Holly Jolly Cowboy (The Wyoming Cowboy #7)(77)

“What do you mean?” He thought he’d made that pretty clear, but maybe she needed more from him.

Holly gazed up at him. “Where do you want me tonight? I need you to be specific. Because I want to be with you, but . . .” She shrugged. “You’ve never invited me to stay in your cabin before. I thought it was one of those things where you needed your space.”

His space?

Adam laughed, shaking his head. “I had my space for the last week and I absolutely hated every moment of it, beautiful. I want to be with you. I want you in my bed. I don’t care if it’s in my cabin, or in the barn, or if you want me to take you into the kitchen and we dirty up the countertop like I promised you before.” He moved closer to her, sliding a hand to the back of her neck. “The only reason we’ve never made it out to my cabin before is because it’s a lot further away than your bed.”

“Oh.” Her cheeks pinked. “So, what you’re telling me is that you’re a man of little stamina—”

He growled, grabbing her by the waist and slinging her over his shoulder. “I’ll show you stamina.” He turned . . . and saw Polly standing there with her overnight bag on her shoulder, a smirk of amusement on her face.

“Please, don’t let me interrupt,” Polly said.

Holly squirmed hard on his shoulder. “Oh my god. Adam, put me down!”

“Nope,” he drawled, and winked at Polly. “It’s bedtime. You want Santa to come, don’t you?”

“I am so not stepping into that joke,” Polly teased. “Good night, you two. Okay if I keep Pumpkin with me?”

“Works for me,” Adam said, and tapped his hand on Holly’s sweatpants-covered butt. “You?”

She made an indignant sound.

“That’s her saying it’s fine.” He grinned at Polly and then slapped his hand on his leg. “Come on, Hannibal. Time for bed.”

Holly continued to make indignant noises as he carried her out of the main house and into the snow. The cabins were a decent walk away from the main house, nearer to the barn, and before he even got halfway there, she was squirming on his shoulder. “Put me down. Please!”

He patted her ass again and gave it a little bit of a rub, just because he could. “You going to make any more cracks about my stamina?”

She huffed, punching at his back. “You can show me your stamina in bed, but if you don’t put me down, I’m going to puke all over the place.”

“Fair enough.” Adam set her down, grinning. He felt light as air tonight. Happy. Like everything was right in his world once more, now that Holly was back in it. He held his hand out to her. She took it, shivering, and stepped closer to him. Automatically, Adam put his arm around her shoulders, hugging her against him. “Let’s get you over to my place so I can show you just how much I missed you.”

They raced over to his cabin, because it was cold and snowy out, and neither wanted to spend a lot of time outdoors. As they approached, he noticed a tray on his front porch. She must have put that there just before he arrived with Polly. “Let me guess, peanut butter and jelly?”

Holly gave a little sigh. “It’s Christmas, so I took pity on you.”

“Oh?”

“It’s a pie full of onions.” At his look of horror, Holly broke into giggles. She nudged him with her shoulder. “It’s ham and some stuffing. I didn’t feel much like cooking for myself but I thought you should have something nice on Christmas, even if I was mad at you.”

“And were you mad at me?” he asked softly.

She bit her lip, thinking. “I don’t know. I think I was more sad than anything. Sad that you weren’t the person I thought you could be. Sad because I still liked you and missed you despite all of it.”

He felt like an ass. “I’m going to make it up to you, Holly. I swear I will.”

Holly gazed up at him as they stood on his porch, her eyes shining in the moonlight. “The fact that you believe in me so much takes a lot of the sting away, you know. I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone that believed in me like you do.”

“I will always be your biggest cheerleader,” he promised her, and he meant it.

“Because you love me?”

“That, and because I think you’re amazing,” Adam admitted. “And I feel lucky that you even speak to me.”

She gave him a playful look. “If you’d have tipped me more than a dollar, I’d have spoken to you a lot sooner.”

“Then I’m an even bigger fool than we both thought,” he teased back, opening the door to his place. Inside his cozy cabin, the heater was humming, and most of his dirty clothes were in the hamper. Thank god. It was only a slight disaster instead of a major one. “Uh, give me a moment to straighten up.”

“You forget I’ve seen your place before,” Holly told him, stepping in after him. Hannibal barreled past both of them, heading for his food dish.

Right. She’d taken care of him when he was sick, because she was a good, kind person whom he didn’t deserve. “Sure.”

Holly sat down on the edge of the bed and yawned hugely. “How did you get my sister here anyhow? I meant to ask but there was just so much to talk about . . .” She lay down on one side of the bed, tucking her head against her arm and gazing up at him sleepily. “Not that it isn’t the best Christmas present ever, because it is.”