Page 19 of Forever Yours on Christmas Eve
Stopping herself, she searched the area, tilting her head in the direction that the voice had come from. It was hard to tell, given that the crowd was going wild as the parade ended.
When she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, she pulled it out and checked her message alerts. There was a text waiting from Sev.
Look up
What?Kelsey looked up at the brick buildings of Downtown staring back at her. A quick scan of the area, and she didn’t see him.
“Kels!” she heard it again. Only, it didn’t seem to be coming from the crowd around her. Turning to the street, her eyes bugged out as she saw a seriously handsome guy sitting next to… Santa Claus?
“Sev?” she called out, as if he could hear her. There were dozens of folks all around her, all clamoring for Santa’s attention. “Sev!”
“Kelsey!” he called back, grinning from ear to ear as he stood, hand up in a wave.
In response, Santa stood up too, pumping his hands at the crowd and getting them to cheer on their reunion. As Sev began to climb outof the sled, Kelsey could feel hands at her back, gently pushing her to the front of the crowd, past the barricades, and onto Main Street.
Just as Sev jumped off the float and sprinted toward her.
The crowd roared to a level that rattled her from the inside out as he scooped her up in his arms, lifting her off her feet in the strongest embrace she’d ever felt.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders tightly, feeling herself laugh in delight as she held him back.
She couldn’t tell how long they’d hugged for, but it was certainly long enough for the crowd to die down, the parade to end, and for people to start dispersing again. As Sev lowered her down and she felt her toes touch back to earth once more, she stood in his arms, completely aghast in all the best ways.
“I thought you weren’t coming,” she blurted out, immediately regretting her choice of words. This is the first time they’d spoken to one another, face to face, in a year. How about a nice hello? How are you? I’m so glad to see you again?
To her surprise, or really not since Sev had always seemed to understand her, his expression softened as he reached up to run his fingertip along the edge of her beanie cap.
“Not a chance, sweetheart,” he said with a half-smile. “Not a chance in the world.”
Completely lost in his dark brown eyes, she had no desire to move from her spot, her hands pressed to his chest.
Gingerly, Sev moved them the few steps to the sidewalk, never letting her go.
“Gotta say, that was a pretty showstopping appearance,” she said. “How’d you get on Santa’s nice list?”
“I begged.” He laughed. “We got here and traffic wasn’t moving, so I took a chance. Mission accomplished.”
“Indeed it was,” she said, grinning at him. As she studied his face, the stubble poking up from his jawline, his eyes fixed to hers, she wondered if this was the moment she’d been anticipating formonths now. Sure, she couldn’t wait to have their “date” again, but she remembered a few months back he’d promised to kiss her.
She hadn’t thought about much else since.
Taking a chance, she moved toward him, slowly. Inch by torturous inch.
But to her surprise, Sev quickly shook his head. “Not here.”
“Oh,” she said, feeling her face flush with embarrassment. Maybe he didn’t engage in public displays of affection. They certainly were in public, after all.
Or maybe he didn’t want anyone to see him with her.
Her stomach turned sour at that thought.
“Kels,” he said, resting his palm against her cheek and directing her to look up at him.
Keeping her face passive, she stared back at him. She’d been taught at a young age to look everything in the eye. The good, the bad, and… oh, who was she kidding? There wasn’t anything ugly about Sev.
“WhenI kiss you for the first time,” he said, dragging his thumb across her cheek and dang near short-circuiting her brain in the process. “It’ll be private, something just for us. I’m not willing to share it with the world.”
“Oh,” she said, this time in understanding.Well, that sounded pretty good.“Okay.”
