Page 57 of The Holiday Honeymoon Switch
Ivy thinks about being at a beach party with Oliver, and finds she can’t resist the idea. “That sounds like fun,” she says sincerely.
“It will be,” Larry says, her easy, animated chatter back after their more serious discussion moments before. “The four of us are going to have an amazing time, I promise. It’s going to be the best Christmas ever!”
16
Holly
December 24
Hudson Valley, New York
Holly wakes to the sound of Aiden downstairs in the cabin’s kitchen, whistling “Silver Bells” as pots and pans clatter. She stays in the loft bed for a moment, smiling up at the skylight as clouds float past in the winter-blue sky. They’ve been spending every possible moment together, mostly remaining in bed before finally going out for a walk in the twilight, then making dinner in the cabin. When they’d cuddled up by the woodstove together as night fell again, she told him she didn’t want him to leave—so he didn’t.
She puts on the first thing she finds—his red-checked flannel shirt—and climbs down the ladder.
“Good morning,” he says with a smile. He’s wearing nothing but bright red boxer shorts covered in prancing reindeer as he cooks. “Merry Christmas Eve, Holly.”
She rubs her eyes. “Wow, it is Christmas Eve already, isn’t it? I feel like we lost a day there.” She pulls a stool up to the breakfast bar, and he pours her a cup of coffee.
“Yeah. But it was one of the best lost days of my life.”
Her cheeks heat up as she thinks of how many times they made love, and how good it was, how perfect, every single time. “I’d get lost with you again and again,” she says.
“Hungry?”
“Starving.” He flips two over-easy eggs onto a plate, adds a piece of toast, and brings her the plate, kissing her as he gives it to her. She knows as she runs her hands over his smooth muscled chest and down toward the waistband of his boxers that if this kissing continues, she’ll gladly skip breakfast to go back to bed with him. But he’s got two more eggs in the pan sizzling behind him. He groans a little as he pulls away from her, finishes cooking, and pulls his stool close, kissing her nose as he pours out more coffee.
Once he starts to eat, he looks thoughtful, glancing at her from time to time but not saying anything.
“I’ve gotten used to the fact that silences with you aren’t awkward,” she says. “But you look pretty serious now. What’s on your mind?”
He laughs. “I like to think things over before I saythem—but sometimes people see that as being a bit emotionally closed. And I swear I’m not.”
“By ‘people,’ are you talking about exes?”
A rueful smile. “Well, one ex,” he says.
“Care to elaborate?”
“I was dating someone all through MIT—her name was Toni—but she said I was a workaholic, so wrapped up in what I was doing professionally that I didn’t make any time for our relationship. So it ended. She wasn’t the right person for me, but I’d hate to repeat those mistakes in another relationship, so I did try to take some of the things she said to heart.”
“I can’t really picture you as a workaholic,” Holly says, swirling egg yolk around on her plate with a crust of toast. “You seem pretty relaxed out here, managing the eco-properties.”
“I don’t just manage them, I own them,” Aiden says. “I bought them with the proceeds from selling my company.”
Holly looks up at him, surprised. “Yourcompany?”
“It’s called Air Works.”
She nearly spits out the sip of coffee she’s just taken. “Air Works!Aiden, that was your company? Wait, the AirClean Tower was your invention?”
He looks bashful now—but proud, too, she can tell. “You’ve heard of it?”
“I read about it in the newspaper. It turns smog particlesinto jewelry. It’s the most amazing invention for dealing with air pollution. You’re a genius. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t mention it because—well, I guess because it feels a bit like bragging. And because I don’t own it anymore. It’s not really a part of my life now.”
“Butyouthought of that technology.”
