“Oh, uh…” He looked up at me with eyes wide and brow twisted in confusion. A couple of blinks later, he dropped hisgaze to his phone again. “There’s money in my account. Did you do this? Is this like a refund or something? Because it’s the same amount I paid to rent this place for two weeks.”
Shit. Well, there was no more putting it off.
“Oh, yeah,” I cleared my throat, playing it casually. “I forgot to tell you that, uh, Keys got it all straightened out for you, and he was able to put it back. Yeah, and the guy had apparently done it to a bunch of people. Keys is working on getting those people their money back, then he’s going to, um, turn the FBI’s attention his way.”
“Oh,” he said, sounding shocked. “Oh.” This time, it came out a little sad. “Then, I guess I can… go. Find somewhere else to stay.”
Fuck! No! That wasn’t what I wanted.
“Yeah, but, uh…” I dropped the spoon I’d been using to mix, and it clanked loudly as it hit the side of the bowl. My hands balled into fists, and I set them on my hips to steady myself. “Well, I mean…” Feeling awkward, I lifted a hand and rubbed at the back of my neck. “We shouldn’t just let these cookies go to waste. Everything’s almost ready. So you should stay to decorate them.”
“I’d really like that,” he said, and my heart beat a little faster. “I guess I could head out tonight.”
No! No! That wasn’t what I meant!
“It might be dark by then. And with the snow… You shouldn’t be out driving in that when you’re not used to it.”
“Thatwouldbe a terrible way to spend Christmas Eve.”
“I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you,” I said, keeping my gaze on the weird swirl of colors in front of me.
“So…” he said encouragingly, like he was hanging on to every word that spilled from my lips.
“So, you should just stay here.”
“I should?” He cocked his head and stared at me.
I swallowed hard around the lump in my throat.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Right.” There was something light in his tone. He sounded so damn cute and hopeful. I felt like I was beating around the bush, but this shit was hard for me. I really hoped it was a bush he wanted me to beat around. His excitement was front and center, but what if I was readin’ it all wrong? “For how long?”
“Well, with tomorrow being Christmas, and your decorations are already up here. Plus, we got the tree and everything.” I tossed my hand in the direction of the sad tree. The very fuckin’ tree that I didn’t hate taking up space in my tiny cabin. Just like I didn’t hate Danny taking up space here, too.
“That’s true. We did work so hard on that tree,” he said, and I glanced up to see him smiling at me.
“And it would be a hassle tryin’ to pack,” I tacked on.
“Exactly. It would be so much easier if I stayed. You do make a good point. ” His tone was a little too easy. “And I imagine finding a place on Christmas Day sounds like a nightmare. Besides, two more days wouldn’t really be all that bad, right?”
“At least through Christmas. It does seem to be your favorite holiday and all,” I kept going because he hadn’t really said if he thought staying was a good idea. Or let on to the fact that he might have wanted to stay. It was stressing me the fuck out. “I would hate to ruin it for you.”
“Thanks for sacrificing your quiet time. I really appreciate it.”
He placed his chin in his hand and blinked at me.
His smile tipped up on one side more than the other.
Oh, so he was fuckin’ with me. Great, I loved being the butt of a joke.
Actually, with Danny, I didn’t mind it so much. Especially if it made him light up and smile like that. Did he know howfuckin’ beautiful he was? I was ready to make it my life’s mission to make him feel beautiful every day and keep reminding him how special he was.
With my fists on my hips, I glared at him. It did nothing to knock the smile off his face.
“Will you spend Christmas with me, elf?” I asked, putting it out there in a way that felt right.
“I would love nothing more,” he answered as he stood and came into the kitchen. He slid his arms around my waist. His lips were on mine, and I wrapped him up in a tight embrace as I kissed him back. “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it, Grumpy Pants?”
