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It was such a beautiful mouth. She couldn’t even remember when she’d last been properly kissed. Would Alec be a good kisser? Would he rush, or take his time?
Her gaze lifted, rising to look into his eyes. His expression made her go hot all over. Surely he didn’t know what she’d been thinking? Embarrassed, flustered, she took a long drink, hoping the beer would cool her off. Instead she felt even warmer.
“When is the last time you came here?” she asked, trying to distract herself.
“Years.”
She glanced around at the good-natured crowd, young men with friends, couples, lots of seniors, too, and compared the easygoing crowd to the quiet and formality of Langley Park. Suddenly, she flashed back to the conversation with the aunts in the kitchen, about how Alec had been alone and lonely as a boy, and it made her feel so many things. She couldn’t even articulate all the different emotions. She just knew that she wanted to be even closer to him. She wanted to hold his hand, lean in to him, feel his mouth on hers.
“Cara,” he said.
She looked up at him, strangely breathless.
His gaze locked with hers, his expression intent, and then his head dropped and he kissed her, a brief kiss, but it sent a shock of sensation through her, zapping her from head to toe.
“Happy Christmas Eve,” he said, his voice deep.
“Happy Christmas Eve to you, too,” she said, blushing as another tremor coursed through her. She liked this guy. Probably way too much considering she’d be returning to Washington in just four days, but she wasn’t going to think about that now.
She just wanted to be happy right now, and she was so happy with him. She’d never felt this way with anyone, and she didn’t know why gruff, complicated Alec was the person who made her feel most comfortable in her skin, but he did.
Alec got a second pint but she didn’t need another one, and they talked about this and that, and when someone accidentallystaggered, bumping Cara hard, Alec said something sharp to the man, and the man apologized to Cara. Alec brought Cara even closer, his arm around her, protecting her from being bumped again, and Cara couldn’t remember when she’d last felt this way—alive, beautiful, hopeful. She felt good standing in the circle of Alec’s arm, ridiculously content.
On the way home, he held her hand,to keep her from falling, he’d said. She didn’t care why he did it, only that he did.
She knew she shouldn’t get too excited because it was Christmas Eve and they’d had some drinks, and it was only natural to be more expressive on a night like this, but it was hard to keep a tight rein on her heart, hard to not feel so much and want even more.
Back at the house, Alec let the dogs out, and he asked Cara if she wanted to join him. She did. As the dogs ran ahead, Alec held Cara’s hand and they walked in the quiet night, the stars shining overhead. She looked up, trying to see if she could find the North Star, the star of Bethlehem, and the stars were all so bright that she wasn’t sure which star was the star, but it didn’t matter. Everything was good.Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright.
Alec came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and held her. He was so tall that his chin rested on the top of her head.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, his deep voice humming through her.
“You’ll laugh,” she said, covering his hands with hers.
“I won’t.”
“You might. But it’s okay. We don’t have to tell anyone.”
She laughed, and she could feel his chest move. He was laughing with her. Cara felt a bubble of happiness rise within her. She loved when he laughed, and she loved that she could make him laugh.
She loved that tonight he was relaxed and felt good. “I was thinking this just might be the most wonderful night of my life.”
He turned and kissed her, and it was as if fireworks were going off, light and fizz, sparks and heat, and she silently changed her mind.
There was nomightbe the most wonderful night of her life.
Itwasthe most wonderful night of her life. Period.
Chapter Twelve
She woke uphappy.Smiling.When had that last happened?
For a moment, Cara lay in bed and just felt good, remembering her dream, also happy, and then last night at the pub with Alec. And then the walk home. And finally that kiss, outside, beneath the stars. It had been absolutely magical.
Dressed, Cara went downstairs, discovered coffee had been made, and after pouring herself a cup, she made a quick decision that rather than worry about breakfast, she’d just focus on Christmas dinner, and create a timeline for getting everything done.
She took several old cookbooks off the shelves and sat at the counter with her coffee, flipping through the cookbooks, studying recipes, wanting to be sure she was giving the turkey an English treatment. Fortunately, from everything she read, cooking a turkey was essentially cooking a turkey, and not very much different from what her mother did every year at home.
