Beyond the Mistletoe: A Christmas Romance (Beyond Love Book 7) (17 page)

“I thought you only wanted me for one thing.” He placed his palm over his heart and acted like he’d been wounded. “I’m getting mixed messages.”

“You are not. I only want you for one thing. Wasn’t that our mutual agreement?” I teased.

“Yes and no.” He scooted in his chair. “I’m back on the fence. You had me there for a few hours thinking maybe we could just make this purely physical.”

“And then what happened?”

He held my gaze and slid his hand onto my leg. The familiar sensations slammed into me as I thought about what might lay right around the corner.

“The things you wrote in your messages to me, or rather, to a perfectly distanced stranger made me think about things I hadn’t thought about in years.”

I pushed down a dry swallow and drew in a shaky breath. So he did remember the messages.

“I felt safe talking about those things.”

“Because you knew you’d never meet the person?” he asked.

I felt completely exposed and vulnerable. I could have kept the secret close to my heart, never tell him I was the one who stood him up, but it was like my heart wanted to reveal the side of me I was so busy hiding from him. I owed him an honest explanation.

“I didn’t intend to stand you up. I actually had gone on a couple dates prior—”

“Again, is that supposed to make me feel better?” Deep wrinkles formed along his forehead, making him look even more rugged and sexy. Was there nothing wrong with this man?

“Sorry. The dates I’d been on were complete disasters. They made me want to hide from the world and never face the opposite sex again.”

This wasn’t coming out quite like I’d hoped.

 “Okay. Did you tell them everything you’d told me?”

 I shook my head. “Not even close. In fact, you were the only one who wanted to message before we met. All the others just wanted to meet up first.” I let out a slow breath. “I think because the other dates were complete failures, I was afraid ours would be too, and I valued what we’d had as brief as it was. Probably on some subconscious level I made sure we ended on a good note.”

“A good note from your perspective. A shitty one from mine.” He smiled.

“True.” I flicked another look at Derek, and he was studying me. I could see unrest behind his eyes. I tried to come up with something else to say but nothing came to mind so I dropped my gaze back to my dinner that was artfully plated.

The conversation turned to the gingerbread martinis from the night before, and Derek threw in his two cents about the power of gingerbread, and I felt his hesitancy dissolve.

The rest of the meal was wonderful. Lively discussion surrounded the table, and it wasn’t until the first dance was announced that I realized how much time had passed. Derek and I watched Jason and Gabby dance to their first song, and I rested my head on Derek’s shoulder. He looped his arm around me, and I fit perfectly into the curvatures of his body. I tried to shake off the feeling rising in my mind about how our lives perfectly aligned more than once to get us to meet.

“So why was your profile name Woowoo?” he whispered.

I tilted my head and looked into his eyes.

“It’s the sound Bodie makes when I make his meals. Woowoo. Woowoo.”

“I should have known.” He squeezed me a little tighter.

“What about you? Why Chance?”

“My life has been built on chance and accidental encounters.”

“How so?”

“From the time I was really young, my life has been a matter of chance. Plain and simple. My first acting job was because a casting agent saw me at the grocery store with my mom. It was my first day of kindergarten so I was dressed in a pair of slacks and a bowtie. I looked extra cute.”

“If you do say so yourself.”

“Exactly.”

“Did your parents always stick you in such a getup for the first day of school?”

“I can assure you it didn’t go well with the other kindergartners, which was why my mom took me to the store after school. She was getting me push-up pops to cheer me up.” His face lit up as he talked about his mom. It was a look I recognized. I felt the same about my parents.

Jason twirled Gabby across the floor as her father reached out and grabbed her hand. The dance was beautifully choreographed as the music transitioned to an oldie,
Landslide
by Fleetwood Mac. We all watched Gabby and her father sail across the floor. I dabbed tears away, thinking about everything Gabby had been through, and how she survived life’s challenges to be here married to the man of her dreams. Life was completely unpredictable.

“You know I have something I should confess,” he murmured.

My body froze.

“What is it?”

“After being stood up….” He bit his lip and looked like he was about to change his mind about telling me whatever was on the tip of his tongue.

“Yes?” I prompted.

“I realized that between the distractions of Seattle and my less than stellar success at finding love, it was time to move Montana.”

His words sliced into me. The man I was possibly falling for was moving to Montana because of me. The irony of this and my life was hard to swallow. I didn’t say anything.

“I thought being with family might help me run into that special person in a less complicated way.”

“You aren’t moving to finish your screenplay?” I asked.

“Partially. It all seems to be intertwined.” Derek scratched the side of his face.

“Wow. That’s a hard one to swallow,” I whispered.

Derek trailed his fingers along my back, and I realized chance really had led his life where it needed to go. Mine never seemed to work quite like that. I was often the one following up on missed opportunities and driving into snow banks. It didn’t used to be that way, but it had become commonplace enough to know that was how things were for me.

“It’s merely an unexpected complication. Something is drawing me to Montana and has been for a while. I think the dating thing was the last little push I needed to center myself on what’s important in life.”

“I can’t believe I’m at least partially responsible for you wanting to go to Montana. And yet, here I stand wishing you didn’t have to go so soon.”

“That’s why I had to share the irony of it.”

I watched Gabby and her dad glide across the floor as Jason danced with Carla, but my mind wandered back to Derek and what he thought of me now that he could link everything I’d written to him. Would that change tonight? Would tonight even happen?

I linked my fingers with his and squeezed his hand tightly as I rested my head back on his shoulder.

As the song ended and a new one began, Lily and Ayden moved onto the dance floor, followed by Aaron and Brandy.

“I can’t wait to get you out there,” Derek murmured.

“Why’s that?”

“So I have an excuse to feel you next to me.”

“Does that mean you forgive me for chasing you out of the state?” I shifted my weight, afraid of what his answer might be.

“I haven’t left yet.”

Derek led me onto the dance floor, and we managed to slip into the growing crowd of guests. It was like Derek and I were in our own little cosmos, getting lost in each other’s embrace. I linked my arms around his neck, and his gaze held mine as he pulled me into him as tightly as I’d fit. My knees felt weak as his fingers slid along my sides. Feeling the tenderness of his lips as his mouth consumed mine, left me completely at his mercy, and I was willing to surrender to him completely tonight.

Chapter Fifteen

The moment Derek snapped the garter out of the air, my world spun into a fantasy of what ifs. I didn’t know if it was the magic of the season seeping into my blood or just seeing Derek nearly elbow every other single man out there to reach the ring of lace. His eyes connected with mine at the triumph of it all, and I melted.

Me…

I melted.

The same woman willing to settle into a life of solitude, loving a little hairy man with four legs, and dreaming of nothing more.

As Derek walked over to me, I eyed the look on his face and knew I was in trouble.

“When are they going to cut the cake?” He encircled me in his arms, his gaze holding mine.

“Not soon enough.” I pressed into Derek’s body and felt the firmness lying underneath his clothes. The twinkling lights caught golden flecks in Derek’s eyes, and their beauty stole my breath away.

Tonight was going to be something I’d hold onto for a very long time. He brushed my cheek with his finger and smiled.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.

“You.”

He gave me a knowing smile and shook his head. “Do you think they’d be offended if I cut the cake for them?”

“You can give it a try, but I wouldn’t expect to be invited to their Christmas party then.”

“They’re having one?” He knitted his brows together.

“Yep. It’s only for non-Hollywood types.”

“Still stuck on that?”

I raised my shoulders slightly. “A little. I don’t think you realize how many posters they sold of you, and I’m pretty sure I’d collected them all.”

“I’m glad I could make your dreams come true.” His mouth twisted into a devious grin.

“My tastes changed over the years,” I informed him.

“Apparently not much if I’m
here
holding you.”

I stood on my toes and swept my lips slowly along his jawline until I reached his ear. “I have high expectations. You have a teenage girl’s imagination to compete with tonight.”

“I’m up for the challenge, if they’d just cut the damn cake.”

I spotted the photo booth and released my arms from his neck.

“We’ve got to go get our pictures. I almost forgot.”

I tugged Derek toward the woodland photo hut. Another couple was leaving as we arrived.

“This is going to be so fun. A way to commemorate the night.” I pulled him into the small space, pushing him onto the bench before climbing onto his lap.

His response was a low growl, and I knew I was doing my job as I roped my arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

“Ready?” he asked, hovering his finger over the red button.

“Ready.”

I ran my fingers through his hair and mussed it up as we smiled for the camera, and the flash went off. The first few pictures were harmless enough, my fingers tangled into his hair, both of us dopily staring into the lens.

But it quickly turned into something more as the photos captured his mouth skirting up my neck, and his hands dashing across my skin. I tilted my head back as his mouth ran across my throat, and a giggle escaped as I spotted something hanging above us.

“Look up,” I whispered. “You’re not going to believe it.”

Derek stopped what he was doing, and his gaze flicked to the mistletoe hanging above my head.

“Sometimes life can’t get anymore perfect,” he murmured, pressing the red button to capture his lips consuming mine in the most passionate kiss I’d ever experienced. It started slow but quickly revealed the hunger we’d both felt for one another. The camera had long since stopped snapping pictures of us before his lips parted from mine, and I caught my breath.

“You certainly know how to kiss,” I whispered.

“Wait until you see what else I can do.” He took the pictures that printed out exactly as the cake-cutting announcement came over the speakers. Derek placed one last kiss on my cheek before I climbed out of the photo booth to a waiting line of people. I muttered a quick slew of apologies as Derek held onto all of our pictures. I had no idea we’d been in there so long.

We wandered over to where everyone was congregating to watch Jason and Gabby cut the cake. I pulled one of the pictures from his hand, and what I saw almost burned my fingers. It sizzled with what was in store.

“I dare to say these photos put those two floozy elves to shame,” I whispered, admiring what I saw.

Derek’s laughter spilled into the air, and I nestled into him as we impatiently watched Jason and Gabby slice their piece of cake. It was almost impossible to stay focused as desire tingled under my skin.

The photos were like an appetizer, and I was ready for the main course. I chuckled silently realizing how important it was to keep some of my analogies to myself for the night.

Flashes died off as the cake-cutting ceremony ended and more dancing began. It was so much fun to watch Gabby and Jason together.

But not as much fun as what might be in store for me, if I could only get upstairs.

We walked back to our table, and I looked at all of the pictures.

“These are hot and all mine.”

“I might have to take some to Montana with me.”

“I call dibs. I’ll need something for the holidays and years to come,” I assured him, pulling them out of his hand.

“So will I,” his voice lowered to a seductive level.

“I can get copies made, and I’ll email them to you, but I’m not letting them out of my sight.”

He pulled me into him and placed another kiss along the edge of my mouth.

“It’s close to midnight,” I said softly. “Should we head upstairs? I’ve been good all night, staying away from anything that could get me in trouble like gingerbread martinis and peppermint sleigh rides.”