She wasconvincedthat Sexy Santa had been into me. Astrid said it was something about the way his expression had darkened when he looked at me.
Just what I needed. A dark and stormy sex machine.
But I was a realist, and pragmatic at this point in my life.
There was no way in hell I would waste that much gas money driving all the way out to the country on a whim.
And then what?
Pay for another sleigh ride?
My rent money was laughing at the idea of that.
Nope.
Better to focus on my electric bill. It was due in two days, and I didn’t quite have the funds to cover it yet. But rent took precedence over electricity.
As I drove, the roads were already getting slick. A storm would be rolling in later tonight. The roads were predicted to get bad by two a.m.
Under normal circumstances, I would never be out here navigating black ice patches in an old car. But the need for money made people do foolish things.
And the gig tonight would pay my electric bill.
Maybe I could just swing by the Santa’s Sleigh Ride event for one minute.
And what? See my dream man while dressed as an elf?
Besides, I didn’t know anything about him.
He’d been pretty shut down, and despite what Astrid thought, he hadnotbeen interested in me. If he had been, he would have asked for my number, or at least tried to talk to me.
My thoughts kept me occupied for the next hour.
The second I’d been out of the city and driving through the countryside, a sense of calm had descended on me that I wasn’t used to feeling.
It was like everything felt morerealout here.
I could see myself living out this way, which was a crazy thought. I was broke as hell and didn’t have the means to uproot my life to move somewhere new. But the thought held me tight and refused to let go.
Maybe in the future.
It was good to have dreams. And my dream was a small one. I wanted a simple life in a slow-moving town.
I wouldn’t need much.
Good insulation. Thick blankets on my bed. A man who looked like Santa to share it with.
I was almost at the sleigh-ride place. I knew I was going to feel like a fool showing up wearing this outfit and thinking that gruff man wanted something more with me.
But I couldn’t stay away. It felt like fate.
And right now, maybe I was driving to my future. Maybe he was myone. It was possible. Anything was possible.
There was no denying the way he’d made me feel, even without any words exchanged.
There’d been an undercurrent between us. A connection of some sort. And I knew it went beyond just the typical sexualattraction a person sometimes felt when looking at a handsome man.
I wanted to uncover his mysteries and soothe his pain.
