Page 27 of Sleighing You
I gulped.Safe for who? Definitely not for me… or my panties.I nodded, managing a smile.
“Oh, thank God!” Yvonne cried out and ran inside. “I can’t feel my toes!”
Everyone piled inside until it was just Chris and me standing on his front stoop. “So… this was your event tonight?” he asked, rocking back on his heels.
I nodded, speechless, though I wasn’t sure if that was a result of all the singing, the freezing cold, or Chris’s powerful presence.
“I thought maybe you…” His voice faded off, not finishing the thought.
“You thought maybe I what?”
He chuckled. “I thought maybe you had a date.”
My heart jumped and my momentary excitement over the fact that Chris seemed to be jealous of a non-existent date was quickly thwarted by the utter ridiculousness of the thought. I snorted a self-deprecating laugh. “Me?You thought I had a date?”
His brows tilted between his green eyes. “What’s so shocking about that idea?”
“Well, for one, I haven’t had a date since last February. And to think that I’d have a date during our busiest week of Christmas Fest?” I shook my head and tugged my arm free from my coat sleeve.
“Since February, huh?”
He closed the door behind us, and the warmth of the home enveloped me.
“There’s a fireplace!” Lyla shouted from within the house. “And it’s already lit!”
I looked around the gorgeous entryway as I tugged my snow-damp hat off my head. Chris reached out, taking my coat and scarf from me and hanging it up in the closet beside the front door. “I can’t believe you’re stayinghere,” I said aloud, spinning as I crossed deeper into the home, looking around. Kringle made himself right at home and ran inside toward the noise of our friends, hovering around the fire to warm themselves.
“Why is that so shocking?”
“I… I don’t know. I guess you strike me more as a hotel kind of guy. Like you’d rent the top penthouse suite with a view and an elevator that opens up into the living room.”
His brow arched. “The Maple Grove Inn has a penthouse like that?”
I laughed and shrugged. “Not exactly.” They had a penthouse, but it was just a really nice, much larger version of the existing rooms. And most of the time, they upgraded a guest for free because it was pretty rare that it actually rented out. At least in the winter.
My gaze roamed over Chris’s body—it was the first time since his arrival that I hadn’t seen him in a suit… or in that hideous Grinch sweater. He wore well-fitted khakis that hugged his firm thighs and ass, and a frosty blue sweater with two suede elbow patches. God, I loved a man with elbow patches.
“I’m going to be here for a while if the board approves the expansion tomorrow. I wanted to be comfortable. Feel like I had a home instead of living out of a hotel.”
“I—I didn’t realize you were going to be here for so long,” I said as he took a step closer into me. I could resist Chris for a week… but longer than that? I wasn’t so sure.
“I am. Is that okay with you?”
There was a glint of humor in his eyes. Like he knew just how okay that was with me—more okay than I was willing to admit.
“Hey! You promised coffee!” Lyla shouted.
“And hot chocolate!” Kandi echoed.
Chris chuckled and tugged his phone free from his back pocket and peeked over my shoulder to where the group had congregated in his TV room. “How about I order us some pizzas, too?”
