He grinned. “Thank you, I think.”
“No, thank you. Again.” The color had returned to her face. Her cheeks looked pink. “Now I can cross a mistletoe kiss off my list.”
That wasn’t what he expected. “There will be mistletoe at the wedding ball.”
“One was all I needed.” She sounded certain, and it left him strangely disappointed. “Now I can work on finding someone to kiss on New Year’s Eve.”
He didn’t have any plans to ring in the new year, and even though he wasn’t sure if he could fully trust Kat, he wouldn’t mind kissing her again.
Even without mistletoe.
*
On the driveback to the castle, Kat stared out the passenger window. She couldn’t see much in the twilight—trees and snow—but that was okay. A blur of passing scenery was better than looking at Gill behind the steering wheel. Her gaze kept straying in his direction. Any more and she’d be leering.
“You’re quiet,” he said.
Only her voice. Her body and her mind were still going haywire from his kiss. “Thinking about this afternoon.”
“A good time.”
“Yes, it was.”
And his kiss…
One touch of his lips had changed everything.
Okay, not really.
But Kat felt…different. She tried to understand the sensations—the way her five senses felt heightened—but couldn’t. She did know there was a new awareness of him that hadn’t been there before. She wasn’t sure if she liked it or not.
She glanced at his profile. Same strong features. Handsome ones like his father’s. But those lips…
Kat faced forward.
A touch of Gill’s lips on hers had curled her toes and made her dream of happily ever after.
Bad. Bad. Bad.
The man was no prince charming. Not even close.
Why had he kissed her?
You don’t want to disappoint the sales clerk, do you?
He hadn’t given Kat time to say no or anything else. Maybe he’d thought this was important to do. A tradition. Not something he craved.
One won’t kill me.
She couldn’t say the same. Her pulse hadn’t slowed yet. Neither had her heart rate. Worse, her lips tingled. And they’d barely kissed.
Yet something had happened.
A shock. A connection.
She didn’t know if he’d felt it, but the way he jerked away told her that he might have.
Don’t ask.
