Page 17 of Christmas Escape
My eyes widened as a dark shape loomed ahead, dragging me from my spiral. A moose!
“Oh my God!” I screeched.
“Shit!” Caleb slammed on the brakes, the wheels squealing and the back fishtailing slightly as he wrested the wheel. Thank God, he’d been right that the roads were clear. If there had been ice, we’d have plowed right into the massive animal staring at us from far too close to the truck’s windshield.
My breaths huffed from me as I stared at it and tried to stave off a panic attack. Suddenly, I wasn’t as enamored by the big beasts.
“Are you okay?” Caleb asked. He threw the vehicle into park and looked over at me, his hand reaching to brush hair away from my face.
“I’m fine. Just startled,” I explained, my hand over my frantically beating heart, my eyes never leaving the moose. Unfazed, it watched us as if we were animals at the zoo.
“Yeah.” Caleb blew out a shaky laugh. “Remind me to blindfold you anytime we drive somewhere. You scared me more than the moose did.”
“Sorry,” I muttered. “My gosh, that thing is enormous.”
It shocked me that here in the truck’s cab, we were nearly face to snout with the animal. As we watched, it appeared to grow bored with us and ambled the rest of the way across the road to disappear into the shadows.
“I think that’s the same moose from earlier,” I said. “Does that make him practically our pet now? We should probably name him.”
“How do you know it’s a boy?” he asked as he put the truck into gear and started driving once more.
“Well, the antlers were a big clue,” I said.
“Right.” He nodded. “Sorry, you’re very distracting, and it makes it hard to think.”
“Should I apologize for that?” I asked, though I liked that he found me distracting. If I hadn’t already been warm from my awareness of him, his words would have had me heating up.
“No.” He shook his head. “Don’t ever apologize. In fact, I quite like being discombobulated by you.”
“Funny,” I said. “I think I feel the same way about you.”
“You think you do?” He glanced over at me. “That’s not very reassuring.”
“Well, Mr. Hollister, get me home in one piece, and I’ll show you how I’m feeling.”
Maybe, I’d just needed a moose to jolt me from my mental what-ifs. It was stupid to keep fighting my feelings for Caleb. I was pretty sure I loved him.
Yes, it was fast. No, it didn’t make sense. But why did it have to? When you consider it, most people feel in love in a moment. One moment you weren’t, and the next…poof! Hearts and flowers and cupids singing. Maybe, we were just lucky the transitionhad happened so quickly for us. We’d waste less time getting to the forever part I read about in books and saw in movies.
“Exactly how are you showing me?” he rasped.
“Exactly how do you think?” I very deliberately crossed my legs and shifted in my seat.
Caleb’s jaw set, and he increased the speed of the truck.
Yeah, I could definitely spend forever with him. And we’d have a hell of a good time getting there.
* * * *
When we got back to his house, my stomach fluttered with nerves. I knew, after those kisses we’d shared at his parents’ house, Caleb and I would make love tonight. Maybe many times tonight.
I wanted him. In ways so deep and primal I didn’t even fully understand the drive, but there was no mistaking what my body desired from him.
Both of us seemed to hum with anticipation and tension as we went through the rituals of putting away our hats, coats and boots. Then there, just inside the door, we stared at each, anticipation heavy between us.
“I should probably apologize,” Caleb said as he moved closer and took both of my hands in his.
“Why?” I stared at him, terrified he was about to drop some massive bomb on me that would ruin what we’d started.
