“I . . . no . . . I mean, yes . . . but not . . . Oh my God, I’m going to turn around now.”
“You don’t have to,” he said, grinning, finally zipping the sweater the rest of the way. “I’m decent now.”
Merry turned away anyway, pressing a hand to her flaming cheek as she muttered, “I’m never going to recover from this. Please don’t tell your fiancée about this. I’d hate for them to get the wrong idea.”
The grin that spread across Christian’s face could’ve lit up the entire city block. “Oh, I don’t actually have a fiancée. I only said that to get Dragon Lady off your back.” He pulled the tag from the jumper and stepped out of the cubicle, standing beside her like nothing had happened, even though the space between them felt electric.
“Better?” she asked, letting a slow grin spread across her face and whipping the tag from his hands. “My treat.”
“It’s fine,” he replied. “Honestly.”
“There’s no way I’m going to let you freeze to death because I stole your jacket,” she said, pulling out her purse.
“I’ll get it,” he said, but she waved him away, handing the money to the cashier.
“It’s my fault you’re soaked through,” she said. “Do you want a jacket too?”
“I’m good.” He opened the door to the elements. “Thanks for the present. It feels like Christmas already.”
“If all Santa brings you is a twelve-dollar sweater, then I feel sorry for you,” she said. “Right, my stop is just down there.”
She pointed towards the glowing entrance of the subway station, the light catching in her damp hair as she pulled Christian’s coat more tightly around herself.
“Thanks again,” she added, lifting a hand in farewell. “For the company. And, you know, for not letting me freeze to death.”
Before he could say anything else, she turned and jogged down the steps into the station, her shoes splashing through the puddles. Christian stood there a second too long, the door half-open behind him, cold wind slicing in until the cashier shouted at him to get the hell out and shut the door behind him.
He stepped outside, tucking his hands into the pockets of his new sweater, and started walking north up Fifth Avenue. The streets shimmered with rain and twinkling reflections, taxis crawling by in ribbons of yellow. He barely noticed the rain anymore, lost in his thoughts about the drink he’d just had and the girl he’d got to know.
He reached his hotel and stepped through the revolving doors, the doorman nodding politely. Inside the elevator, he caught his reflection in the gold trim. The green sweater clung to his shoulders. He pressed the button for the top floor and leaned against the back wall, his thoughts far from the luxury suite waiting upstairs.
He’d almost told her what he was doing back in New York. The words had been there, perched on the edge of his tongue. But it was too risky, because he didn’t really know her well enough yet. He wanted to know more.
He wanted to know what kind of music she listened to when she was alone. Whether she hated mornings or was the type to bounce out of bed with the sunrise. What made her eyes do that sparkly thing they’d done in the changing room. If he could make her laugh like that again, but on purpose this time — that wouldn’t be a chore.
The elevator chimed and the doors slid open. Christian stepped out into the plush hallway and made his way to his room. He unlocked the door, stepped inside and let it close behind him with a soft click. Then he pulled off the sweater, held it in his hands for a long moment and hung it carefully over the back of a chair.
Just in case he needed it again tomorrow.
Chapter 7
MERRY
Merry flew through the door of Carroll’s so fast she almost collided with the greeter who was standing there.
“I’m sorry!” she yelled, smearing the rain from her face so that her blurry eyes could focus. The fierce wind snatched at the lumberjack coat, threatening to pull her back on to Fifth Avenue, but she stood her ground, her teeth chattering against the cold.
“Welcome to Carroll’s!” the greeter said. “Have a merry— Oh, Merry!”
Merry squinted, recognising her friend Alice.
“Sorry, Alice,” she said. “I’m late.”
“Solate,” Alice said, checking her watch. “Like, thirty minutes. Again. What happened this time?”
“Traffic,” she replied, running past Alice and heading for the elevators. Mrs Cradley would be stalking the ground floor with her clipboard, and Merry prayed that she wouldn’t see her. She couldn’t stand the idea of being told off again by the Dragon Lady.
This time, she couldn’t fight the smile. Christian had given Mrs Cradley that nickname last night and she’d thought about little else since. Christian that was, not Mrs Cradley. She wanted to try and stalk him on social media now she knew he was single, but she had no idea what his surname was. So instead, Merry had gone over their conversation as she’d fallen asleep. The sight of him in the changing room was for ever burned into her mind, and not even her roommate’s noises had dampened her spirits. In fact, quite the opposite. She’d had to put on her headphones and listen to calming brown noise to stop herself getting too worked up to sleep. Turned out her headphones also blocked out her alarm, and she’d slept in, again.
