She melted into his strong embrace. Holden kissed her like a man falling in love, and she let herself be that woman. Because she was. Their romance had been a whirlwind; a tornado of emotion. But it had placed them solidly in this moment, and that wasn’t something she was about to overlook.
She let herself fall too.
Finally, Holden pulled back, his tender eyes opening slowly as they found hers. He leaned back in and pressed his forehead to hers when he said on the lightest laugh, “So, it looks like you don’t need that mistletoe after all.”
* * *
Rachel wokethe next morning with a lump in her throat that made the backs of her eyes scratch with unspent tears. It wasn’t just Holden she was sad to leave. Going year after year without so much as a visit home had hardened her in a way. Sure, the physical distance separated her from her hometown, but it also enabled her to distance herself emotionally. And that hadn’t been healing, nor healthy.
For the first time in years, the thought of spending Christmas anywhere other than Snowdrift produced an ache in her chest. But she knew she couldn’t make it back in time. If, for some miraculous reason, December Décor decided to move forward with Mistlefaux, she would need to stay put. Clock in hours. Put in the hard work of launching a brand new campaign.
And if it failed? Then she’d really need to put her nose to the grindstone.
How would it look for her to flit off to the summit yet again? The executives were gracious enough to let her have another opportunity at bat. When would that grace run out?
She wasn’t about to test it.
She sat up from the pullout couch and pushed a fist to her eyes to rub away the remnants of sleep. Her bleary gaze landed on a framed photo at the edge of her father’s desk.
It was an image of Rachel and Bethany. They couldn’t have been more than five and eight-years-old respectively, the ages when Santa Claus was still real and Christmas wishes came true. In the photograph, they each sat upon the jolly man’s knee. Rachel remembered the moment well. Grandma Birdie had taken just the sisters to San Francisco for a day of holiday shopping, more sugar than two young girls could ever need, and memories that—as Rachel noted even now—would last an entire lifetime.
“What did you wish for?”Rachel remembered asking her older sister the moment they had hopped down from Santa’s lap. She had taken her grandmother’s hand in one, her sister’s in the other.
“I can’t tell you, or else it won’t come true.”Bethany had swung their joined hands like a jump rope as they walked around Union Square.
Grandma Birdie had an answer for everything. It was no surprise she had a solution for Rachel’s inquisitive nature too. She’d known full well her youngest granddaughter wouldn’t relent until Bethany fessed up.
“Most people don’t know this,”—the older woman had leaned in close to her granddaughters and lowered her volume to a whisper—“but you can tell your wish to someone if you both wished for the same thing. It doubles the chances it will come true.”
How would Rachel know if she and her sister had wished the same thing unless they told each other? It made no sense.
Rachel had been close to protesting when Grandma Birdie had glanced down and given her the slyest of winks. Her false lashes had crinkled around her gleaming, mischievous eyes.“Why don’t you go first, Bethany, and we’ll see if it’s the same as your sister’s?”
Bethany hadn’t been as easily convinced, but both Grandma Birdie and Rachel had pinned her with an expectant stare until she’d caved.
“Did you wish we could stay in this city forever?”She had released Rachel’s hand and spun around in a circle, pirouetting so fully her sparkling holiday skirt twirled around her like a flurry of falling snowflakes. She had looked so magical with the city lights dancing behind her, almost ethereal.“Because that was my wish. That you and I will live out our dreams, right here, side by side.”She’d hugged herself. “And I justknowit will come true.”
It hadn’t been Rachel’s original wish. She’d wished for a puppy. But in that moment, her heart had latched onto Bethany’s like it was her very own.
And until now, it never thought of letting go.
CHAPTER32
He knew she would leave again. That wasn’t a secret. But he thought he had at least two more weeks, not two days.
Rubbing his temples, Holden groaned.
“You okay there, buddy?” Lance waltzed over to the register and rapped his hands on the counter.
“Just trying to figure out how to cram an entire relationship into forty-eight hours.”
“You’re going to have to explain that one,” Lance said. He fiddled with the display of sunglasses next to the cash register, rearranging the women’s from the men’s and lining them up by color.
Holden didn’t know how much he should divulge. Of course, he had hoped last night would end in a kiss, but he hadn’t let himself believe it actually would. Everything about the evening had pointed toward it, though. From the way Rachel had looked at him under fluttering lashes, to how his heart had quickened each time his fingers grazed hers. That part was all on purpose. He didn’t just-so-happen to need another piece of popcorn at the exact moment she did. Every. Single. Time.
She had kissed him back, which was the biggest gift in it all. Holden considered himself pretty perceptive when it came to women, but Rachel was an entirely different book. He couldn’t always read her. He didn’t think she would pull away, but he also didn’t think she would curl into him the way she had, meeting his mouth with eager expectation.
It had been perfect.
