His eyes searched hers.
“I want a shot. With you. No questions asked. No anxious thoughts or self-sabotage. No over-thinking. Just … a shot. A real chance.” He swallowed hard, “I want you to be my girlfriend.”
Eliza just stared at him. The weight of his words settled heavily between them. For a moment, she didn’t speak. Her chest rose and fell in uneven breaths, her arms still folded over her heart like armor.
She wanted, more than anything, to fall into him. To give up the fight, to surrender to her feelings regardless of how terrifying they were. But Eliza saw itall: laughing and kissing the night of the contest, then she saw the door swinging shut behind him as he departed without a word.
He said it wasn’t because he wanted to leave, but that he was respecting her wishes. And granted,shehad told him to leave …
“I want to believe you, but I’m scared,” she admitted. Why did it takeso muchjust to speak the truth? It was so much easier to protect herself. To tell him that he needed to leave, even though all she really wanted was for him to stay. She wanted him to stay and fight with her.Forher.
“I am too.” He took a careful step closer. “And I promise, I’ll never make you wonder if I walked out that door on my ownvolition again. This isn’t just some holiday fling that I’ll forget as soon as I rev up an engine or board a train. I don’t just want you for Christmas—I want you every day after, too.” His hand rose to her cheek, brushing a stray blonde hair away from her face. His fingers lingered there, his eyes drifting to her lips, then back to her eyes.
At length, Lachlan raised his brows. “So can I have you, Snow?”
She blinked back tears, her heart feeling like it’d been thawed from the fortress of ice she’d incessantly kept frozen up around it since her breakup. Lachlan had swooped in and changed it all, showing her what it was like to have someone actually care. Because even in their best moments, Davis had never fought like this for Eliza. She was always too afraid to speak her mind around him for fear she’d rock the boat too hard and he’d send her overboard.
With Lachlan, she’d had no energy left. She hadn’t been searching for love, or anything romantic of the sort. The cottage still brought them together, and she’d been entirely herself. Still, Lachlan chose her. Despite it all; despite the baggage, the failed business, the sappy baking escapade, her closed-off heart.
He’d taken it all. And he still said yes. He still came back.
At last, Eliza nodded. It was such a small gesture that if Lachlan hadn’t been searching for it, he might’ve missed it.
A smile flooded across his face. He leaned in, tentative, searching her eyes for any apprehension. His lips left hers with a gentleness she’d never known before; it caught her off guard. The kiss was soft at first, careful. Like either of them could shatter the moment if they made one wrong move.
It deepened, just a little, and she tilted into him, allowing her guard to drop a little lower.
Eliza turned to the Gingerbread Snap Dragon, still in his usual spot. His gumdrop eyes blinked up at her longingly, silently pleading, ‘Please don’t forget me.’
Her heart twisted. She didn’t want to leave this place without him. Not after everything.
“What about you, Puffcake?” asked Eliza. “Can I haveyou?”
Puffcake’s eyes grew incredibly round; it looked like he was giving her his equivalent of the puppy-dog stare. Then, he gave a joyful snort as he wagged his tail so fast it knocked over the jar of coconut flakes.
Eliza laughed through the lump that had formed in her throat. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
He bounced to his paws, his biscuit limbs shaking with excitement, already eager to follow her to the ends of the earth—or at least out the front door.
Then, Eliza returned her attention back to Lachlan. “You sure you want this?” She raised her brows. “The sentient gingerbread and my weird baking obsession?”
“Especially those things.” Lachlan smiled down at her, his voice unwavering.
They kissed again, this time warmer and deeper than before. Sweet like honey, and everything she’d been too afraid to say out loud to him until now. Because things between them were just amaybeor an impossibly hopeful dream.
It was a yes.
She couldn’t possibly know for certain that they were endgame, but she hoped with all her heart. And that was a start.
She allowed herself to fully melt into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his neck. Puffcake gave an excited screech before blowing smoke in the shape of a heart. He fluttered his tiny icing wings over to the hearth and settled himself there, his back turned away from them to give them privacy.
Before she knew it, Lachlan was grabbing her by the back of her knees and lifting her up onto the kitchen island. His hands came up, tangling in her hair, pulling ever-so-slightly to tilt her head toward the ceiling.
He attacked her in a series of swift kisses all along her cheeks, forehead, chin, and nose. Eliza erupted into a fit of laughter, her heart feeling like it might burst right out of her chest from the pressure.
The old grandfather clock struck midnight.
Ding, dong. Ding, dong.Ding, dong.Twelve times. It was Christmas.
