Page 64 of Grump Hard
And then…
Then, I woke up in bed with another body pressed against mine. A small, soft body that’s every bit as naked as I am…
My eyes snap open to firelight dancing across a dark ceiling and oil paintings of long-dead men in white wigs.
I’m not in my bedroom. I’m still in the town hall’s main lobby, sometime around midnight if the grandfather clock in the corner is to be believed.
And Holly’s here with me, curled against me in little spoon position beneath a pile of quilts I’m guessing she lifted from the Christmas quilt display in the “temporary exhibit” area. Her long, dark curls spill across the rolled-up quilt we’ve been sharing for a pillow, and I can feel the steady rise and fall of her breath against my ribs.
My heart stutters, then begins to pound.
She saved me. It’s the only explanation for waking up like this. She must have pulled off my wet clothes and bundled us both under the covers to bring me back from the edge of hypothermia.
I shift slightly, pushing up on one arm to catch a glimpse of her face in the firelight. One cheek is smushed adorably against our makeshift pillow, and her lips are slightly parted, letting out a soft mew of breath with every exhale, like a dreaming kitten.
She’s so beautiful it hurts to look at her.
So perfect.
So her, the person I want to wake up with for the rest of my life.
A wave of tenderness fills my chest to overflowing, and once again, I know with a bone-deep certainty that this is love. Hell, I’ve been awake for a good three minutes, completely naked under the covers with a woman whose body regularly sends me into dizzying lust spirals, and I haven’t had a single impure thought.
I’m working on a few, however, when she stirs, making a soft sound as she snuggles closer.
The curve of her ass brushes against where I’m quickly becoming inappropriately hard for a man in a “naked for reasons other than getting it on” situation. I shift away, but she pushes up against me again, wiggling her hips with a moan that makes my jaw clench.
I’m about to roll out of bed and look for my clothes when she sniffs, sighs, then abruptly tenses as she wakes up to an unexpected hard-on poking her in the spine.
She scoots away, putting some merciful distance between us before glancing back at me.
“Hey,” she says, a blush pinking her cheeks. “You’re awake. How are you feeling?”
“Fine. Good,” I rasp. Clearing my throat, I add, “Thanks to you. I’m guessing I was in pretty bad shape?”
“You were flirting with hypothermia,” she says matter-of-factly, confirming my suspicions. “You were shivering so hard, it scared me a little. Especially knowing there was zero chance of getting an ambulance out here in the storm. So, I took stripped you down and left you under my coat by the fire while I made a bed with the play mats from the kids’ corner. You woke up long enough to crawl in with me, but I’m guessing you don’t remember that part, huh? You were pretty out of it.”
I give a small shake of my head. “No, I don’t. I hope I wasn’t too much trouble.”
“Not even a little bit.” A sleepy smile curves her lips. “Though you did tell me that I was prettier than Lady Godiva on a horse. And that I should always be naked.”
“That’s one of my favorite paintings,” I confess with a huff. “But I apologize for that and for…” I cast a pointed glance toward my midsection. “I tried to move away, but you kept…shifting.”
Her gaze sharpens on mine. “I’m not worried about it. I’m just glad you’re okay.” She pauses, nibbling her bottom lip for a beat before adding, “And I’m glad you figured things out. You know, with the whole pulling your head out of your ass thing…”
I blink, but it only takes a beat for the memory to deliver itself to the front of my mind. When it does, I exhale a ragged breath, not sure whether to laugh or apologize again. Or, even better, assure her, “I’m glad, too. I… I’m so sorry. I saw you with that man, and I just…I defaulted to the worst part of my nature.”
Her brows snap together. “What? What are you talking about? What man?”
“The man.” I clear my throat, thoughts still too fuzzy to handle this conversation with the finesse I would like. But it’s happening, so I’d better rise to the occasion. “The man at the Reindeer Corner’s Inn. The night of the caroling. I ended up going with Elliot and Ashton. I was standing out front when you two…embraced.”
She blinks for another moment, seeming completely stumped before she breaks into a musical laugh. “Oh my God, Luke. That was my client!”
“Client?”
“Yes! That was Thad. Of Thad and Margot. I shot their engagement photos on Wednesday.” She pauses before adding in a more pointed tone, “After I shot the proposal, which went down about three minutes after that hug you saw. Thad was so nervous, he needed a lot of moral support. That’s all that was. Me, trying to be a friend to a man I barely knew.”
My face goes hot. “Jesus.”
