Page 32 of Holiday on the Rocks
“Hello?”
It turns out the church receptionist could derail it in an instant.
There was a knock, and I ran my hands over my hair after pushing Levi away. “Shit, what should I do?”
He stepped back, pulled his shirt down, and flashed a grin. “I say never make eye contact while eating a banana.”
“What?”
“I thought you were seeking general advice.” His dirty grin slugged me. “Maybe say hello?”
“Hi!” It came out as a screechy little scream. “The door locked, and the keys are in my purse out there.”
“I see them.”
As the door opened, I jumped away from Levi. A second later the lady’s head tilted as her eyes bounced between the tall handsome man and me. My cheeks caught on fire.
“Thank you so much.” I quickly grabbed a box containing ornaments. “Now we can start decorating for the Christmas wedding. There’s nothing like a Christmas wedding, am I right or am I right?” I threw my shoulders back and walked out of the storage closet as if my entire world hadn’t just been rocked to the core.
We silently got two Christmas trees assembled and set one on each side of the altar before I pulled out boxes of white lights.
Levi reached down and grabbed a box. “You okay?”
“Quit, Levi.”
“I am unable to quit as I am currently too legit.”
Eye roll. “That can’t happen again.” I looked at that handsome face knowing I was going to pay a price for being close to him again.
“But you?—”
“I know I kissed you. But it can’t happen twice.”
“Okay, not twice.” He raised a questioning eyebrow. “Maybe five times?”
“Shut up, please.”
“Let’s calm down. This isn’t a big deal. We can forget it and move on.” He gave a dip of his chin. “See? I can be the voice of reason.”
My blood pressure ticked up. “If I’m ever in a situation where you’re the voice of reason, then we are in a very bad place.”
“Ouch.”
I took a cleansing breath trying to lasso my brain which seemed to still be in the storage room. “It just can’t happen again. Everything about you is in the past and that’s where I want it.” There we go. I’m a grown ass woman taking control and making brave decisions; silence, saying no, and walking away.
“But—”
I flashed my strongest smile. “No buts.”
He opened the box and nodded slowly before giving me a wink. “Got it.”
He hit a button on his phone and We Wish You a Merry Christmas filled the room. We remained silent, and I was proud of achieving my first wise decision in recent times. As I focused on the decorating task at hand, I looked over to see him with a big red ornament hanging from each ear, green little ribbons tied into his hair, and a red velvet rope with bells on it wrapped around his waist.
A laugh popped out at the same time he held up a finger and started galloping around the tree with his dinging bells ringing out.
Why did he have to be so handsome, charming, funny, adorable, tall, and handsome? Did I say that twice?
And dangerous to every part of me. I tried to grasp at the wise decisions again, but they seemed to have vaporized into thin air.
