Christmas Crush (5 page)

“I get along with the imaginary ones much better.”

He stroked my hair and I leaned against him, happy
to feel his strength under me. Could he be for real, or was this just sex? I
wasn’t very smooth about what to do after this part. He didn’t seem in any
hurry to get rid of me, though.

“You said you’d been in a relationship that didn’t
work out. What went wrong?” He asked cautiously.

I felt embarrassed. I wasn’t proud about the fact I
couldn’t seem to make a connection with anyone romantically.
Or
at least not a lasting one.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I said
defensively. His heartbeat sped up under my ear.

“I don’t mind answering, if you really want to know,”
he said softly, and began stroking my hair again soothingly.

 
“Okay, spill
it. What went wrong?”

He chuckled warmly. “Alright, let’s see.” He cleared
his throat. “Honestly, this is good for me to do, because I don’t know that I
gave it the scrutiny it deserved until now.”

I stayed silent, enjoying the touch of his fingers
running through my hair.

 
“First of
all, I picked relationships for all the wrong reasons. They were cute and I
wanted to fuck them, or they liked to watch anime with me and then we’d fuck.
Hmmm … it would appear I picked people who looked like they would be a good
lay.”

I laughed and sat up. “You’re so full of shit. I don’t
believe that’s the only reason you had relationships. You can screw someone and
not try to have a relationship with them.”

“Maybe
you
can.” He grinned.

“Wait, I’m not the one who sleeps around.”

“Hey, that’s not nice.” He grimaced.

 
“What do you
call it?”

 
“I call it
exploring my options.”

 
I fell
silent. It occurred to me again how out of my depth I was with this man. I might
just be one of those options. There’s no easy way to ask that.

“Are you honestly saying you were only with those
people because you wanted sex?”

“Why else?”

“My guess is you wanted to make a connection with
someone. We all hope that we will, isn’t that why we keep trying?”

“You sure have a way of cutting through all the
bullshit.” He smiled, but his gaze turned wary.

“Let me cut through a little more while I’m at it,”
I said.

“Do what you must,” he said and I swore he held his
breath.

“Are we just fucking?”

He gasped. “What?”

“Was this just exploring your options? Were you at a
loose end it being Christmas Eve and all, and I came along and you were horny?”

“You’re amazing. I don’t know if I’m insulted or
turned on right now.”

 
“There is
nothing you’ve said in the last ten minutes that would lead me to believe this
was anything other than a one night
stand
.”

“Fair enough.
Before I answer though, I want you to tell me why you think your last
relationship fell apart?”

I took a huge breath.
“Because I
picked the wrong person for me.”

“Nope.
I
need more than that.”

“I love books. They are an integral part of who I
am. I was with someone who didn’t even
like
books. In fact, he felt that my books were his rival. He was actually jealous
of my books. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, can I pick them or what?”

Chase laughed and pulled me to him again. “For me,
this is most definitely not a one night stand. I feel like I must have known
you in another life. But if you just wanted to fuck me and never see me again,
there’s the door. If you want this to be more, because you like me as much as I
like you then we need to pick a name for our new bookstore.”

My mouth dropped open. This cool, smart funny guy was
into me? I’d led a sheltered life, but I wasn’t so stupid I didn’t get if I
passed this up I’d be an idiot.

“Is this too fast for you?” he asked, looking
worried.

I grinned. “Not really. I mean, this is how it
happens in the books, right?”

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against
his chest. Warmth spread through me, mingled with disbelief.

“If that blind date had shown up and been a great
guy, I wouldn’t have met you,” he said softly.

“And I guess I owe Brett a drink, because if he
hadn’t tried to have his way with me, you wouldn’t have come to my rescue and
we might not have met.”

He squeezed me tight and brushed the top of my head
with his lips. “You know you’re spending Christmas with me, right?” he asked.

“No, I did not know that.”

“Well, I definitely want to see you tomorrow. Since
tomorrow is Christmas we’ll be spending it together.”

“I guess that’s true.”

“Is that okay with you?”

“It’s better than okay.”

“You can invite your sister if you’d like.”

“No need. She’ll be at her boyfriend’s house. I
think that’s one reason she set me up on a blind date on Christmas Eve. She had
plans and felt guilty that I would be alone.”

“But you won’t be alone,” he said, his voice like
velvet.

I looked up at him, and he kissed the tip of my
nose.

“So this is what it’s like to hang with the cool kids,”
I said.

“You are now cool by default.”

He yanked the soft comforter up over our heads, and
it floated down covering us, muffling our warm laughter.

The
End

Evernight
Publishing

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