Page 24 of Christmas Wishes
“N-nice to meet you, Bernie,” Blix called after him as he disappeared inside the cabin. “A tree and decorations? From town? There’s a town nearby?”
“There is.” Rand took her by the hand. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“That makes two of us.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know how or why I’m here. One minute I was standing in my living room and the next minute I was kneeling on your front porch.”
She loved her hand in his, but what she really wanted was a hug. She wasn’t usually prone to affection like that, it made her nervous and giddy where he was concerned, but at that moment? Yeah, she could use a hug.
“I see. And, is that bag yours?”
Blix followed the direction of his finger. Sure enough, her go-bag was sitting on the porch, not far from where they stood. “Yes, but I didn’t bring it. It was ready for when I needed it.”
“What would you need it for? Were you going somewhere?”
Did she dare tell him? She hadn’t told anyone. She hadn’t even thought about it again after the impulsive cookie baking and bag packing. She’d carefully kept it buried deep inside, so deep Santa couldn’t have known. Contemplating leaving the North Pole was something she never thought she’d do, but she wanted to find Rand, she wanted to know if what she felt for him was real, and she’d been willing to risk never being allowed back home to find out. “I… I was planning to come find you.” And now, whether Rand felt anything for her the way she did for him, they were both going to have to live with the consequences of her words.
Surprise lit his eyes and in the depths she saw a twinkle she hadn’t seen in a long time. It gave her a measure of hope. “You were?”
“I was.”
“Blix, you know what that means.”
“Yeah.” Her impulsiveness wasn’t lost on her.
“Well, you’re here now, so let’s get you inside and see if we can’t figure something out.
“I’d like that. Rand?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you okay? Here, I mean?
“I am, actually. It’s not a bad place to be.”
“Good.”
“Come on inside. We’ll get you warmed up. The cold here is different. It’s sharper and a little more biting when the wind blows. You’ll freeze if we don’t get you something to put on that isn’t a skirt and thin shirt.”
Blix nodded and followed Rand through the front door. A fire burned in the stone fireplace at the far end of the room, which was sparsely furnished with only an armchair and a couch in front of the fire, and a double bed along the back wall. She tried not to stare, tried not to imagine being naked with Rand in it, but was afraid she failed miserably.
She couldn’t deny she wanted him and if he showed even the slightest bit of interest, Blix knew she wouldn’t hesitate. After all, that was part of the reason she wanted to find him. Only, she hadn’t exactly planned to drop in quite as she had. She hadn’t known how she was going to do it, but that decision had been taken out of her hands.
As Rand helped Bernie bring in a large tree, she turned to take in the rest of the cabin. A door on one side that led into a bathroom, perhaps, and there was a kitchen. Rustic. Charming. And she fell in love.
However… “What happened in here?”
“I was trying to make hot chocolate.”
“Looks more like a chocolate bomb went off,” she said.
“I have several talents,” he said from just over her shoulder. “But apparently making hot chocolate isn’t one of them.”
Blix couldn’t disagree. “I think the kitchen should be off limits to you at all times.”
“You’ll get no argument from me on that one.”
