“Oh no.” I put my finger up, wagging it in his face. “No you don’t. How did you dothis?”
“Elves,” he offered. I shook my head. “Fairy dust?” he tried again, and this time I couldn’t help but smile. I stood up, moving toward him and sat in his lap, putting my arms around hisneck.
“Santa doesn’t use fairy dust,” Isaid.
“How would youknow?”
I cradled his chiseled jaw, the rough rasp of his stubble scraping my palm. “This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me,” Iwhispered.
He licked his bottom lip with a long swipe of his tongue that left my mouth watering. “I can’t take all the credit,” he said. “Kyra helped compile the various footage of your shows. And Scott helped edit it alltogether.”
“I’ll have to thank them, too.” Bending, I took his wet parted lips against mine. The butterflies were back, but for a whole different set ofreasons.
I ended the kiss and Taylor arched a brow in my direction. “Hopefully you won’t be thanking them likethat.” He paused, then added, “Actually, I could watch you thank Kyra likethat—”
I smacked his arm, then pinching him playfully as he laughed, a loud, barkingsound.
“So…” he said, once our laughter faded. “Are you going to take them up on theiroffer?”
I nibbled my bottom lip. A small part of my heart ached at the thought of leaving Maple Grove. But an even larger part of me was excited at the new beginning. Even with moving away, I was only an hour away from my home town. I had no doubt I would still see Kyra and Scott a lot. And with my Airbnb, I’d always have a place to stay when I visited. “I think I am. I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t do thisnow.”
His smile widened. “You know… the theatre is only sixteen and a half minutes away from myapartment.”
It was my turn to raise a brow in his direction. “Ohyeah?”
“Yep. We have some time before your rehearsals start. But maybe you’ll just want to move in with me… instead of finding your own apartment? I mean, rent in Boston is prettyexpensive—”
My smile widened. “Maybe. We have five months until I begin with rehearsals. Why don’t we take this one day at atime?”
He nodded. “One day at a time. But for today? We’re gonna celebrate the shit out of this victory foryou.”
