Page 16 of The Christmas Eve Delivery

I had pushed a sore spot. She was no longer smiling. She looked tired, worn out.

I climbed the stairs and propped the shovel against the post Lydia had recently vacated.

“You know what?” I said as I reached out for her. “The stairs are clear. Some good Samaritan with a snowblower will take pity on you and clear the rest of this in a day or two. I can’t feel my toes, and I can think of much better conversations we could be having.”

I lowered my head and captured her lips.

She snaked her arms around my neck and held me close as I slid my lips over hers. Her mouth was warm and sweet and much more interesting than talking about snowblowers.

“I think that sounds like a very good idea,” she said with a pleased purr in her voice.

9

LYDIA

Miles sat on the edge of the bed. He was posed like a piece of fine art, all cut marble muscles and a contemplative pose.

I watched him from my cocoon of blankets. My apartment was warm enough, but in comparison, the air was cool, whereas I was enjoying being toasty and warm. Bright light around the edges of my pitiful blackout curtains hinted at another day full of springtime sunshine to melt the snow. It meant this lovely blip in time was over. Miles was going to leave me now. He had a life in the city to return to.

He rubbed his face, scratching his short nails into the growth of his beard. He glanced over his shoulder in my direction. I don’t think he noticed I was watching him from under the blankets. He reached out and ran his hand over the swell of my hip before standing.

“You awake?” His voice was thick with sleep. It rumbled deeply.

The sound was sexy and twisted my insides. I didn’t want to be sad right now. I didn’t want to be some killjoy because the funwas over. Miles needed to walk away thinking how wonderful our time together was, not remembering how I turned into a whiny bitch the second the fun ended. I moaned an affirmative noise.

“I need to get going. I should probably check out, right?”

I pushed the blanket off my head. “Check out? What do you mean?”

“Pay for the room. You know, check out of the hotel.”

I sat up and gathered the blankets around me. “It’s an inn, and I cleaned your room yesterday. I’m not charging you for a room when you’ve been sleeping in here with me.”

“What about the first night of the storm?”

I shook my head. “I’m not charging you for that.”

“You’re supposed to charge people for staying here. You know that’s how it works, right?”

“Yeah, well no one ever accused me of being a successful inn owner. You more than paid for your stay with the help around here. Guests don’t fix locks or shovel snow,” I pointed out. “Guests complain about my grilled cheese sandwiches and how I should have more menu options available when I don’t have a commercial kitchen or a restaurant on site.” I reminded him of the guest I had who had been stuck with us the day after the storm hit. That guy hadn’t been happy about anything. He sure as hell hadn’t offered to help me out with things around the Sweet Mountain Inn to keep from being bored.

“You’re certain?” he asked.

I nodded.

“I’m going to take a shower. I’ll see you later, okay?” He gathered his clothes from where they were draped over the side chair and stepped out of the room.

Part of me was tempted to follow him. But there was part of me that wanted to beg him to stay and knew I couldn’t. The part that wanted to burrow under the blankets and wish the real world would go away won out. Somehow, I fell back asleep.

When I woke up hours later, Miles was gone. I didn’t even have a phone number because he never finished filling out the registry.

With a groan, I sat up. The past few days, being snowed in like we were the only two people in the world had been magical, but reality was calling.Fine, let it call. That’s what voicemail is for. I didn’t feel like doing anything. I had no guests at the inn. All the rooms were clean and ready for occupancy—or closed up, waiting for warmer weather—because I'd spent the morning cleaning while Miles had shoveled snow.

There was no reason I couldn’t continue to sleep in. Decision made, I pulled the covers back over my head. I wasn’t going to participate in the rest of the day. I hunkered down into my burrow and waited for Morpheus to return me to dreamland.

And then my phone rang. “No! Shut up!”

I tried to ignore it until a tickle in the back of my brain made me think it was Miles. I scrambled to find it on the bedside table.

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