Page 21 of The Santa of the Mountain

“Okay,” I say slowly. “I’m beginning to think you lead a very interesting life.”

She laughs, bringing a hand to her face, her red nails jutting out from the sweater. Kate thinks she looks like a toddler in my clothes, but she’s wrong. My girl looks nothing less than angelic. Perfection. She could wear a burlap sack, and I’d still have this steel rod in my pants.

“You’d be wrong.” She leans back against the couch, turns, and then grabs the blanket, throwing it over her legs as she curls them beneath her.

I glance at the fire. Shit. Already burned through the wood.

“I’ll tend to the fire,” I rasp, getting to my feet. “I’d like to hear more about your not-so-interesting life I find so interesting. Where’s the guy?”

My jaw tightens at the thought of another man touching Kate. No more. No one’s going to touch her but me. I’ll make sure she’s locked down. Mine.

I glance back at her and she’s watching me closely, a soft smile on her lips. Lips I’d like to taste. Her tongue was divine, and I’m sure the rest of her is heavenly.

“Probably clutching a toilet.”

I kneel in front of the stove, grabbing a log before turning back at Kate. “I feel like I’m missing something.”

She opens her mouth to speak but then laughs. A few moments later, she says, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh but I’m still… processing what happened today.” She shrugs. “I don’t know where to begin.”

“Wherever you’d like,” I say, opening the side door and shoving a log inside. I rearrange it and then grab another and repeat the process. “We’ve got all the time in the world.”

But then I swallow hard. My chest clenches. It’s not true at all. I have no idea how long I have left with Kate. For all I know, she’ll be gone in a few days, and the thought of losing her… right after I found her. It’s not right.

“Okay,” she says, chewing on her bottom lip. “I’ll start by saying today did not go the way I’d planned it to go.”

“And how did you plan for it to go?”

“I’m not sure. Like the rest of my days here. Uneventful. Boring?”

“Doesn’t sound like a good way to spend your time.”

She sighs. “I agree. But as a wedding planner, the last thing I want is a surprise.”

“And today you got one.”

“Yup,” she says with a pop. “Multiple.”

She pauses and I find my way back to my chair. I’d like to sit next to her. I’d like to hold her in my arms and feel the weight of her body against me. Breathe her in. I’d like to do a lot of things with Kate but what I’d like to do and what I should do are two different things.

“My sister surprised me with a blind date. A matchmaker I guess.”

“Juliet?”

“You know her?”

I snort. “A little. My mom tried to connect me with her last year. Thought I might find someone that way.”

“And did you?”

This time it’s Kate speaking urgently. Possessively. I like that fire building in her. I’ll be tending to it as long as I’m with her, hoping it grows into something she can’t ignore so she stays right where she belongs. With me.

“Never got past the preliminary meeting.” I click my tongue as I remember it. “Once she realized I wasn’t looking for someone, she left me alone. Returned her fee to my mother. She’s a good woman, Juliet. Her husband too.” I pat my chair. “Built this and the rest of the furniture in this cabin. They’re good at what they do, and they don’t waste time with people wasting theirs. And I was. I wasn’t looking for a wife.”

“Are you now?”

All I’m looking for is you. All I want is you. Wife. Soul mate. Call it what you want because you’re it for me.

“I’m always open to whatever path fate takes me.”

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