Page 94 of Santa Baby

“Not entirely. I should have told him the same thing that I should have told you.”

My stomach sank into my boots. “Told me what?”

“That I love you.”

The words hit me in the chest and bloomed into hope. “You love me?”

“I’ve loved you since you walked in the door of my restaurant, skirting the rules I laid out for you when you agreed to this scheme, Fia. God, I loved you then. I didn’t realize it for a while. When I did, that’s all I could think about. How I wish we could go back to that night and do it the right way, from the beginning. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

I chewed on my lower lip. “You love me?”

“I’m in love with you, yes. I can’t stand here and pretend like I’ve ever been a man of many words but I know this for certain—” He licked his lips, looking down at his hands as he reached for me. “Being around you feels like I’ve been missing something and finally found it. Like there was a piece of me walking around the city that I’d been searching for and completed me when I saw you for the first time. You are everything to me. You saw me when no one else did. You never saw me as just another rich idiot in a suit. You saw me, and that felt like I’d come home. Every time we’re together, I feel like I’m home, and I don’t want to be without you again.”

Tears flooded my eyes. He reached up, dragging his thumbs over my cheeks to wipe them away.

“I should be groveling on my knees for you to forgive me for the way I acted when I found out about your job opportunity in California, Fia, I’m sorry.”

I clutched his wrists, leaning into his touch. “I wasn’t going to take it.”

“Why not? You would be perfect.”

“There wasn’t a question in my mind about where I was meant to be.” I looked into his eyes. He understood. I could tell as he looked down at me, taking a deep breath. “I wanted to be here with you. You’re the only thing that makes sense to me right now. Everything else is just noise.”

“If you change your mind, I’ll go with you to California. We’d make it work.”

“That’s not necessary,” I said. “I have an idea for my own business. I can’t do it in LA. Plus, everything I love is here. You’re here.”

His throat worked as he swallowed, his eyes searching mine.

“I love you, too,” I said.

His lips slammed into mine in a desperate, heated kiss that had my toes curling in my boots. I closed my eyes and leaned into it, wrapping my arms around his neck as he lifted me off the ground. I was sure I was about to start blubbering. I could feel the Christmas magic seeping back into my wounded heart as he knitted it back together again.

“Tell me about your morning,” he said as he let me down and laced his fingers in mine. We sat at a nearby bench and watched the snow fall as I told him about breakfast, and opening presents, and finding the letter, and opening it…

“What did you get for Christmas?” I asked.

“I haven’t been back to my parents’ apartment yet,” he admitted.

“I have a gift for you back at my parents’ house,” I said with a touch of regret. “It’s nothing big but it made me think of you.”

He nodded, but he looked down at his shoes, his eyes lost in thought for a moment. “I have something for you too. A few things, actually, but this is the most important one.”

My body locked up in surprise as he stood up and walked a few paces away. I rose, feeling strange about the way he was moving. I’d never seen him this nervous before.

“Are you all right?” I asked, my voice gravelly as he turned around with his hands in his pockets.

“Nothing would change if you’re not ready,” he said. “It wouldn’t change a thing.”

“What wouldn’t?”

Mason O’Leary got down on one knee in the snow, the white-washed trees and the frost-covered fountain rising behind him. He was sharply contrasted against the gray light and white backdrop as he pulled a light blue ring box out of his pocket. His eyes locked on mine and were full of hope, full of love. “Fia.”

My lips parted as he opened the ring box, revealing a startlingly beautiful emerald surrounded by perfect diamonds. “But it’s not New Year’s.”

He laughed a bit nervously and shook his head. “Proposing to you on New Year’s would have wasted your favorite holiday, remember?”

He’d said that to me before. It was the moment I knew, in my soul, that I felt something deep for him, and had to bargain with my own feelings from thereafter.