Approximately Yours (North Pole, Minnesota #3)(56)

“I used to dream about coming back here. I had, like, intense daydreams that I’d show up in North Pole and you’d remember me and, well…happily ever after.” Holly sighed. “The first day Elda and I ran into you at Santabucks, it crushed me. We had this bizarre encounter; you had a girlfriend. But the worst part was, you didn’t even remember me.”

Danny grinned. “I didn’t recognize you. But I did notice you.”

“You did?” Holly’s heart sped up.

“Oh my God, yeah.” His broad shoulders shook as he laughed. “Don’t you remember how awkward I was?”

“But you kept looking at Elda.”

“She had chocolate on her face. And she was talking about roadkill.”

Holly laughed. Elda would be mortified.

“And I kept looking at her, Holly, because I was trying not to look at you. I had a girlfriend at the time.”

“Right.”

He leaned closer on his crutches, and Holly shuffled forward slightly, closing the gap between them. “When I saw you at the dance the next night, I couldn’t stop thinking about how hot you were with your tattoo and your cute little scar. I wanted you, Holly, but you wanted nothing to do with me. I just got out of a relationship with another girl who didn’t like me. I didn’t want to make the same mistake again.”

“It was self-preservation,” Holly said. “I was scared you’d reject me.”

“I wouldn’t have rejected you.”

He was so close now, leaning toward her, studying her face. She hadn’t been this close to a guy in, well, ever. She could physically feel that he wanted to kiss her. The tension in the air pulled the two of them together. Holly’s first instinct was to laugh and run. She didn’t know how to do this. How did kissing happen?

“I’m under the mistletoe.” His eyes went to the ceiling above him.

Holly looked up, too, and she laughed. It was this old sphere of wax mistletoe that her grandmother had always kept strung up on the porch “just to make things interesting.” Grandma had been gone a month, and she was still pushing Holly and Danny together.

He smiled at her again, and Holly wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. Her normal response would be to laugh it off, like “ha-ha, mistletoe is a joke,” a defensive reaction to avoid the embarrassment of the guy not wanting to kiss her. But Danny Garland had brought it up. He was standing under the mistletoe looking at her like she was Elda or somebody. Or, no. She had to stop thinking like that. Danny had never looked at Elda like this. He liked Holly. He wanted Holly.

She could get defensive, run and hide, or do something about it.

She stepped closer to him. “Is there any safe space in this town?” She tried not to think about her lips, or licking them, but they were absolutely the only thing on her mind.

“Perils of living in a Christmas village. Mistletoe grows wild here,” he said.

“How unfortunate.” They were so close now that Holly’s chest was about a millimeter from his. Holly’s blood pumped hard through her body, sending terror and excitement to every one of her fingers and toes. She was about to kiss Danny Garland. She willed her brain to stop thinking for just the tiniest moment. She leaned in and pressed her mouth against his.

His lips turned her insides to liquid. She relaxed, trying to simultaneously turn off her brain and capture every single moment for posterity. Whatever happened next, she’d go home to Chicago and make many, many collages, sketches, and sculptures about this moment. Danny Garland kissing her.

Danny whispered in her ear, the tip of his perfect nose tickling her skin. “Even better than I imagined.”

“Same,” Holly whispered. She hugged him close, resting her head on the outside of his arm, gazing out at the view from her grandma’s porch, the mailbox, the familiar cars lining the street. The neighbors across the road had put out a gigantic Wonder Woman blow-up lawn ornament. She blinked a few times to make sure she was actually seeing what she thought she saw. Yes. Little white flakes danced in the light of the street lamps, which had just clicked on.

She lifted her head from Danny’s shoulder. “Wow, Danny. We made it snow.”





Chapter Twenty


It was snowing, and Danny was kissing Holly.

He didn’t believe in Christmas miracles, but kissing this girl under the mistletoe on Christmas Eve during the first snowfall of the year felt pretty close to one.

Kissing Holly was a whole new thing. Danny had only ever kissed Star, and that had become routine. They knew each other’s moves, every step in the repertoire. When he and Star got together it was like a choreographed dance. They were a Vegas act that had been performing together so long, they could do the show practically half-asleep.

He had to stay alert with Holly. She felt different in his arms. She was softer and shorter than Star. He felt powerful holding her and leaning down to touch her lips. His skin kept lighting up in different spots—this was new, this was exciting. This was euphoric.

He leaned back and held Holly at arm’s length. “We have to get to the town hall.”

“Right.” She grinned. “You’re about to be champion again.”

“I don’t know. Craig’s gigantic Game of Thrones wall is pretty impressive.”

Since it was snowing and they were already very, very late, Holly helped Danny load his crutches into the back of her family’s minivan. After she stuck the key in the ignition, she turned to him. “We kissed.” A smile was glued to her face. She tried to do that thing where her tongue played with her top lip, but her perma-grin prevented it.