Monsters Under Mistletoe

7. Carol

Chapter 7

Carol

I couldn’t believe he was carrying me. I couldn’t believe we just had sex. Determined, I pushed all thoughts of him running out on me earlier, his usually abrasive nature when it came to me, from my mind. Whatever this was, whatever was happening here this Christmas night, I would fully enjoy it, I decided.

Underneath the doorway, he stopped.

“Mistletoe,” he announced.

My heart did a quick flip even though my brain kept insisting this wasn’t Gabriel McCloud, this wasn’t how he acted around me. I offered my lips and he took them, sending a new wave of pleasure through me.

He carried me up the stairs as if I weighed nothing, making all my Christmas wishes come true. He even knew which room I was in and kicked the door shut behind us.

“You’re not much of an unpacker, are you?”

He indicated my overflowing luggage by the side of the bed. He was right, I wasn’t. Never had been, as strange as it was. I’d rather live out of my suitcase, reminding myself that this trip too would end, then put everything away and truly enjoy whatever trip I was on.

“No,” I admitted. “I like the choice of taking off quickly if I need to.”

“Hmm,” he looked skeptical. “You don’t strike me as a runner.”

“Alright, so I’m lazy,” I confessed.

He chuckled, “Thatsounds more accurate.”

He put me down on the bed and moved to the suitcase, from where he pulled out a flimsy, red Christmas nightie my sister had packed for me as a joke. “If you can’t get him with that, you won’t ever get him.”

“Nala packed that,” I defended the nightie he was holding up all the way now.

His expression turned, darkened, followed by raw desire. “I would love to see you in this.”

Heat rushed through my veins. I would have loved showing myself off in that nightie for him, but not now. Now I wanted to know what was going on between us. As much as I would have liked just to enjoy the night, I wanted to know if this was it or if there was more.

I shook my head and pointed at an oversized light green shirt, “I’ll wear this for now.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “For now? So there is a chance you’ll model this for me later?” he wiggled the nightie.

“Let’s hear what you have to say first.”

He brought the shirt over, but never let go of the red nighty, placing it on the bed beside him after sitting down next to me. His fingers played with the silky material, curiously he shook a small bell. “It even works.”

“Gabriel.” I pulled the shirt over my head and gave him my sternest look.

“Alright. Look. The short version is that I’ve always had the hots for you,” he confessed.

“You could have fooled me,” I couldn’t help but say, letting out my many pent-up emotions I had accumulated over all the times he had mercilessly teased me.

“I’m sorry about that. I needed that to keep my distance from you. I always thought … it always seemed like … you and Patrick were a couple and I didn’t—”

“Me and Pats?” I interrupted in disbelief. “We’re just friends. We’ve always been just friends.”

“I know that now,” he confessed, looking decidedly sheepish. An expression I would have never imagined seeing on him. “Okay, I was an idiot, alright. But it’s not like a twenty-one-year-old man can ask a fifteen year old girl out.”

He had me there, even though fifteen year old me had lusted after him. He had been the star of all my wet dreams, but I wasn’t ready yet to tell him that.

“Then why didn’t you say something after Pats and Ella married?” The question was out before I realized the answer to it. Bobby. My stupid boyfriend.

“You didn’t come alone,” he pointed out.

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“I still would have, had the wedding gone the way it was supposed to.”

We exchanged a glance and started laughing. As stressful as the wedding and the events had been, now they seemed almost comical, since everybody did get their happily ever after.

“I don’t think anybody will ever forget this wedding,” I giggled.

He chuckled, “Probably not.”

We fell silent, until I prodded, “So. Why did you leave me at the terrace?”

Where he had looked sheepish before, he looked downright embarrassed now. His hand moved to tousle his famous hair and he shook his head. “Because I’m a coward, is why.”

I tilted my head. “I need a bit more than that.”

“I never had any hope of making you mine,” my heart picked up a notch. I wanted nothing more than to be his . “Until the wedding when I found out that you and Patrick are only friends. When I saw you with that other guy …” he took a deep breath. “It shattered me, okay. Is that what you want to hear?”

I clasped his face in both of my hands. “Oh, Gabe. I didn’t know. I have also loved you since forever.”

Incredulously, he stared at me, he looked like he was holding his breath. “You what?”

Alright, Latimer, in for a dime … “I’ve been in love with you since—”

With a groan he pulled me into his arms. There was nothing left of his embarrassment or sheepishness, only self-assuredness and his usual cockiness. His lips crushed down on mine, he held me so tightly as if he feared I would disappear in a cloud of smoke.

“God, Caro,” he rasped when we came up for air. “I should have said something years ago.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “probably.”