Page 82 of The Snuggle is Real
My phone beeped in my hand with a message from Nick.
Change of plans. I hope you’ll forgive me if I got it wrong, but I’m pretty sure Ford is the right match for you. Enjoy your date!
“I hope it’s okay that I’m here instead of Todd,” Ford said, sounding a little nervous.
I set my phone down and met his gaze. “That depends on why you’re here.”
Ford licked his lips. “Uh, well, I realized…” He cleared his throat. “I’m tall.”
“You realized you’re tall?”
“I’m taller than you.”
I leaned back in my seat, frowning. “Okay?”
“This is coming out wrong. What I’m saying is I’ll get the items off the top shelf of the pantry for you, and I’ll help you paint rooms and finish floors—not for a paycheck, foryou—and I’ll donate to charity every year, volunteer to help others and support you as you do the same, and I will love Peppermint Bark as much as you do. If you give me a chance, I’ll do all of those things. I’llbethe guy for you.”
“But what about…” I leaned forward and whispered, “Charlie’s mom?”
He blinked. “What about her?”
“Aren’t you trying to reconcile? Charlie said something about you asking her to stay with you when she got out of rehab.”
Ford started shaking his head before I’d even finished. “Not like that. Only over the holidays. She wants to take Charlie and run, and Ireallydon’t want that to happen, especially onChristmas. I love that girl. I need to know she’s going to a safe, stable home.”
“Of course you do,” I said soothingly. “I misunderstood. I thought?—”
I was saved from explaining my foolish, jealous thought process by the server appearing at our table. “Good evening. I’m Indrani. What can I get you to drink tonight?”
“Whatever’s on special,” I said without looking away from Ford. It was probably rude, but my head was still spinning over tonight’s turn of events. “It’s a night for surprises.”
Ford’s lips quirked. “Same for me.”
“Very good,” she said. “I’ll be back shortly.”
She melted into the crowd, seeming to understand we weren’t up for chitchat. I wet my lips, suddenly nervous. “So you’re not getting back with LuAnne.”
“I am not.”
“But…” I swallowed hard. “I’m still a man.”
His eyes twinkled. “I noticed that.”
“You’re not turned off by it?”
“No.” He hesitated. “There’s really something I should have been doing every day since that sleigh ride with you.”
“What’s that?”
Ford leaned across the table and cupped my face. My breath caught. Surely, he wasn’t going to?—
His lips crashed into mine. This wasn’t a soft, tentative kiss like in the sleigh. This was a man whowantedto kiss the hell out of me. He came in hard and hot, his beard a soft contrast to his demanding mouth.
I gasped, and he swept his tongue in to slide along mine with a low growl that made my cock stir.
“Well,nowI know why you didn’t take me up on that coffee,” a woman said with a huff.
Ford’s ex, Sasha, stood next to our table with her arms crossed over her sweater proclaiming her one of Santa’s hos. No lies detected there.
