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

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СКАЧАТЬ we could try and make sure we see them together then,’ Zac said, his eyes locking onto mine and I suddenly felt as though I wanted to laugh out loud, tell the world that I could now see an end to the dark days that had taken over my life since Jase had gone. But he hadn’t gone, had he? Not really. And he never would. No matter what happened here.

      ‘I’d like that,’ I replied, still smiling. In fact, now I’d started smiling I wasn’t altogether sure I could stop. I took a sip of hot chocolate, letting the beautiful, rich, warm liquid slip down my throat. It was the most comforting feeling – that, and sitting here with Zac. ‘So, Zac… what brings you to Lapland?’

      He ran his fingers through his hair, making it stick up in small, random spikes. ‘I’m a ski instructor. I’m here for the season, teaching a few days a week. The rest of the time I’m reliving my youth. I’m still a big kid at heart, I’m afraid. The idea of growing up kinda scares me, so throwing myself down snow-covered mountains and taking to my snowboard at the age of thirty-eight doesn’t faze me in the slightest.’

      I couldn’t help but smile again. Jase had also been a big kid at heart with his love of motorbikes and surfing, his need to have that adrenalin rush he would sometimes crave.

      ‘And what about the band?’ I asked, taking a long sip of the delicious hot chocolate.

      ‘We’re all ski instructors, and we put the band together when we realised we all really wanted to be rock stars but had left it a bit too late to live that dream.’ He shrugged, smiling. ‘But, hey, they love us here. We do a few gigs in the bars and pubs around town. It’s fun.’

      ‘You’re good,’ I smiled back, watching the excitement in his face as he talked about the band. ‘My brother, Matt, and my dad have a rock band. They do gigs locally back home, got quite a good following too. I guess you could say music’s in our blood.’

      Zac looked right at me, his eyes almost burning into mine. ‘That’s something else we have in common then.’

      I couldn’t say anything for a second, his gaze throwing me off-balance slightly. ‘Have you… have you been a ski instructor long?’ I asked, sitting back in my chair, suddenly feeling relaxed and calm, and happy. Yeah. I was happy. And I’d almost forgotten what that felt like.

      Zac smiled again. ‘Yeah, for a good few years now. I’ve done most of the resorts in Europe, and a couple in Canada, so… well; I’ve always wanted to come here, to Lapland. And this year I thought it was time to act on that urge. I thought it was time to see just what this place has to offer before I go home.’

      His eyes never left mine as he spoke and I felt as though I never wanted to leave this gorgeous little café with its fairy lights and its Christmas music. I felt safe in here. ‘Where exactly is home, then?’ I asked, taking another sip of hot chocolate.

      ‘Edinburgh. Not all that far from you, I’m guessing from your accent,’ he said. ‘So, where exactly in north-east England do you hail from then, Jessie?’

      ‘Tynemouth. Do you know it?’

      Zac nodded. ‘I’ve been surfing there a few times, at Longsands. Have you always lived there?’ His eyes were fixed firmly on me but I broke the stare briefly, looking over at the fire still burning away within its festive surround.

      ‘Yeah. I have,’ I replied, suddenly realising that I hadn’t really spread my wings all that much. I was forty-two years old yet I’d never left the safe and secure confines of my home town. But I knew that was because I’d never really felt the need, not when I’d had everything I could ever want right there with me. Nothing else had mattered with Jase by my side.

      ‘And, what do you do there, in Tynemouth?’ Zac went on as I met his eyes again, searching his face for something, anything that could finally convince me I was doing the right thing in being here, with this man. In this place.

      ‘I run a small shop – Rainbows – selling hand-crafted jewellery, gifts, clothing, scented candles… you know the kind of thing.’

      ‘Hand-crafted by you?’ Zac asked, finishing off the last of his hot chocolate.

      I nodded. ‘I make everything from friendship bracelets to necklaces and earrings, greetings cards, photo-frames… If people want me to make something special for someone I’ll certainly have a go; it’s that kind of shop – friendly, a touch off-beat, a little bit bohemian… Mind you, I have had one or two strange requests for gifts. I was even asked to make a Ouija board once.’

      Zac raised an eyebrow. ‘And…?’

      I shook my head. ‘No. I won’t touch that kind of stuff. I mean, I’m quite a spiritual person but… I guess I’m just not comfortable messing with things I don’t really understand. There are lots of other ways of…’ I broke off, suddenly remembering those visits I’d made, just after Jase’s death, to Spiritualist churches, mediums, anybody I could find who I’d thought could try and help me make some kind of contact with Jase, so desperate had I been in those first few months after he’d left me. I’d spent so much time just needing to know that he was okay, needing to know that he was somewhere, that he hadn’t just disappeared and left me all alone without any chance of ever seeing him again. I’d needed something to hold onto. And, even now, it was still something I needed.

      ‘Listen, Jessie, I know this is crazy because we’ve only just met but… I really want to see you again. I mean, really want to see you again. And I’ll understand if you think I’m just some weird guy you don’t want to have anything to do with, but…’

      ‘I want to see you again too,’ I smiled. How could he possibly think any different? And there was me thinking I was the crazy one, the one who was giving out signals he might find just a touch too worrying for a woman he’d only just met. Yet here we both were, displaying the same feelings, and that had to be fate, didn’t it? Nothing was telling me this was wrong, nothing was telling me this was dangerous and I should back off. Nothing was telling me anything like that, so it had to be right, didn’t it?

      ‘Good. That… that’s great,’ he grinned, his face lighting up and my smile seemed to show no signs of disappearing any time soon either. ‘So, how about dinner then? Tomorrow night?’

      ‘That sounds great. I’d really like that… Zac? Can I ask you something?’

      ‘Sure. Of course you can.’

      ‘Do you believe in… do you believe in fate?’

      He looked at me, those green eyes of his staring right into mine. ‘Yeah, I do. Why?’

      I shook my head, pushing away my empty hot-chocolate mug. ‘No reason. I just wondered.’

      ‘Do you?’ he asked.

      I looked up at him, up into those beautiful eyes of his. ‘Yes. I do. I really, really do.’

       Chapter Seven

      ‘What’s happened to you, Jess?’ Matt asked as I ran around my room, frantically trying to find my favourite pale-green eye shadow that went so well with my dark hair. I’d never been one to wear all that much make-up, preferring the natural СКАЧАТЬ