“I enjoyed the pink, but I like the real you.”
“How do you know which is the real me? I could change my hair daily.”
His lips tipped up. “I’d like to find out.”
I stepped back and headed for the gazebo, but he caught up to me at the large oak tree and stopped me with a hand on my arm. “Is that so hard to believe?” he asked.
“What? That you want to get to know me?”
He nodded.
“Yes, actually. You’ve got the keys to your shiny ride. What’s keeping you here?”
“You. Ever since I joined you under that mistletoe.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
I shook my head. “I’m not the girl who—”
“Has fun?”
I blinked. There wasn’t an easy answer for that. I worked. I saved. I focused on the future. On finally doing something I loved and was good at. That was my idea of fun. Being stable for the first time in my life. I never wanted for money because I’d learned to budget from a very young age—because I ‘d had to or I went hungry.
Fun wasn’t part of my life.
“Take a chance on me. With an open mind and—”
“Legs?”
“Why Miss Lawton, that’s positively scandalous.”
I frowned. “How do you know my last name?”
“The very helpful Mrs. Gunderson. She gave me the skinny on most of the town. I didn’t know about the famous rockstar though.”
“He doesn’t live here. His best friend does, so we see him from time to time.”
“Such a peculiar little town.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
He took my hand again. “Your hands are ice.” He took my other one and sandwiched it between both of his. He brought them up to his mouth and blew into the cup he’d made around them. “Pretty sure it’s not the only thing thing that’s icy.”
I stiffened.
“Don’t get your back up. Just give me a chance. You’ve already made up your mind about what we are. And if that’s really how you feel, I’ll walk away. I’ll hate it, and I’ll always wonder what if, but I’ll respect your wishes, Ellie. Always.”
Chapter Seven
CALLUM
In the distance, a cheery bit of bells and drums had a small crowd singing along. I braced for the brush off as a guy doing a fair impression of Michael Bublé sang “Please Come Home For Christmas”.
Ellie had been looking for reasons to kill our date since we’d been interrupted by Dare. Hell, she’d been looking for a way out before then too, but at least then I’d had a chance. Now she was just searching for a reason to give me the boot.
Couldn’t she feel what was between us? Was it all on my side? I’d been attracted to plenty of women over the years. Some I acted on, some didn’t live up to the initial spark, and still others were lost opportunities.
I really didn’t want this to be the latter.
I curled my larger fingers around hers, but I didn’t grip tight. If she wanted to slip away, I’d deal with it. Probably with some pretty strong whisky—the Scottish kind. I was like my father in that regard. Sometimes all you could do was let a smooth Doublewood take care of your problems. As long as it only lasted a day or so.
Maybe a week for this woman.
Even after just a day with her in my bloodstream, it seemed like she would take a fair bit of time to forget—if ever.
She lifted her chin. “Dance with me?”
I hadn’t been prepared for that one.
“Or don’t you do that sort of thing?” she asked when I didn’t reply.
“My mother made sure I could hold my own.”
Her eyebrow quirked. “Is that right?”
“Don’t get weird. I’m not that much of a mama’s boy. But we are a well-rounded bunch.”
“Then I guess you need to put your dancing shoes where your mouth is.”
“I thought I’d put my foot in my mouth enough since I met you.”
Her eyes sparkled in the twinkle lights glowing off the tree above us.
“You didn’t even try to let me off the hook there.”
Her secret little smile was the only answer she gave me.
I drew her through the crowd to the small dance floor to the side of the stage. A jazzy version of Elvis’s “Blue Christmas” allowed me to draw her close and slowly sway with her. The music was too loud to talk, but I was happy enough to just enjoy her honey and vanilla scent. I pressed my cheek along her hair as we slowly circled in and around the other couples.
The guy on the stage lengthened the short classic tune with a few bits of flair. And he had a dramatic enough end to the song to let me dip her.
She gave a startled laugh and gripped my arms. I grinned down at her and slowly drew her back up. The song slid into a more upbeat song. Enough that I could do the two-step with her and twirl her between a few different couples.
I had the five pairs surrounding us laughing as we passed around one another. I even ended up dancing with a strapping man who reminded me of Santa for the last quarter of the song before finally ending up with Ellie back in my arms.
Her cheeks were flushed, and she was smiling so wide her cheeks must hurt. And God, she was fucking gorgeous.
The band started another jazzy version of a Christmas standard. She nodded to the edge of the dance floor and made a gesture for a drink.
“I didn’t think I could keep up with you. When you said you knew how to dance, you weren’t kidding.”
I maneuvered her through the small crush of people watching the dancers and we headed for the cider stand. The rockstar had made himself scarce so the line was much shorter now.
“Mom used to love to do the big Christmas shindig,” I said as we took our spots at the end of the line. “We’ve slowed things down over the years, but when my dad was still working at the college, she’d have all the teachers out to the farm. Did it up like it was a prom crossed with a winter dance from the sixties. Now she puts up all the decorations without the crowds.”
“That sounds…wow.”
“Yeah, my mom doesn’t do anything small.”
“And your dad is a teacher?”
“Was. He’s retired. Writing a book, I think. He’s been working on it for a while.” I laughed. “Mom keeps him busy.”
“Sounds like she’s a force.”
“Accurate.”
We finally got to the front of the line. A stunning woman with darkly-lashed gold eyes smiled at us, but her expression warmed considerably when she recognized my date. “Hey, Ellie.”
She waved. “It’s been a long time, Zoe. And you’re definitely way smaller than the last time I saw you.”
“Elvis and my idiot keep me running.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Elvis?”
She flipped a massive braid over her shoulder, the color almost as pure as the snow lining the streets. “Don’t go there. I blame my fiancé for the name. I was delirious from giving birth, and he took advantage of me.”
Ellie absently stepped closer to me as people flowed around us. The band was taking a break, and everyone was looking for refreshments. I curled my arm around her back. She didn’t shy away, so I counted that as a win.