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Denise shrugged. "We’ll find out."
"Merry Christmas."
"Are you going to be back on board after Christmas, or do you want me to keep up with your bookings?"
I closed my eyes and the words lodged in my throat. "I'll be back on board the twenty-seventh," I managed, even dropping a cheery note in there.
Denise’s eyes narrowed, darting between the man on my back and my face. "Do you want to talk later?"
"See you on the twenty-seventh." My smile started to fall apart, the words burning the back of my tongue with bitter seeds.
"Yes, ma’am." Denise hugged me fiercely and nodded to Ford. "Merry Christmas," she said, with all the levity of a mafia Don proclaiming a family death.
"Merry Christmas," Ford echoed, as I closed the door behind Denise,
Suddenly, though I still had two guests, my small apartment was bereft of the noisy souls of the moment, before leaving me with an alpaca and his master.
I leaned my back to the door and closed my eyes. "I'm exhausted.”
"You never got much sleep last night." Ford’s fingers brushed across my waist. My breath hitched at his proximity. "From what it sounds like."
"Not much. Christmas probably goes a lot longer where you're from," I managed a grin. "But we're early risers, and now we kinda crash for the rest of the afternoon. Our own weird little Christmas Siesta."
I shut my mouth after that. All of us had to get back to work tomorrow and Jeremiah never really stopped. No doubt somebody would break or another door or the heating would go out or something.
Not everybody got to do anything they wanted over Christmas.
"Good."
"Good?" I cracked an eye and stared through the slanted lens at Ford. "Why is that good?"
"Because I've been waiting for hours to do this."
Two large, rough hands cupped my cheeks as he leaned in and pressed his mouth tenderly to mine.
Ignoring my breaking heart, I wound my arms around the back of his neck and let him kiss me until I could barely stand on my own. Pickles whickered softly in approval in the background.
And when Ford lifted me and his arms and carried me into my bedroom, I let him.
***
Isnort softly in timewith the rumble inside for the chest, my new favourite way to fall asleep. Something about doing absolutely nothing in the middle of the day brought back memories of my childhood that I either tried to forget or remembered everything, knowing I could never go back.
For a few short hours, Ford gave me that ability to sink back from the stress and the business of it all.
Right until my brain started working, finally processing the last days.
"Something," I rubbed my eyes, yawning. “I feel like I need to go back.”
"You're not going anywhere, princess. You're all mine right now.”
I smiled and pressed a kiss to his chest where we were both covered in drying sweat. "You're like a hot water bottle. And I can’t just stop, you know?"
"Seriously? Are you fighting me, Nisha?" I could hear the smile in his voice, even if I didn't see it.
"No, I'm not fighting. But...at the wedding. Someone mentioned that you had a bet. That's why you need to date for the wedding."
Not that I saw him much for the entire time.
