Page 97 of The Holiday Heartbreaker

“Like?”

“There’s a town about an hour and a half away. Copper Ridge? They do a big Christmas thing every year. I’ve never been, because obviously I hate that kind of thing.”

“You hate that kind of thing, but you’re inviting me to go?”

“If you want to. Because somebody ought to take you to do something, Elizabeth. That’s just how I feel about it.”

“Are you taking me on a date?”

“I think we went on a date last night,” he said.

“Yes,” she said. “You bought me one beer and I put out spectacularly.”

“But I made you breakfast. And now I’m offering to take you to a cute and very lame—in my opinion—town. So I think it evens out.”

“Yeah. Okay. Because this is... This is make-believe, right? Like... Maybe this is what I would be doing if my life were different. Maybe I would’ve had a series of sexy cowboys in my bed, and dive bars, and cute Christmas events.”

“Maybe.”

“All right. Let’s do it.”

“I better go get some new clothes.”

“I’ll be ready in an hour.”

“Sounds good.”

THE HOUR GAVE her time to catch her breath and to take a shower by herself, even though she thought about Brody the whole time. Every time a voice in her head asked her what the heck they were doing, she shoved it aside. This was just... It didn’t need to be anything. That was her problem. She was always trying to start new initiatives, make declarations, start as she meant to go on and things like that. It didn’t have to be that. This could just be what was happening right now. And it didn’t have to mean anything more, and it didn’t have to be anything more. It could just be a day in Copper Ridge. It could just be a night of sex.

And maybe another night of sex. Because she certainly didn’t intend to not sleep with him again. She was in the house by herself, so why wouldn’t she? Seemed perfectly reasonable to her.

It genuinely did. She got out of the shower and blow-dried her hair as quickly as possible and looked woefully at her closet, which wasn’t fulfilling her needs at the moment. But she found a navy blue dress, some heavy leggings, and a red plaid coat. She put on red lipstick to match and felt a little bit edgier than she did sometimes. And she welcomed that. Because she felt different. And she was ready for different. She was ready to stopped clinging to that old life. Because that’s what it was. Clinging to that old life.

She sighed heavily, and took one last look in the mirror before heading back to the living room. Where she stared out the window waiting for Brody to come back. When he did, he was in black jeans, a black wool coat, and a black cowboy hat, and the sight of him looking like an outlaw made her stomach do tricks.

He was just so damn sexy.

She had never obsessed over the sexiness of a man before in her entire life.

He was glorious.

Something new and different. A gift. An indulgence, and at the same time... He could never be anything quite so simplistic. Because that implied that she had control over him, and she didn’t. Brody was his own man. Brody called the shots. Pretty unequivocally.

The man undid her.

The smell of his skin, whatever soap he used, spicy and masculine and enticing. What she wanted to do was bury her face in his chest and tell him to forget it. Forget the cute small town, forget her concerns about chafing. You only live once. She would rather go down in flames in the end.

Except, better sense prevailed, and she decided they needed to do something other than sleep together.

“You ready?”

“Almost.”

She leaned in, stretched up on her toes and kissed him on the mouth.

He moaned, and the sound was intoxicating. Sent a shiver through her entire body.

“Yes. Now I’m ready.”

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