“Dessert?” Christian asked, instead, after a beat.
“I can’t eat anything else,” Merry declared, one hand pressed dramatically to her stomach. “If I so much as smell another pastry, I might combust.”
Christian laughed. “Agreed. But we still need dessert.”
She turned to him, eyes wide. “We had some.”
“Nope,” he said. “That was pre-dessert cider and donuts. This is dessert dessert.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re making this up.”
“Not at all. It’s a thing. And look—” He pointed behind them to a stall glowing with giant red-and-white candy canes, shiny and thick, stacked like festive swords. “Perfect.”
Merry let out a soft laugh. “You’re not serious.”
“Deadly,” he said. “A proper finale. Plus, we don’t have to eat them all at once.”
She rolled her eyes but followed him to the counter, letting him pay for a pair of oversized canes. Christian watched her as she slowly unwrapped hers, peeling the plastic back inch by inch and then sliding the end between her lips. Big mistake.
“Spicy,” she said. “Cinnamon. That’s a surprise.”
He opened his mouth to respond but nothing came out.
She licked along the side of it thoughtfully. “I like it.”
Christian’s brain short-circuited. Every drop of blood in his body seemed to redirect southward. He was barely still standing.
He needed to capture this moment for ever. He whipped out his phone and told Merry to smile.
Merry smiled for the camera, tongue still on the candy cane, innocently oblivious to what she was doing to him. “You okay?”
“Fine,” he said, voice higher than normal. “Totally fine.”
He tried to focus on the lights, on the chill in the air, anything that wasn’t the obscene beauty of her mouth wrapped around a piece of candy.
She looked at him sideways, her smile just a little wicked. “Are you blushing?”
He gave her a crooked grin, trying to play it cool even as he fought the urge to shift in place. “Not even slightly.”
“Hmm.” She popped the candy cane back into her mouth. “That’s a shame. I’ll have to try harder.”
Chapter 13
MERRY
Maybe it was the cider or the sheer absurd joy of the night, but something inside her had snapped loose. She wanted to kiss him. Hard. Wanted to throw caution so far to the wind it might never find its way back. She parted her lips slightly and tilted her face towards his, heart hammering.
Then the sky cracked open.
It didn’t just rain, it slammed down like a curtain dropping mid-scene, drenching them in seconds. The Christmas lights blurred, candy-cane red and white twisting in watery streaks.
“Jesus Christ!” she yelped, bursting into laughter as the cold hit her like a freight train.
Christian let out a strangled shout, one hand flying up over his head in a pathetic attempt to shield himself. “I knew I should’ve brought an umbrella!”
“You’re a native New Yorker,” she laughed, grabbing his arm and tugging. “Aren’t you supposed to own this?”
The market was already dissolving into chaos with vendors yanking down tarps and people screaming and scattering like chickens. He gripped her hand in his and they ran. Merry’s feet slapped against the pavement, her hand locked in Christian’s, their laughter echoing through the sudden storm. Rain poured from the sky, soaking her to the bone, but she didn’t care.
