Juniper Hollow.
The idea settled into my thoughts and refused to leave.
By the time I finally stood and reached for my bag, I had a feeling I knew exactly who I was going to call.
EIGHTEEN
KIERAN
At some point, I was going to have to stop letting this man talk me into things.
The thought should have been alarming. Instead, it made me smile.
"You look suspiciously happy over there."
I glanced away from the window.
Thane's attention remained on the road, but the corner of his mouth had lifted.
"I'm thinking."
"Dangerous."
"Says the man who convinced me to leave Seattle and spend Christmas in a town neither of us has ever visited."
His grin widened. "You agreed surprisingly fast."
"You asked surprisingly well."
The laugh that escaped him settled warmly somewhere beneath my ribs.
Outside the windshield, the scenery continued to change.
The closer we got to Juniper Hollow, the less everything looked like the Seattle I'd known all my life. The buildings grew smaller. The roads felt quieter.
It wasn't that the town looked more festive than Seattle. It was that everything seemed slower. Cozier.
The entire place felt less interested in rushing toward the next thing.
I rested my elbow against the window and watched a family carrying a Christmas tree across a parking lot as we passed.
A few minutes later, I caught Thane checking the rearview mirror. Again. Then his gaze shifted briefly to one of the side mirrors. Then back to the road ahead.
I tried not to smile. "You know, if someone’s following us, they're probably getting suspicious."
He glanced briefly at me with eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"Because you've checked your mirrors four hundred times in the last hour."
"I have not."
"Yes, you have."
"I play professional hockey. Observation is part of my job."
I chuckled. "Pretty sure that's not how hockey works."
"Shows what you know."
