“What?” Leo asked.
He searched my face as if something there could lessen the shot I launched across the bow. But it hit him square in the chest; staggering and fatal. The fight leached out of him, replaced by a searing fear. He gripped my arms, tightening until his hands stopped shaking.
“Bennett, I can explain—“
“Which one is the lie?”
“The second one.” His tone was flat,almost deadened.
“And when you pushed me away on the overlook, you did it because you thought I’d eventually find out what happened and hate you for it?”
Leo swallowed hard. “Truth”
“But you were wrong. I’m not angry. Not at you. I’m furious at your father for making you choose. How cruel.”
My hand cupped the side of Leo’s face, and he leaned into it.
I steadied my voice. “I’m touched you offered to pay back my parents and help them get ahead, and while I was infatuated with the boy who taught me to ski, I am in love with the man who bought this lodge and blackmailed me into helping him save it.”
“That better be another truth,” Leo said, his voice rough with emotion.
“It is.”
“I love you, Bennett,” Leo whispered into my mouth as he pulled me in for a lingering kiss. He dragged himself away with a groan and pressed our foreheads together.
“I have loved you since I first saw you warm up your boots. I tried to stop, and I know I broke your heart, but I have loved you every day. Every minute. And every second you didn’t know that, kills me. Because you need to know how much you mean to me. How much I want to spend every single Christmas with you. Every holiday. Every day.”
I poked him in the chest with a soft laugh. “Well, I work holidays.”
“Then I go to where you are.”
“It’s a deal,” I said, going up on my toes to seal it with a kiss.
Leo framed my face with his hands, and we sank onto the sofa. He deepened the kiss. The feel of his mouth was almost too addictive, rivaling the heated moment at the overlook.
But this time, it didn’t end the same way.
We didn’t rush. The snow was the perfect accomplice. A card-carrying member of Team Villain savoring its nefarious scheme.
It deserved a promotion.
I wrapped my legs around Leo’s waist as his mouth trailed kisses along my collarbone, my head falling back with a silent moan. Heat from the fireplace warmed my back, and the quiet crackle of the flames were hypnotic as I slid my hands into his hair.
“It’s always been you, Bennett,” Leo’s husky murmur, had me searching for his mouth again. He kissed me with those words still hanging in the air, until they became part of me. Until I believed it.
He gentled the kiss, almost reluctant to pull away, but when I searched his face, I understood the look in his eyes. We had all night, and maybe even a small part of him was afraid I'd be gone by morning. But I wasn't going anywhere. This was where I belonged.
Leo wrapped his arms around me as we lay on the sofa. The quiet settled around us in the place where we'd met. The place Leo had restored with his own hand, and the place where our hearts felt most at home.
“I can’t believe you’re mine this Christmas,” he said, tracing light circles over my skin with the tips of his fingers.
I snuggled deeper in his arms. “I can’tbelieve you wore an elf costume.”
Leo winced. “I can’t believe a photo of it ran in the paper.”
“I kept it, you know.”
“So did I.” He tickled my ribs. “We’ll have to print a copy for your parents’ collage of awkward Sage photos.”
