Page 4 of Merry Kissmas

I shake my head, frustration mounting because she’ll never understand that what happened with us wasn’t all under my control.“Bloody hell, I was your TA.What did you want me to do?”

Are we really going to have this knockdown, drag-out fight in the hallway of a hotel?

“Treat me like I wasn’t just some girl who landed in your bed that you could just toss to the side.I was just as shocked as you when I got into that classroom,” she whisper-shouts as if we’re back at the university with ears all around.

“It was my first year, I was trying to make a good impression.The fact that I slept with a student wasn’t going to win me any brownie points with the professor.There are rules in place.”The anger and frustration I felt then that my hands were tied, that there wasn’t anything I could do about my feelings for Brynn, rises to the surface.Especially because I felt something I hadn’t felt with any other woman prior.

“It was a conversation, Pierce.I never asked you to sleep with me in secret.”She scans her keycard, and I want to rip it out of her grip, not let her step into that room and disappear from my life again.She twists the doorknob, and my stomach sinks.

“Let me buy you a drink,” I blurt like a bumbling fool.

Her laugh echoes through the hallway.“Funny, that’s what you said to me the first time we met.But I’m not as foolish as you seem to assume, and I don’t repeat my mistakes.Happy holidays, Pierce.I do hope Santa brings you some coal for your stocking.”Her smile is sarcastic, and she walks into her room, the door slamming behind her.

Goddamn it.I slide my own keycard into the lock and disappear into my room.

This is not what I need the night before the most important interview of my life.

ChapterThree

Brynn

Iditch my suitcase by the dresser and throw myself on the bed.

Seriously, universe?You pick right now to bring him back into my life?

I scramble to get up, grabbing my purse and digging for my phone.I need to talk to someone about what just happened.

Then I realize, I never told anyone about Pierce.And I don’t feel like going into the embarrassing story about how little Brynn was a foolish girl thinking one weekend spent with a guy she met in a different country was some form of kismet.

I shake my head at that version of me’s idiotic idea that the first guy she picked up at a pub was somehow waiting his entire life for her to walk through the door.As if there was a warm yellow glow lit behind her.

So naive.

So stupid.

So delusional.

But seeing him again stirs up all those feelings.His tall, lean, yet muscular frame still holds an air of confidence that he’s comfortable with himself.The way his eyebrows pinch together when he’s thinking about something.His stupid defined jawline and strong nose.He’s damn perfection, and even though it’s been years, the sight of him makes me draw a shallow breath.

A drink?Is he crazy?Hell no.

I lie back down and stare at the ceiling, my mind unable to avoid going back to the moment I’ve pushed away for years.Talk about Christmas magic, there was something in the air that night.

I had arrived in London three days before and was all settled in my dorm room.My mom wasn’t thrilled with me studying abroad for the semester.Especially with my brother in the military.I’d witnessed the fear for his safety keeping her up at night when my brother decided to join the army after high school.I didn’t want to add more worry to her shoulders, but it was only for a semester.Of course, because my mom is awesome, she told me I could do it on the stipulation that if she called, I had one hour to get back to her.So far, I’d talked to her three times that day.

My roommate, Molly, asked me to go out, and I almost skipped it because I hadn’t expected the feeling of being homesick to sink in so fast.London was an entire world away from everything I knew, and I was already regretting my decision.But I finally accepted trying to put myself out there and make a life for myself for the next few months.

I figured I’d have a couple beers, make small talk, and go back to my dorm room.I didn’t expecthim.

I was at the bar getting a refill, since my dorm mate had insisted on buying my first beer.In truth, I smelled Pierce before I saw him.He was sitting to my right with his back to me, and his cologne was crisp and woodsy.I thought of my brothers and that maybe whatever cologne it was would be a good gift for the holidays.

His friend saw me first, eyed me, and I smiled politely, but I wasn’t interested.I tried not to pay attention, holding my money out for the bartender to come help me, but their conversation stalled next to me.When Pierce swiveled on his stool, it ran across my hip, and his knee ran along my outer thigh.

I glanced over, expecting to see a man, but not one so good-looking.

His emerald eyes challenged me to remember what I was doing moments before.It was his smile, though, the way it creeped up and up until his white teeth gleamed under his pink lips.He stole all my attention.

I knew he was older than me—that was evident in the way he didn’t seem at all fazed that I was tongue-tied and unable to stop staring at him.In the quiet confidence that surrounded him.

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