Page 33 of The Mistletoe Bluff
Maya looked at me with hooded eyes, like she was in a trance, before she blinked and cleared her throat, moving away from me.
“Sorry. I’m good. Let’s get out of here.”
Elsie and I stood stunned as Maya marched toward the door and fled the restaurant.
What just happened?
My mind was fuzzy like I had sipped on too many glasses of wine. Was it possible to get love drunk? Not that this was love or anything…
“Keep rattling her, Oliver,” Elsie spoke after a moment, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Pardon?”
She turned those brown eyes on me. “Keep shaking her up. Maya is one of a kind, but she pushes everyone away. She needs a good guy to get her out of that box she uses to keep herself safe.”
I studied her as I processed her words.
“How do you know I’m a good guy?”
Elsie’s laugh was light as she headed back to her fiancé, throwing over her shoulder, “Bad guys don’t look at her the way you do.”
Maya
The ghost of Oliver’s hands on my skin haunted me all night long, keeping my dreams well in the “hot” and “more than friends” zone. I woke up multiple times, clothes sweaty, panting for breath, and I swore I could still feel his fingers lighting little fires along my skin.
I had no one to blame but myself. I shouldn’t have let Oliver get so close in that hallway; should have never let him block me in or get within kissing distance.
Would I have kissed him if he had closed that inch of space between us? That was the question repeating over and over in my head, and the answer was even more infuriating. I didn’t know.
By five in the morning, I was so sick of the dreams and spinning thoughts that I flung the blankets off with a growl and stomped into the kitchen to make some coffee.
Blast you, Oliver.
My hands trembled as I attempted to pour the coffee grounds into the filter, then spilled half its contents onto the counter when I tried to lift it into the coffee maker.
“Dang flabbit,” I muttered, using my hand to scoop the grounds back into the filter. I wasn’t about to waste a speck of this glorious brown dirt that made magic in a cup.
A minute later, I had coffee brewing away in the pot. I plopped down on my couch, glaring at nothing in particular. The combination of little sleep and being up early had me in a terrible mood.
At least I had today off work. That was a positive.
But now I was out of routine, which made me feel on edge. That was a negative.
I was up way too early, I had run out of my favorite peanut butter puff cereal since I still hadn’t gotten groceries, and the spitting noise of the coffee maker as it finished brewing was getting on my last nerve. I considered trying to go back to bed, but then a memory of dream Oliver’s hands on my waist and in my hair made me quickly shut down that idea.
My phone buzzed on the end table, making me jump. A text lit up the screen, causing me to groan when I saw who it was from.Speak of the devil.
Blasted Brit
Are you awake?
I snorted when Oliver’s new contact name flashed on the screen, and I couldn’t help typing a snarky response.
Me
You’ve reached the ghost of Maya.
She is no longer here. Please don’t leave a message. Farewell.
