Page 65 of Deck the Fire Halls

“What? Ren’s a great guy.”

“Oh, my issue wasn’t with Ren. Could you imagine anyone fighting Hamish? I bet he fights dirty.”

Soren chuckled and leaned his ass against the railing. “You’d have been out of luck anyway. Those two are watertight.”

“Ah, yes. They told me about the Hartbridge Christmas Cupid thing,” I said. “They all swear by it, you know. Like they had absolutely no say in who they fell in love with.”

Soren nodded slowly. “Oh yeah. I know all about it. I was here last year and got to see it in action with Colson and Braithe.”

“Do you believe it?” I asked. “Do you think it’s actually true? I mean, it sounds ridiculous, and at first, I thought they were joking.”

Soren’s eyes met mine for a second before he turnedand looked out over the river, at the water, the trees, the snow. “I didn’t. I mean, I never used to. It sounded crazy, right?”

That sounded very past tense . . .

“Never used to?”

He cut me another glance before he looked away again, chewing on his bottom lip. “Now I’m not so sure. I mean, it always sounded so absurd to me, the way they talked about it.” He turned to face me, his eyes imploring, his smile nervous. “But then you turned up.”

But then you turned up.

“Me?”

“Yes, you. Who else?” He laughed. “You turned up at the beginning of December. That’s the way it plays out, apparently. As for having no say in it, I don’t believe that for one second. I could say no if I wanted to. You could too.” His eyes never left mine, but they swam with honesty and a little fear. “But I don’t want to.”

Holy shit.

I had to swallow so I could speak. “I don’t want to say no either.”

He beamed a smile at me. “I want to see where this goes. And I’m trying not to get ahead of myself, Rob, because it’s been like one week, which is just crazy, but I think we could have something here.”

Holy, holy shit.

I wasn’t sure what to say. I wasn’t even sure I could speak. “Wow.”

“You don’t need to reciprocate,” he added quickly. “I just wanted you to know that I think you’re great and I really like being with you?—”

“I do too,” I blurted out. My hammering heart seemed to kickstart my mouth. “I think we could have something here too. And it is crazy, because it’s been one week. And everything in my life has changed so much. For the better. All of it. And that includes you. I like spending time with you as well, and the energy between us, the tension, it’s off the charts and nothing I’ve ever experienced before. God, I wish I hadn’t have said that. But you feel it too, right? I’m not imagining that. You have to keep reminding yourself to be a gentleman so...”

Soren threw his head back and laughed, then took my face in his hands and planted a kiss on my lips. “Fuck yes, I feel it too. You know I do. And I still want to try and pace it out so we don’t crash and burn, ya know? Dating and romance is fun, right? I just want us to establish a solid base. Too many times it just fizzes out because once the sex subsides there’s nothing else, and I don’t want that for us.”

Everything he said made perfect sense, and it was a rational approach. It proved to me, along with communication, that he really did want to see how far we could take this.

“It’s been so long since I’ve dated anyone,” I admitted. “Like years. I just never had the time for any kind of commitment, so I might not be any good at this. But I’m willing to try.”

That had to be the important part, right?

“Just be you.”

Oh damn. He really was so freaking perfect.

I slid my hand along his jaw and kissed him softly. “Thank you for bringing me here and for making me geton your bike with you. I really wasn’t sure and I can’t believe I would have missed this. I can’t believe the feeling.” I put my hand to my heart. “It’s exhilarating and the scenery is so amazing. I mean, look at this place! I think we should do this more often. If that’s okay. Like once a week or something.”

Soren’s smile was warm and, oh man, it made my stomach swoop. “I’d really like that,” he whispered.

“You okay?”

He laughed and took a deep breath in. “Oh yeah. I’m okay. Kinda can’t believe this is my life now either.”

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