Page 18 of Booked for the Holidays
Wiley
Ladies first
Cassie
Three is starting to be a crowd.
Cassie and Wiley have a thing. They flirt, they bicker, they make out, then regret it in the morning. Rinse and repeat. Right now, I’d take any third-wheel drama over the hot-and-cold tension humming between Liam and me.
I type back that I’ll meet them at The Merry Moose in twenty minutes, then rummage through my closet until I find my cream sweater dress. I cinch it with a belt, pull on my fleece-lined tights, then zip up my stiletto boots. The boots are impractical for snow, but practicality went out the window the second Liam Hargrove moved in for the holidays.
If he wants to lurk in my apartment, fine. But he can watch me walk out of it looking so good he chokes on his own regret. I’m in full-onEat your heart out, Liam Hargrovemode.
In my bathroom mirror, I touch up my curls, swipe on some lip gloss, and force my heartbeat into a normal cadence. I can do this. I can survive him. I can win this silent standoff.
I march down the hallway, then reach for my coat in the closet.
“Where are you off to?” Liam’s voice rolls over my shoulder.
I spin and find him hunched over my kitchen table, sleeves rolled up, readingBusiness Journal.He looks like a man who could buy and sell entire companies before breakfast—and then ruin your life after dark, just for fun.
But all I can see is last Christmas, the way he sat on my childhood bed, flipping through my half-baked business plan—pointing out projections and missed expenses—then kissed me like he wanted to ruin me for anyone else.
And now he’s sitting here, in my kitchen, looking at me like he might do it again.
Not happening, I remind myself.
“The Merry Moose,” I say, trying to sound breezy.
He folds up the paper, slow as ever, and moves to stand. “I’ll come with you.”
The thought of Liam hovering beside me at The Merry Moose while I try to drown the tension between us in a whiskey-spiked eggnog is not the vibe I was going for tonight.
And that’s when it really sinks in. He’s not just crashing in my guest room. He’s going to be everywhere for the next few weeks. Haunting Cedar Hollow like a ghost of Christmas past. Hanging around my parents’ house like he belongs there. Slipping right back into our holiday traditions like he didn’t leave a kiss-shaped rejection lodged in my chest. And I’ll have to slap on a self-assured grin and pretend like I don’t feel it every time I look at him.
That I don’t remember the humiliation. The heart ache. And what I can only imagine he felt for me…pity.
Well, not if I have anything to say about it.
“I have a date,” I announce, the words tumbling out before I can second-guess myself. My subconscious clearly wants me to survive this with my dignity intact. By any means necessary.
Liam’s eyes narrow. “With whom?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
He’s quiet for a moment, and just when I think he’s not going to push me on it, his lips curve into a maddening smile.
“I’ll grab my coat.”
If Liam knows I’m lying about the date, he doesn’t let on as we make our way downstairs.
One of the perks of my apartment being located above Blush & Binding is living in the heart of downtown Cedar Hollow, surrounded by shops, restaurants, and cozy cafés strung with twinkle lights year-round.
Liam nods toward the construction site next door. It used to be Wild Fern but after expanding, the owners moved operations to a greenhouse out near The Frosty Fir Tree Farm. The storefront sat empty for a few months, which wasn’t great for anew business trying to draw foot traffic, but I’m hopeful about the incoming tenant.
“What do we have here?” Liam asks.
“It’s going to be a wine bar.”
