Page 86 of The Mistletoe Bluff
I had no idea that he’d paid off the community college, and the knowledge burned through my veins, forcing my hands into tight fists. I couldn’t believe my father. To me, that was the final nail in the coffin. I was done with him. I wouldn’t let him use me to further his business anymore.
I pushed to my feet. I needed to go after Maya.
I saw it in her eyes. She was afraid I was angry with her for not telling me about the contest. I had lied before. I hadn’t known she entered, at least not for certain, though, I had put the pieces together between the flyer in her bedroom and through conversation at Friendsmas with Maya’s family.
No, I wasn’t mad—not at her. Maybe I should’ve been more upset that she had been using me, but if I thought about it, I had used her too. And even if I wanted to be angry—I couldn’t. I was too crazy about her.
I never wanted to enter in the first place and had considered withdrawing even before now.
I hated the idea that she might think I was angry with her. Did she expect me to come outside, finding her shivering in the cold, and yell at her for deceiving me?Because I would never do that. Sure, I wished she would have been honest with me, but I wasn’t mad. In fact, if I had known, I would have withdrawn sooner, especially knowing the lengths my father was willing to go to make sure I won.
The fact that she was afraid I was upset told me something very important too: Maya cared what I thought.
The thought alone had me planting a kiss on my mum’s cheek and saying a quiet thank you for dinner along with a “Happy Christmas.”
Before I raced out into the cold night after the girl who had stolen my heart, I called over my shoulder to my father, “Oh, and that indefinite break I’ve been taking from the company? It’s now permanent. I quit.”
Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, shining like silver stars in the moonlight peeking through the clouds. The cold nipped at my nose and fingers, but the sensation disappeared as I rounded the corner.
Maya was pacing back and forth next to my Jeep. She was muttering something to herself, but it was too quiet for me to make out.
I couldn’t help the smile that spread over my face as I watched her. Her hands were stuffed deep into her pockets, her shoulders hunched against the cold, her light curls sticking out of the beanie she must have stolen from my car. A surge of pleasure coursed through my body at the sight of her wearing something of mine.
When Maya noticed me standing there, she jerked to a stop, her eyes glistening in the moonlight.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted. One errant tear slipped down her cheek. The sight of it had my heart cracking in two and my feet moving forward until I was close enough to wipe it away.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
Her brows lowered. “What?” Another tear slipped down her face, and I was quick to stop it in its tracks.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Maya,” I repeated, enunciating each word.
“You…you’re not mad?”
I quirked a brow. “Do you want me to be?”
She opened and closed her mouth. “Well, no, but…” Her face scrunched up in confusion. “I only agreed to be your fake girlfriend to gain an advantage in the photography contest through your dad.”
I huffed a laugh, the breath clouding in the air between us.
“I saw the flyer in your bedroom the night of Friendsmas and I put the pieces together. It never mattered to me, darling.”
Wide blue eyes blinked at me. “But I wasusingyou.”
“Technically, I was using you too. Fake girlfriend, remember?”
Maya snorted, a small smile cracking the sad expression on her face, but then she sobered and tried again.
“But…the only reason I agreed to fake date was to get to your dad. I didn’t do it out of the goodness of my heart or to genuinely help you. I don’t understand why you’re not upset.” She paused, swallowing. “Why aren’t you mad? Why aren’t you telling me you never want to see me again?”
My heart cracked further.
“Maya…” I pressed a kiss to her forehead before tilting her chin up so our gazes were locked together. “That may have been how we started, but you know things have been real between us for a while. It doesn’t matter how it began as long as in the end, we’re together. I’mnotangry, and I’mnotleaving.”
She blinked at me. “After all of this, you still want to be with me? You still—”
“Love you? More than you can fathom, princess.”
