Page 99 of Take Me Home for Christmas

Elle tilted her head to the side, making the Santa hat slide off. “A gesture?”

This was a lot harder than when he’d practiced in the mirror of the men’s room at the station. He sat down beside her and reached for her hands.

“I love you, Belle. I’m pretty sure I’ve loved you since you stole my purple crayon in kindergarten. I know I haven’t actually said it. But I hope you already know this.”

“Oh, Hayden,” she whispered. “I do know it. But it’s really nice to hear you say it out loud. That’s the best Christmas gift you could ever give me.”

“No. No.” He was screwing this up. “That’s not the present. I mean it’s the reason behind the present. Just not the actual gift itself.”

She gave him one of those adoring looks of hers. The one that said he was a blundering idiot, but she loved him anyway.

He scrubbed his face with his palms. “What I’m trying to say is I know how important chasing down your goal is. And the job atVantageis your dream.”

“Hayden—” she interrupted.

“No, let me finish. I want you to realize that dream. But I want this, too.” He waved his hand between them.

Her face lit up. She pressed closer to him. “Oh my gosh, Hayden. I’m so glad you said that. I want us, too.”

“Good, because I’m coming to New York with you.”

The world seemed to stop spinning. Elle stared at him, a mixture of disbelief and confusion on her face.

“Wh—what?” Her tone was a lot less enthusiastic than he’d envisioned.

“I took a job with Kitty’s brother-in-law. He makes custom furniture in Connecticut. It’s a little more unitarian than the style of furniture I make, but he’s agreed to sell me the business when he retires.”

She scrambled to her feet. “Why would you do that?”

Really not the reaction he was expecting. He stood also. “Uh, let’s see, because I love you?! Because I don’t want to live apart from you? Scratch that. Ican’tlive without you.”

He was breathing hard now. And he really hoped Simone was kidding about listening in, because,dammit. Elle pressed her hands to her face and bent over at the knees. Was she crying?

He placed a hand on her back. “Belle.”

She heaved in a breath as she lifted her head. Tears were streaming down her face all right, but she wore a sloppy smile, too. “Just when I think it isn’t possible to love you any more than I do, you do something wild and crazy like this.”

Then she was kissing him again, their bodies pressed together as they slowly spun around trying to gain better access to each other’s mouths. Hayden sank back down onto the bench, pulling her into his lap so she could straddle him. She kissed him more deeply before pulling her lips away to drag in some air.

He brushed the hair off her face. “You had me going there for a minute. I thought you were angry about me coming with you to New York.”

“Oh, you’re not coming with me to New York.”

His fingers froze in her hair. “Come again?”

There was that “bless your heart” smile again. It was starting to annoy him.

“BecauseI’mnot going to New York.”

“What are you talking about? You’ve been offered your dream job. You put up with West for the last month to guarantee it.”Wait a minute.He swore violently. “I’ll kill him. Even if he is family now. The man will finish that book and turn it in if I have to hold him at gunpoint. He’s not messing up your promotion.”

She laughed. “Calm down, Captain America. His memoir is finished. It has been for a while.”

He didn’t understand. “But you are still here? You didn’t go back to New York.”

Elle pressed her lips to his neck. “Nope. You see, I can’t live without you, either. West and I have been holding the book hostage so we could stay here in Chances Inlet a while longer.”

Hayden wrapped his arms more tightly around her, pulling her closer so he could feel her heart beating against his. “You’re turning down the job atVantage? You’re sure that’s what you want to do?”

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