I guessed one day without him wouldn’t kill me. There was plenty to do at this resort to fill my time. Their weeklong itinerary was full of every Christmas activity imaginable, and I wasn’t opposed to doing any of them alone. Mostly. I preferred to be with someone and had never been great at being by myself. But maybe that was what I needed.
“I knew you would understand,” he said, placing a light kiss on my cheek. “Walk me out?”
I forced a small smile and nodded.
He talked more about the Sterling deal as we made our way down to the lobby, where a car would be waiting to take him to the airport, and I tried to pay attention, but I couldn’t find it in me to care, as rude as that sounded. I couldn’t remember the last time wetalked about anything meaningful, anything that didn’t have to do with his work or mine.
“Prescott,” Alex called out across the lobby, finally grabbing my attention.
I watched Alex wave Holden over to us. His expression looked confused as to why Alex would be summoning him, but he finished talking to who I assumed was a fan before coming our way.
Alex gave him what I referred to as his business smile. “Cousin—perfect timing.” He clapped Holden on the shoulder, leaving his hand there.
Holden looked from Alex’s hand resting on his shoulder and then back at Alex, who quickly dropped his hand.
“Uh…” Alex floundered before finding that same smile again. “I need your help.”
Holden remained silent.
Alex hurried to continue. “I have a career-changing meeting in New York that I need to attend tomorrow. I’m flying out tonight. And this special lady,” he said, turning to me with a smile that I assumed he was hoping was chivalrous but looked more pompous than anything, “is sad to see me go.” He gave an exaggerated pout. “I’ll only be gone a day, but I need you to keep her company. Do all those cutesy Christmas things with her to keep her mind off how much she misses me.”
He was laying this on pretty thick. It took a lot of effort not to roll my eyes. I didn’t feel sad at all that he was leaving. Instead, I felt stupid that I’d come here with him in the first place.
“I think Isabelle is perfectly capable of spending a day on her own without falling into a deep depression,” Holden said gruffly.
Hearing him say my full namefelt wrong, like a line drawn between us that didn’t use to be there.
Alex’s eyes narrowed on Holden. “I don’t even know why I asked you. I figured the least you could do was help me out with one simple thing, considering you wouldn’t have any of this”—he gestured around the lobby, then to Holden, clearly referencing his hockey lifestyle—“without my family’s help.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Holden mocked. “I forgot that I haveyouto thank for all of your mom’s efforts and all of my hard work.”
“Can you help or not?” Alex threw back, ignoring Holden’s comment.
“That’s up to Isabelle.” Holden turned to look at me, his eyes softening as he waited for my response to Alex’s suggestion.
Wait. Could this mean Holden was not only okay with hanging out with me, but possibly wanted to? Or was that just wishful thinking on my part?
There was definitely a part of me that wanted to jump at the chance to spend time with Holden again, especially with my boyfriend’s approval. But there was another part of me that was nervous to spend any amount of time with him—because I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to not develop feelings for him. We’d only spent a few hours together in New York, and he’d madesuch an impression on me that I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since.
But it was one day. Alex would be back soon, and it wasn’t like I was going to throw myself at Holden because we were hanging out for a little while. And I wouldn’t mind a repeat of our time in New York. Minus the kiss, of course.
“It would be nice to have someone to hang out with while I’m here,” I eventually said, sneaking a glance at Holden, but I couldn’t read his expression. He only gave a simple nod, like it was settled.
“Great. It’s a win-win.” Alex smiled like he’d single-handedly made everything fall perfectly into place. “I get to go to my meeting, and you get to do whatever Christmas activity you want to do.” He checked his watch. “I gotta run.” He started walking backward, pointing at me as he went. “I’ll see you in twenty-four hours.” Then he turned and strode out the front doors.
Silence descended, and I hurried to fill it. “Please don’t feel like you have to hang out with me. I know you’re here for a charity event—you’re busy.”
“The only event I’m scheduled for tomorrow is the Holiday Hockey Shootout,” he said. “Which could be one of the activities we do.”
My dumb heart leapt at how he saidoneof the activities we could do. Followed by my stomach doing a flip at the thought of seeing him on the ice.
I raised a brow, feigning nonchalance. “Am I going to be impressed with your slap shot skills?”
He gave a small, almost secretive smile. “You might be impressed. But that’s not really what I’m aiming for.”
I tilted my head. “Then what are you aiming for?”
He looked at me for a long beat. “Guess you’ll have to find out.”
