Page 10 of Christmas Replay
My eyes widened. She saw something I didn’t. Also, I wasn’t exactly leaving a swath of swooning women in my wake. Which was fine. I was only interested in one womanswooning. Or thinking I was good-looking, anyway.
“I walked into that coffeeshop, dead exhausted from a long day at work before jumping into my car and heading here. When I walked into your place and saw you, everything inside me came alive. Leaving to come to Christmas was seriously one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. I wanted to stay there all night with you. I stopped by on the way home, you know?”
“No! No, Ididn’tknow.”
“The place was still closed. I thought maybe it was a sign. I’d already half convinced myself that the whole mutual attraction was all in my head, that maybe, I’d been a lonely traveler that you’d taken pity on.”
She snorted and narrowed her eyes at me. “I don’t just go around kissing random travelers! I—”
I pressed two fingers over her lips. “I know. I was dumb. I figured that out when I was dead exhausted at work and the only thing that gave me a few minutes of peace was thinking about that short time. Is that pathetic? Do you think I’m weird or obsessed because of that?”
Her tongue darted out to dampen her lip and swiped across my fingers, too. “No,” she said from behind them.
I started to drop my hand, and she caught my wrist. Shocking me, she pressed her lips to the palm then brought it to her face and nuzzled her cheek into it.
“I thought of you just as much,” she confessed. “My staff—the ones who know about our meeting, anyway—call last yearCliffgate. It was a big deal to me.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t back sooner. I reallywastied down with the case. I knew even if I’d tried to carve out some hours for a trip here, it would have been a round trip the same day. I couldn’t have given you the attention you deserve. Then the further into the year it got, the more I started to think…wouldn’t it be perfect to come back on Christmas Eve? Return to the scene of the crime, same time next year…? All of that.”
“I understand. But can I just throw out there…any of your time would have been okay. I would have one-hundred percent understood. But we could have at least exchanged numbers, talked, doing the long distance thing at the end of your long days.”
I studied her, this totally surprising woman. “You’re pretty amazing.”
“I know.” She laughed. “You’re one lucky guy, ending up with all this.”
“I am lucky. Trust me, I’ve been thanking my stars ever since you agreed to even talk to me tonight.” My fingers laced with hers as we headed back toward the bedrooms.
“There was a reason I was working tonight.”
I glanced over at her. “Yeah? Someone call off?”
“Smartass.”
At her door, my lips brushed over hers again. I was careful to keep it light. With a bed just feet away, I wasn’t chancing anything.
“Goodnight, love,” I whispered against her mouth after a few long moments.
“‘Night, Cliff. Thanks for inviting me.”
“Thanks for saying yes.”
“Seemed easier than you kidnapping me.”
I shook my head, grinning, and watched her duck into her bedroom before I shut down the house then headed to my own room. I knew there was no way I’d get any sleep. But hey, Alissa was here, and I was within reach of making that long-term. Chances were good that this would be a very merry Christmas.
Seven
Alissa
Sleep was elusive that night. I felt like…well, like a kid on Christmas Eve to be honest. I knew that my future was lying in bed down the hall, just feet from where I lay, and it was maddening to find myself alone after waiting for this long to see him again.
Several times, I found myself climbing out of bed and heading toward the door, but I stopped with my hand on the knob every time, returning to the soft but strangely too large mattress alone once more.
I didn’t want him to think that I was easy or something. Not that he would have. I’d been about to remind him that he’d been my first kiss when he’d silenced me with his fingers against my lips.
Blowing out a sigh as I stared out the window, I watched the sun come up over the horizon, its deep golden rays hitting the snow on the trees and making them shimmer.
Finally, I couldn’t take it any longer. I got up for the last time, ran through the shower in the en suite then got dressed. Opening the door to the hallway, I listened, but the house was silent. Cliff was still sleeping.
