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Cool sheets wrapped around her scalding-hot body, making her moan in relief. So nice. He chuckled against her hair and then his lips were on hers. He kissed her so fleetingly that by the time she’d summoned the energy to reach for him, he was already drawing away. But he didn’t go far. He shifted her so that she was on her side and he was behind her, his strong arm linked around her waist. Something was wedged under her hip, but she didn’t know what it was. It didn’t matter. The comfort of having him wrapped around her diminished any discomfort.
When she came to, she heard soft, child-like voices in the background. She fought to open her ridiculously heavy eyelids, then just gave in to the exhaustion weighing down her limbs. For once, she didn’t have to struggle. She could just be.
Then she realized what she was hearing. Where she was, and what had happened.
A Christmas miracle, more than she’d ever dared to wish for.
She inched her lids open and blinked at the twinkle of tiny lights directly across from the bed. It was a Charlie Brown tree, barely worthy of notice. But he’d wrapped the scrawny branches in lights and draped them in beautiful ornaments and somehow turned it into a lovely tree.
“Charlie Brown,” she whispered, craning her neck to see the small TV on the squat dresser opposite the bed. The kids were doing the Christmas play, and Linus was dressed like a shepherd. Innocent Linus, who never stopped believing, no matter what. From pumpkin patches to school productions, he was always their north star.
Just like Nick was for the band, even if he’d never give himself that much credit. He’d see them through this latest crisis. Arguing all the while most likely, but he’d never lose hope, not once.
Because if he did,thatwould break them. He was Oblivion’s backbone.
Now she had to find one of her own.
She glanced over her shoulder, her lips curving. He’d fallen asleep, remote in hand. That he’d chosen this childhood classic to follow him into sleep was just one more reason she adored him. There was no point in denying it any longer, least of all to herself.
Someday, if the moment was right, she might even tell him.
Throwing off the sheet and moving away from him was like leaving behind the sun. His warmth had radiated into her bones, and she wouldn’t welcome the cold again. But somehow she gained her feet and picked up the clothes he’d considerately left for her on the bedside chair sometime during the wee hours of the night. She dressed and walked to the window, her breath tripping in her chest as she blinked at the plumes of white outside. It couldn’t be. There were miracles, and then there were impossibilities. If it didn’t rain in southern California, it definitely didn’t snow.
She pressed a hand to the cool glass and blinked away the sleep. And smiled faintly at the fog snaking along the ground.
Fog, not snow.
Keep dreaming, Li.
She dropped her forehead to the glass and swallowed the disappointment. There would be other Christmases with snow. Other times when her lover slept in bed while she watched the flakes come down from a steel-laden sky.
She hoped that lover would be Nick. And that the next time they shared a Christmas, she wouldn’t have to sneak out like a thief to keep from giving in to the urge to just burrow in andstay.
Faith would have to carry her through this next little while. Him too. She’d just play Santa before she left and leave him something to wake up to.
She crept downstairs, beyond relieved that none of the rest of the band appeared to have awakened yet. She gathered up the big box she had for Nick, filled with the presents she and her mother had for him, and carted it back up the stairs to his room.
Moments passed while she lingered at the foot of his bed, stroking the long length of pearls at her throat and watching his chest rise and fall. He snored softly, and even that made her smile. Only today. If she had to listen to it every night for the rest of her life, it probably wouldn’t be so cute.
Maybe she’d get the chance to find out. Who was to say? Miracles happened all the time. She just had to have faith.
No matter how difficult the road ahead was—and it would be, of that she had no doubt—
she wouldn’t lose hope.
She unearthed a piece of paper from his desk and pulled out the lipstick she’d tucked into her pocket. She slicked it over her lips before pressing her mouth to the paper, then wrote out a single word before placing the note on top of the gift she left at the foot of his bed.
Believe.
Read the complete Lost in Oblivion series or visit quinnandelliott.com for more details about our Oblivion World!
TRICK OR TREAT: SETH AND ALLY
A CRESCENT COVE EXTRA
SETH
“Trick or Treat!”
