Page 76 of Kiss Me at Christmas
“Would you like a decaf tea for the road?”
James looked at his watch. “I’d better not, it’s late.”
He made his way out to the hall and unhooked his coat from the coat stand and she followed.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night at the theater,” she said, for want of anything to fill the quiet tension in the air.
“You will indeed.”
James opened the front door and stepped out onto the welcome mat in the communal hall. “Well,” he said.
“Hmm,” she replied. Her heart was hammering in her chest.
James opened his mouth as though he was going to say something and then changed his mind.
“Thank you again.” Harriet smiled.
“Don’t mention it.”
If this went on too much longer, she was going to have full-on palpitations. Ten more seconds passed. Did he want to kiss her? If she leaned in, would he reject her?
“I want to kiss you.” James kept his voice low, a deep frown upon his brow. “But I don’t want to complicate things.”
Don’t worry about all that, just kiss me already!
“I shouldn’t have kissed you earlier…”
Oh!
“Oh.”
“I mean, I wanted to, but I shouldn’t have let myself get swept up in the moment. You just looked so sad and I…”
Embarrassment dropped over her like a bucket of ice water.
“Are you saying that you kissed me because you felt sorry for me?” Her voice was rising. “Was that a sympathy snog?”
She thought she might turn inside out with the force of her humiliation.
“No,” he replied firmly. “It’s like I said before, I’m trying to do better, and part of that is not acting on my every impulse. You were vulnerable, and I kissed you—”
“I kissed you back, James, I’m not some breakable damsel—”
“That isn’t the point.”
“Then what is?” She was exasperated now.
“My life is complicated at the moment, and I don’t know how much of myself I can give over to a relationship.”
“I’m not asking you for a relationship. If you recall, I was not the one who got their knickers in a twist after we spent the night together. I was perfectly happy with a one-night stand, thank you very much, but you felt like you had some sort of civic responsibility to my vagina.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Don’t you be ridiculous.”
“You are infuriating.”
“And you are confounding.”
