“I have an idea,” she says, grinning.
“Oh, yeah? What’s your idea?” I move in a little closer to her.
“How invested are you in staying here?”
I mean, is this a trick question?“Uhh, not very.”
“I …” She starts to say something, then stops.
“I …” I prompt her.
She laughs. “I was going to say, do you want to get out of here? Let me show you what a Manhattan Christmas is like.”
Fuck. Yes.“Absolutely. But I don’t even know your name.”
She tilts her head to the side. “Let’s go with … Vixen. And you can be … Blitzen.”
“What? Why?” I chuckle.
“Because it’s fun and Christmas is magical.” She holds out her hand to me. “What do ya say, Blitzen? You wanna go make some Christmas magic with me?”
I place my hand in her small one. “Lead the way, Vixen.”
CHAPTER
TWO
Liam
When we get to the elevator, she drops my hand and presses the button for the lobby.
“So, where are we going?” I ask her.
“Well, since we’re already at Rockefeller Center, we can take a minute to admire the tree, if you haven’t yet.” She looks at me, brows raised.
“I didn’t even know it was here.” I shrug.
“Right, right. So, we’ll do that first. It’s, like, a must on the list.” She pulls out her phone and taps something that I can’t see.
“You really aren’t going to tell me your name?” I place my hand on her lower back and scoot in closer to her. I can smell her perfume; it’s light, but it smells like the roses in my mom’s garden.
“Nah, I don’t think I will. And don’t tell me yours.”
“Are you a felon on the run or something?”
“Maybe, maybe not. Honestly, I just want to have mindless fun tonight.”
“Life’s been crazy lately?” I ask, but actually, it’s like a statement of my own.
Between traveling, workouts, game play, game strategy, contracts, deals, managing time with friends and family … I’ve been a little stressed myself.
“You could say that the real world can get a little intense sometimes. Let’s just have a good time together tonight. I never get to see the city from a tourist’s view, so this will be fun for me. Let’s live in the fantasy.” She reaches around her back and takes my hand in hers again just as the doors to the elevator open.
“Okay, let’s live in the fantasy.” I squeeze her hand, and she looks over her shoulder at me and winks.
When we walk out of the building, we’re facing St. Patrick’s Cathedral. I know it from every Manhattan Christmas movie I’ve seen, but I only glance at it as she pulls me down 5th Avenue and toward those lights I saw from the rooftop. Saks Fifth Avenue is blaring “Carol of the Bells” while an incredible light display moves across the block-wide department store.
When we stop walking, Vixen places her hand on my chin and turns my face away from the music, and I’m instantly staring at a Christmas postcard.
