Page 79 of The Mistletoe Bluff
Oliver’s words were a lifeline and a gift—one I didn’t know I needed until that moment.
He pulled me up from the couch and wrapped me in a hug.
“Why do you call me princess?” I asked after a moment. I had always thought it was just his way of being sassy, but maybe it had turned into something more meaningful.
His lips twitched at the corners, but he ducked his head, suddenly bashful. “Because you’re important to me, Maya.”
Such a simple reason. Yet, it had my knees weakening beneath me. If it weren’t for the hold he had on my face, I might have collapsed to the floor.
“I’m really glad you’re here,” he whispered. He pressed a soft kiss to my forehead before diving onto the blankets and pillows, patting the ground for me to join him. I sank to my knees, laying across from him so our faces were close together.
I imagined we were quite the sight. Both wearing matching pajamas, wrapped in blankets, and lying on our stomachs next to a fire, a Christmas tree sparkling next to us.
For a long moment, we didn’t speak, content to watch the fire and enjoy each other’s company.The need to tell him about the contest was too much to contain. I wanted him to know. I didn’t want to use him. I didn’t want to hurt him. And I didn’t want him to leave.
Maybe if I was honest with him about how much I needed the prize money, he’d understand.
I opened my mouth to tell him, but no sound would come out. The words fled, and I couldn’t speak around the lump in my throat.
“Can I tell you a something?” I managed to whisper, staring at the flames dancing around each other.
“Anything,” Oliver replied.
I hesitated, still unable to get the confession to slide off my tongue. Why couldn’t I just tell him I enteredRising Star?
In the end, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was a coward, and settled for telling him a different secret instead.
“When I was a kid, I would stare up at the stars when I was alone on Christmas Eve, and just…watch. Wish. I wished for someone to love me enough to stay. I wished for someone to see me and want me for no other reason than because I’m me.” I paused as my breath caught in my throat, and Oliver laced his fingers with mine, raising them up between us to kiss them.
“Every year that wish went unanswered, swallowed up by the endless black night. Every year…until this year.” I turned my gaze from the flames to look at him. “I don’t know what you’ve done to me, Oliver, but I’m helpless to stop it. I thought I hated you…and I’ve fought so hard tokeephating you. But I just…don’t.”
Oliver smiled but didn’t say anything, letting me think through my next words.
I let out a long breath. “I don’t know if I’m where you are yet, Oliver…”
“That’s okay—”
“But I think I’m getting there.”
His wide eyes blinked several times behind his glasses before the brightest smile lit up his face, giving the Christmas tree behind him a run for its money.
And then he kissed me.
“That’s all—” he pecked a kiss to my nose, “I ever—” a kiss to my forehead, “wanted,” a kiss to my neck. He pulled back to look at me. “A chance, Maya. I only wanted a chance.”
It was my turn to smile. “I think I can give you that.”
The words were surprising, even to me. Outside of Elsie and my cousins, I never let anyone get close enough, never gave anyone else a chance. Because letting people get close meant the possibility of them leaving.
But something about Oliver, the way he was with me and how he treated me, had me thinking that maybe he was different. That maybe he wouldn’t leave like everyone before him.
It made mewantto give him a chance.
I wasn’t ready to tell him that I loved him. I’d save those three words for a day when I couldn’t hold them back any longer.
But I was ready to make us somethingmore, something real.
As if sensing my inner decision, Oliver kissed me, and I lost track of time as we laid there on the floor of his townhouse next to a roaring fire and a twinkling Christmas tree, lost in each other’s arms, and the beauty we had managed to find.
