Page 24 of The Merriest Christmas

"I'm sorry about this," Finn said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's okay, Finn."

"Is it?"

"Yeah," she said with a shrug."We don't have to do anything if you don't want to."

I sent Rose a quick text at that.

She looked at her phone then relayed the message."Emmy says it's seven years bad luck if you're under the mistletoe and you don't kiss."

"I'm going to kill her," Finn muttered.

"Please don't," Rose said."She's one of my closest friends—besides you, of course."

"So…what do you want to do?"

"Well, I've never heard that about bad luck, but if it's true, that would suck."

"It would," he agreed.

"She probably made it up."

"No doubt."

"Still…"Rose looked up at my brother and shrugged."I'm willing if you are."

As I fist-pumped the air, Seaver chuckled, and I quickly placed a hand over his mouth.

"I'm…yeah," Finn said, pushing off the wall."I'm willing."

"Okay," Rose said.

As she placed her hands on Finn's shoulders, he wrapped his around her waist.

"It's just a kiss between best friends."

He nodded.

"Plus, it's Christmas."

"Hmmm, and there's mistletoe."

"If it's bad, we never have to speak of this again."

"It'll be good," Finn said as his eyes moved to her mouth.

"How can you be sure?" Rose asked, sounding breathless.

"Because it's you."

Rose lifted up to her toes while Finn leaned down.Their lips met in a kiss that melted even my icy heart.As his hand moved to cup her cheek, Rose sighed, her fingers clenched fistfuls of Finn's shirt, pulling him even closer until there was no space between them.The kiss went on and on and on.And whenthey finally parted, there was so much affection there, so much warmth in Rose's eyes, so much adoration in Finn's.For some odd reason, I felt my own eyes get misty.

Rose took a step back and laughed self-consciously."Well," she said.

"Yeah," Finn said back.

"That was…not bad, right?"

---