Page 105 of Dash of Bryce
I had to laugh. "How do you know that I love you?"
He grinned. "What, you don’t?"
And just like always, I couldn't help but grin back. "I never saidthat."
His eyebrows lifted, as if expecting me to say more. And of course, my mouth got out ahead of me, and the words tumbled out on their own. "I love you, too." But then, I sat back in surprise. "Holy crap."
"What?"
"Ido…love you, I mean."
He chuckled. "What, are you surprised?"
"A little." I gave him a sheepish smile. "But not really."
And then, he pulled me into his arms and gave me one heck of a Christmas kiss. Turns out, it was a Merry Christmas after all.
Epilogue
Harper
Eleven Months Later
At the sight of me, Myra Tuttle did a double-take. "Oh, it'syou."
I laughed. "It's not justme.It'sus."
I was standing in my tiny coffee house while Bryce was kicked back in a chair behind the concession counter. He was no barista, but hewaskeeping me company as I served up some of the city's finest coffee to local holiday shoppers.
Where, you ask?
At the local Christmas village, of course.
Turns out, Bryce had secured for me my very own little shop last year as a Christmas gift during the reception that had caused both of us so much confusion.
I still had the coffee truck, and I had been making excellent use of it during the non-Christmassy seasons. But now, with the holidays in full swing, I'd been finding it hard to stay away from the festive little shop and – as always – from Bryce, who looked to Myra and asked, "So, are you still delivering pizzas?"
Her lips twitched in a reluctant smile. "It was a cookie, and you darn well know it."
I perked up. "Speaking of cookies, have one of these on the house." I reached into the small display case and pulled out a frosted sugar cookie shaped like a Christmas tree.
As I handed it over, Myra gave a little gasp. "What's that?"
I froze. "What's what?"
"That rock," she said, pointing to my hand. "It's freaking huge." She looked to Bryce. "Didyougive her that?"
Bryce grinned. "Well, if it's from somebody else, there's a fruitcake with his name on it."
I couldn’t help it. I giggled. I'd been doing that a lot more lately and not only because one month ago, Bryce had surprised the heck out of me by proposing old-school style on bended knee.
Making it just a little sweeter – as if this were remotely possible – he'd done it on one of my new favorite holidays, October 29thwhich happened to be National Cat Day.
It was an inside joke, considering that he and I might have never met if not for my aunt needing cat sitters – andmeneeding someone with cash up-front to pay for the repairs we'd so desperately needed.
On the cat front, Pepper and Pebbles now belonged to us. They were settling in quite nicely at both of the places we called home – the little bungalow on the other side of the fenceandthe massive brick beauty that Bryce had purchased this past July.
His home – soon to beourhome – was located on a ten-acre wooded lot only fifteen minutes away from the Christmas village. The incredible property, which we'd picked out together, had everything that both of us had wanted – a massive workshop for him, a separate coffee-truck garage for me, and plenty of pouncing room for the little gray kittens who weren't kittens anymore.
