Page 59 of Because You Loved Me

Asher took his time with the newspaper as if it were fine wrapping paper, and finally lifted his gift up. “A star?” He looked at her and then back to the star she’d constructed with branches and tied together with twine. It was a rustic and rough star, but it felt right. “For the tree? Noa…I love it.”

“I told you the tree topper is special and it should be?—”

He stopped her with a kiss that was so sweet and soft that all the feelings that had started to bubble up inside her, and she’d held at bay, rushed forward.

“This is so special.” He stood from the couch and reached for her hand. “I don’t think anyone has ever given me such a special gift. Seriously.”

“Put it on the tree.” She couldn’t keep the smile from her face as she watched his reaction to her gift. Noa held the star while Asher pulled a chair over to the tree and stood on it. She handed the topper to him and then retreated to the other side of the room to check that it was straight as he put it in place.

“It’s perfect.”

“No.” Asher stepped down from the chair and pulled her into his arms. “You’re perfect.”

He kissed her then, and for a moment everything did feel perfect. And not at all as if she’d just totally imploded her life by running away from her wedding and then gone and made it all so much worse by starting to fall in love with Asher.

ChapterFourteen

The last thingAsher wanted to do the next morning was anything that didn’t involve Noa naked in bed next to him, but when she asked whether he could drive her back to the lodge so she could see her grandmother for Christmas Day, there was no way he could refuse her.

They didn’t speak much on the drive through the woods. Noa spent her time staring out the windows, lost in thought. Asher was lost in his own thoughts, the same ones that had been occupying most of his waking hours for the last few days.

Never in his life had he come close to such a thing, so Asher really had no idea what it felt like to fall in love, or even what that meant…but Asher was starting to get concerned that his increasing feelings for Noa might be dangerously close to something more than just a casual fling.

“I’m sorry I hijacked your Christmas.” Noa spun in her seat and, for the first time, faced him. “The holidays don’t really mean much to us anymore,” she continued. “Not since Tom and Olivia…well, we don’t really celebrate and with the whole…” She waved her hand. “Anyway, I didn’t even think about it, but you should be with family today.”

“I was with family yesterday. Remember?”

Her smile was sweet, if not a little shaky. She was nervous. He looked away from the road as she worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Besides,” he continued. “My family tends to do a big thing on Christmas Eve and then everyone scatters on Christmas Day. I’ve spent the last few holidays mostly working and making sure everything goes smoothly at the lodge.”Just like every other day of the year.

It hit him then that he was about to enter the Trickle Creek Lodge for the first time and not be able to go to his office or his suite. He hadn’t stopped to consider what that would look or feel like. “I’ll just drop you off at the front and?—”

“You’re not coming in?”

“I…well…I’m not really supposed to…”

“Are you dropping me off because you’re…” She swallowed hard and looked away.

Asher reached across the cab of the truck and squeezed her thigh. “I’m not trying to get rid of you, if that’s what you’re asking.” He meant it, too. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t trying to get rid of a woman but was instead dreading the thought of returning to the cabin alone.

“So, you’ll come in?”

He sighed.

“If it’s about Ryan, I…shit. This is weird.”

“Is it ever.” He laughed.

Asher parked the truck in the staff parking lot, and together, they walked through the snow to the front doors, hand in hand.

Before they went up the steps, Asher stopped and pulled her into his arms. “It’s going to be okay.” His words felt inadequate. “Your family loves you, and I’m sure they’ll have a lot of questions for you.”

“They certainly will.” She tried to laugh, but he could see the worry on her face. “But it’s Christmas, and I know they’ll just be happy to see me.”

“Of course they will.” Obviously, Asher had no way of knowing how her family would react. He knew how his family would respond if he ran off from his wedding to shack up with a stranger in a secluded cabin, and he couldn’t help but think that it wouldn’t be all that dissimilar to how Noa’s family would be.

She leaned in and put her head against his chest. He stroked her hair gently and tried to ignore the tightness in his chest.

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