Page 47 of A DIY Christmas Miracle
“I can help you unload,” I offered, even though everything inside me screamed at me to stay where I was. Inside. Where it was dry and still relatively warm.
“Nah, it’s okay.” Will waved me off and shook his head. “I know how much you hate walking through the snow.”
He was so damn perfect and kindhearted. How could one person be this amazing? Not gonna lie, it was kinda unfair.
“Thank you.” I smiled at him. I would love to be able to throw my arms around his neck and kiss him. But that definitely would’ve been way, way over the top.
“No big deal. Be right back.” Did he just wink at me as he got up? No. Or did he? He’d probably just blinked, and I’d been imagining things again. Yeah, it’d be just like me to mistake blinking with flirting, especially since I wanted him to be flirting so badly.
For my own safety, I should probably call Cassy and convince her to turn around and come pick me up before I ended up doing something stupid. Like climbing Will like a tree. Like randomly wrapping my arms around him to kiss him stupid.
But if Cassy came and picked me up, Will would have to stay all alone, and I couldn’t do that to him. I’d just have to keep reminding myself that he’d turned me down. That he didn’t reciprocate my feelings. If I could only remember that important bit of information, everything would be fine.
It had to be.
Fate clearly wanted to torture me. She existed and was fucking furious because I’d tried to take her job away from her, so now she was punishing me in the worst possible way.
“Aren’t you freezing?” I croaked. I sounded all hoarse and raspy, but I couldn’t help it; I was constantly swallowing against the lump in my throat, but every time it finally disappeared, my eyes fell on Will again, and it instantly returned.
Will was wearing a shirt that was so tight it couldn’t possibly belong to him. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he’d stolen one ofmyshirts. Damn, it looked like it was painted onto his torso. Also… low slung sweatpants.Graysweatpants. I didn’t need to elaborate on that one, did I?
Whenever he stretched or bent over to put a new log into the fireplace, his shirt slid up, exposing a strip of delicious, cream-colored skin that drove me fucking nuts.
I felt someone had placed a bowl of candy in front of me and told me I couldn’t have a taste.
This wouldn’t end well. I was only human, after all. My self-restraint was stretched thin as it was after spending so much time around Will over the past week.
This vacation had been the stupidest idea of my entire life.
“Me?” The corners of Will’s mouth twitched in amusement. “Why would I be cold?”
Was he kidding me right now? He was sitting here in a thin, short-sleeved shirt while it was freezing outside, and he was asking me why he’d be cold?
It had to be a joke.
“Because itiscold?!” Yeah, not my most quick-witted answer ever. But it was hard to think about comebacks when Will was sitting right in front of me, looking so incredibly delicious…
“If you’re cold, I can add more wood to the fire.”
I shook my head. If he was already down to a shirt and kept heating the room up, he’d end up sitting next to me in his birthday suit…. Thinking about it, that might not be such a bad idea after all.
“Okay. If you get cold, just say so.”
Will leaned back against the cushions, pulled his legs up, and reached for the book he’d put aside to talk to me. In turn, I tried making sense of the sentences, words, and letters in front of me, but I might as well have been reading a foreign language because I didn’t understand a word that was happening in my book. My mind was filled with, ‘Will. Will, Will, Will.’ Just Will.
I let out a sigh.
“Are you reading a sad book?”
I shook my head. “Nope.” Not at all. I was actually reading a rom-com that was supposed to make me laugh, not sigh. If I could get my brain to focus on it, that is.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what are you reading?”
My cheeks flushed, my face probably glowing a bright red. He already knew I liked to read romances, but it still felt weird to talk to him about it. Also, I wouldn’t mention all the spicy scenes — and trust me, there were plenty.
“Another romance novel?” Will gave me a knowing look.
“Maybe,” I said with a shrug, pretending it wasn’t a big deal at all. Because, in all honesty, it really wasn’t.
