Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Austin

Finding a place for tonight is proving harder than I expected. The hotel we stayed at last night is booked, so I’m scrambling to find something before I start work. I end up on the town’s tourism website, going down the list of hotels and bed and breakfasts, calling each one and asking if they have availability tonight.

“We have our Honeymooners’ Cabin,” says the woman’s voice on the phone for The Landings Bed and Breakfast. She names the price, which is higher than I’ve paid for the hotel rooms we got.

But if this is basically my Christmas present for Nora, I can swing the splurge. “I’ll take it,” I answer confidently. After finishing up the reservation, I can focus on work. As the day progresses, my excitement builds. I don’t know what the Honeymooners’ Cabin entails, exactly, but with a name like that and the price tag, I’m assuming it has a few extras. Maybe champagne? An extra large bed or a jacuzzi tub big enough for two in the room?

That could be fun.

Nora stops by on her mid-morning break, and the sight of her makes an already great morning even better. Between waking up next to her, splurging on the reservation, and the general cheer circulating through ChristmasFest, I’m in a fantastic mood.

Nora’s face looks drawn and tired while she’s waiting in line, though. She stares blankly at the bottom of the kiosk instead of peering around the people in front of her to look at me.

Did she have a rough morning? And was that caused by her family or customers?

Because she was fine when I dropped her off this morning, smiling and laughing in the car, kissing me three times before getting out, grinning and waving as she walked to her front door. Sure, we’re both a little tired since we didn’t sleep as much as we probably should’ve—having her naked in bed with me is just too much temptation for me to resist, even if I know I’ll be tired in the morning. Besides, tomorrow’s the last day of ChristmasFest. I can handle being tired for a couple days of work when I know I’ll have an entire week off. An entire week where I’ll get to spend as much time as I want with Nora.

I can’t wait.

When she finally reaches the counter, her face brightens, and that makes me feel better. “Hey!” I try to infuse as much cheer as I can into my voice. If she’s having a rough day, I want to make her feel better. “How’s your morning going?”

She rolls her eyes. “Oh, you know. The usual. I didn’t eat enough this morning, though, so I’m starving. Whaddaya got to make me feel better?”

“Well, I have a selection of delights to tempt you.” That makes her giggle, which is good. She’s not so unhappy that she can’t laugh at me being silly. I point out my favorites—cinnamon rolls and pumpkin spice scones.

She screws up her face in thought. “Hmm. I think I need a cinnamon roll. Do you have forks, though? I don’t want to get messy.”

“Of course!” I box up her cinnamon roll and hand her a fork and a napkin.

“How much do I owe you?”

I wave her off. “This one’s on the house.” The least I can do when my girlfriend’s having a bad day is provide her with free pastries, right?

Her brow pinches, though. “Are you sure? Before, you said you couldn’t just give away all the baked goods.”

Leaning across the counter, I pitch my voice low. “It’s just once. Plus, it’s the day before Christmas Eve.” She looks like she’s about to protest again, but I ask, “What’s wrong?” before she can say anything else.

The question stops her in her tracks. She looks away, her throat working, then down at the box in her hand. When she meets my eyes, I think I see a sheen of tears there, but she quickly blinks them away, shaking her head and clearing her throat. “Nothing.” She pastes on a small smile.

Narrowing my eyes, I shake my head. “I don’t think I believe you,” I say quietly. “What happened? Did your mom get mad at you for wanting to stay out again tonight?”

She closes her eyes and taps her forehead with her palm. “Dammit. I haven’t even talked to Mom about that.”

That has me straightening, real concern shooting through me for the first time. “You haven’t? I thought?—”

She shakes her head. “It’ll be fine. I promise. Even if she’s upset, what’s she gonna do? I’m twenty-one. She can’t exactly ground me.”

“If you’re sure …”

“I’m sure.” She gives a definitive nod, then leans across the counter, face upturned.

I dart a look around the area before leaning in to give her a quick kiss. It’s just a peck, but it seems to do the trick to help solve whatever problem she’s having.

When she straightens, her smile is more genuine. “My siblings were being their usual charming selves this morning, so I just got distracted,” she explains. “I’ll tell Mom at lunch, I promise. Don’t cancel anything you’ve planned, okay? Same place as last night? I can meet you there. That way, you aren’t waiting around for me with my brothers being assholes while I pack.”

I shake my head. “No. They were full tonight. I got us a cabin at The Landings. But I don’t mind waiting for you. Your brothers don’t scare me.”

Her eyes widen. “Oooh. A cabin. Sounds fancy.”

Grinning, I shrug. “I hope so.”

She chuckles. “Text me the details. It’ll be easier for all of us if I meet you there.”

Holding up her hand in a wave, she leaves before I can say, “Okay.”

Checking into the cabin by myself is a little strange. Nora’s been with me the other two times we’ve gotten hotel rooms. But if she thinks us having our own cars is better, she’s probably right. As much as I enjoy the last few minutes with her when I take her home in the mornings, it’ll be easier to get to the bakery and then ChristmasFest tomorrow if we have our own vehicles. Plus, I can get those extra few minutes in the room instead of in the car. That’s empirically better.

After collecting the keys—actual keys attached to flattened hexagons with Honeymooners’ Cabin printed on them in black script—I follow the directions outside and around the back of the main building to a small log cabin on the edge of the property. The ground drops away just on the other side of the cabin, and I imagine the views are pretty during the day, doubly so in the summer. But it’s dark now, the night clear, but no moon to speak of, making it difficult to see anything outside the circle of light cast by the porch light on the cabin.

Once inside, I flip on the lights to discover a cozy one-room cabin complete with a log bed off to one side. Gauzy cream curtains flow from the ceiling to the floor at the corners and they scattered rose petals over the cream bedspread. On the other side of the room, there’s a fireplace with a couch in front of it. The switch on the wall next to the fireplace tells me it’s gas, which is great. After shucking off my coat and boots and hanging my coat on the hook by the door, I carry my bag over to the bed, then switch on the fireplace. On the coffee table in front of the couch, there’s a bucket of ice with a bottle of champagne nestled inside. Two champagne flutes sit upside down on a tray next to the bucket along with a small rectangular plate bearing four chocolate-dipped strawberries.

Standing next to the couch, I survey the rest of the room, taking in the cozy blankets draped over a ladder leaning against the wall near the bed and the western mountain style decor. Peering through the doorway on the wall opposite the entrance, I think I spy a large, oval tub. When I poke my head in and turn on the light, I see that I’m right. There’s a huge jetted tub with plenty of room for both of us to fit in it. More rose petals are scattered around the tub, towels artfully rolled and sitting on the ledge next to it, a selection of bath oils, soaps, and lotions clustered in front of them.

“Perfect,” I whisper. It’s everything I was hoping for when I booked it. And if Nora’s had a rough day—though I hope it got better after I saw her this morning—this should do the trick to help her relax and make her feel better.

My phone alerts in my pocket, and I pull it out to find a text from Nora.

Nora

I’m here. Where’s the cabin?

I text back the directions I followed to get here, then put my coat and boots on and head out to meet her.

When she sees me walking down the path, she stops, her whole body slumping at the sight of me. Which isn’t usually the response I’m hoping for. But when I get closer, it looks more like relief. “I’m so glad to see you,” she whispers, sounding near tears.

I scoop her up in a hug. “Hey,” I murmur. “What’s wrong?”

She shakes her head against me. “Nothing. I’m fine. It’s just been a long day, and I’m tired.”

“Did your parents give you any grief about coming here?”

She shakes her head again, wiping at her face with her free hand when I release her. “No. No, they’re fine. Mom did tell me I needed to be home tomorrow night, but I told her I knew that already.” She gives me a smile, which is just a flash of teeth in the darkness out here.

I reach for her bag, and she lets me take it. “Well, ChristmasFest is almost over,” I say, trying to sound cheerful. “That’s good, right?”

“Right,” she answers, but she doesn’t sound all that confident about her answer.

After getting inside, I set her bag next to mine and pull her into my arms, wrapping her up tight and dropping a kiss on her nose. “What’s wrong? Was today that terrible?”

Her eyes stay glued to my throat, and she shrugs. “No, it was fine. I think I’m just tired. And …” She bites her lip, shaking her head. “Never mind.” Meeting my eyes, she does her best to hitch her mouth into a smile. “Like you said, ChristmasFest is almost over. I’ll be able to rest and sleep and relax in just a few days.”

“Yes.” I give her a squeeze. “I’m looking forward to having a whole string of days off we can spend together.”

Her breath catches. “Don’t you have to work? I know you came mostly to help with ChristmasFest, but you said you were going to stay here and help indefinitely.”

I’m nodding before she’s done speaking. “Yes, that’s all true. But Grampy insisted I take a whole week off after ChristmasFest. He said that it’s fairly slow, at least compared to the lead-up to Christmas, and he always takes a week off to recover from ChristmasFest. Since I’ve done his job and then some, I get to take that week off too.”

Her lip is between her teeth again as she listens, and I reach up with my thumb to ease it out, then kiss her.

Whatever’s bothering her, it doesn’t hinder her willingness to kiss me back, at least. She surges against me, and the kiss quickly turns into something altogether hotter than I originally intended. I’d planned on us taking a leisurely soak, enjoying champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries before moving to the bed, but I’ll definitely take this.

She’s tugging at my clothes, impatient to get them off me. I step away to pull my shirt off, and she strips down as well, crawling into the bed in just the scrap of fabric she calls a thong. Lying down on her side, she looks at me, eyes dark and lips pouty. “I need you,” she whispers, and if I thought I was hurrying before, those words light a fire under my ass.

Tossing my clothes away, I climb onto the bed with her and lie down, tangling our legs and pulling her close. “I’m right here.”