making our gourmet vegetarian meal with our scavenged goods. I wasn’t sure if it was going to taste good, but I didn’t care. It was by far becoming the best Christmas I ever had, and we had nothing except each other.
“I’m going to open that wine and let it breathe. This could be dangerous.”
“It could only be more powerful,” she said with a laugh. “It will be a one-glass drunk.”
I wasn’t sure wine worked that way, but I wouldn’t mind getting a little tipsy with her.
Chapter 55
Harper
We decided not to use our two candles to have a candlelit dinner. The woodstove provided just enough light for us to see our dinner. Neither of us jumped right into the pasta. I wasn’t a cook and I knew he wasn’t. We were both rightfully wary.
I smelled the wine in the glass. “Bottom’s up,” I told him and took the first sip.
He watched and waited. I let the liquid sit on my tongue before nodding. “Do you want some water?” he asked.
“It’s actually pretty good.”
He took his own drink. “Not bad.”
“Now, the real test,” I said, looking down at the meal.
“I’m not worried,” he lied.
He took a healthy bite and made approving sounds. I dove into my own and was pleasantly surprised to find it really did taste good and I didn’t think it was just because I was hungry. We both continued to eat in comfortable silence. I wished I could pretend everything was okay between us. I wanted to forget the past and live in the moment. We did have some pretty amazing chemistry together. We could laugh one second and want to be rolling in bed together the next.
He was everything I wanted a boyfriend to be until he wasn’t.
I needed a man to see me as his partner. I needed a man that could talk to me about things, especially things that concerned the both of us. As much as I wanted to be with him, I knew it wouldn’t work out in the long run.
But why did I have to spend tonight thinking about a month from now? I could live in the moment, in the little bubble we had right now. Tomorrow, we would be able to go back to the hotel. Tomorrow would be the time to say goodbye to Chase for real.
I was going to take the job Tawny offered. It was a great fit. Even if Chase asked me to stay on in a professional capacity, I couldn’t do it. There was no way I could keep things separated. That had been proven time and time again.
I had to get away from him. He wouldn’t be in residence at the hotel forever. He would soon leave, and I could have Vail and the new job to myself.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“It’s great,” I answered, holding up my now empty glass. “Can you pour me more please?”
He happily obliged. I didn’t think any woman would be strong enough to resist the man. He was the total package. I couldn’t be expected to ignore what was staring me right in the face. We were all alone and there was no real reason we couldn’t have one last night together.
I knew it wouldn’t be a permanent thing. He wasn’t really looking for that either, which meant we could simply enjoy one another’s bodies and be blissfully happy for one night.
“I’m stuffed,” I told him after I basically cleaned my plate. If he were any other man, I would have been a little embarrassed by my appetite, but it was Chase. He knew I wasn’t a bird and liked real food.
“Me too.”
Together, we cleaned up the mess we made before settling in on the mattress. Chase brought the bottle of wine. We sat cross-legged facing each other. It felt very natural to be with him like this.
“This is certainly a strange way to spend Christmas,” I said.
He smiled. “Strange but not bad.”
“No, not bad. I hope my parents aren’t worried.”
“Were you supposed to go home?”
I shook my head. “No. I told them I would be working this year. I feel bad I can’t even call them though.”
“I’m sure they’ll understand once you get back to civilization and explain it.”
“What about you? Were you supposed to go back to Malibu?”
“No. I was going to be at the hotel.”
“Do you normally go home?” I questioned.
“Sometimes.”
“Christmas was a big deal in our house. We never really had a lot of gifts, but my parents always made it special.”
“Us either,” he said.
Initially, I