Page 24 of Christmas with Hope

I blame my best friend, Roselma. She was a hopeless romantic who believed in insta-love and happily-ever-afters. Over the lifetime of our friendship, she was always telling me how I was going to meet Mr. Right. And every time I told her that there was no such thing as the perfect man.

Once I told Roselma of Colton, I was never going to live it down.

“Maybe I should just keep this trip to myself?” I groaned softly then moved away from the door.

Looking around the room, I wondered what the hell I was going to do until Colton got off the phone. There wasn’t a T.V. My phone was in the living room and there wasn’t a door leading to the outside. There was only a window, which I was half tempted to climb through and go for a long walk in the woods.

“Hope?” Colton called out, making my shoulders slump.

“I’m in here,” I replied, opening the door.

“You alright?” he asked, coming into view and standing in the doorway. He looked worried.

“Mmhmm.”

His eyebrow rose and he gave me a funny look. He was about to call me on my bullshit. I could just sense it.

“Why do you look like you’re ready to run for the hills then?” He leaned against the door jamb.

“I’m just…” My words trailed off because I wasn’t sure what to say. So many emotions were racing through my mind all at once.

“You’re just…” he prompted.

“It’s just that…”

“Hope, are you ever going to speak another complete sentence to me?” he teased, making me laugh. “Is this about my mother’s bad timing?”

“No,” I giggled. “Although she does have some pretty bad timing.”

“Agreed,” Colton groaned. “Did breakfast make it awkward for you? For us?”

He gestured between us and sighed.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just being weird,” I whispered.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not much to talk about,” I shrugged in a piss poor attempt to downplay my emotions.

“Why don’t I believe you?” Colton chuckled. He grabbed my hand and lifted it to his lips. “You can talk to me about anything, Hope.”

“That’s the problem.” My words were soft, in hopes that he wouldn’t hear me and we could move on with our day.

“It’s a problem that you can talk to me about anything?”

The more I talked the crazier I sounded. I could only imagine what was going through Colton’s mind. He was probably thinking I needed to be put on mood-regulating meds. One minute I was kissy-kissy and the next moment I was fighting my feelings for him.

“Do you believe in happily-ever-afters?” I blurted like an idiot. Within milliseconds I was kicking myself internally. “Nevermind don’t an–”

“I do,” he replied firmly and kissed the top of my knuckles.

His soft kiss made me swoon. My knees turned toJell-Oand it took everything in me to keep upright.

Damn this man.

“You don’t believe in happily-ever-afters?” he asked, intertwining our fingers together.

“No… Well, I didn’t use to,” I admitted softly.

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