You Had Me At Christmas: A Holiday Anthology(51)

Good morning, sweetheart. I wanted to make you breakfast :(. See, you reduced me to an emoji.

He waited for the excuse. The early business meeting she had. The morning appointment she couldn’t be late for. The landscaper who was coming to work on the lawn, which of course would be ridiculous in winter.

Whatever it was, he wasn’t going to be angry. He knew he was going to have to be patient with her. Take it slow. He’d sensed it last night with how nervous she’d been. She’d been wound so tight, until he’d f*cked her into exhaustion. Or thought he had.

Frowning at the idea she had left in the middle the night when it had been dark and she was alone, John told himself it would have been easy enough for her to call a cab or Uber. Still he would feel better once he saw the dots appear on his phone letting him know she was alright.

Only the dots never showed up.

An hour later, and two more unanswered texts, he was starting to get really nervous.

Kate, this is serious. I need to know you made it home okay or I’m going out looking for you.

Finally he saw the dots. At least she was alive. But as quickly as they appeared suddenly they were gone.

She wasn’t going to answer him. If not for some damn dots on a screen, he would have been left to worry about her all day.

Suddenly a message popped up. At least she wasn’t that cruel, he thought, but he could feel her shutting the door in his face. Firmly.

I’m fine. Goodbye John.

He thought about any number of things he could say to change her mind. Except not via a damn text. John needed to talk to her. He needed to tell her she was just scared because what had happened between them had been really intense. It wasn’t just the sex either, he knew that. It was all the feeling behind the sex that had sent her running.

He had to see her to tell her that. He didn’t know where she worked. Hell, now that he thought about it he didn’t even know her last name. That’s how sudden this had all been.

All he had was a number, and that text had said it all. She wasn’t going to answer him again. For all he knew she was blocking him right now.

“Shit,” John said, throwing the phone at the unmade bed that still smelled faintly of her.

That’s when he had to accept it. Maybe this wasn’t her running scared at all. Maybe Kate had finally come to the realization he had that first time he saw her.

She was in fact out of his league.





Chapter Eight





Kate stared at her computer, looking at an email she’d read for the hundredth time, but it still wasn’t making any sense to her. Déjà vu, she thought sadly. Although in her defense nothing was making sense lately. Not a single thing had made sense since she got up out of John’s bed and left in the early hours of the morning.

He’d been snoring. Not a loud, obnoxious sound, just a soft rumble of his chest that made him even more endearing.

If that was possible.

Which is why it made perfect sense to leave him. While she could. Before she took this thing… whatever it was, too seriously. It was a fling. A Christmas miracle, in her case. She’d had some pretty amazing sex, and now she was good. No need for anyone’s emotions to get involved.

“Okay, you know you’re crying, right?”

Kate looked up to see Sally standing in her office door with a cup of Starbucks in her hand. She quickly brushed the corner of her eye with her fingers.

“Eyelash,” she muttered.

“Right.” Sally said unconvincingly as she set the white cardboard cup in front of her.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Kate asked, reaching for it with the idea that drowning in the coffee might make her feel better.

“I was coming back from lunch and I thought you might need it. I’m going to say this as politely as I can. You look like hell, Kate.”

Kate looked at her longtime friend and co-worker. “That wasn’t very polite.”

Sally sat down. “Please tell me what happened. I know this isn’t about my guy. Carol told me you bailed on the hookup, so I have to assume this is about the ex-con. You saw him again? Did he… I mean geez… did he hurt you?”

Kate let out a sad laugh. No, of course he hadn’t hurt her. He had destroyed her, which is why she left him. She wasn’t equipped to deal with that kind of pain.

“You’re not answering me, and if you don’t I swear I’ll call the police myself…”

“He didn’t hurt me. He was amazing and wonderful. And sweet. And perfect.”

“And?”

Kate felt her mouth tugging down in a way she couldn’t control. Then her shoulders were shaking and she realized this wasn’t simply crying. This was sobbing. Instantly Sally was up and had an arm around her shoulders while Kate struggled to get herself under control.

“Oh honey, it’s okay. Let it out and you’ll feel better.”

Kate pulled away from her and stood up, not able to take the comfort Sally was offering—especially when she’d been at fault. It was easier to keep moving, even if it was just pacing back and forth in her office.

“No, you don’t understand. I’m the one who ran. The one who hurt him. I just couldn’t… I mean it was all too much. I was lying there in his arms, thinking it was the first time I hadn’t been alone since my mother died, and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t risk letting him become that important to me, because what if he…”