of her red lips. “A mall elf. Think about it. You could run to and fro helping fake Santa Claus pull a ruse on innocent children. You could be a dynamic duo. And better yet, you could get out of my hair and leave the JDR Agency for the North Pole.”
I smiled. Had she always been so beautiful? I’d never paid much attention, but once she was that close, all I could notice was how thick and full her lashes were and how cute the dash of freckles were across the bridge of her upturned nose.
“What, no sharp-tongued response?” Kathryn asked, putting her hand on her hip.
“I know you might think this sounds insane, and maybe it is, but I have to tell you, you have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen.”
Kathryn blinked. Her lips parted and a bit of breath-cloud escaped, but she didn’t say a thing. For once in her life, she was at a loss for words.
All because of a compliment.
I could smell her perfume. She smelled like summertime. She always smelled like summertime. Coconut and pineapple and something else, something familiar that I couldn’t put my finger on. The scent and sight of her swallowed me whole, and suddenly, I couldn’t see the distracting glimmer of Gastown’s lights to my left or the glow of Waterfront Station across the street.
Kathryn’s eyes flicked to my lips. “What are you doing, Ethan?”
I wanted to kiss her. The impulse was strong and I didn’t know where it came from. I leaned in and she didn’t pull away.
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
My hand fell over hers resting on the door of the cab. Her gaze darted back up to meet mine, and for a moment, I thought she might retreat into the safety of her cab, yell something unbecoming at me, and speed away. She didn’t do any of those things. Instead, she held her breath and prepared for whatever was about to happen.
Her eyes fluttered closed milliseconds before our lips touched. A soft sound escaped her that might have been something close to a sigh. She tensed and melted, and I lifted a hand to cup her cheek and pull her in a little closer.
Kathryn pushed her hands flat against my chest and stepped down off the curb. Her cheeks were nearly as red as her lips and I wondered if that was from the cold or the kiss. She turned away and got in the backseat of the cab as she held two fingers to her lip.
I hung back as she shot me a look I couldn’t read. “Goodnight, Ethan.”
“Goodnight, Kathryn.” I closed the door for her and tapped the hood. The cab driver pulled away down Cordova and left me staring after the taillights, wondering what the hell just happened.
Had I seriously just kissed Kathryn Rouche?
Why?
My stomach rolled over. I wasn’t sure if I was excited or nauseated. Had I just made a horrible mistake? Was it going to jeopardize the partnership we’d been forced into? Would she ever take me seriously again?
I almost laughed at myself as my cab arrived. When had Kathryn ever taken me seriously? She’d only ever seen me as a nuisance while I only ever saw her as an irritating competitor.
I gave the driver my address. Rainwater dripped from the tip of my umbrella onto the cab floor as we drove down Cordova toward the Christmas Market, which appeared on my right. I admired the lights and how they reflected off the harbor.
It would be a shame to let another Christmas pass Kathryn by without experiencing what the city has to offer. She’d lived there her whole life and never ventured out to even bother getting into the Christmas spirit. Perhaps it was time to change that—or at least present a different option for her other than resigning herself to her bitter ways.
She deserved to know what the holidays were really about.
And with any luck, the lights and the cheer might soften her up a bit and give me an edge over her during our competition.
I wasn’t sure how much I believed that last motivation, but I told myself it was a worthy one as the cab hooked a left and closed in on my condo.
Chapter 15
Kathryn
Rainwater splashed up the back of my calves as I ran my route to meet Miriam for breakfast on Thursday morning. My podcast, a get your shit together, uplifting, female-empowerment series, spoke clearly through my headphones but I didn’t hear a damn word of it.
My