Page 37 of A DIY Christmas Miracle
What the fuck?
I carefully released the air from my lungs and slowly drew another breath, fighting the urge to greedily suck the air into my lungs.
Was I dreaming? Had I just imagined his sigh, his moment of shock upon realizing someone was holding him in his arms?
No. Definitely not.
Eli’s ass moved again, wriggling even closer against me, teasing me in such a… such agoodway. He sighed again as his grip on my arm tightened and he tried pulling me even closer. It almost felt like he was trying to crawl into me, to fuse our bodies.
And how good it felt. How incredibly exquisite this new form of torture was. The closeness, the familiarity, the intimacy between us. It was unbelievable that Eli, of all people, was cuddling up against me like this. That instead of jumping up and running as far away as possible, he was intentionally seeking the contact.
I kept my eyes firmly closed, afraid this dream might turn into my worst nightmare as soon as I opened my eyes.
It had to be pretty early in the morning, as the cabin was still quiet. No one was running along the hallway and there was no banging, no swearing, no laughter. It was just quiet. Peaceful. Almost as if Eli and I were the only people for miles and miles…
When I woke up again, the bed was empty.
There was no one there but me.
Bright sunlight fell into the room, the sun shining at me from high up in the sky, which meant it had to be late in the morning.
I groaned, rubbing my eyes before sitting up and reaching for my glasses.
Had Eli pressing up against me been a dream? It’d felt so real, much more vivid and better than what my dreams usually felt like. It’d been… utter perfection.
I couldn’t possibly have imagined such perfection.
But what did it mean? Did it mean something? Could it possibly mean Eli liked me… that he was interested in me?
It seemed highly unlikely to me, yet I couldn’t ignore what’d happened. I was sure he’d been awake, at least for a moment.
A smile spread across my face. A whole damn hive of bees started buzzing in my stomach as the realization hit me like a freight train. Eli had been awake. He’d known I was holding him — and he’d chosen to come closer instead of shying away.
Use your chance. Oh, I definitely would, and I already had an idea how to do just that.
I eagerly grabbed my phone, opened the browser, and searched for the perfect outing for Eli and me. The weather looked great. The sun was shining, the sky a bright blue with not a single cloud in sight.
I knew Eli liked looking at snow but despised being wet and cold, so I had to make sure he wouldn’t get cold. Or wet. Or both.
Ecstatic about the idea I’d just had, I looked up the number, booked a slot, and hoped to hell I wasn’t messing up big time.
Then I quickly jumped out of bed and shivered. Oh my god, it was cold! I put on warm clothes and two pairs of socks before I started searching the house for Eli.
If he’d gone skiing with the others after all, my whole plan would be ruined.
But I needn’t have worried. As soon as I walked down the stairs, the smell of freshly brewed coffee hit my nose. It was interlaced with something else. Something sweet. Pancakes?
I followed the smell into the kitchen and sure enough, there was Eli, standing in front of the stove, swaying his hips to some kind of music he was no doubt listening to through his headphones. Completely enraptured, I watched his ass move in front of me in a seductive rhythm, drawing me in, making me smile. Eli was hot, but it was more than that. He once again appeared to be the carefree, happy version of himself he’d been when we first got here. He’d tuned the whole world out while dancing to music only he could hear, waving with a spatula.
Gone was the hollow, grumpy, empty version of Eli. Right there, mere feet away, was the Eli I’d come to love.
“Shit!” he shouted, eyes widened in shock as he stopped mid-turn. He grabbed his chest, fisting the thin fabric of his long-sleeved shirt. “Holy fuck. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“Definitely not,” I replied, trying to stomp the rising nervousness within me. “You know, logistically, that’d be really inconvenient. The nearest hospital is still an hour away, so by the time an ambulance could get here… No, I’d probably have to drive you.”
I carefully watched Eli’s face for a reaction to my words while entering the kitchen and sitting down on a stool at the breakfast bar.
“Pah!” Eli dramatically proclaimed, pushing out his bottom lip in a pout. “You don’t care about me at all. All you care about is that it’d be an inconvenience to you if you gave me a heart attack.”
