All the Romance You Need This Christmas: 5-Book Festive Collection. Romy Sommer

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СКАЧАТЬ fight what?’ I asked, looking at him, those dark eyes of his still as mesmerising as they had been yesterday.

      ‘What is happening here. With Zac.’

      I frowned slightly. How did he know Zac’s name? How did he even know Zac and I had met? Oh God, I didn’t think I could take another confusing day, it was exhausting. ‘Nothing… nothing is happening here, Mikku. Zac and I, we… we’re just having a hot chocolate together. That’s all. We’ve only just met…’

      ‘I know,’ Mikku carried on, wiping the table down next to ours. ‘But, like I said, you shouldn’t fight it. You liked his music, yes?’

      Oh. Okay. Maybe that explained how Mikku knew Zac’s name. He was obviously a fan of the band.

      ‘Yeah. Yeah, I liked his music.’

      ‘So, you are glad I made you go to The Ice Tree yesterday then?’

      I watched as he continued to wipe down the next-door table, even though it looked pretty clean to me. ‘I didn’t think you were working here today,’ I said, blowing on my hot chocolate to cool it down. ‘I couldn’t see you when we first came in.’

      ‘I was in the staff room,’ he said, facing me again. ‘But when I came back out here I saw you, saw the way you couldn’t meet his eyes. He was looking at you, but you couldn’t look at him. Why is that, Jessie?’

      There was a part of me that wanted to tell him it was really none of his business, but that was overtaken by the part of me that felt this was very much his business, in a way I wasn’t all that sure of yet. So I just looked at him, suddenly glad he was here.

      ‘I don’t know what to do, Mikku. I mean, when he approached me yesterday I gave him the biggest brush-off I could have given anyone because… because it felt wrong. It felt… it felt like I was betraying Jase, even by just looking at another man I felt like I was betraying him, but… when we saw each other just now, down by The Ice Tree…’

      ‘How did it feel?’ Mikku asked, absent-mindedly fiddling with the huge holly garland that hung across the top of the stone fireplace. ‘When you saw him today?’

      I was a touch confused by this conversation, but the second Mikku turned to face me again I felt my shoulders sag, and the need to get things off my chest once more became almost overwhelming.

      ‘I’m scared.’

      ‘Is that why you can’t look at him?’ Mikku asked, sticking his hands in his pockets.

      I nodded. ‘I think so. When I saw him with all the ski gear on – the hat, the jacket, well, it’s almost like a barrier, isn’t it? But now all that’s come off, I’m scared to look at him because I’m scared of how he might make me feel. I’m scared of feeling anything again, Mikku. Scared of feeling what I felt for Jase, of going through all of that again. I don’t even know if the time is right, if this is what I should be doing but there’s something – there’s something almost pushing me towards Zac. And I can’t stop it. Even if I wanted to. I can’t stop it.’

      ‘Facing up to our fears is something we should always do,’ Mikku said, his eyes looking into mine again, that wonderful feeling of calm he exuded washing over me, ‘…otherwise how can we ever conquer them? And I think you’ve been scared for a long time, Jess. I think you’ve been scared of a lot of things. Maybe coming here – maybe this is where you need to be in order to finally face those fears.’

      I frowned again. My head was actually beginning to hurt with all the thinking it’d had to do over the past couple of days. I’d suddenly been thrust from my safe, but ultimately sad life back home in England, into this magical, wonderful little winter wonderland, and the things that were going on here were enough to make anyone think they were in the middle of some elaborate dream.

      ‘You do whatever it is you have to do, Jess, in order to face those fears head on. I will see you soon.’ And with a flash of that smile he turned to go, leaving me with a sudden warm glow and a slow realisation that he was right. I had been scared of a lot of things for such a long time. But facing up to things wasn’t something I’d been willing to do. Until now.

      ‘Everything okay?’ Zac asked, sliding back down into his seat opposite me.

      I nodded, slowly looking up to face him, and when I did it almost took my breath away. Now that the hat had been removed and I could see his face properly, he really was beautiful. He had the most gorgeous green eyes that were filled with a warmth I hadn’t seen since – since Jase; his chin rough with dark stubble making him look rugged and sexy, his black hair all messed-up, which only made him look all the more attractive because he carried it off so well.

      ‘Jess…’

      I took a deep breath, narrowing my eyes as I saw Mikku by the café door, smiling that smile at me, and once more that far-off distant voice seemed to emanate from somewhere, only this time it seemed to be getting nearer, whispering in my ear, words I couldn’t quite make out but whatever it was saying, I was suddenly overtaken by a strength I hadn’t felt for a long time.

      ‘Zac, I’m…’ I looked at him, at this man who’d come into my life so suddenly and unwittingly turned it upside down. ‘I’m sorry.’ I felt the control start to take hold, and another inner sigh of relief swept over me. Because, as I looked at this man, I knew exactly what I had to do next; knew exactly what I wanted to do. Zac had given me back something I’d needed to find, feelings I’d needed to feel again. I’d be a fool to walk away from this and I knew I couldn’t anyway. I just couldn’t. ‘It’s been a strange couple of days, that’s all. I guess I’m still getting used to this place.’

      He smiled and my heart leapt in a way it hadn’t done since Jase had first walked into my little shop all those years ago. This was the first time I’d felt that little flutter like a hundred and one butterflies dancing around inside me. How could I ignore that? I’d never thought I could ever feel that way again, yet I was feeling it now. And it was nice. It felt – it felt good. ‘Yeah. This place sure seems to have a habit of making weird and wonderful things happen, that’s for sure.’ Zac sighed.

      I narrowed my eyes. ‘Oh yeah? Like what?’ Was he experiencing things even half as weird as I was?

      Zac shook his head, dismissing that statement with a brief wave of his hand. ‘So, what brings you here to Lapland, Jess?’

      ‘I needed a break, somewhere a bit different, y’know? And I’ve always wanted to visit here; we’ve – I’ve always wanted to see the Northern Lights, and I hear this is as good a place as any to catch them.’

      Zac nodded, gazing down at his hands cupped around his mug of hot chocolate.

      ‘Have you seen them?’ I asked, a small part of me hoping he hadn’t, because if there was anyone I wanted to share that experience with now it was him – for so many reasons.

      ‘Not yet,’ he replied, his green eyes fixing me with a look that sent a shiver right down my spine and I felt my skin break out in goosebumps, even though I was anything but cold, sitting here in front of this roaring fire. ‘But they’re something I’ve always wanted to see, too.’

      I smiled, suddenly feeling as if a light had just been switched on somewhere deep inside me. Everything was beginning to feel a whole lot brighter; things were actually starting to make sense СКАЧАТЬ