“Tough day. Do you want to go to Talia’s for dessert? They’re carrying Annie’s Delicious Pies now. It’s quiet and peaceful there.”
I shouldn’t. I had work to do. So much bar work. But I loved Annie’s Delicious Pies, and I loved the hunk of a man standing in front of me. “Yes. Thank you, Logan. I would.”
“Then let’s go.” He held out a hand.
Yes. Let’s.
I grabbed his warm hand, and it warmed my heart, indeed it did.
“I think there’s mistletoe over us,” Logan said.
“There’s no mistletoe.” We were standing by the town’s Christmas tree. We had it to ourselves, as it was so late at night. We’d gone to Talia’s for Annie’s Delicious Pies, but Logan had insisted that I have a meal first after finding out I had not had dinner. Oddly enough, because of my earlier experience with lettuce, I ordered a salad packed with all sorts of healthy stuff. I told him I felt “virtuous” for eating so many vegetables. He said he felt virtuous for eating a cheeseburger and fries.
I had lemon meringue pie afterward because my virtue needed a sweet treat, and he had coconut cream. He paid, refusing to let me pay, held my coat out for me when we were done, then wrapped my pink cat scarf around my neck. The cats were wearing Santa hats.
Walking back to our trucks, he paused by the tree, the lights shining and twinkling, the mountain air cold and fresh and carrying the scent of pine.
“Imagine there is mistletoe, Bellini,” he said.
I didn’t want to. No, Ididwant to, but I shouldn’t. What was the point? I should not kiss Logan. The problems between us were still between us. I was going to be here for Christmas and would leave in January for Honeysuckle Pink in Oregon, where I would continue to be a cat lady and an odd hermit.
I shouldn’t have looked at his face. Hard planes, cheeks darkened with a slight beard, thick black hair. Yummy. People get confused by Logan’s appearance. They see the manly man, the tough cowboy, the giant, but there is so much more to Logan. He is deep and sensitive, and he loves coconut cream pie and chess and books about explorers’ adventures. He went through years of terrible hardship as a kid, and it simply made him stronger, more independent, and more compassionate toward other people.
All his splendid characteristics blended with his general white-hot sexiness, and I couldn’t help myself. I took a step toward him and tipped up my chin, and he took a step forward and bent his head toward me, and I did not resist at all.
In fact, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him close, and we kissed as if we hadn’t missed a kiss in years, as if we’d had a passionate interlude, a night of lovemaking madness, or an afternoon romp just the other day!
His body, pressed close to mine, was familiar, oh-so-familiar, but different, too. Hard and tall and warm.
The kiss deepened, and there might have been a few groans and moans and heavy breathing, and it became more passionate, and we stopped only because we were outside and in public, though no one else was around.
I did not want to find that someone took a photo of us naked and making out in front of the town Christmas tree, so it was well and good that we controlled ourselves. My whole family would have found it hilarious, but I would still be hearing about it when I was a hundred years old.
“Maybe you’d like to come up and see my home,” he said, his voice gravelly and low. “We would not have to walk far…”
I put my forehead on his chest. “I would not be able to resist you if I came up to your place, Logan.”
He cupped my face with his huge palm. “Then that’s exactly why you should come up.” He dropped a kiss on my lips.
I shook my head. “No. I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m leaving after Christmas.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“Because I live in Oregon now. I have a home. I work there.”
Lame answers.
He kissed the top of my forehead and pulled me closer. He did that a lot when we were together. He said the kiss was for me to remember that he loved my brain and the way I thought.
“Okay, honey. I’ll walk you back to your truck.”
