Page 110 of Nice Guys Don't Kiss Like That At Christmas
And this time, I’m not waiting behind a screen, wondering if she’ll show.
I’m here.And so is she.
We’re together.
Chapter thirty-four
EVE
We’vecelebratedmeapplyingto that position in more ways than one.Dinner at Rosie’s.Games at the B&B, with a Christmas movie in the background and the Travel Lovers reviewer taking notes.
Hours later, I’m half awake, nestled in that perfect warm spot between sleep and consciousness, when Adam shifts beside me.His phone screen illuminates his face in the dark, harsh light catching on the angles of his jaw but it’s the sudden tension in his shoulders that pulls me fully awake.
“What is it?”I mumble, propping myself up on one elbow.The sheet slips down, and despite the serious look on his face, his eyes drop momentarily to my chest before snapping back up.Even in crisis mode, the man is delightfully predictable.
“Nothing important,” he says, too level.The kind of calm that meanseverythingis important.I know that voice.I perfected that voice.It’s the emotional tourniquet tone, meant to stop the bleeding before anyone notices it’s happening.He clicks his phone off fast, like the screen might burn him.Or like I wasn’t already watching.
I sit up fully now, the sleepy haze vanishing.“Adam.”
“Just work stuff.”He runs a hand through his hair, leaving it sexily rumpled in that way that should be criminally unfair at—I glance at the clock—3:17 a.m..“Go back to sleep.”
He’s already moving, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, his back to me as he reaches for his laptop.
“It’s clearly not ‘nothing’ if you’re checking your email at three in the morning.”I move to his side of the bed, close enough to see the tension radiating through him even in the dim light.“Talk to me.”
His fingers pause over the keyboard.
“Email from the college Dean.He sent it at midnight.After a party.”The words come out clipped, each one precise and controlled.“They’re cutting the rural veterinary program budget by sixty percent.Standardizing the curriculum.”
My stomach drops.“But that’s your entire reason for taking the position.And didn’t you tell me it gives you the option to renovate Dr.Miller’s practice with the funds from the program you developed?”
“I did.”
He inhales deeply and when he finally meets my eyes, something raw flashes across his face.“My first reaction was to tell you everything is fine.I’ll find a solution, but fuck… I’m devastated.”
“Hey.”I wrap my arms around him and he holds on to me.
“I feel like an idiot for believing this would work.What the hell am I going to do now?”
I reach for my emotional support pickle—the lumpy green monstrosity I’ve been working on that somehow looks both alien and phallic despite my best efforts.I place it in his hands, watching his face as he registers what I’ve done.
“Here.Hold this while we talk about it.”
He stares at the pickle, momentarily thrown off his script.A small, reluctant smile tugs at the corner of his mouth.“Are you using crochet as therapy now, Foster?”
“If it works.”I keep my voice gentle but firm.“And don’t worry, it’s not nearly as anatomically questionable as your Christmas-Testicle brain.Talk to me, Adam.Please.”
His fingers close around the pickle, thumb absently tracing the uneven stitches.After a long moment, he exhales heavily.
“Two years of work,” he says finally, voice rough with emotion he’s been suppressing.“Two damn years designing a program that would have changed how small-town veterinary care works.And now?It’s gone because some rich assholes can’t decide whether to name a building after a hunting dog or a show horse.”
The raw hurt in his voice makes my chest ache.“What happened exactly?”
“Apparently, the college is at the whim of donors ever since the federal budget cuts.They lost some of their grants that way.”His grip on the pickle tightens.“The family pulled their funding because the college president wasn’t ‘grateful enough’ for their previous donation.Whatever the hell that means.”
“And just like that, your program gets gutted?”
“Yep,” he says bitterly.“The worst part?I already told everyone I was going to revolutionize rural vet education.All these students I promised opportunities to.”His voice cracks slightly.“I let them all believe in something that just...evaporated.”
