Page 36 of Gotta Have Mistletoe
“Want to watch a movie by ourselves?” His fingers fidget, like I’ll only want to be around him if our children are present.
“Yes,” I say. “I’d like that very much.”
He beams, then after I carry Max to his bedroom and help him get ready for bed, I join Erik in the movie room and tell myself I’m not in deep trouble.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Erik
I stroll through the corridors to the movie room with Glen at my side.
Sissel, Anders, and I used to watch movies here all the time. After Sissel’s death, Anders and I got out of the habit of watching films together.
I open the movie room door.
“Wow!” Glen says, and I turn to him.
His head is currently craned up, and he’s looking at the dozens of glow-in-the-dark stars attached to the ceiling.
I grin.
“We don’t bring guests here,” I say. “The style is more modern.”
He chuckles. “If modern is art deco. We call 100-year-old style old-fashioned over in Nevada.”
“Oh.” Heat floods my cheeks, and I look down.
“It’s mighty pretty though.”
We have a few velvet loveseats lined up, and I sit down on one. Glen plops down beside me, and the cushions bounce. His scent wafts over me.
“You still smell like pine,” I say.
He turns to me, and I realize that’s not a statement I should have made. My cheeks heat, and I scramble for the control to dim the lights.
Sitting on a narrow sofa with an attractive man with the lights mostly absent does nothing to lessen the rapidity with which my heart beats.
“I took a walk this afternoon on the mountain,” Glen says. “Reckon I must have picked up the scent there.”
“Oh.” I blink rapidly. “There are many pine trees on the mountain.”
“Sure are. Makes me feel at home. Like I belong.”
“You do belong.”
He gives me a strange look, visible even in the dark light, and my pulse speeds.
Because strictly speaking, he doesn’t belong. But that doesn’t mean that his presence doesn’t feel more right than anything I’ve felt all year, like someone’s strung Christmas lights around him.
I find the remote control, then we search for a movie, and if I spend most of my time pretending that I don’t notice every breath he takes, and my heart feels like it’s recently completed a race, well, he doesn’t need to know that. There’s a reason they tuck hearts deep inside bodies anyway.
We settle on something cheerful. A romantic comedy about a person realizing that her small-town was the best place to be, and I don’t like paying too much attention to it, because I’ve been keeping Glen from his small town.
“That was a great movie,” Glen says finally, and I realize the credits are rolling.
Glen stands. “This was fun, Your Majesty.”
I nod more times than necessary.
