Stepping down as mayor lifted a weight off my shoulders in more ways than one. It’s freed me up to let go of some of the lifelong pressure I’ve felt from my last name. Allowed me to separate who I am from my ancestry. It’s also given me more time to focus on my new wife, which is really theonlything I want to focus on these days. It turns out Pops was right—I’ve scored the biggest jackpot on earth in loving Clara. I have a hard time thinking about anything other than the incredible woman sitting next to me.
She takes a sip of her hot cocoa, then sets it on the table next to mine before burrowing under my arm against my side. “Even though I’ve seen bits and pieces of the footage, I’m so nervous to see the real thing for the first time,” Clara says, face buried in her hands.
Grasping her wrists, I pull her hands away from her face. I press a kiss to each fingertip before angling my neck down to kiss her lips. “It’s going to be perfect,” I tell her.
She sighs and leans in to kiss me again, reaching one hand up to thread her fingers through my hair.
“Better be careful, or I’m going to carry you back to our room, and you’ll miss your movie debut,” I growl, only half teasing. Clara kisses the tip of my nose, then settles back in to watch the movie.
When Renee’s character first encounters Jack on the screen, he’s all rough edges and gruff bluster. “Hey, this guy is nothing like me,” I whine, squeezing Clara’s knee right where I know she’s ticklish.
“Who said he was inspired by you?” she exclaims between gasping giggles. I narrow my eyes at her. “Okay, okay, he was 99 percent inspired by you. But you’ll see past Jack’s grumpy exterior to his heart of liquid gold soon enough.”
Clara winks at me, and I’m tempted to make good on my threat to forgo the movie and carry her back to our bedroom. Instead, I tuck her tighter to my side, kissing her temple.
“The liquid gold might have stayed buried forever if not for the spunky, Christmas-loving beauty who came and rescued this grumpy Nole,” I murmur. “Who knew I’d be saved by No-el?”
Clara untucks herself from my side and swings a leg over my lap, straddling me. She places a hand on either cheek and studies my face. My hands find her waist, and I study her back. After getting lost momentarily in her cornflower-blue eyes, I ask, “What is it?”
“You say you were saved by No-el, but you weren’t the only one who needed a rescue. I don’t know that I ever would have prioritized my own passion if I hadn’t come here and met you. This movie”—she gestures over her shoulder—“literally wouldn’texist if I hadn’t stumbled upon this town. Saved by Nole,” she finishes with a thoughtful smile.
Clara leans down to press her soft lips to mine with all the tenderness mirrored in her eyes.
The tenderness quickly deepens into passion, and I kiss my way from her lips across her chin, down the slope of her neck.
“Clark?” Clara murmurs. “I’ll watch the movie on rerun. I’d like you to carry me to our bedroom now.”
I smile against her neck, then reach up to thread my fingers through her curls.
“As you wish.”
