Page 74 of Vixen's Guide to Christmas
Ugh. How did he not get added? “I promise he was. Did he check out? Turn in a key? Did anyone do anything for room 403? Grayson? Santa? Scrooge? Krampus? Anyone?”
Mr. Check-In Man clearly doesn’t find my panicked humor amusing. “I don’t have anything for that room.”
“Can you call the room for me? He’s not answering his cell phone.”
He seems annoyed that I’m asking him for help. Except that there’s no one in line, so clearly all I’m keeping him from is his next crossword puzzle.
“Please. It would mean the world to me.”
Yes. Kindness. It’s Christmas. I need to not be panicked and use kindness for this man to help me.
“Fine,” he says. I watch as he picks up the phone and holds it to his ear for ten seconds. “Sorry. No answer.”
“Ugh!” I scream and start walking in circles. “Where are you?”
I start pacing in circles in the lobby, not sure what my next move is. Should I go to the airport? Where he’s flying out of is an hour away, which isn’t bad, but if he’s not there, then I’ve lost a lot of time with no answers. And sure, I could call him later. This doesn’t have to all happen today.
Except it does. Because I need him to know how I feel. The longer I don’t tell him, the more this is going to eat me up inside.
“Where are you, Grayson?” I say out loud, my head thrown back in frustration when I run into someone. I wasn’t looking where I was going—too lost in my scattered thoughts—which is probably how I missed the smell of his cologne.
“Hey you.”
The soft tone of his voice melts me, and I instantly wrap my arms around his waist. “Hey you.”
He hugs me back just as hard, each of us burying ourselves in the other.
“I tried to call you.”
“I lost service for a few minutes. It’s been going in and out all day.”
We step away from each other, and for the first time all afternoon, I feel like I can breathe again. Which is saying a lot, because he’s chosen to wear his glasses today, and with a henley, vest, and joggers.
“It’s okay…can we talk? Or do you have to leave?”
He shakes his head. “We can talk.”
I really should take him back up to the room, but I don’t want to wait that long. “This is where I’ve been sitting all day.”
“On a couch in the corner?”
“It felt safe,” I say. “Except that it wasn’t. At least from my thoughts.”
“I understand,” he says. “Kat, I?—”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “Can I go first? There’s…I need to start with an apology.”
“Oh…yeah…go ahead.”
I take in a breath, but reach for his hand to help give me the strength I need to put all of this out into the world.
To take the biggest risk I ever have.
“I’m sorry if I forced your hand today. That I dismissed that you didn’t want the job because of me, and if I felt like I made you to accept it, I apologize. It was…just everything wasso sudden. And while I still think you should take the job—you don’t throw away dreams—I’m wondering if…maybe…there’s a way I can be a part of that dream? That is, if you still want me to be.”
He doesn’t say a word as his mouth dives into mine, kissing me in a way that is not suitable for the Timberline lobby. I pull away—not that I want to—but I can’t get lost in his kiss when there’s still so much more to say.
“I take that as a yes?”
