Page 25 of Catching the Mistletoe

“Thanks,” I said breathlessly, gripping onto his shoulders. “I thought I was a goner there for a minute.” Oh, I liked this. Standing on the rock meant I was at his eye level. Hmm, the view really was amazing from here. I could see the flecks of gold in his hazel eyes, see the rims of his irises, darker than the rest. It was fucking hypnotic. He was staring straight back at me, his hands sliding to my hips.

The moment hung between us, and then it was like the air around us thickened, crackling with an energy I couldn’t deny. Which worked well for me, because I didn’twantto deny it.

Leaning closer, I saw surprise flicker in his eyes, but also something else—something deeper. It made me feel bold, so I leaned all the way in and kissed him. Just a light, tentative brushing of my lips on his, testing. His fingers flexed on my hips, a slight tremor that had me sliding my hands up into his hair, pressing myself against him. Begging him to deepen the kiss. He did and. It. Was. Heavenly. I opened my lips for him, sighing with pleasure when he tangled his tongue with mine. Molten heat seared through me, my body responding to his kiss in a way I didn’t know it could.

For a few brief seconds, it felt like we were the only two people in the whole world. I lost myself in the kiss, starting to imagine what would come next. Let me tell you, it had a lot to do with cowboys and getting railed. But then…Mack broke the kiss, pulling away from me abruptly.

I teetered on the rock and he grabbed my elbow to help me down, but as soon as I was on solid ground, he turned his back to me, reaching for the water bottle and snacks in the bag. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have...” he mumbled, not finishing the sentence.

“Please, don’t be sorry. It was my fault—” I started, but he cut me off with a look.

His eyes clouded, unreadable. Whatever had been there before—the heat, the connection—had been replaced by a wall I couldn’t penetrate.

“It’s not your fault,” he said softly. “But we should probably head back.”

He was super quiet on the walk back. I mean, even more so than usual. It seems I’d somehow learned to read his silence, and this one was brimming with…something. I had no fucking idea what, and it started to make me angry. I hated that he could just shut me out like this and that I couldn’t stop him. Couldn’t reach him. Honestly, Hadrian would be proud of the fucking walls this man could put up.

I stomped along behind him, my face a thundercloud, but I couldn’t have cared less.Well, put up your fucking walls then! I’m certainly not going to stand on the other side of them, banging for you to let me in. I’m not that fucking desperate.Huffing out a breath of pure irritation, I acknowledged the truth. I was exactly that fucking desperate. It was embarrassing. Literally threw myself at the man and he let me know in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t interested in catching me. Well, fuck him. Or not. Since he’d just made it perfectly clearthatwasn’t going to happen either. I snorted at my own comedy. And did he have to go ahead and have such a perfect ass, god fucking dammit? And those broad shoulders, with their lovely, hard muscles. And that long hair, just at the collar of his coat. Now I knew how good it felt to touch, my fingers were tingling with the need to do it again.

Honestly, the walk back to the RV felt like the longest of my life as I went from being mad at him to obscenely turned on by him. Why, I mean,whydid he have to be such a good kisser? It wasn’t fair.

It was when we were nearly at the end of the track that opened up on the campground that I was hit by a horrible realization. Once we got to the RV, there was nowhere for me to go where I could be alone. No room I could go to sulk or bury my head under the covers and have a good fucking cry. Nowhere for me to go to scream and throw things.

I was going to have to be an adult about this. Manage all these jumbled feelings, somehow. And what would Mack do? Would he go into his room and shut the door? Or sit in the living area and read a book. God, so fucking awkward.

“Evelyn and Sam are here.”

I almost stumbled at the sound of Mack’s voice, addressing me for the first time in over an hour. At least his words were good. Buffers had arrived, and just in the nick of time. Fucking excellent.

CHAPTER12

Mack

Evelyn and Sam pulled in next to the RV, their campervan overloaded with all of their equipment.

Evelyn got out first, giving us a big smile. “Hi there, you two. We brought lunch. Hope you’re hungry, because I made a heap.” Turns out they’d stayed overnight in Yosemite but had opted for another campground to give us some peace. Shame, since it had given us anything but.

“Hey.”

“Sounds lovely.” Arabella’s greeting sounded wrong. Brittle. Like ice about to crack.

Maybe Evelyn noticed, too, because she shot Arabella a close look, but didn’t say anything.

Lunch was pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw, on the little picnic table that pulled out from the side of the RV. Evelyn took the time to brief us on where everything was at.

“So first of all, how’re you both doing with the itinerary?”

“It’s fine.”

Evelyn gave Arabella another one of those close, searching looks. “That’s great. It’s sort of the nature of the beast where we don’t know what’s going to happen next, or where you’ll go, since it’s all dependent on the amount of money raised. Then it’s a matter of reaching out to different charities and seeing who can put together an event at such short notice. Obviously, I’m not allowed to share specific details, but you got off to a flying start in Fresno.”

“I’m really glad.” Arabella sounded a little more normal this time, so that was something.

“Me too,” Evelyn agreed. Her phone beeped, and she pulled it from her pocket. “Annnd it looks like we’re heading to Reno! That’s a four- or five-hour drive, so we’ll find somewhere to stay overnight there, and do the charity event tomorrow. How does that all sound?”

“Yeah, good.”

“Excellent. Well, how about we clean up and get going? We’ll be hitting Reno late enough as it is, so we don’t want to dawdle.”

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