful, almost angelic, as he dreams, his mouth ajar and his eyelids fluttering. Whichwouldbe the cutest thing I’ve ever seen… if I wasn’t so preoccupied staring at the expanse of tanned skin stretched taut over long planes of muscle. There are two freckles to the right of his belly button, decorating one of his ridged abdominal muscles.

I feel weirdly pleased to be in possession of this knowledge.