Page 44 of The Grumpiest Elf

He cuts off our kiss with a soft groan, stepping back and adjusting himself. “God, Lydia. You have no idea what you do to me.”

I give his crotch a pointed glance. “I think I might havesomeidea.”

Chuckling, he offers me his arm, and we finish walking to his truck. “What am I gonna do with you?” he asks softly as he opens the passenger door for me.

“Make out with me some more?” I ask innocently.

His grin is wolfish. “Oh, for sure. And if it were summer, I could think of a hundred places we could go with enough privacy for my”—he catches my look—“ourpurposes. But it’s December, and everything’s covered in snow. It’s too cold for that.”

“Something to look forward to this summer, then,” I murmur, and that makes him grin even wider.

“I like the way you think,” he tells me, and even though this thing between us is brand new, the idea of still seeing him over the summer doesn’t seem insane like it probably should. Because really, how does anything we start now have any hope of making it past mid-January? Or spring break at the latest?

He’ll be busy with his last semester and his job plus preparing for his paid internship after he graduates. And I’ll be … here. Doing … what?

Working, hopefully. Figuring out what to actually do with my life so that I don’t wake up at forty and realize I’ve wasted the last two decades doing something I don’t like to make other people happy.

Because if I’ve learned nothing else from my mother, it’s that I don’t want to end up like that. Yes, she’s making new choices now, starting over now, she’s happynow. But think how much happier she could’ve been all along if she’d had the freedom to do what she wanted years ago?

She made her choices. The words echo through my head in Dylan’s voice.You’re not responsible for her decisions. Be happy for her that she’s happy now.

I’m trying. But it’s difficult to just release the guilt I’ve been carrying with me for months.

This, being here with Dylan as he drives us toward my mom’s condo in companionable silence, helps, though.

We make out some more in his truck when he parks in front of her building. “God, I wish I had my own place here,” he whispers. “Or knew someone with their own place that they’d let me borrow.”

I let out a laugh at that, tipping my head back, and he kisses his way down my neck, raising goosebumps in his wake, his hands in my unbuttoned coat cupping my boobs over my dress. “Oh my god. I’d be so embarrassed if we asked one of your friends to let us bang in their apartment.”

He lifts his head. “Why?” he asks, totally serious.

I splutter out another laugh. “Why? Because!”

Shrugging, he returns his attention to my neck, kissing just beneath the point of my jaw, then moving to where my pulse beats rapidly under my skin. “I’d do it,” he rasps against my throat. “If it meant I could take my time undressing you, kissing you everywhere like this, I’d ask.”

He finds his way to my mouth, kissing me deeply before ending the kiss and moving back into the driver’s seat, surveying me with dark, lust-filled eyes. “Unfortunately, all my friends in town are also home visiting their parents. So they’re in the same boat we are.”

I shift my mouth back and forth. “There’s always a hotel?”

Laughing, he reaches for me again, though his kiss is chaste this time. “That’s a good point. Though at this time of year, I’m not sure what’s available. I can look, though.”

I kiss him back. “We’ll figure out something,” I whisper. Looking around, I notice that the windows are almost entirely fogged over, and I let out a soft chuckle. “I should probably go upstairs,” I say, though I don’t want to at all.

He nods. “Probably.” We sit in silence for several beats, but when I reach for the door, he says, “You’re coming to my parents’ party tomorrow, right?”

I give him a grin. “You’ll be there?”

“Of course. As if I have a choice.” When my eyebrows lift, he grins. “It’s usually pretty fun, though. No elf costume, after all, but I do usually wear an ugly Christmas sweater.”

“Oooh.” I clap my hands. “Something else to look forward to.” Leaning over, I steal one more kiss. “Call me in the morning.” And then I pop open the door and hop out without waiting for a response, because I know if I stay any longer, I’ll never go upstairs.

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

Dylan

I drive homewith a smile on my face despite the uncomfortable tightness of my pants.

When I apologized to Lydia for being a dick to her on the way to Hudgins House, the most I’d dared hope for was for her to relax around me, maybe joke around a little like she does with Nora. And deep down I’d harbored this tiny idea that maybe if that happened, I could ask her out in a week or two. Maybe ask her the last time we work together and take her out a couple times before I have to go back to Seattle.

---