Page 7 of Holiday Friend Zones
Except that I had bought it for him weeks ago, but it wasn’t as if I was going to show him the receipt.
Maybe he would think that I had left the house far too early in the morning, before the sun rose, and battled the stores for this.
Yes, that was how I was going to work it.
The doorbell rang as I closed my purse, the gift settled inside the large tote.
I swallowed hard and tried not to act as if I was a frantic lunatic.
This was just Cullen.I had been in a truck with him before.
Last night, in fact.
And it wasn’t as if I had jumped him.
I quickly pushed those thoughts out of my mind and went to open the door.
And there he stood, in his lumberjack glory, and I knew this was going to be a problem.
He had on dark jeans that fit his thighs so well it should be illegal.He wore heavy work boots, but they were cleaner than his usual ones from the job site.Then he had a black flannel buttoned up over his Henley, and once again, his beard looked so soft.
I looked up into those blue eyes and let out a sigh.
I didn’t realize that I had made an audible sigh until he narrowed his gaze at me.
“Good morning.You all packed?”
“Oh.”I shook myself out of my reverie.Or fantasies.Whatever.“Yes.I’m all ready to go.Let me just grab everything.”
“I’ll help.You don’t need to lift it into the back of the truck.”
“I wasn’t sure how much space you had, so I tried to stuff everything into my small suitcase.”
“You didn’t need to do that.I put the cover over the bed, and everything’s padded in there.I have gifts for my siblings too, so thankfully playing Tetris is my pastime.”He winked as he said it and lifted my over-packed suitcase as if it weighed nothing.
No, I wasn’t going to stare at my best friend’s muscles.I was just going to get over it and maybe drink some wine as soon as I got to my parents’ home.
“All locked up?”he asked as I walked behind him, tote and purse in hand.
“Yes.Thank you for this by the way.Seriously.”
“It’s really no problem, Posy.Plus, you get to deal with my music.After all, I’m driving, I get control of the music.”
“I’m not quite sure that’s how it works,” I said as I opened his passenger side door.I lifted one leg up onto the runners but slid forward as I hadn’t realized that they were still icy.
“Whoa, I’ve got you.”Cullen put his hands on my hips, keeping me steady, and I froze, blushing so hard I was afraid he could feel the intense heat radiating from me.
“Thank you.Icy, I guess.”Yes, maybe if I used longer sentences, I wouldn’t sound like such a dork.
“I have to lift into this truck, and I’m over six foot.But it helps with work.”Then he proceeded to lift me into the cab of the truck with ease, setting me down softly onto the seat.
I just stared at him wide-eyed, wondering why I was reacting like this.I had known him for a long time now.Why was I acting as if I was just meeting this man for the first time?
But when his hands lingered for a second on my side before letting go, maybe this was a first.
I shook myself out of that once again, as he closed the door behind him and moved around the front of the truck and hopped into his side.
“I forgot to ask if you wanted coffee or anything, so I got it anyway.”
