Wrapped with a Beau, page 28
With a groan that rumbles down his throat and slingshots all the way to his toes, Ves reaches his peak. He finishes seconds after Elisha, his body flush against her sweaty, naked skin, pressing her into the mattress. She’s glowing a gorgeous shade of pink all over, and the sleepy, content smile playing on her lips as she looks at him under lowered eyelashes almost gives him an erection again. With regret, he slides out and discards the condom but snuggles back in bed immediately, resting his head on her shoulder.
“I’m not cold anymore,” she whispers, pressing a kiss to his temple.
“Good. Any objections to me making you shiver for a different reason?” He lightly draws circles and swirls over her skin, rewarded by her giggles and trembles when he does figure eights across her nipple until it stiffens again. He rolls it under the pad of his thumb, pleased when she hisses and stretches like a cat, angling her body into his.
When she’s this happy, it’s easy to forgive her for spending the rest of their evening doing utterly pedestrian things like visiting famous spots from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Serendipity, and Enchanted. A single smile from her and he’s a goner. He will happily play tour guide if it means earning as many of those smiles as he can.
They’re scheduled to hit the rest of Elisha’s list tomorrow morning, mostly beloved sites of movies Ves has never seen but has been pertly informed he will as soon as they get home. Date night or threat, he doesn’t much care as long as he’s spending it with her.
God, he could spend forever touching her. Making her writhe under his fingers, his cock, his tongue. He’s about to put all three to good use when his phone goes off, its shrill, inconvenient ring shattering their post-sex bliss.
Elisha’s bare stomach rises and falls rapidly as he pulls away. “Better get that,” she says with a pout.
He presses a quick kiss to her shoulder in apology before reaching for the phone on the nightstand. The number on the screen looks familiar, but it’s not in his contacts. “Hello?”
“Hi, is this Ves Hollins?”
He fights to keep his voice even when he feels her toes stroking his calves. “Yes, who is this?”
“Oh, hey, this is Shane from American Asset Appraisals. When we last spoke, I know you were eager to get back home and, again, I can’t apologize enough for the holdup on our side. I wanted to let you know that we were able to clear our schedules earlier than expected. We can get the whole crew out to do this valuation in double-quick time so we can be out of your hair tomorrow itself. I realize it’s short notice, but are you available in the morning? We prefer for the homeowner to be on the premises.”
“Tomorrow morning?” It’s a lot sooner than Ves had expected. He glances at Elisha, who gives him a satisfied smile and a tantalizing lip bite, her hair splayed across his sheets.
“Sorry again,” Shane says. “We can stick to the first week of January if that’s more convenient. Happy to do whatever makes you happy!”
Happy? Happy is here, with Elisha inches away from him, warm and willing, burrowed in his sheets, giving him those eyes that let him know she wants him again. He hesitates, not sure how to respond. Nothing about this timing is convenient, but isn’t this what he wanted? A quick visit in and out of Piney Peaks?
It’s been years since he’s made a Christmas list, but even if he’d made one this year, falling for a small-town girl with the biggest of hearts wouldn’t have been on it. Maybe this is for the best, a gift in disguise. An out before he gets too attached.
“I appreciate it, Shane,” says Ves, closing his eyes against the sight of her rolling onto her stomach and burying her face in the pillow. Against the spine he pressed kisses down just half an hour ago, the curve of her sweet cheeks that the sheet doesn’t quite cover. “Ten o’clock is just fine. I’ll see you then.”
“Making plans for us tomorrow?” Elisha asks as he hangs up.
His heart twinges that they have to cut the trip short. That he’ll change their tickets so they can catch the earliest bus tomorrow morning to make the two-hour journey home. “I’ll tell you after,” he says, trying to ignore the disquiet in his heart as he takes her into his arms again. “First, I want to do this.”
And then he kisses her, like it’s not just a want, but a need. Like it’s his last night on this earth, because, in a way, it feels like it is.
Chapter Forty-Five
Ves
Thanks again! Have a good night!” Ves waves the valuation experts goodbye from the doorway, a conflicting cocktail of emotion brewing in his chest. With two whole teams doggedly working through the day, he now has the final appraisal of all the books, art, and jewelry left in the house. He doesn’t quite know what to do with the information, let alone with himself. Does he bring some of it back to New York? Should he send everything to an auction house?
God, he actually doesn’t care about any of this right now. All he wants is to get back to Elisha. She’d taken it in stride when he’d broken the news to her last night and had even laid her head on his shoulder on the ride back to Piney Peaks early this morning, scrolling through all their pictures. But her energy was all off, the sparkle dimmed from her brown eyes and a gloomy pout on her lips as she’d headed to work straight from the Piney Peaks bus station.
“So this is it, huh?”
He glances up to see Elisha standing on the sidewalk in front of his house. He scans her face quickly; her smile is back, or at least a facsimile of it.
His laugh comes out in a white puff. She’s changed out of her work clothes, wearing sweats and the same bunny slippers and pom-pom beanie she had on the day they first met. It’s cold outside, and she looks ridiculous, but in a way that makes him want to drag her into his house and straight up to bed. He wraps his fingers harder around his still-hot mug of coffee as if physically restraining himself from doing so.
“It doesn’t have to be,” he offers.
She works her mouth from side to side. “I think it does,” she says quietly, as though she doesn’t want to say the words. “Long-distance relationships don’t work for me. I know you’re nothing like Bentley, but if it has to end, I’d rather it be quick, you know? Not dragged out. That just makes it worse.”
He exhales. “Yeah.” There’s no argument he can make to refute her. She’s one hundred percent correct, even though walking away from her feels all kinds of wrong. He can’t even bring himself to go back inside the house. Honestly, he doesn’t know if it would make it easier or harder if she were to ask him to stay. He doesn’t know if he wants her to put that on him. He doesn’t even know what he’d say if she did.
“Think you’ve changed your mind about dating over the holidays?” she asks.
“No,” he replies, mouth curving into a smile. “That was just for you, Elisha Rowe.”
She rolls her eyes, but he swears she looks pleased. “Lucky me.”
He gives her one last look. Damian isn’t in a rush to take possession of the house, but Ves doesn’t want to overstay his welcome, making things harder both for him and for Elisha. Dragging things out the way she obviously dreads.
So he raises his mug in the air, tips it in her direction, and gives her a nod. They had a great December together, but on Christmas Day, it all comes to an end. Not just the Winter Festival he promised to stay for, but the whole Piney Peaks bubble, where everything he ever wanted seemed within reach.
“Hey!”
He turns back to her.
“I am lucky, you know,” she says. “I’m really glad I met you, Ves Hollins.”
His chest twists like someone’s wringing out a wet rag. Her words have a note of finality, like this is a goodbye. And he wishes it weren’t.
All these weeks he’d cursed the valuation specialists for not being here on time, forcing him to wait it out. Giving him the time to fall for the town, for her. The memories he’s made here won’t melt away like morning frost. They’ve stacked one on top of the other, a steadfast tundra in his mind.
And now? Now he wishes he’d never picked up that phone call last night. Then maybe he’d be cocooned in bed with her, happy and sated, not out here shivering and bereft of her warmth. Christmas is almost upon them, but he feels like he’s already clutching a lump of coal.
“I feel like I’ve known you forever,” he says, but even so, it’s not nearly enough.
He wants more and he wants it with her.
But how would that discussion even go? After everything she’s done to make her career work out in Piney Peaks, he can’t see her giving it all up to move to the city. After losing Maeve and her grandma Lou, of course she wants every possible day she can get with Grandpa Dave. She wants to learn the ropes of managing the Chocolate Mouse so she’s ready to take over one day—hopefully far in the future—when her parents retire.
Everything she loves in her life is here. He’d be the biggest jerk to even ask her for more.
Elisha’s smile is bittersweet. “I’m not ready for it to be over.”
Their shared sentiments won’t change anything. This was a nice holiday, but he knows he doesn’t belong here, no matter how easy it was to pretend he did. And her stance on long-distance relationships won’t change. So they’re at an impasse. Maybe it’s just better to part on good terms.
The brisk air steals his oxygen, or maybe it’s just looking at her beautiful face and knowing that it’s all coming to an end.
“Me neither,” he admits. We said no strings, he reminds himself. No strings.
“But are you still going to stay?” She falters. “For Christmas, I mean. The end of the Winter Festival. You said Damian told you to take your time, so you could—I mean, if you wanted.”
She’s giving him an opening. It’s the exact opposite of no strings, and he latches onto it with the grip of a desperate man.
“I’ll be home—I mean, here for Christmas,” he promises.
Chapter Forty-Six
Ves
Adam proposes to Solana in the Old Stoat after Friday-night trivia, five minutes into his shift, two feet away from Ves and Elisha. The happy screeches pound in Ves’s ears, even though he puts on a good face.
“Congratulations,” he says, shaking Adam’s hand and returning Solana’s hug.
His blood buzzes pleasantly when he sips his wassail, and then it positively electrifies when Elisha bridges the gap between them with her hand, lacing their fingers loosely together. He likes her friends, so he’s happy to be part of their moment, but it’s with a bittersweet twinge that he acknowledges a new beginning on the eve of his own new beginning’s end.
“I want a spring wedding!” Solana exclaims giddily. She thumps her empty glass of wine on the counter, voice loud and merry. “Ves, it’s so beautiful when everything is in bloom. Beautiful like Elisha! Don’t sell your beautiful house, either! You’ll need it when you come back!”
He lofts a brow. He wonders if he can get drunk Solana to admit that she was steering him in the wrong direction regarding the housing market. He’d figured out her meddling a while ago.
“Oh, bless.” Elisha kisses her friend’s cheek. “You don’t even have a date fixed yet, you drunk mess.”
“Well, we will! And Ves should be there! As your plus-one, obviously!”
His heart doubles in size. It’s humbling that his presence isn’t just wanted, it’s expected. As though, of course he’s going to be there on the day of the wedding day, what absolute nonsense to think otherwise!
Solana gets caught up in another round of celebratory drinks and thankfully the subject is dropped, but her exuberant proclamations have sobered him right up.
All Ves can think about is what color Elisha will paint her nails in spring. In summer. Seeing the flowers Maeve loved so much. Putting her to rest somewhere really beautiful.
Another year of trivia Fridays and wiping the floor with Dork Academia. Asking Elisha to move in with him, making the Christmas House truly theirs. Getting up early on the weekends to pitch in at the Chocolate Mouse and learning how to make bebinca, if they’ll let him in on the family recipe. Double dates in New York with Arun and Cade. Asking Grandpa Dave what their next woodworking project will be.
God, he wants this life so fucking much.
Ves doesn’t want the Piney Peaks bubble to be popped by reality—he wants this life to be his reality. He wants this life in a snow globe to put up on a shelf, beautiful and tangible and his.
“Forget coming as Elisha’s plus-one,” says Adam, leaning in to speak into Ves’s ear. “We want you in the wedding party.”
Before Ves can do more than gape at him, Adam claps him on the back and heads off. As he and Solana flit among the crowd accepting congratulations and well wishes, it occurs to Ves just how quickly they accepted him as one of their own. At no point has either of them judged him or made him feel less than. No one in Piney Peaks ever has.
Maybe it’s not that he’s unlovable or that there’s anything wrong with his relationships. Maybe it’s that the tight-knit families of the Claires and Noras of the world are just shitty people who don’t understand that not everyone is like them.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to be loved unconditionally and unreservedly by the people who brought you into this world. But that’s a reflection of them, not you.
It hits him like a sucker punch: if he leaves, he’ll never get a chance to see if he and Elisha even have a chance in hell.
“Sorry about her,” Elisha says now, casting a fond look at her friend. “She knows we were keeping this casual, but she doesn’t know that it’s over for good when you leave.”
His stomach gives a sour lurch.
She sucks her teeth. “Shit. I didn’t mean ‘for good.’ I meant—”
“I know what you meant.” He hopes his voice doesn’t sound as hollow as he feels. “It’s getting a little much in here. Can we step outside for some fresh air?”
She hops off her stool and goes with him to the door. He holds it open for her before following her into the night. Lumpy snowflakes are gently tumbling down to join the untouched snow brushing streets, cars, and rooftops. It’s like someone’s dusted icing sugar all over the town.
“Beautiful,” Elisha breathes, tipping her head back. “Looks like it’s going to be a white Christmas.”
“Beautiful,” he agrees, looking at her instead.
She must hear the catch in his voice, because she burrows into his arms. He holds her close, sheltering her from even the slightest gust of wind, knowing that if he could, he’d do it for the rest of his life.
“You’re cute when you’re all cuddly,” she says, words muffled into his chest. Her hands wrap around his back, squeezing tight. “I don’t want to let go of you.”
He tucks his head on top of hers. “I was going to say the same thing.”
“I said it first.”
He starts to snort at her adorable, triumphant tone, but then disguises it as a laugh. “Fine, you win.”
Piney Peaks is so quiet. Literally, not a creature is stirring. Main Street twinkles with lights, but everyone is inside houses or restaurants. Spirals of smoke puff out of chimneys, trailing up to the stars before fading away entirely. The Christmas Market surrounding the church has wrapped up for the season, and as the church bell chimes ten times before plunging the town back into silence, Ves shivers.
In New York, it’s impossible to escape the sheer amount of life that hums on every street corner. He’s never stood outside in the open air and felt like one of only two people in the universe. It brings a clarity like he’s never felt before, along with a rush of determination to get this off his chest before his courage dwindles. “This is going to be the happiest and saddest Christmas of my life, Elisha.”
She pulls back to look at him. “Ves . . .”
Swiftly, he shakes his head. “No, let me say it. I know we said we wouldn’t do strings, but every inch of me is so goddamn knotted up in you that I can’t just go home and bury everything that’s happened in a box. I can’t. No, not can’t. I won’t. At this point, it’s a physical impossibility to walk away from this. From us. I want to keep seeing you. We can make this work.”
There, he’s said it. He’s handed her his heart and now he has to trust she won’t break it.
Elisha’s inhale is ragged. “Ves, I . . . I like you a lot. But I’ve done the long-distance thing before. And I know you aren’t Bentley, and maybe things will be different for us, but I don’t want to be naïve little Elisha again. I can’t feel like that again. All those years ago, when I waited and waited for Bentley to join me like he promised, all I could do was cling to the belief that he wanted a life here with me as much as I did. That he was choosing me. And with every missed day, with every excuse, I still wanted to believe in him so much. I put the kind of stock in us that kids put in Santa Claus.”
Her self-deprecating laugh skewers Ves’s heart as she continues, “I kind of hate myself for saying this, because I believe in the underdog beating the odds, but I can’t put myself through that kind of disappointment again. You know I came back home for my family, and it’s still just as important to me as ever. I can do weekends with you in the city, but eventually that won’t be enough for either of us. New York is your home. Piney Peaks is mine. Do you see that ever changing? Can you honestly say you’d be happy with having a girlfriend you only see a couple of days a week?”
The honest answer is no, he wants her every day, but they can still try, can’t they? “We can text. FaceTime. And I can come visit you here. We have options.”
Ves tries to sound confident, but fuck, he’s already coming around to her way of thinking. Technology connects people, but it’s also a reminder of the distance between them.
He wants to wake up every day with her legs tangled in his, her hand splayed possessively over his chest, her morning frizz tickling him as she buries her face in his neck. He wants to hear all about her day while cooking dinner together before cuddling up on the couch with Thor and Thorin and hot chocolate with way too many marshmallows to watch a film. He wants to end the night making love and falling asleep in each other’s arms.
