Читать книгу The Complete Christmas Collection - Джанис Мейнард, Rebecca Winters - Страница 34

Rory burrowed deeper under her comforter. A delicious lethargy pulled at her, coaxing her back toward sleep. But she heard voices. Male ones. One sweet, the other deep.

Sleep was suddenly the last thing on her mind.

Tyler was awake. Erik was with him. Through the two-inch-wide gap he’d left between the door and the jamb, she could see the light from Tyler’s bathroom faintly illuminating the hall. The gap in the curtains next to the bed revealed a thin sliver of gray.

It was daylight. That meant it was somewhere after seven-thirty. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept that late.

She threw off the covers. Nearly tripping over her nightshirt, she snatched it up and moved to the door. They were just disappearing down the stairs, Tyler in his pj’s, Erik in his undershirt and jeans. From the conversation, it sounded as though they were discussing breakfast. Specifically, which one of them got to slice the bananas.

Minutes later, thoughts of how she’d practically fallen apart in Erik’s arms adding to the anxiety of wanting to hurry, she’d pulled herself together enough—in the physical sense, anyway—to head into the hall herself.

Slipping a blue corduroy shirt over a cotton turtleneck and yoga pants, she could hear her little guy as she reached the first step.

“Can I help you work today?” he asked. “An’ can you help put my train around the tree?”

The low tones of Erik’s voice drifted up the stairway. “I think all I’m going to do out there this morning is check the gutters. It’s too dangerous for you to help.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s a long way up there.”

“How come you need to check ’em?”

“Because I need to see if the weight of the ice pulled them from their brackets.”

“Why?”

She heard a deep, indulgent chuckle. “Because if they’re not lined up right, the rain will pour straight off the roof instead of draining to the downspouts and get you and your mom all wet.”

Her foot hit the bottom step just as she heard a pondered little “Oh.”

Tyler hesitated. “Can we do the train after, then?”

Across the entry, she could see Tyler sitting in front of the lit tree, the blanket she’d covered Erik with last night wrapped around his shoulders. Expectation beamed from his little profile.

Erik sat on the edge of the hearth, his gray undershirt stretched across his broad shoulders as he closed the glass doors on the growing fire.

“I’ll have to see how it goes, but I don’t know that I’ll have time for that, Ty.” He picked a stray bit of bark from the stone beside him, tossed it onto the logs in the curved wood basket. “Now that the rain’s melted the ice, I need to finish here, then get to my own place.”

“You’re going home?”

There was no mistaking her son’s disappointment at that bit of news. She heard it in his small voice, could practically feel it in him as she watched Erik look up at her an instant before Tyler turned and looked up himself.

Shoving her fingers through her hair, partially undoing what she’d managed to arrange with a few random strokes of a brush, she found it infinitely easier to meet Tyler’s sad little face.

“Good morning, sweetie,” she murmured, bending to give him a hug. “How did you sleep?”

“Good,” came his usual, though decidedly disheartened, reply.

She nudged back his hair, wanting to ease away his sudden seriousness. What Erik had done hadn’t been deliberate. There had been nothing but kindness in his voice as he’d explained why he wouldn’t be staying. But the painful proof of how her little boy could come to rely on him, could even come to love him, only added to the confusion of wants and uncertainties tearing at her as she kissed the soft, tousled hair at the crown of his head.

“I’ll help you with your train later, okay?”

“’Kay,” he reluctantly replied.

“So, what’s up down here?” she asked him and, as casually as she could, straightened to meet the caution in Erik’s smile.

He rose himself, all six feet plus of him, and came to a stop in front of her.

His gray gaze skimmed her face. Slowly assessing. Unapologetically intimate. “The plan so far was to turn on the tree, then build a fire.” His eyes held hers. “Then what, Ty?” he asked, since the child hadn’t answered his mom.

“Breakfast,” came the slightly more enthused reply. “And cartoons?” he added hopefully from below them.

“And coffee?” Erik asked with that disarming arch of his eyebrow.

“Definitely coffee,” she agreed.

Grabbing the remote, she punched in the channel she usually only let Tyler watch as a treat. With him on his way to the sofa with his blanket, she headed for the kitchen, Erik’s footfalls behind her matching every heavy thud of her heart.

She pulled the carafe from the coffeemaker, turned to see him watching her from beside the sink.

Holding the carafe under the faucet, she turned the water on.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” she asked, her hushed voice muffled further by the sound of running water.

“Because I was already awake. When I heard him in the bathroom, I figured he’d come looking for you, so I intercepted him before he could. I thought you might not want him to find us in bed together.

“Besides,” he added quietly, “you were out. You barely moved when I pulled my arm from under you.”

The reminder of how she’d fallen asleep tucked against his side, their bare limbs tangled, had heat rising in her cheeks.

“I can’t believe I didn’t hear him.” It was so unlike her not to hear her son. “I never sleep that hard.” Except with this man beside her, she obviously had.

“Thank you for the rescue,” she all but whispered.

He turned off the water for her. With Tyler hidden by the sofa, he lifted his hand, curved his fingers at the side of her neck.

“I’m going to leave in a while,” he told her, brushing his thumb over the lobe of her ear. “Pax said everything was okay at the boatworks yesterday, but I have some things I need to do. There’s something here I want to check first, though. Is there anything you can think of that you need me to do before I go?”

In the past eight hours, his touch had become as exciting to her as it was calming, as disturbing as it was comforting. He had reawakened her heart and her senses and she’d never felt as confused as she did now, standing there desperately wanting him to pull her to him and hoping he wouldn’t.

He’d said he needed to leave, that he had things he needed to do. He’d already talked with Pax, asked about the condition of their properties, their business. She’d heard him tell Tyler that he needed to check on his own place. She knew his entire life was on the other side of the sound. In her need for the temporary escape he’d offered, she’d forgotten that for a few critical hours last night.

“You don’t need to check my gutters, Erik.”

“Yeah, I do,” he said, thinking of her lovely, long limbs and how perfect they’d felt wrapped around him. He’d really prefer that none of them got broken. “It’ll save you having to do it yourself.”

“I’d have to do it if you weren’t here.”

The hint of defensiveness in her tone sounded all too familiar.

“But I’m here now,” he pointed out, looking a little more closely to see the unease he’d missed in her moments ago.

“You can just tell me what I’m supposed to look for. I’ll need to know, anyway.”

Caution curled through him. “It’s raining out there.”

“So I’ll wait until it stops.”

“That could be June.”

He had a point. She just wasn’t prepared to concede it. “Is there a particular bracket you noticed?”

There was. The one at the front of the garage that would keep water from pouring over her and Tyler when they came and went from the car. He’d noticed it yesterday and had meant to walk around the garage and the main building to see if any other gaps were visible. But this wasn’t about a bracket. It wasn’t about a gutter. From the uncertainty underlying her quiet defensiveness, he’d bet his business this wasn’t about anything but what had happened between them last night.

Not totally sure what he felt about it himself, not sure what to do about any of it with Tyler wandering over in search of cereal, Erik decided it best to just go do what he’d planned to do anyway.

“I’m going to get the ladder from the basement. I’ll be back when the coffee’s ready.”

It took eight minutes to brew a full pot of coffee. It was another ten before she heard the rattle of the ladder being propped against the wall in the mudroom and the faint squeak of the door to the kitchen when it opened.

Tyler had just handed her his empty bowl and was on his way past the island to go get dressed when she heard him tell Erik he’d be right back.

“Take your time, sport.” Ruffling the boy’s hair as he passed, Erik looked to where she again stood at the sink.

Still holding the bowl, she watched his easy smile fade to something less definable as he pushed back the navy Merrick & Sullivan ball cap he’d taken from his truck. It looked as if he’d shaken the rain from his cap and swiped what he could from his leather jacket. Beneath it, the charcoal pullover he’d pulled on before he’d gone out was dry, but the darker spots on the thighs of his jeans and the hems looked damp.

“You have two broken brackets,” he told her, conscious of Tyler still moving up the stairs. “I’ll pick up new ones and be back with them in the morning. I leave for my folks’ house in San Diego tomorrow afternoon, so that’s the only chance I’ll have.”

She set the bowl in the sink, picked up the mug she’d taken out for him and poured him his coffee.

Tomorrow was Christmas Eve.

She held the heavy mug out to him.

“You know, Erik,” she said as he took it, “you really don’t need to come all the way over here to fix those brackets.”

The mug settled on the counter beside her.

“I know I don’t. And I don’t need you telling me that,” he insisted, and skimmed her cheek with his knuckles.

The small contact compounded the anxiety knotting behind her breastbone.

Taking a small step back, needing to break his touch as much as the hold he’d gained on her heart, her voice dropped to an agonized whisper. “I can’t do this.”

Even as his hand fell, his shoulders rose with a slow, deep breath. His hard, handsome features were suddenly impossible to read.

“By ‘this’ you mean the sex.”

“No. Yes.” Shaking her head, she shoved her fingers through her hair. “I mean, it’s not just that. Making love with you was amazing,” she admitted, because it had been. “It’s that I can’t let myself feel what I’m starting to feel for you.” What she already did feel, she thought, and which totally terrified her. “I can’t let myself count on you to do things for me. Or for you to be around to talk to. Or for you to be here. If I do, it would be too easy to rely on you even more.”

Apparently nothing she’d said explained why she was withdrawing from him. If anything, Erik just looked a little mystified. She figured that was because of what she’d admitted about the sex part. But then, she always had had a problem filtering what she said to him.

His eyes narrowed on hers. “Why not?”

Crossing her arms over the knot in her stomach, her voice dropped another notch. “Because I’m not going to set myself up to lose something I don’t even have. It doesn’t make sense to do that,” she admitted, not sure she was making sense to him. “I can’t do that to myself. And I definitely can’t do it to my son. It will only hurt Tyler if I let him grow any more attached to you than he already is, Erik. I know people will come and go from his life. People already have, but I’ve never seen him take to anyone the way he has to you.” She’d done a lousy job of protecting herself. That failing would not keep her from protecting her son. “Since the arrangement between us is temporary anyway, it just seems best to back away and keep business...business.”

Her heart hurt. Rubbing the awful ache with her fingertips, she watched his jaw tighten as he stepped back.

Erik wasn’t at all sure what he felt at that moment. He wasn’t even sure what he felt for this woman, beyond an undeniable physical need and a sense of protectiveness he wasn’t familiar with at all. All he knew for certain was that they had stepped over a line she clearly had not been prepared to cross.

Recriminations piled up like cars in a train wreck. He’d known all along that it would be a mistake to get involved with her. He’d known from the moment he’d met her that she was dealing with far more than he’d gone through when his marriage had ended. What he didn’t understand was how he could have forgotten that his sole goal in agreeing to help her was to have no reason to return to this place once his obligation to Cornelia had been satisfied.

The fact that he hadn’t considered any of that last night had his own defenses slamming into place. Having done enough damage already, he wasn’t about to complicate their relationship any further. Or let her push him any farther away.

“Just answer one question for me.”

“If I can.”

“Last night. The tears. Were they because you were thinking of Curt?”

He figured he had to be some sort of masochist for wanting to know if that was what really had been going on with her while they’d been making love. No man wanted to think a woman had another man on her mind while he had her in his arms. Still, for some reason he couldn’t begin to explain, he needed to know.

For a moment, Rory said nothing. Partly because the question caught her so off guard. Partly because it was only now that she realized her only thought last night about the man she’d married was how Erik had lessened the void he’d left.

She couldn’t begin to explain everything she’d felt last night. Or what she felt now because of his question.

It seemed easiest to just go to the heart of what he really wanted to know.

“The only person in that bed with me was you, Erik.”

He heard something a little raw in her quiet reply, something that made her look as if he’d just totally exposed how absorbed she’d been in only him—which was no doubt why she stood there with her arms crossed so protectively and her eyes begging him to go.

He could hear Tyler racing down the stairs.

“We’re supposed to meet with Phil after the first of the year.” He spoke the reminder quietly, as conscious of the child coming toward them as he was of the definite need for distance. “I don’t remember the date, but I’ll get it from her. We can figure out our work schedule from there.”

“Can we do the train now?”

Tyler had stopped at the end of the island, his expectant glance darting from one adult to the other. He’d pulled on pants and a green thermal shirt and held a red flannel shirt in his fist.

“I have to go now,” Erik told the grinning little boy. “But I heard your mom say she’d help you.”

His smile fell. “You have to go?”

“Yeah, bud. I do.” Unprepared for how the child’s disappointment affected him, not sure what to make of the strange hollow in his chest, he tousled his sandy hair one last time, gave him a smile and let himself out through the store.

“Erik! I was just going to call you!”

Erik turned from where he was locking the front door of Merrick & Sullivan’s client office. Phil had just emerged from the silver Mercedes parked behind the construction Dumpster in front of the building next door. The tails of her white scarf flew in the breeze as she hurried around to the sidewalk. “Do you have a minute?”

He didn’t feel particularly sociable. What he did feel was defensive, edgy and impatient to be on his way. Still, he made himself smile. “Sure,” he called back, pocketing his keys. Hunching his shoulders against the chill, he headed to where she’d stopped by Cornelia’s building’s front door. “What’s up?”

“Let’s get out of the cold. I’ll make us some coffee.”

“A minute is really all I have, Phil. I’m leaving to see my folks in a couple of hours.”

“Oh. Well, then.” Hitching her bag higher on her shoulder, she crossed her arms over her furry white coat. Beneath her matching hat, her eyes smiled through the lenses of her bookish, horn-rimmed glasses. “Rory said you were there when I called the other day. The power being out everywhere had us concerned about her and her son,” she explained, “but some neighbors were visiting so I knew we didn’t have to worry. We didn’t have a chance to really talk, though. Is everything all right with the property?”

Realizing she was checking up on Cornelia’s investment threatened to turn his mood even more restive. “There are a few downed trees and a loose gutter, but no structural damage,” he told her, thinking that was about all she’d be interested in. “I heard the power was restored a while ago.”

He’d learned that from Ed, who’d done as Erik had asked him to do and called when the area had gone back on the grid. Since he’d told his old friend about Rory’s unfamiliarity with the generator when he’d borrowed his saw, Ed hadn’t questioned his concern about wanting to make sure there were no other glitches.

Erik hadn’t let himself question his concern, either. He’d tried hard to keep thoughts of her and Tyler to a minimum.

“That’s good to know. Just one other thing, then, and I’ll let you go.” She flashed him a smile as she crossed her arms tighter, anxious to get out of the wind. “I take it the two of you were working when the storm hit,” she said quickly, making it apparent that Rory hadn’t mentioned his insistence about helping with their Christmas tree. “So, how do you think she’ll do? Or is it too soon to tell?”

He wanted to say she’d do just fine. She certainly didn’t lack for aptitude or the determination to succeed. She even had the incentive of keeping a roof over her son’s head pushing her. It would be a challenge doing it on her own, but she’d make a living there. With the connections she was establishing, she’d probably even make a life.

He brushed past the thought that she’d be making that life without him. He had a life of his own right where he was. He had work he loved, a great business, good friends. He had money and the freedom to come and go pretty much as he pleased. His obligation to the woman messing with his carefully constructed status quo ended once they had the business established. Once it was, he could walk away and never go back there again.

“Is there a problem, Erik?”

“No. No,” he repeated, waiting for the quick shutdown of feeling that normally reinforced his last thought. “I’ll make it work.”

I will. Not we.

Phil apparently heard the distinction.

“Isn’t she cooperating?”

Not when she was giving him grief about helping her, he thought.

“She just needs a break right now,” he decided to say. “With her little boy and the holidays, it just seemed like a good thing to do.”

“Was that your idea?”

Initially, it had been. For the business part, anyway.

“The decision was mutual.”

“So when do you meet again?”

“Whenever we’re scheduled to be here.”

“That will be the fifth.”

“That soon?”

“At two,” she added, and cocked her head. “Do we need to meet before then? We certainly can, if there’s ever a problem,” she hurried on, having caught his lack of enthusiasm for the meeting. “Part of what we do for our ladies and their mentors is help them work through challenges. Differences of opinion can arise over anything from creative priorities to scheduling—”

“It’s nothing like that.”

“May I ask what it is?”

It was clearly too late to deny a problem even existed. But all he would admit was, “It’s complicated.”

“I see.” Adjusting the frame of her glasses, she peered at him with interest. “Do you have a solution to the problem?”

He wasn’t sure there was one. Not for the two of them. “Not yet.”

“Can you work together?”

“Yeah. Sure. There’s always email and the telephone.” He’d given his word. He’d hold up his end of the deal. For his grandparents. For her. “She wants the business to work. That’s what I want, too.”

She considered him for a moment, her head tipped thoughtfully, the fine fibers of her white hat fluttering. “You know, Erik, when I gave Rory the address of your grandparents’ property, I suggested she look for the possibilities. We knew what she would see when she got there, and that it would be nothing she could have imagined she would want.

“What she’d been looking for was a small home for herself and her son,” she confided, “but her needs changed when she lost her job. To see the potential in that property, she had to let go of a mind-set that focused on what she had been looking for and what she now needed. To find the solution to your problem, maybe you should look at the possibilities, too.”

She smiled then, gave a little wave of her white-gloved hand. Crystals shimmered on its cuff. “I’ve kept you long enough,” she said. “You have a plane to catch. And I need to get inside before I freeze. Have a safe trip. And merry Christmas.”

He thanked her. Added a quick “You, too” and started to turn away.

As he did, his glance caught on the gold plaque engraved with three letters above their doorbell. He’d been curious about it ever since it had gone up last week.

“Hey, Phil,” he called, catching her unlocking the door. “What does FGI stand for?”

“It’s who we are,” she called back. “Fairy Godmothers, Incorporated.”

His forehead furrowed. As near as he’d been able to figure out, he’d thought they were in some sort of mortgage business. “Fairy Godmothers? Don’t they have something to do with pumpkins?”

“And helping dreams come true.” With a charming smile, she disappeared inside.

Mentally shaking his head, he strode toward his truck at the curb in front of his office. He had no idea how anyone over the age of ten could possibly believe in fairy tales, happily ever afters or that other impossibility that Rory had once imagined, Christmas magic. As for dreams, they died by the thousands every day. Reality simply wore them down, if it didn’t kill them outright. He knew. He’d spent years in the emotional limbo that remained after his vision of his future had turned to ash. But he’d glimpsed those dreams again, and what Phil had said about possibilities now gave him pause.

She’d said Rory had to let go of a mind-set that focused on what she had been looking for and what she needed now. She’d had to be open-minded enough to see what would be possible living in a place she’d have never considered, rather than writing it off as not what she’d had in mind.

He certainly hadn’t considered any sort of personal relationship with her when they’d first met. But one had evolved in spite of him. To see the possibilities in it, he’d need to get past the defenses he’d spent years honing before he could be open to what those possibilities were.

Part of the problem there was that he had no desire to give her a chance to push him any farther away.

The other part would be getting Rory to see past whatever it was holding her back from him to see their potential, too.

Rory had hoped for snow. For Tyler’s sake, because that was what he’d said he wanted for Christmas. But Christmas morning had dawned with a gray sky that promised little beyond more rain.

Until a week ago, every other time she’d asked him what he wanted Santa to bring, all he’d wanted was a big tree. The day after Erik had left, he’d told her he’d changed his mind. Since he already had the tree, what he wanted Santa to bring was Erik.

She’d explained that Erik would be with his parents for Christmas, so Santa wouldn’t be able to bring him. Though decidedly let down by that bit of news, he’d decided later that he wanted snow.

All he seemed to want as far as a gift was concerned were things beyond her power to give him.

Without any sort of hint for something that Santa could bring down the chimney, she, being Santa’s helper, had left him a mini kick scooter that he could ride between the counters in the store while she worked to get it ready. He’d been excited when he’d come downstairs a couple of hours ago to see it by the tree. He’d been tickled to see that Santa had eaten all but a few crumbs of the cookies they’d left out for him, and awed and delighted by the small tuft of faux-fur trim that appeared to have snagged on one of the fireplace stones when the jolly old guy had departed.

What had truly thrilled him, though, had been discovering the present from Erik among the others from her and her parents beneath the lit and glittering branches. It had been delivered yesterday with a note asking her to please put it under the tree for him to find Christmas morning. Except for the “Thanks” he’d scrawled at the bottom, that was all the note had said.

Tyler had declared the huge pop-up book about sailboats his “very favorite” and gone through every page with her while they sat on the sofa.

It had been only two days since Erik had left her standing in the kitchen feeling as if the world was falling out from under her all over again. Two long nights of missing him more than she’d thought humanly possible. The man was a rock. A truly decent guy. And while she suspected he was fiercely loyal to those he cared about, he held back from needing anyone himself—from needing her, anyway—in the way she now knew she needed him. It wasn’t about survival. She could survive on her own. It was about the need to share, and he had worked his way into her life and into her heart as if he was simply meant to be there.

That had only happened with one other man.

Too unsettled to stay still any longer, she left Tyler with his book and cleaned up the bright paper wrappings and ribbons from the carpet.

She had no idea how to repair the damage done to their relationship. He was her mentor. He’d become her confidant. His voice had been one of experience and his advice had been invaluable where other situations were concerned. She just didn’t know how to ask what she could possibly do to make things right between them when he was part of the problem, even though she’d picked up the phone a dozen times to try. He had no responsibility to her beyond the agreement he’d made with her benefactor, and now even that part of their relationship had been jeopardized.

The two-tone chime of a bell startled her from her painful thoughts. She’d only heard the chime ring twice before: the first morning she’d met Edie, when the woman had stopped by to welcome her to the neighborhood, and two days ago when Talia had brought the twins over to play. Erik had explained that the service bell was used for after-hours deliveries. A few of the locals obviously used it as a doorbell to save themselves from having to walk around back.

Thinking it might be one of the neighbors she and Tyler had delivered Christmas cookies to yesterday, she headed through the store and opened its front door.

No one was there.

Stepping out, the cold breeze tugging at her hair, her glance caught on a small package on the weathered plank boards.

The little gold box was tied with a red bow.

Now conscious of the dark truck in the parking lot, her heart beating a little too fast, she picked it up.

The neat print on the back of the gold tag read “I want you to find it again.”

She knew exactly what it was. It meant the inexplicable feeling of magic she’d told Erik she’d once known every Christmas. The feeling of everything being right in her world. He knew it was the feeling she’d wanted her son to know and something she’d given up hope of ever experiencing again herself.

Yet that sense was what she felt now as she lifted the lid on the box to find a glittery little life preserver on a thin gold cord.

She had the feeling he was only letting her know he’d help her stay afloat with the business. And that was huge. But the way he’d done it had her closing the box and holding it with both hands to her heart.

It was only then that she looked to where Erik unfolded his arms and stepped away from his driver’s side door.

Gravel crunched beneath his hiking boots as he moved past the bits of storm debris still strewn over the wet grass. Dark plaid flannel hung open over a navy Henley shirt, his broad shoulders looking impossibly wide as he climbed the steps and stopped in front of her.

He hadn’t been at all sure what to expect when he’d left the box for her. He’d just wanted her to discover it the way she had the others she’d told him about. They seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, she’d said, so that sense was part of what he’d wanted to give her, even if only for a moment.

He knew he could have just left it for her. But that would have defeated another part of his purpose. He’d needed to see her reaction to his gift so he’d have some idea of what to do next. It was so unlike him not to have a clear plan, but he felt much as he suspected he would setting sail without a compass or preparation. He wasn’t totally sure how to get where he wanted to go, or if the waters he’d face would be calm, rough or totally unpredictable.

Encouraged by the way she held his gift, he quietly said, “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas,” she echoed, still clutching the little ornament. Caution merged with disbelief. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in San Diego.”

“I was. I spent Christmas Eve with my family and caught the first flight out this morning. I don’t want to keep you from Tyler. I just wanted you to have that.”

Rory watched him nod toward her clutched hands. She could have hugged him for his gift. The reserve carved in his expression held her right where she stood.

Considering the bated relief she felt at his presence, her “Thank you” seemed terribly inadequate. “Do you want to come in? Tyler loves his—”

Erik was already shaking his head. “There’s one other thing.” More than one, actually, but he wanted them alone right now. “The other day, you said you didn’t want to set yourself up to lose something you don’t even have. You said it would be a mistake for you to count on me. I understand the need to protect yourself,” he insisted. He’d mastered that one in spades himself. “And I get the reasons you don’t want Tyler to start believing I’ll be around for him. But I’m not all those other people who’ve let you down, Rory.

“You seem so certain the only way you can create stability for yourself is to keep anyone who could rock your boat at arm’s length. But you’ve rocked mine, too. You already have me,” he admitted. “I figure the least we owe each other is a little time to reconsider our positions before we totally blow something that could have a lot of potential.”

She looked at him warily, a betraying glint of a smile in her eyes. “You think we have potential?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I do.”

She’d rocked his boat. The thought made relief harder to suppress. His admission that she already had him made it nearly impossible.

She took a step closer. “If I let myself count on you,” she began, already wanting that more than he could possibly know, “what are you offering to reconsider?”

“Are we negotiating?”

“Apparently,” she replied, holding his gift even tighter.

She couldn’t begin to identify what she felt as the tension left his handsome features. Reprieve, for certain. But something that felt suspiciously like hope had risen right behind it. He didn’t want them to close any doors.

Lifting his hand toward her, he curved it to the side of her face.

“In that case,” he said, more relieved than he could have imagined when she tipped her cheek toward his palm, “you should know I’ve already considered how much my hang-ups were getting in the way of possibilities where we were concerned. I’ve spent years thinking I just wanted to be away from here. But once I moved past thinking about what I’d wanted and considered what I might need, I realized that what I needed was another chance with you.

“You made me realize how much I still want a family. And a home here. It’s not just the place,” he assured her. It was how she made it feel. Comfortable. Familiar. As if he belonged there. “It’s you. And Tyler.”

He knew he already had a good life. Until he’d met her, he’d just refused to let it matter that he didn’t have anyone to share it with. He’d work or play late so that he was too tired to care that he had no one to come home to who actually cared that he’d had a great day or a bad one, or whom he could care about in return.

“We’re good together. If we want to make this work between us, we can. I’m in love with you,” he confessed, finally acknowledging what he’d denied to his partner well over a week ago. Pax had somehow known that she was the woman he’d been waiting for, though he hadn’t realized he’d been waiting for her at all. “All I’m asking is if you’re willing to try.”

Rory knew his walls had existed far longer than hers. Yet he’d just put his heart on the line for her. Her own heart feeling full enough to burst, she went up on tiptoe, curved her arms around his neck and hugged him hard.

Folding her to his chest, his hold just as tight, he chuckled against the top of her head. “That’s a yes, then?”

“Absolutely.”

“Are you okay?”

She nodded against his shoulder. “I’m falling in love with you, too, Erik. I think that’s what scared me. I knew the day we met that it could happen, but I wasn’t ready for it. It happened so fast.”

Drawing a deep breath, she lowered herself to her heels and let her hands slide to his chest. Still holding the little box, she met his eyes. “I think I panicked,” she explained.

He brushed back the hair the breeze fluttered across her cheek.

“I know you did.” She’d been no more prepared than he’d been to put a name or label on what had seemed to be growing more complicated by the moment. A little apprehension on her part hadn’t been surprising at all. He hadn’t dealt with it all that fearlessly himself. “We’ll take it slow now. Okay? No pressure. No rush. We’ll just take our time and stay open to possibilities.”

“Possibilities,” Rory repeated. “That’s what Phil told me I should look for here.” She’d only been thinking about the property, though. As Erik smiled into her eyes and drew his hand to the back of her neck, Rory remembered that the woman had also warned her to keep an open mind about him.

“She told me that, too,” he told her, and lowered his mouth to hers before she could say another word.

There was relief in his kiss as he pulled her closer, and promise, hunger, possessiveness and need. It was the need she felt most. His, definitely, but her own, too, in the long moments before he lifted his head and eased back far enough to release her hands from where they’d been trapped against his chest.

“What?” he asked, seeing the question in her flushed features.

She looked at the little gold box, lifted off its lid. Suddenly she felt certain the little life preserver didn’t represent what she’d thought.

Erik’s voice was quiet. “You said there was a time when you could always count on something like that being there for you Christmas morning.”

Her smile came easily at the reminder. “I thought this had something to do with the store. Something about keeping it afloat. But it’s a lifeline, isn’t it?”

“It is,” he murmured, touching his lips to her forehead. “I’m just not sure which one of us I thought needed rescuing.”

“Erik!”

In a flash of maroon fleece and gray denim, Tyler bolted through the door onto the porch.

“Hey, buddy!”

“You’re here!”

“I’m here,” Erik agreed, and pulled him between them for a hug.

It was then that Rory felt what Erik had wanted her to glimpse again.

At that moment, all felt truly, completely and utterly right in their little world. That was the magic, and it was the most wonderful gift of all.

As they headed in from the cold, it started to snow.