Cupcakes and Christmas - R.J. Scott Page 0,80

reach.

“Cut to the chase, Marc, how much do you need?”

“Twenty thousand,” he whispered. “And I’ll back off.”

Was he threatening me? I whispered my reply, aware people were staring, “How about I don’t give you twenty thousand, and you get out of my life before I call security?”

“You’re an asshole,” Marc snapped.

“Pot, kettle, black,” I murmured. “Justin, can you call the front desk and get security up here?”

Marc scowled then stepped away. “You’re not fucking worth it,” he snapped again, and then looked around me at Justin. “You’re welcome to him.” He stalked away, and I waited until he’d left and then sat as my energy left me in a rush. Justin copied me after a moment’s pause, but he never once let go of my hand.

“Well, he’s a piece of work.”

“Are you going to post that?” How did I ask him not to? How did I stop the social media person from sharing the intense situation?

Justin shook his head. “Never. It’s personal, and I’m not messing up the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Sunshine grew in my chest. Marc and I were over, and I was holding the hand of the person I loved.

Now I just needed to get him to love me back.

Chapter Twenty-One

Bake cupcakes they said. It’s easy they said

Justin

How did I tell Brody that I had all these feelings for him if I couldn’t give them a name?

Love was new to me. It was wanting to be with him all the time, talking to him, smiling at stupid jokes, patching up Jeremy. In my head, it was a combination of passion, magic, and cake, and I desperately wanted to talk to someone, anyone about what I was feeling. What if I was wrong? What if I told him I thought I loved him and he just laughed in my face? Who the hell am I to be thinking that I had a handle on love at all? What did I know about love? I’d left him sleeping, staring down at him in my best non-creepy way and wondering what he was dreaming about. He was smiling, and it made my chest tighten. Was that love?

I couldn’t bear the thought of him going back to Corning and me being in the city and not waking up next to him. That sounded like love. The passion and fire we had in bed spilled out into teasing and laughter and walks in the snow. To me, that is what I wanted from love. And when he smiled like he was doing right now, I wanted to smile along with him. Love was confusing and crazy, and I had no one to talk to. Millions of followers and not one person I’d connected to.

I left a note on the pillow and headed downstairs where the lobby was empty and the sofas called my name. The only person awake was the receptionist but the room service was twenty-four hours, so I ordered hot chocolate and installed myself in the corner by the windows. From here I could see the shadowed hulk of the remainder of the hotel and the parking area and every so often a car arrived, turned in the snow and couples or groups climbed out and headed to their rooms, passing through the lobby and laughing, joking, some of them clearly drunk, others just high on life. I guessed that at just after midnight, these were guests from a celebration. Maybe a wedding from some of the hats that the women carried or had perched at weird angles on their heads. Sitting back here in the shadows, I could watch it all without drawing attention to myself, staring into my hot chocolate and thinking the deepest of thoughts.

“Justin?”

I glanced up. Kristen and Ivan were standing in front of me. I knew they’d be coming back for the final tomorrow but I’d assumed they’d already be in their rooms. I immediately stood and hugged them. “You’re back.”

“Cutting it fine,” Ivan grumbled. “But Kirsten was determined to check out the Skywalk at Columbia Icefields.”

“You loved it,” she teased, and even though Ivan huffed, he was smiling. “Can I get a hot chocolate?” she asked Ivan with a flutter of her eyelashes, and he dutifully padded over to reception. “Is it okay if we sit and visit?” she asked, drawing her knees up under her, looking all perky and cute in her scarlet jacket.

“Of course.”

“Can’t sleep huh?”

“Not much.”

“I’m not surprised, after all it’s a big day tomorrow. I remember the year