Page 77 of Eight Days of Christmas
He ran his hands over his jeans, trying to rub warmth back into them. His eyes scanned her body, paying close attention to the shirt she wore. His hockey jersey. No question, she definitely wore it better. So much so, he couldn’t wait to tear it off her.
Leo gazed at her, pinching the sweater and pulling her into him. “The mystery of my missing hockey jersey has been solved.”
“You caught me.” Pink tinted her cheeks. “Do you want it back?”
“Not a chance. It looks way better on you.”
She smiled but her eyes shifted.
He bent to get a closer look at her. “What’s wrong?”
Hesitation played out on her face, and she scrunched her lips into a thought before speaking. “So I was all set to finally tell my parents about what happened.”
“Oh wow, really?”
“But apparently your dad already told them. They were just waiting until I was ready to talk to them about it.”
His eyes widened, and then with a shrug he said, “I’m sure knowing everything helped them understand why you haven’t been home.”
“It did. But it made me realize something. You and I still have the same dilemma. You’re Colorado, and I’m New York.”
He pulled her in closer, pressing her body against his, and breathed in the intoxicating scent of her freshly washed hair. He grazed her lip with his thumb before he planted a kiss there on her soft mouth.
When he pulled back, he said, “Maybe we could learn to be something else. Maybe, just maybe, things could work out for us for a change. We just have to be open to it. Not scared of what might or might not happen.”
“I’m trying, I’m really trying.” She sucked her lower lip in between her teeth.
“I know. Me too.” Then he tugged her toward the bed, and she giggled against his chest as they crashed together.
They made love until they were both exhausted yet utterly exhilarated from one another’s touch, kiss…presence.
Leo held Isabella, touching her in ways he hadn’t been able to before—a caress along her sleek throat, admiration of her beautiful writer’s hands, kisses down the curve of her hips that made him absolutely wild.
He gazed at her even after she’d fallen asleep in his arms.
His phone buzzed, interrupting him.
Was this going to happen every time they were together?
A soft glow from the low-sitting sun slanted through the sheer curtains cascading her in half shadow. She looked beautiful as she slept, one arm tucked possessively over his. He could stay here for the rest of the night, draw her into him, and just hold her until morning.
But his phone buzzed again. He reached for it, checking the time. Four-thirty in the afternoon. The sun would set soon, then the Whitleys and Hoffmans would all meet in town for Pineridge’s Tree Lighting Festival tonight. Blowing off the familyandtradition wasn’t an option.
Leo scrolled through the notifications on his phone. There was an email from a client for an urgent order for prints by Christmas. The New York-based customer was interested in ordering four prints and wanted assurance they’d reach the recipient by Christmas Day. He checked the calendar app on his phone. If he drove out to his home, printed the images, and prepared them, he could swing by the post office on his way to the festival and ship the order overnight. Overnighting was expensive, but even choosing two-day shipping and hoping the order would arrive on Christmas Eve was risky.
Leo emailed the customer, letting him know the price difference for overnighting the order and returned his phone to the nightstand. He gazed at Isabella again, her dark hair spilling over the pillow. He traced his finger ever so gently over her bare skin and the curve of her back.
His phone buzzed again.
Leo checked his email, surprised to find a response from the New York customer. And even more shocking—the order had already been paid for. He tore his eyes away from the captivating woman next to him and slid out of bed and yanked on his jeans. Seeing her so peaceful, he couldn’t bear the thought of waking her. But he didn’t want to just leave without saying anything like a jackass.
He padded over to her desk where he found a small notebook and a pen. Tearing off a piece of paper, he hovered over it, glancing at her again. His mind was an explosion of reality and fantasy as he remembered their lovemaking from only hours before. He jotted down a quick note to her, folded it, and slipped it underneath her phone on the nightstand. After he’d dressed, he pressed a kiss to her forehead and hauled himself out the window once again.
By the time Leo made the winding, snowy drive, it was dark when he finally parked his truck in the driveway of his home. He headed inside, stomping the snow from his boots and hurrying into his office to get to work on filling the order.
His office had a black, modern glass desk with a desktop computer and state-of-the-art professional printer used for giclee and top-quality archival printing. He prepped the machine for printing the order. The four images the customer had chosen from his website were some of Leo’s favorite landmarks in Colorado. Two from Denver and two from the Rockies.
While the printer worked its magic, he prepped the mailing stickers for the Kraft mailing tubes, silently grumbling as he read New York City as the ship-to address. He couldn’t help his mind from traveling from the thought of New York to Isabella.
