And he looks at me when he says it.
Not at the pastries.
At me.
Warmth spreads through my chest. I shouldn’t like the way he stares at me, but God help me… I really, really do.
“Anyway.” Lily reaches under the counter, pulls out her phone. “Speaking of Santa, I tried calling you about fifty times today. What if it was an emergency?”
“Was it?” I grab a snowflake cookie from the display plate on the counter, taking a bite and offering one to Chris, who takes it. Butter and vanilla and just the right amount of crunch. Perfect, like everything Lily makes. “I was in concentration management mode.”
“You’re always in that mode.” She swipes through her phone, turns it to show me, coming around from behind the counter where James is. Fifteen missed calls. Twenty-three texts. All from her.
I scan the texts quickly.
Lily: COPS ARRESTED SANTA
Lily: okay, not cops, bounty hunters
Lily: Declan’s a CRIMINAL
Lily: arson!!! He burned down cabins!!!
Lily: got a replacement but he’s TERRIFYING
Lily: also hot but that’s not the point
Lily: HANNAH, ANSWER YOUR PHONE
“Okay, that would’ve made more sense.” I’m still giggling as I hand Chris the phone so he can read Lily’s deranged message thread. He looks entirely too pleased with himself.
He sets the phone down, gaze cutting to me. “Would it have mattered? If youhadseen the messages? Would you still have kissed me?”
The room goes quiet.
Lily’s eyebrows shoot up. “Wait—you kissed him?”
My face heats so fast I’m surprised the frosting on the cookies doesn’t melt. “It wasn’t… I didn’t.” I gesture helplessly. “Scot was coming at me under the mistletoe, and I thought Chris was Declan, okay? It was supposed to be a quick cheek kiss. A diversion. And then…” I swallow. “Well. Things escalated.”
James glances at Chris over Lily’s head. A single, male, acknowledging nod.
Traitor.
Chris’s mouth curves, slow and satisfied.
“Oh, sweetheart. That wasn’t a diversion.” His voice dips, low enough to vibrate in places I don’t want to think about. “You kissed me like you were trying to drag me under. Like you wanted to see if I’d drown with you.”
Fire climbs up my neck and cheeks.
Lily practically wheezes. “HANNAH!”
“Shut. Up,” I hiss.
Chris only leans back against the counter like he didn’t just verbally body-slam me into next week. “For the record, I’ve been hit harder than that, but never by anyone who tasted that good.”
“I’m moving to Alaska. Don’t contact me.”
“No,” Lily says, delighted. “We are living here forever. In this moment. I’m framing it.”
