Page 71 of Grinch Girl

“You don’t have to wait until midnight,” I said, gently extricating myself from his hold, taking a big step backward, and bursting our lust-bubble. “But you do have to listen to me talk first. Sorry.”

“Never apologize for that.” Nate flashed his easy grin and rocked backward on his heels. “Listening to you is one of my favorite things. Perhaps I haven’t been clear enough on how much I hang on every word that comes from your mouth.”

“We’ll see,” I said simply. “C’mon.”

I led him to a corner of the warehouse, where it wasn’t quite as crowded. We perched on a couple of untapped kegs, and he looked at me expectantly.

“I’ve decided to change my life,” I said, feeling a little silly about the grandiosity of the announcement. At the same time, the words sent a thrilling shiver through my entire body, raising goose bumps on my bare arms.

“I don’t hate Falworth,” I said, almost in wonder. Before this month, I might have said I did. “But I don’t want for this to be the only place I ever live. I never left before because people depended on me.”

I took a deep breath, pausing to catalog Nate’s reaction. He was listening intently, eyes focused on my face, nodding slightly.

“I’m not sorry I stayed here to help the people I love, but I am sorry that I became so resentful,” I said softly. I didn’t know why I was unburdening myself this way to a man I’d known for a month, but right from the beginning it had been easy to talk to Nate. And right now, I needed to say these things. To hear the words and hard-fought clarity aloud, from my own mouth. “I don’t want to live my life as a resentful person who uses old excuses for not trying something scary and new.

“Suppressing my own needs and dreams turned me a little hard. Bitter,” I admitted.

“If it helps,” Nate said, “you make hard and bitter look incredibly sexy.” I hiccupped a laugh and he reached out a hand to stroke my shoulder. “In all seriousness, Jane, it’s pretty easy to see that the hardness, the bitterness, that you speak of is a tiny, thin layer at the surface.” His warm fingers squeezed. “Underneath, you’re all heart.”

Maybe. I inhaled through my nose and shook off the serious. “Anyway, all of this is to say that Bruce and I are saying goodbye to this town for a while. I don’t have a real plan yet, but I’m going to start by staying at Bella’s apartment in Chicago while I find work and my own place.”

The words tumbled out at a breakneck pace. I waited for Nate’s reaction. Would he freeze or recoil as he realized that his holiday fling wasn’t staying in the holiday locale? Would he feel—ugh, followed?

“My impending move has nothing to do with you,” I said truthfully, although a bit more forcefully than was probably necessary. “You just happen to also live in Chicago.”

I looked at his hand, which was still squeezing my shoulder. “I just thought you should know now, before anything else happened between us. Because I’ll be there. Where you are. Which doesn’t mean anything!”

Oh good God, Jane. Shut. Up.

Only silence in response. Was he scanning the room, looking for the closest exit? I finally got brave enough to raise my eyes to his face. Nate’s lips were twitching and his eyes were bright with—delight? “Are you quite finished?” he asked.

I nodded mutely.

“Good,” he said firmly. Then he pulled me to him—yanked me, really—until I was on his lap and his lips were pressed to mine, kissing me deeply.

It was the kind of kiss that went on for eons, a kiss that went from frantic and forceful to light and sweet and back again. It was a kiss that stole all the breath from my lungs and sent heat waves to my fingers and toes. It was a gasping, clutching kind of kiss that I never wanted to end.

Nate pulled away to murmur directly in my ear, “I already told you this, Jane, but apparently you weren’t listening. I’d want you in Falworth or Chicago or any other place. I want to try us. I’m fucking thrilled you’re moving to the city. Is that what you needed to hear?”

“I didn’tneedto hear anything,” I retorted in his face, all attitude. But fine. “I didn’tmindhearing it though.”

Oh, that grin. “Happy New Year, J-Bird.”

Epilogue

January 6

“That’s the lastof it,” Sean said, slamming the back door of my truck against the pile of suitcases and boxes packed inside. “I’ll take Bruce for a quick walk,” he said, with a definite catch in his throat. “Tire him out so he sleeps through the ride.” He was going to miss the dog much more than he missed me. But at least seeing Bruce gave him a strong incentive to visit.

Bella handed me my phone. She’d been busily typing into it for the last several minutes. “OK, I’ve programmed in here the names of three women I met this fall. Tess, Jo, and Emily. They’re all total badasses, in very different ways.” She nodded at me emphatically with her eyebrows raised. “You should connect with them—for friendship, for Chicago orientation, for leads on jobs, anything. I’ve already done intro texts, and Tess immediately offered to take you out for a drink tomorrow night.”

“Great!” I was certainly not going to turn down the opportunity to make a new friend in a city where I knew almost no one.

My phone buzzed, and I looked down to read a text from Nate.Drive safely. Dinner tonight? At the place where I bought your hot sauce? I’ll pick you up at Bella’s place at 7.

Bella read over my shoulder. “Someone’s very excited to see you.” She giggled. “Hey, you do know what Nate’s last name is? Wright. Jane, he is literally Mr. Right.”

I groaned. “I’ve been waiting for you to make that godawful joke for days.”

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