Page 87 of The Runaway Bride of Blitzen Bay (Blitzen Bay)

“Yep, I do. Come here,” I say as I pull her onto my lap, facing me. She straddles my legs and wraps her arms around my neck tightly.

“I will hug you as long as you want,” she whispers into my ear.

“Well, in that case, we’re pretty much going to be sleeping like this tonight.”

We sit on the bench, hugging silently for a few minutes. For some reason, it feels like she’s saying goodbye. I push her back a little bit and kiss her. She returns it for a second but then pushes her head away from me.

“Nash—”

I put my hands on her face and try to pull her in for another kiss. She presses her hands lightly against my chest.

“I’m sorry,” she says, not meeting my gaze.

I lay my forehead against hers. “I told you not to apologize. You know how I feel about you, but if you don’t feel the same way—”

“It’s not that,” she says, climbing off of me. She stands up and looks toward the inn. “It’s just . . . I’m not ready. I thought I was, but I’m not. It’s not fair to you.”

“Don’t worry about me.” I take her hand and start leading her across the street to the inn. “I’m fine. You can have all the time you need. I told you I don’t want to be your rebound. If you’re not ready to try this, then we wait.”

She climbs up on the first step going to the inn and turns around to face me. “Nash, thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me this week.”

“You can thank me tomorrow when I drop you off in L.A.”

She nods again but looks down. I tilt her chin up and give her one more gentle kiss.

“Merry Christmas, Elle. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

She wraps her arms around me. When she starts to pull back, it takes every bit of strength I have to let her go. She smiles up at me—her eyes full of tears.

“Merry Christmas, Nash.”

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