And I really don’t want to.
CHAPTER5
BILLIE
The eventwe’re meant to be having tonight has been called off. A whole bunch of people in the company who booked it got sick from eating at a seafood restaurant. However, for some kind of complicated holiday insurance reason, we need to stay open. So, I’m sitting at the bar, trying not to think too much about the kiss with Raff last night.
But that’s impossible. The memory of his lips on mine, his hard body pressing against me and his fingers running through my hair pushes all my other thoughts away. Kissing your boss should be the one thing any decent employee knows that’s off limits. But I don’t want to be working behind the bar at FaLaLa forever. In fact, if I’m here tending bar next Christmas, I’ll be sobbing into my peppermint schnapps.
Raff looked so handsome last night. That drunk woman thought he was her Prince Charming. She seemed convinced that he was some kind of famous DJ! After we’d fixed the fire alarm, she asked me to take a photo of her with him. I could see Raff was about to refuse, but then everyone in the escape room came out thinking there was a fire and I think she forgot.
I get out my cell phone, trying to remember the name she called Raff last night. Was it DJ Exodus? I try typing in some random words. There are plenty of DJs around with outlandish names, but none of them looks like Raff. I’m not sure why I’m doing this, anyway. She was drunk enough to mistake him for Tom Cruise. But there’s a tiny doubt at the back of my head. Imagine kissing a guy like that and he turns out to be a superstar DJ? And a liar, for that matter.
Without the music on, it’s kind of eerie in here. It’s such a big space that there are lots of shadowy corners. I’m not easily spooked, but I’m pretty sure that there’s a rustling sound coming from the general direction of the escape room. Should I go and investigate it? I try to talk myself out of doing anything. Surely I can leave it until morning? I try to think logically. There has to be a very simple explanation.
I set my phone down on the bar and walk over to the escape room to check out the noise. The iPad that Darius uses is right there outside, resting on a table. Wyatt insisted that Darius build in a very simple interface so that all the staff could open the room while he wasn’t there. I pick up the iPad and press open. A cloud of dry ice engulfs me and I start coughing, setting the iPad down on the table and rubbing my eyes. I don’t know how to turn it off.
I take a deep breath and feel my way to the door. There’s definitely a noise coming from inside. Has someone left the fan on? I grope around for the lights and turn them on.
That’s it, the fan is still on. I switch it off and sit down for a second, marveling once again at the decor. It’s a Christmas wonderland, made to look like Santa’s workshop with twinkle lights and grinning reindeer.
There’s a big green velvet sofa in here. I’m the only one at work, so no one’s going to mind if I stretch out and close my eyes for a second. I grab a clean sheet from the small cupboard where we keep supplies and lay it over the sofa.
What a strange holiday period this has been. No Mom and Dad, no family stuff, working all the time and then Raff. Meeting him has definitely been the highlight.
My eyelids are heavy and I close them for a few seconds.
It’s dark when I wake up. I feel around for the lights and turn them on.
Crap. The door is shut. I look around for the iPad and have the sudden dawning realization that I left it on the table outside. My damn phone is on the bar. Why is the door closed? Did Darius build something into the program to automatically close it?
Banging on the door, I try to open it, but it’s locked shut. I should have paid more attention to Darius when he was talking about his mad scientist plan for the puzzles in this room. It’s something to do with reindeer and a formula, but I kind of zoned out when Darius got super technical explaining it to me.
There’s a hissing noise as the dry ice starts up again. The door swings open. Raff is standing there, backlit by the purple and green lights.
I start laughing. “You really don’t know how glad I am to see you.”
“What are you doing here? Is this how you get your kicks?” He flashes me his cute sideways grin, then comes to sit down next to me on the sofa.
“Yeah, I like locking myself into Christmas escape rooms on my own. What are you doing here?” Up close, he’s even more gorgeous than I remembered in dark blue jeans and a gray sweatshirt.
“I wanted to see you. That kiss has been on my mind since last night.” He reaches for my hand.
“Mine too. Although getting out of this Christmas prison has sort of occupied my thoughts a little more in the last ten minutes.”
“Billie, what happened last Christmas? If you want to tell me, that is…” His voice is gentle.
I sigh. “I’d been seeing a guy for months who I liked. He was visiting Snowflake Falls on a regular basis to work here. I had a job over at Hewitt’s, this department store over in Larsley, which is a few towns over. Same sort of thing, Christmas work to earn extra money. They had me dressed up in a snowman costume, handing out leaflets for their Christmas food shop.”
Raff smiles encouragingly. “I bet you looked adorable dressed as a snowman.”
I shake my head. “I looked like a total dork. The costume was huge, and I kept bumping into things. So, it’s the day before Christmas Eve, and I’m in the middle of the store when I spot my apparent boyfriend, hand in hand with a pretty blonde woman. He keeps kissing her and it’s obvious they’re together. She has a big ol’ sparkly ring on her finger. I see red, forgetting I’m in the snowman costume, and start shouting at him, running over. Except I bump into the store’s huge Christmas tree and take it down with me.”
His eyes are wide. “Oh no.”
I nod. “Oh yes. I had a mild concussion from the angel at the top of the tree falling on my head. I blacked out. Spent the rest of the holidays spaced out on the sofa. And the asshole-with-a-secret-fiancée blocked me. It’s sort of funny, actually, but it didn’t feel like that at the time.”
“So no wonder you hate Christmas…” He trails his finger up my arm and it feels like a slow wave of warmth travels up my body and then radiates down to my core.
