Her gaze shifts from my mouth to my eyes, then back to my mouth.
I swallow again.
“I have seen what Cooper can do,” she murmurs.
One time.
I can kiss this womanone time, using mistletoe as an excuse, and then I’m buying a new house in LA to stay at when I’m in California and moving on from this crush.
So she can keep renting my pool house as long as she wants.
And I won’t go fix anything that’s wrong myself the next time something breaks. I’ll have my people handle it for me.
Yep.
One kiss.
That’s all.
I angle my body toward hers, hyper-aware of the way her eyes dilate, her sharp but soft inhalation as her gaze dips to my mouth again, her lips parting.
My hand settles on her waist as the sound of her viral Christmas song fills the room.
I start to smile, but Aspen?—
She jerks back.
Completely closed up.
No more smiles. No more curiosity. No moreanything.
“Fun game,” she says. “Thanks.”
And then she’s gone, dashing through the crowd of my family and best friends, disappearing down the steps to the basement.
Fuck.
Way to go, creepy old guy.
Way to go.
2
Aspen Bowen, aka a rising pop star who’s always been let down by the holidays
Cometo Virginia and have Christmas with Cooper and me, my mentor and work bestie Waverly said three weeks ago.It’s low stress. Low expectations. Plus, daily pastries from his brother’s bakery, and if you get tired of us, you can hide in a different part of the house.
She gets not liking the holidays. Has her own reasons for it. Likes them better now that she’s with Cooper.
But for everything Waverly’s done in her career, she’s never had a viral holiday hit aboutforgetting Christmasthat she couldn’t go anywhere without hearing over and over and over again when forgetting Christmas is exactly what she wants to do.
So last night, after my song started playing at the holiday party, I made my excuses about needing my own whole entire house for my holiday trip. Now I’m solo for the rest of the season, all checked in to a vacation rental cabin that feels miles and miles from civilization. There’s another little town no morethan ten minutes away down a winding mountain road, but I have everything I need here.
Food. Notebook. Guitar.
I wish I had Commander Crumpet too, but he’s clearly happy with his new family.
And that matters more than what I want.
