It was my turn, then, to kiss him. Without overthinking—hell, without thinkingat all—I unlinked our hands so I could slip my arms over his shoulders, and kissed him with everything I had: all my apologies and my fears, all my hopes and my joys, for the person I was five years ago and for the person I was right then.
I couldn’t explain what it meant to have him believe in me like that. But maybe I could show him.
Gideon moaned and leaned closer, pushing my back against the counter, spearing his fingers into my hair. It felt like coming into myself again, like the moment after you’d contorted and stretched and held your breath to take a picture and you finally relaxed and exhaled. It felt like…zing.
Gideon stepped back, and I had to remind myself that breathing was important.
“Come on,” he said, holding out a hand, and I didn’t hesitate.
He flipped off the lights and led me upstairs.
I paused by the door to Hazel’s room to say goodnight, and found her already asleep in bed, every light blazing, curled next to a blinking Fia. Hazel’s hair was a corona around her head, which she was going to fiercely regret when it was a jumble of knots the next day, but I didn’t wake her to fix it. Instead, I pressed a kiss to her forehead, turned out all but one light, and pulled the blankets over her. When I turned toward the door, I found Gideon waiting for me.
I grinned and put my hands on either side of his waist, then I towed him the rest of the way down the hall toward his room.
Chapter Eleven
Gideon
Liam’s eyeswere green fire—the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I’d wanted him since forever, in the way you dream about the one person who’s perfect for you, before I’d even known he existed. Fate had brought us together, and we’d fucked it up the first time around because he’d been scared and I’d been stubborn. Now it had brought us together a second time, and I’d be damned if we didn’t make the most of it.
He towed me from the hall into the semi-darkness of my bedroom. The little LED candles flickered in the window, and the shadows and light played across his gorgeous face.
I wanted to fall asleep beside that face every night. I wanted to wake up next to it every morning. I wanted my second chance.
“Liam,” I breathed, backing him into the foot of the bed. “I—”
He fell back on the bed, pulling me on top of him…
And the entire world erupted into holiday madness.
A tinny version of “Deck the Halls” started playing from the speaker on my nightstand, while that stupid,stupidsong about the grandma and the reindeer blared from somewhere else. Tiny multicolored lights flickered and flashed like disco balls all around the room. And from beneath us, the goddamn bed yelled “Ho ho ho!”
How the hell had mybedstarted talking?
“Jesus Christ in a manger, it’s a poltergeist!” I pulled Liam upright, yanked him behind me, and ran over to flip the light switch by the door. He gasped at the sudden brightness and buried his face in my shoulder, but me? I couldn’t close my fucking eyes to the horror that surrounded us.
My bedroom looked like Christmas had vomited all over it.
An entire mistletoe forest hung from the ceiling, the dressers were covered in other, different greenery. My generic, navy-blue bedspread had been replaced by one that looked like a gigantic, king-sized Santa face—big, black, vacuous circles for eyes, a gaping, red maw of a mouth, and clouds of white for his beard. And at the top, near the newly red and green pillows, stuffed animals of Santa and all eight of his goddamn reindeer lit up andneighedand occasionally screamed “Ho ho hoooooo!”
“Oh dear God. Is that Santa dancing?” I whispered.
Liam peeked over my shoulder, then buried his face against the back of my shirt again. “I’m afraid so.” It sounded like he was laughing.Traitor.
“They have gonetoo farthis time,” I said, halfway between a growl and a whine. My heart was beating out of my chest. “I am going over to Parker and Jamie’s house this minute, and I can onlyhopethey are having sex. Fuck, I hope they’re naked and about toclimaxbecause I am going toknock on their windows and yell Christmas obscenities. I will bring eight maids a’milking and however many lords a’leapingright through their living room, and a bunch of goddamn klieg lights too, to make sure everyone sees the show. I will bring a fucking children’s choir to sing Hazel’s Kiddie Bop Christmas songs with their chipmunk voices and kill any potential boner Parker and Jamie might ever have again. I will camp out on their lawn dressed as The Grinch and demand cookies and eggnog every hour on the hour,every damn night until New Year’s. Or possibly the Fourth of July. I will…”
Liam shut me up by spinning me around, grabbing my face, and giving me a laughing kiss that had my heart beating fast for an entirely different reason.
“Or maybe,” he murmured against my lips. “Maybe we could wait and get revenge tomorrow?” He kissed me again and it nearly drowned out the sounds of the singing. “Maybe you could let me take care of everything for right now.”
“Take care of what?” I demanded, my mind still stuck on vengeance. “Because we could take my truck—”
He pressed his lips to mine, and when he smiled, it made me smile too.
“You,” he said simply, and it took my brain half a minute to realize he was answering my earlier question. “Just relax, okay? You’ve already fought a terrible toast fire and survived tea party etiquette lessons from a seven-year-old. So just… stay right there.”
I nodded once and he kissed me again. Then he moved around the room, shutting off lights, unplugging the speaker, throwing the singing stuffed animals into the closet—which only made them singlouderuntil he shut the door—and pulling the unspeakable, horrifying bedspread onto the floor.
