Wrapped Up in Christmas Love (Wrapped Up in Christmas #4)

Chapter Sixteen

W ith each knock, Zach grew more concerned. Isabelle had left her car running and the driver-side door wide open. Even without her call to Sarah, that alone would have put him on alert. That she wasn’t coming to the door when he knew she was inside downright had him in a panic. Was she okay? He’d give her another thirty seconds and then he was going in. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d jimmied a lock and broken into somewhere, but it would be the first time he’d not had orders to do so.

When he heard movement then the deadbolt clicked out of place, he let out the breath he’d been holding. “Thank God, Isabelle. You had me wor—What are you wearing?”

She placed the top hat she was holding onto her head. “A snowman costume.”

“I see that.” Had Sarah forgotten to mention some Christmas show Isabelle was in? “Why are you wearing a snowman costume?”

Her lower lip disappeared between her teeth, and she shrugged a fuzzy white shoulder. “That is a long story.”

One he longed to hear no matter how long. He’d missed her. Even though she was wearing the hilarious snowman costume, he’d never been happier to see anyone than he was looking into her beautiful face. “Can I come in and you tell me that story?”

Her belly jostling, she stepped aside. “Why are you here?”

“That is also a long story.”

Her brow arched. “One you’re going to tell me?”

He’d rehearsed what he wanted to say a thousand times in his head. Hopefully, the right words would come to him. “Yes. If you’ll let me.”

If she’d let him, he had a lot of things to tell her.

“Get to talking.” She crossed her stick arms, making her round belly wobble again.

“You don’t want to go first?” he offered as he considered where to begin in telling her all the things he wanted to say about the past week. Had it only been a week? It felt so much longer since he’d last seen her.

Her gaze narrowed. “Why do I have to go first?”

Did she have any idea how adorable she was in the costume and how absolutely distracting it was when she pursed her lips at him that way? “I thought a gentleman always let a lady go first.”

“You’re no gentleman,” she scoffed.

Zach laughed. “Maybe not, but for the first time in my life, I’ve found myself wanting to be.”

Her brows knitted together. “A gentleman?”

“If that’s what you want, then, yes, Blondie, a gentleman.”

Her throat worked and her breathing became heavy as she said, “Keep talking.”

“Because you aren’t going to tell me why you’re wearing a snowman costume until I do?” He couldn’t resist teasing. As expected, fire lit in her blue depths, but something more was there, too. The same something that had haunted him the past week. “I’ve missed you, Isabelle.”

“So much that you’ve called over and over to tell me.” She bit out with more sass than a woman in a snowman costume should be able to muster.

“I couldn’t call—” he began.

Her brow lifted. “Because there were no phones in Georgia?”

“Because I needed to spend time with my family, healing old wounds without being completely distracted by my feelings for you.” There he’d said it. The first part of what he’d rehearsed. “Believe me, partially distracted was more than enough.”

“I’m glad you went to see your family.” Not taking her gaze off him, she bent to pick up her cat.

Despite all the tension coiling inside him, Zach laughed at how she had to angle herself in the costume to accomplish the task. “Blondie the Snowman holding her snowman cat. I’m glad your hair is back to its natural color, by the way.”

“Don’t laugh at me and my cat,” she ordered, lightly stomping the floor with a black boot and causing Bobbin to want down.

She let the cat go and he scurried over to the sofa.

“Or?” Zach pressed, taking a step closer to where he stood as close as her snowman belly allowed.

The costume failed to mask her apple-pie scent. Inhaling, Zach smiled. This. This was why he’d arranged for an iSecure plane to fly him to Louisville, rented a car, and driven like a maniac to Pine Hill.

Isabelle’s eyes glittering up at him, she put her stick fists on what he supposed were her snowman hips. “Or I’ll toss you out.”

“I love you, Isabelle Davis.”

Her face otherwise as frozen as if she really were a snowman, she blinked. “What did you say?”

“That hat blocking your ears?” he countered to buy himself a moment.

He’d had a week to figure out what he wanted to say, had it all rehearsed in his head, on how he’d come by later that night to wish her a Merry Christmas and to ask her to go on a date with him. A real date. One where he could hold her hand to his content and not need mistletoe as an excuse to kiss her perfect mouth. How could he have known she’d call Sarah, put him in a panicked tizzy to get to her, answer the door wearing a snowman suit, and completely throw all his preconceived plans right out the door? He’d sure not meant to blurt out that he’d fallen head over heels for her before giving her time to adjust to the idea of dating him for real.

She took off the hat and tossed it onto the sofa, yet again startling Bobbin, who let out an unhappy screech. Eyeing her with displeasure, the cat stalked over to beneath the twinkling Christmas tree, knocked off an ornament with his tail, then plopped down.

Tilting her chin upward, Isabelle locked gazes with him. Zach’s breath caught at the beauty of her face, at the beauty of her spirit, and what shined so evidently in her eyes as she slid her fingers beneath the suit’s collar and lifted out the snowman pendant.

She was wearing his gift.

She was his gift.

Not that he deserved anything so precious as Isabelle. But if it took him the rest of his life, he’d get this right with her. It might take him the rest of his life to convince her to let him, to convince her that, although he didn’t know what was locked inside his head, he knew exactly what filled his heart. Her.

*

Isabelle lifted the snowman away from her neck with shaky fingers. “Okay, maybe I heard wrong, so let’s try a different question. Why did you give me this, Zach?”

Why was he smiling so goofily at her? For a moment, she’d thought he said he loved her, but that couldn’t be right. Could it? If it was, why was he so hesitant to say it again?

“Because it’s Christmas.” He covered her hand with his, tracing his thumb over where her fingers held the snowman, sending shivers down her spine. “My turn for a question. Why are you wearing it?”

She lifted her chin. “Because it’s Christmas.”

Cupping her face, Zach chuckled. “I’ve never met anyone like you my whole life, Blondie. You’re stubborn and fierce and love with all your heart, and I’ve missed you with all of mine. When I realized it was you on the phone with Sarah, I—”

“You were at Sarah’s when I called?” she interrupted, pulling out of his embrace.

“How do you think I got here so fast, Frosty?”

“I thought you stopped by to make fun of my snowman suit.” Standing on her tiptoes, she leaned toward him, her stuffed belly pressing against him as she stared up into his laughing eyes.

“I think you look snow good,” he teased. “Where were you headed in this?”

Keeping her gaze locked with his, she took a deep breath. “To find you.”

“Because you missed me, too?” His hand was back, cradling her face.

“I thought you were at your parents. I was coming there and—”

“And thought they’d welcome you with open arms if you were dressed as a snowman?”

“And wasn’t sure how things were going with them,” she continued as if he hadn’t interrupted. “I thought if I showed up as a singing snowman telegram, it would give you the option of sending me away if things weren’t going well or if you didn’t want me there.”

“Or inviting you in for after dinner entertainment if it was and I did?”

“Something like that. How did things go?”

“Brett and I will never be as close as you and Sophie, but we were civil.” His palm tensed against her cheek. “More than that, really. I shared a lot of things with them, some of which I’m not sure they wanted to hear, but they listened. I apologized for shutting them out of my life and tried to explain how I thought I was protecting them by doing so, when in reality, all I was doing was trying to hide behind the walls I’d built after my accident.” He paused, took a breath. “They want to meet you, but I told them it might be a while, as I had my work cut out to convince someone as wonderful as you to choose to be with a messed-up guy like me.”

“You’re not messed up.”

“I wish that were true, Blondie, but I am. On the surface, my wounds are scarred over, but deep inside, the wounds to my mind and heart”—he took a deep breath—“I’m not sure they’ve ever stopped bleeding, or if they ever will. There’s this part of me who feels so unworthy to be here, asking you to choose to be with me when you deserve so much better.”

“I’ve never thought of you as unworthy, Zach. Not once.”

“That means you’d give me a second chance, even though I don’t meet any criteria on your ideal guy list?”

“I don’t have an ideal guy list,” she countered, barely able to believe they were having their conversation. “But if the new me who jumps in bouncy houses and dresses as a snowman on a whim wrote a list describing her ideal man, well, I’d be listing out all my favorite things about you.”

“Such as?”

Isabelle bit into her lower lip. “How you look at me and really see me, who I am deep inside, and yet you like me, anyway.”

The corner of Zach’s mouth lifted, digging his dimple deep. “I love all of you, Blondie, the past, the present, and every future you.”

Joy filled her to where she thought it might overflow. “Really?”

Staring into her eyes, he traced a fingertip across her bottom lip, causing a tingle to shoot through her. “I know it’s going to take me years to convince you that I’m sticking around wherever you are, that no matter what inner demons I may battle in the future, I won’t run from them or you. Not ever. Maybe by the time we’re John and Maybelle’s age, you’ll believe me.”

Isabelle’s breath caught at the sincerity in his gaze, in what he was saying. Zach loved her and was telling her he wouldn’t leave her and would fight anything that attempted to pull him away from her.

Her knees threatened to buckle as she said, “Or I could just believe you now.”

The golden flecks in his eyes softened and he brushed his thumb across her cheek. “You could, but you’d never make things that easy on me. Nor do I expect you to. There’s a lot I have to tell you about my past, my injuries, my rehab, how low I felt, and my fear that the darkness might return someday. Part of me wonders how I can ever expect you to trust in me when I think of all the reasons you shouldn’t.”

“True,” she admitted. “But if I told you I believed you now, that despite all those reasons I shouldn’t trust you, there’s even more that say I should.” She turned her face to press a kiss into his palm. “Believing you now might come with rewards.”

His eyes sparkled. “It definitely would, Blondie.”

“Then,” her breath heavy, she told him, “I believe you now.”

Zach leaned across the gap between them created by her belly and pressed his lips to hers. Firm, and yet so gentle. Sweet, and yet spicy. Every Christmas morning rolled into one perfect moment.

When he pulled back, she smiled. “Does this mean you want to be my guy?”

“This means I am your guy. With every fiber of my being, I love you, and I always will.”

Giddy inside, Isabelle pulled away, went to her purse, and pulled out the new journal her Aunt Claudia had given her for Christmas earlier that day.

“What are you doing, Blondie?”

“Making a new list.” At the top she wrote, Love Zach with all my heart for the rest of my life.

She drew a heart at the end.

“Great list, but it’s not done.” He took the journal and her pen and wrote out a second, longer item, then handed them back to her.

Glancing down at the page, Isabelle smiled as she read, Be loved by Zach with all his heart for the rest of his life, knowing he will never leave, but will fight for me and our love always .

Isabelle hugged the journal to her snowman chest. “I’m going to hold you to this forever. You know that, right?”

Grinning, Zach nodded. “I’m counting on it. Merry Christmas, Blondie.”

The End