One dark brow arched at her. “Seriously? My love of a frog puppet turns you on?” he asked with amusement.
“Well, it’s not the frog specifically, just…just knowing it’s one more thing we have in common makes me feel all…you know…”
Picking up the tin of cookies, he placed it on her bedside table before reaching for her and kissing her senseless. And just when she thought he was going to roll her underneath him again…he didn’t. In the background, the Peanuts were singing their final song and Gage rolled over and grabbed the TV remote.
“What are you doing?”
“Now it’s in my head so I’m going to see if you have the streaming network where we can watch the Muppet version.”
“Wait…I’m here naked beside you and practically begging you to make love to me and you want to watch the Muppets?” She was trying hard not to laugh, but it was almost impossible.
“Oh, I am fully aware of your nakedness. Trust me,” he explained as he reclined against the pillows again and wrapped an arm around her to bring her close.
“But admit it, you’ve never watched this while naked and in bed, right? I’m all about some new experiences. For all we know, it will enhance our viewing pleasure.”
The fact that he made that statement with a straight face was impressive.
It also made her more determined to distract him.
“Don’t you need to be up early for work in the morning?” she asked while gently caressing his chest.
“I’m working from home in the morning and don’t need to be to the office until noon.” He playfully hugged her tight. “So I have no problem staying up till all hours of the morning watching Christmas movies.”
That so wasn’t the plan she had for them. They could watch Christmas movies anytime. What Hannah wanted was to wrap herself around him and do a whole lot more than watch TV and cuddle.
Boldly, she reached over him and grabbed the remote.
“What are you doing?”
Meeting his gaze, she turned off the TV and tossed the remote aside. She heard it thump onto the floor and hoped she didn’t break it.
Yeah, this is me being a seductress by breaking electronics. Awesome.
Before he could utter another word, Hannah moved on top of him and positioned herself in a way that more than got her point across.
Playtime was…okay, not playtime, but TV time was over. And as she kissed her way along his jaw, his throat, his chest, and lower, she could tell she’d made the right decision. One strong hand gently fisted in her hair as he let out a low hiss. “Oh, God, Hannah…oh, baby…”
There’d be plenty of time for them to joke around and watch holiday movies.
Just not tonight.
Gage looked out his window and smiled. “It’s snowing!”
Hannah stepped up beside him and shook her head. “The forecast did not call for this. It will probably be over in a few minutes.”
There was no way he was going to let her negative outlook get him down. Since the night of the Christmas party–which was a week ago–they’d been inseparable. He’d been working from home more just so they could spend time together. Every day he learned something new about her and only in the last couple of days had this pessimistic side of her come out.
The job hunt wasn’t going well, and it did look like the only option was to move. Gage had casually suggested her looking for different work in the meantime and that had not gone well.
Lesson learned.
The thing was, he knew she was panicking. The combination of looking for a job and the holidays was not a good one. Add in the guilt she was suddenly feeling about not going home to see her family and it was like the perfect storm brewing. He wished there was something he could do, something he could suggest, but…his mind was a complete blank.
The last thing he wanted was for her to go anywhere. Other than the job issue, things were going great for them. He hated how all the negative stuff was casting such a huge cloud over them, so he was determined to do whatever he could to cheer her up.
It was just getting harder and harder to do.
“How about pasta tonight?” he asked. “I still haven’t made you my Alfredo.”
“Ooh…that does sound good,” Hannah replied. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
He kissed her quickly on the nose. “Nope. Pour yourself a glass of wine and I’ll do all the work.”
Her phone dinged and she went to see who was texting her while he headed into the kitchen. Earlier she had mentioned how she was chatting back and forth with his sister regarding wallpaper and he almost regretted getting the two of them connected like that. When he saw Sarah, he would talk to her about not bugging Hannah about decorating.
And his mother too.
Although she hadn’t spoken directly to Hannah about it, she’d messaged him several times asking if he’d mind if she broached the subject of redecorating her building with Hannah when they came up for the Christmas party.
“Dammit,” he heard her whisper.
“What’s up?”
Sighing loudly, she walked over to the kitchen island and reached for the bottle of wine. “Remember the job in Georgia I applied for?”
He nodded as he grated some fresh parmesan cheese.
“I didn’t get it. That’s the second rejection this week.” Pouring herself a full glass of wine, she shook her head. “I don’t get it, Gage. I was more than qualified for both of them. Every project I’ve ever worked on, I received nothing but praise! Why is that now that I need to show off my skills, they’re not enough?”
“I’m sorry. I really am. I wish there was something I could…”
And that’s when it hit him.
There was something he could possibly do.
Pushing the cheese aside, he smiled. “What do you say we head up to Evergreen early?”
“What? Why?” And there was that skeptical look that he was noticing more and more lately.
“For starters, I think you’d love it up there. Very Christmassy this time of year. And…my mom has been pestering me about talking to you about decorating advice. I think she’s hoping you could give her ideas to pass on to the management company. What do you think?”
All she did was blink.
“Think about it, Hannah. It will be nice to step away from all of this and maybe you can start…I don’t know…freelancing. Maybe you’re not having any luck because you’re meant to branch out on your own. Is that something you’d consider?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I never really thought of doing anything solo…” Picking up her glass, she took a long sip. “I mean…it’s all fine and well to do stuff to help out family or friends, but I have no idea how I’d grow the business so that it was profitable and I could make a living that way.”
“Maybe that’s something you should look into,” he suggested. “It seems like it could be the perfect solution. Apparently my family alone could be enough to get you started.”
He went back to grating cheese while she paced and sipped wine. “I don’t want pity work,” she said firmly. “I know it’s hard to believe, considering the current state of my career, but I am very good at what I do.”