Under the Mistletoe. Katherine Garbera

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СКАЧАТЬ has served me well most of my adult life about relationships and it’s that the maximum time for them is two weeks.”

      “Two weeks?” Great. Sounded like he was another guy who wasn’t for her. But at least he was being honest. “Go on.”

      “Before I do, there is something I want to make sure of first.”

      He put his arm around her shoulder. Drew her closer to him, and she let him. Given that this might be their one and only date, she wanted to go for it.

      Their eyes met and held, and she couldn’t look away from his intense blue eyes and the expression in them. Whatever he meant by two weeks she wanted to know more. His breath brushed over her lips as he exhaled and he lowered his head slowly, giving her a chance to retreat, but she didn’t want to back away.

      She wanted his kiss. But she needed some answers first.

       3

      PENNY PUT HER hand on his jaw and felt the stubble of his five o’clock shadow. She liked the way it abraded her fingertips and she sighed.

      “Sex. That’s what you’re proposing, isn’t it?” she asked, withdrawing her hand from him and getting to her feet.

      Penny shivered a little bit from the cold but stood her ground. She’d never been wishy-washy in her life. Even with her bad relationships, she’d gone into them with her eyes open.

      “No. I’m talking about the fact that we both know we’re going home in two weeks. It would be silly to pretend we didn’t.”

      “Go on, I’m listening,” she said as her teeth chattered.

      She got back under the blanket and he tucked it around her. He smiled at her—it was tentative and roguishly charming, and she had to smile back. “The next two weeks, leading up to Christmas and then New Year’s Eve, we spend together. We do all the things that couples do and we enjoy it.”

      She nodded, trying to be analytical about it, to treat Will as if he were a businessman pitching an idea to her. “What’s the catch?”

      “That we both know it ends on New Year’s Eve. That this is just temporary. To pretend this could be anything else is a lie.”

      She thought about it. She’d had her fill of lies that were told to her by men. “So you’re proposing a vacation fling?”

      “No, a Christmas affair...a sort of gift to each other,” he said. “Unless you’re not interested in me.”

      “I almost kissed you,” she reminded him.

      “The almost is the part that I’m concerned about,” he said, frowning slightly.

      “You kind of said you had a proposition for me. I needed to see what you meant before I took this any further.” She hitched in a breath. “But for the sake of argument, why not try to make this into something real? Don’t you believe in love at first sight?” she asked. “I know not everyone does, but some people do.”

      He rubbed the back of his neck and reached for his drink, taking a couple of swallows before looking her in the eyes. She knew stalling when she saw it.

      “No lies,” she said. “That’s my rule if we even consider doing this. I don’t care if it will hurt my feelings or if it’s too raw for you. I will not tolerate any falsehoods.”

      “I think there is a story there,” he said wryly.

      “You haven’t convinced me you should hear it yet,” she retorted. “But it involves Jerk Butt Face.”

      He laughed. “I am not good at relationships. Courtship and romance I can do—no problem—but the heavy-duty lifetime-together crap, not so much.”

      She arched her eyebrow at him. “Might have something to do with the fact that you call it crap.”

      “Might be. But experience has taught me two weeks is my maximum,” he said.

      She wanted to know more about that but didn’t push. He offered her something temporary. “You’re proposing that we just both go into this with our eyes open. Have a great time and keep it light?”

      It seemed almost too good to be true, but she was tempted. She needed something to make her remember all the things she loved about her life. And all the things she liked about being with a man.

      Before Butch had come along and made her feel nothing but bitter resentment... “Yes,” he said. “That’s precisely what I’m looking for. But I’ll understand if this isn’t for you. Not everyone is good at compartmentalizing.”

      “I take it you are?” she asked.

      “I am. But as you said, we don’t know each other well enough to go into all that.”

      “The nice thing about what you’re offering is that we don’t have to. I don’t have to try to make you into the man of my dreams.”

      “No, but I wouldn’t mind being the man of your fantasies.” His voice dropped a seductive notch. “I find that when women and men are too focused on making ‘it’ work, they lose out on experiencing all the things they truly want.”

      Boy, was that the truth. She hadn’t been too pushy with Butch because he was her boss, but also because he had seemed like a nice normal guy. She’d called that wrong.

      “Can I have some time to think about it?” she asked, biting her lip.

      “You can, but we only have two weeks,” he reminded her. “So don’t take too long.”

      That was true. But— No, no buts, she thought. Thinking and weighing the pros and cons had netted her a holiday by herself. The gift she’d really wanted was a sexy man to share it with. Will was offering her that very thing.

      It was only her fear that was keeping her from leaping into it. She didn’t want to make another mistake. Who did?

      “I have arranged for a little surprise for you,” he said, breaking into her thoughts. “Why don’t you think it over and meet me in the lobby under the mistletoe in thirty minutes if you’re interested.”

      “What kind of surprise?” she asked, but she already realized that she liked his surprises.

      “An outdoor one, so you might want to get changed,” he said.

      “What if I don’t show up?” Penny asked. She tried to imagine him standing there waiting for her. No guy she’d dated in the past would have done that, would have left themselves so obviously open to being stood up. “Won’t you feel silly standing there?”

      “Not at all. I’ll feel like a man who missed out on knowing a very special woman. I hope you’ll take the chance and let me make this a Christmas we can both remember.”

      * * *

      PENNY WASN’T TOO sure about Will or letting herself know him any better. Two weeks sounded fun in theory, but the truth was that she wasn’t always supersmart when it СКАЧАТЬ