Page 48 of Christmas Romance Galore!
I must stop having amorous thoughts while the object of my affection might be concussed.
“How you feeling?”
Holly peeked out from under the frozen peas. “I’ll live,” she said. “But I’m more than a little upset that when I finally get to kiss you — and believe me, that’s something I’ve been wanting to do for weeks now — I then nearly knock myself out and end up like this.”
She’d been wanting to kiss me for weeks? This was news. But when I looked at Holly, holding her head, I decided to revisit that later.
“You don’t need to worry,” I said. “Just relax for now till you feel better. This is you and me, there’s no hurry. We’ve got all the time in the world.” I got up and walked over to Holly, and her eyes sparkled like diamonds. I leaned down and kissed her slowly, cupping her face and slipping my tongue inside her mouth.
She groaned lightly.
I didn’t stop for a couple of minutes. I put all my effort into it, everything I was feeling in that moment. Right there, Holly and I were connected in a way I could never have imagined the day before. It’s funny what life throws at you, isn’t it? When I pulled back, my head was spinning, and Holly was looking at me like I’d just given her the world.
“Fucking hell, Tori. Where did you learn to kiss like that?”
My cheeks reddened. “I teach it at the Lesbian Skills Centre, didn’t I tell you? That’s where I’ve secretly been going most weeks, not actually spin class as I’ve been telling you. It was a top secret mission.”
Holly grinned, then remembered she was in pain and frowned.
“You okay?” I dropped to my knees by her side. “Should I get you a headache pill or something?”
Holly stared at me, her pupils large. “I’m only thinking about one thing right now, but that might make my head explode.” She grinned at me. “Let’s just see how we go with dinner and wine, and then we’ll take it from there, okay?”
I nodded, then pushed myself upright before swooping to kiss Holly one more time. “And can I just say, this is one of the few times I’ll be able to say I leaned down and kissed you, so I’m taking advantage of it.”
Holly beamed at me. “I’ve told you before — when you’re this tall, you have to spend half your life horizontal just so your partner can have a fair crack at kissing you. It’s something I’ve learned to live with.”
And then Holly winked at me.
I went weak at the knees.
Literally.
Dinner was a surprising success — even without the seasoning. Turns out, these ready-made dishes already have all the seasoning they need. Holly also told me over dinner that seasoning meant salt and pepper.
“Why don’t they just say that then?”
She wasn’t able to give me a satisfactory reply.
We ate the duck at the dining table with Holly gingerly touching her head every few minutes.
“It feels like there should be a dent in my skull.”
I confirmed there was no dent, nor was there a torrent of blood pouring down her face. She eventually believed me and began to relax. However, I understood her dilemma. After our unexpected snogging, relaxing over a good meal and acting normally wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Tonight was turning out to be anything but normal.
My senses were still dialled up to the maximum setting, so every time Holly moved, spoke or even glanced at me, I was preparing for her to say something profound, something life altering. Something that would make my heart soar, or make my heart sink. Like that it had all been a mistake, and we should just eat this dinner, forget it ever happened and move on.
But she didn’t.
Instead, she chatted about how she was dreading Christmas, how good the food was, how weird her head felt.
“You might be concussed. I listened to a podcast the other day about it. If you feel sick, that’s a key sign.”
Holly gave me a look. “Why were you listening to a podcast on concussion? Did you have a premonition?”
I returned her look.
“Or you could have poisoned me with your food. You’re not exactly famed for your culinary skills.”
