Page 29 of Sleighing You
Chris seemed hesitant but didn’t fight them anymore. Instead, we walked them to the door. Uncharacteristically, Kandi pulled me into a hug before leaving. “Kiss him,” she whispered.
I blinked, pulling back to stare at her incredulously. “What?” I laughed, half-aghast and half-confused.
I felt her press something into the palm of my hand and when I glanced down, I saw it was a sprig of the mistletoe we sell in our store. “When the hell did you get this?” I looked over my shoulder to see Ford, Lyla, and Chris engaged in a conversation, not paying attention to us at all.
Kandi shrugged. “I bought it today. I was going to surprise Ford with it later.”
I scrunched my nose. “Well, then you should—” I held it out for her to take it back and she quickly pushed it back into me.
“No, no. Ford and I don’t need an excuse to kiss.” Her gaze flicked over my shoulder to where everyone stood. “But I get the feelingyoudo.”
“You think I need an excuse to kiss someone?”
“When was the last time you did? Because I know for a fact you never used that condom from St. Paddy’s Day.”
I opened my mouth to answer and quickly snapped it shut when I realized how embarrassing that answer actually is. I not only hadn’t been laid since February… but I haven’t had a single kiss since then either. And it wasn’t even agoodkiss.
“That’s what I thought,” she said. “Use the mistletoe. He’s really cute… and I think he likes you.”
Right at that moment, Chris looked over his shoulder at us, delivering a heart-melting grin.Didhe like me? He seemed really into me earlier today at the store… like he was going to kiss me. Our flirting had been increasing over the last couple of days, but if someone had asked me two days ago, I would have guessed he hated me—resented me, this town, and the store. Maybe I had him all wrong?
I quickly tucked the mistletoe into the front pouch of my sweater and shook my head at Kandi. “You’re shameless.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know.”
We said the rest of our goodbyes, and as Chris shut the door behind them, I felt suddenly and completely out of place. Hanging out in his home had felt natural when it was the group. But now that it was this arranged thing—like we were supposed to keep watching a movie and pretend like it wasn’t totally and completely awkward—well, now it felt wrong. I was regretting not going home with my friends.
Kringle barked and hopped up on two legs to try to kiss Chris. From within my pocket, I clutched the sprig of mistletoe tighter in my palm, the pointy leaves indenting against my skin.
“So…” I said.
“So…” he led the way back into the kitchen and poured more milk into the saucepan to heat, making another hot chocolate. “Regular or adult hot chocolate this time?”
“Regular,” I said. I needed to keep my wits about me. He nodded and plopped a candy cane into the hot chocolate, using that as a stir stick.
“Here you go.” He grabbed another beer from the fridge for himself and leaned against the counter. His gaze lifted to the light fixture above us, and he chewed the inside of his cheek, deep in thought.
My heart thrummed from within my chest, rapidly slamming against my breastbone with each pulsing beat. I took a step toward Chris, clutching the mistletoe. Was Kandi right? Did I just need to go for it with Chris? If my sweaty palms and fluttering pulse were any indication, then I definitely wanted to. But my brain… my stupid brain was getting in the way.
This was myboss. A man that I had to see no matter what for the foreseeable future or until I got a new job. But I didn’t want a new job. I loved my job.
I also really,reallywanted to kiss Chris.
Which begged a whole new question…When do I bring the mistletoe out to make that happen?
With a final deep breath, I stepped forward, closing the space between us.
“Do you really think we should sell Christmas Movie Bingo Cards at the store?”
His question was like a giant brick wall smacking me in the face, stopping me from stepping any closer to him.That’swhat he was thinking about? While I stood here hemming and hawing over whether I should kiss him, and debating the best way to make that happen… he was thinking about thestore?
Embarrassment and anger rushed through my veins like a dam release in a river.I’m an idiot.Here I thought he felt something for me… but he was just my employer. He meant it when he invited me to stay totalk business.
I cleared my throat, doing my best to answer him calmly. And professionally. “Well,duh. It’s a no-brainer if we market it right.”
He gave me a strange look, brows tilting. “Duh?”
Oops. So much for calm and professional. I winced and tried again. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t want me. “I just mean… bingo isn’t necessarily a game only for adults. We shouldn’t market it as a drinking game… just a game. And if adults come to the same conclusions we did tonight… that it would make a good drinking game… then so be it. And we aren’t liable.”
