Page 80 of Booked for the Holidays
I let my lips graze the shell of her ear. “Good girl.”
Beck rolls his eyes so hard I’m surprised they don’t get stuck. “Disgusting. I’m getting more wine. Try not to maul her while I’m gone, yeah?”
Juniper turns just enough to shoot me a look, hazel eyes glittering under the twinkle lights. “Possessive much?”
I just grin. “You like it.”
She hums, noncommittal—but when I press my palm flat against her hip, she doesn’t move away.
Not this year.
Because when I leave tonight, it’s with her.
And I’m making damn sure she knows: last year I ran. This year, I stay.
TWENTY-SIX
JUNIPER
The door shuts behind me,and I watch Liam hang his coat in the front closet. Then, he takes mine and hangs it while I slip off my heeled boots.
We drop our keys on the table as we pass by like it’s our new routine, then he follows me toward my bedroom. I guess at this point, it’s our bedroom.
My family’s annual holiday party had been the most fun I can remember, but this part is different. It’s the first Christmas Eve that I’m not spending in my childhood home. I’m not joking with Jasper as we clean up the kitchen or cuddling on the couch beneath my favorite throw until we can’t stop yawning and climb the stairs to our rooms.
I’m here in my own apartment now. With a man that has infiltrated my holiday traditions, for better or worse, and it makes me wonder where I’ll be next year. If this moment with Liam will just be a snapshot in time, or will I forever associate the holiday season with Liam Hargrove and his alluring smile.
We stare at each other. Although it’s late, I’m too wired to sleep.
Liam’s dark eyes watch me closely.
I could get used to the way he looks at me. Like I’m something to discover and explore.
The thought is dangerous. Because even though Liam came back to make things right with me, we still haven’t talked about any kind of future. What things will look like when the holidays are over and he returns to New York.
But right now, the air between us is charged. We’ve been dancing around this all night—no, all week—and we both know how this ends.
I stand there, back against my bedroom door, my heartbeat so loud I’m sure he can hear it. He’s so close—big, warm Liam—and I know what’s about to happen. What I want to happen.
He cups my face like I’m the most breakable thing he’s ever held. Like he’s scared I’ll run if he pushes too far.
So I swallow, then force the words out before I lose my nerve. “I should tell you something.”
His thumb brushes my cheekbone. “Okay.”
I can’t look at him. “I haven’t…I mean, there hasn’t been…” I let out a tiny, mortified laugh. “I’m still a virgin.”
His hands still on my jaw, but his eyes flare—not with shock or judgment but something I can’t quite name. Something that makes my stomach flip.
He dips his head, pressing his forehead to mine. His voice is low, rough.
“Firefly, you have no idea how fucking lucky I feel right now.”
I try to pull back. “I didn’t tell you so you’d celebrate it?—”
His mouth cuts me off with a soft, filthy kiss with just enough tongue to make me gasp. Then, he pulls back to whisper against my lips, “I’m not celebrating that you haven’t been with anyone else. I’m celebrating that I get to be the one. The only one. That I get to make this so damn good you’ll never wish it was anyone else.”
His words send a ripple of pleasure through me.
