Page 58 of Holiday Love
That’s not what captures my attention, though. It's the decorations. Nutcrackers stand like bouncers at a peppermint nightclub. Framed Christmas pictures are on the walls. Santa watchesfrom six different shelves, and I’m 90 percent sure one of the reindeer pillows just winked at me. Helen’s parents take Christmasveryseriously.
I pause at the last step and take in not one, buttwo, towering Christmas trees.
The first is fully decked out inFrozen-themed ornaments. Tiny Elsas, Annas, Kristoffs, and Olafs shimmer beneath twinkling lights. I had no idea so many variations existed. Helen wasn’t exaggerating when she said her mom was obsessed.
The second tree is more personal, with a mix of store-bought baubles and faded, handmade ornaments. I look more closely and see clumsily glued sequins, crooked stars, and tiny handprints. The kind of stuff made at school holiday parties, each one bearing the unmistakable scrawl of a child’s handwriting.
My chest tightens unexpectedly. There are similar ornaments on our family tree, the one at my mom’s house. Mementoes from when my siblings and I were kids. It’s probably because we were just talking about them, but a wave of longing for my family crashes over me.
I let out a small sigh, barely audible, yet somehow Helen hears it.
She turns to me with a questioning look. “Hey,” she says quietly, inching closer. “You okay?”
I force a smile and tilt my head toward the tree. “Your childhood self had excellent taste in glitter glue.”
She snorts softly, but her eyes stay on my face, too perceptive for comfort. We take the last step into the room. Helen looks like she wants to continue our conversation, but her mom claps and calls out, “Freeze, kids! Look over your heads.”
Coming to an abrupt halt, Helen and I look up to see a twig with white berries and glossy green leaves. It’s tied with a red ribbon and dangles right over our heads.
Mistletoe.
“You know what to do!” Linda says, beaming.
“Uh—umm…” Helen flushes scarlet and turns to me with wide eyes. My cheeks heat to match hers. This is awkward beyond belief.
“Don’t force them,” growls Phillip, who I’m sure is fervently hopingnotto watch his only daughter get kissed byme,the loser.
I’m not proud of it, but his disdain is what goads me into action. My hand wraps around Helen’s waist and with one smooth motion I reel her body flush to mine. I lower my mouth to her slowly enough that she has time to push me away if she wants, but Helen’s gone soft in my arms.
I kiss her.
I expect it to be chaste, polite, to lightly brush my lips against hers, but the moment our lips touch, everything shifts. Helen’s arms fly up around my neck. She leans in, presses closer, her mouth soft and eager beneath mine.
A spark ignites, instant, charged, and dangerous.
Everything around us fades as I lose myself in the kiss. Suddenly, it’s just us. No parents, no fake dating, no unspoken regrets. My arms tighten around her instinctively, like my body remembers what my brain has tried to forget. Her mouth drops open with a sigh. My tongue sweeps in to meet hers, leisurely stroking and caressing. She teases my tongue piercing, pulling the bar into her mouth, and I have to stifle the moan that climbs my throat. The feeling of her in my arms is heaven, warm and lovely. I have no idea how long we stay like that, but her dad must think it’s too long because the sound of him loudly clearing his throat breaks us apart.
I pull back reluctantly, still holding Helen. She blinks up at me, dazed, her lips parted, so beautiful I can’t stop staring.
Chapter twenty-four
Helen
I gaze up at Teddy, my breath caught somewhere between my lungs and throat, unable to speak. My lips are tingling. My heart’s doing something wild and completely unsanctioned.
What the hell just happened?
That kiss was not for show. That kiss was not fake. And it definitely wasn’t supposed to feel that good.
Behind us, my dad clears his throat for the thousandth time, and I jolt, realizing my arms are still wrapped tight around Teddy. I let go and take a large step back, trying to gather the scattered pieces of myself and reassemble them intosomething calm and unaffected.
My mom is absolutely glowing, her hands clasped like she’s just witnessed a royal engagement. My dad, on the other hand, looks like someone just force fed him expired cranberry sauce.
“Th-thank you,” I murmur to Teddy, which isso weird.No idea why I said that. I want to crawl into the couch cushions and die. I just passionately French kissed a man in front of myparents. I practically climbed him like a Christmas tree, and the worst part is that I want to do it again. No, that can’t be correct. I want toneverkiss him again, right? Yes. No. Ugh. I’m so confused.
“Oh,my heart,” my mom gushes, practically fanning herself with a throw pillow she’s snatched off the couch. “That wasso sweet! You two have such chemistry. Don’t they have chemistry, Phillip?”
“Mom, please!” My voice pitches high. Suddenly I’m fourteen again, hiding in the shoe section while my mom buys my first bra.
