Page 52 of Catch Yourself a Snowmance
Alyssa looks at the card like it’s a million dollars. “Thank you again.”
Addison and Mike leave us. I pay the check and we drive home. Alyssa falls asleep when we’re on I-40. The road is dark, nothing but trees and landscape as far as the eye can see. I’m as content as I’ve been in years—maybe ever.
When we pull into Alyssa’s driveway, I kill the engine. She rouses.
“We’re home. Your house.”
“Oh. Okay. Yeah.” She stretches drowsily and looks over at me.
“Stay there. I’ll get your door.”
I hop out and open Alyssa’s door and then I walk her up onto her front porch. The light is on, casting a golden glow across the wood floor and her face.
“I had the best night,” Alyssa says, looking up at me.
“Me too.”
I wrap my arms around her waist.
“I love you, Carson. And not just because of the massive amount of effort you obviously put into making this night special.”
“I love you too.” The words have so rarely come out of my mouth they almost feel sacred.
I tell my mom and dad, sometimes one of my sisters, usually when they say it first, but I’ve never told a woman I love her.And I’ve never felt the urge to say it over and over like I do with Alyssa.
I reach up and run my hand down her cheek. “You’re gorgeous. You know that?”
“I’m average.”
“Hah! Yeah. Remind me to clean your mirrors next time I’m over. Those eyes alone. Man. What are you doing to me?”
She giggles. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“It’s the abs, right?” I joke.
She smiles. Then she runs her finger along my mouth. “I like your lips.”
“Mmmm.” I hum against her fingertip.
“And I love this.” She runs her hand down my jawline.
“My chin?”
“The scruff at the end of a day, or when you’re taking a day off shaving over a weekend. I don’t know what it is, but I love it.”
“So, don’t shave?”
“Definitely shave. Just keep doing what you’re doing. It works for me.”
“Okay.” I run my hand down her hair. So soft, like silk.
I can’t hold back anymore. My eyes search hers. We kiss all the time. But tonight, it’s more. I’ve said those three words to her. Laid my heart out so she could trample it or handle it with care. I’ve told her I don’t want my life without her in it.
“I love you, Alyssa,” I say before my mouth finds hers.
I cup the back of her head and draw her toward me.
When we kiss, she’s on tiptoes, pulling me with the same intensity and need that mirrors the hold I have on her. A breeze blows through, lifting strands of her hair and blowing them toward our faces. She pulls back, smiling with amusement.
