A Very Bossy Christmas - Kayley Loring Page 0,79
wearing her winter coat. Her shiny brown hair is up in a bun, her lower lip is quivering, and her big brown eyes are about to spill over with tears. The woman I’ve wanted to call and text and see again and again, ever since the first time we spoke. The woman who has handled me exactly the way I’ve always needed to be handled. The woman I should have said this to on Christmas night: “I love you.”
I take that gorgeous face in my hands and kiss her on the mouth. Hard and fast, because I’ve been dying to do this for so long. And then slow and tender because I know that I’ll be kissing this woman every day for the rest of my life. “I love you,” I say again between kisses. “I’m so in love with you.”
And then I remember that I need to listen to what she came here to say.
“I love you,” I say once more. “I’m not going to have the last word—you talk now. Hi.”
Thirty-Seven
Maddie
LOVE CRAPTUALLY
I sort of just want to hear Declan Cannavale tell me he’s in love with me about a thousand more times before I start talking, but he’s looking at me so intently, still holding my face in his hands, so what else can I say to him other than: “I love you too. I heard your speech. I loved what you said. All of it.”
“You heard the whole thing?”
“You were just picking up the mic when I walked in.”
He keeps staring at my mouth. “Are you hungry? Do you need to eat?”
“I stress ate all morning and at the airport, actually.”
He rubs my shoulders and arms through my puffy coat. I really hope he doesn’t insist on staying, because I do not want to take my coat off here in front of Declan’s family and a bunch of strangers. “You wanna get out of here?” he mutters.
“Yes. Yes. I do.”
“Let’s go.” He takes my hand and leads me toward the exit.
“Don’t you want to tell someone you’re leaving?”
“I’ll text them from the cab… Shit. The hotel room might be a disaster.”
I laugh. “Oh, it was. I went to the hotel first and got the room key, since my name was on the reservation. I called housekeeping to take care of it as soon as I walked in.”
“God, I love you. You think of everything. I love everything about you.”
“Declan,” I say without breaking stride. “I’m still taking another job. I can’t work for you when I feel this way.”
“I know. It sucks. I’ll never find another assistant as good as you. But I understand.”
“I will help you find another assistant.”
“Damn right you will. And train her.”
“And train you.”
“Good luck with that. But first, please elaborate as to how you feel.”
“Madly in love with you.”
“Right.”
“Deliriously attracted to you.”
“Excellent.”
Declan gets his coat from the coat check, but I continue talking anyway.
“Unable to keep my hands off you.”
“Great to hear.”
“Moved beyond words by your generosity and thoughtfulness.”
“Well, that’s a first.”
“I know you got Cindy that karaoke machine. I know you gave my landlady a new coat.”
He tries to frown, but he can’t stop smiling. “I was just bribing them, you know that.”
“Nope. You’ve got a big heart, Declan Cannavale. And I’m going to tell everyone.”
“Then I’ll have to sue you for defamation of character.”
“I’ll tell everyone you watched Love Actually with my family and that you cried.”
“Pssh. I was crying from trying so hard not to laugh at how cheesy it was.”
“Nope. You weren’t. I’m gonna show you and the world just how sweet you are. Everyone will know you’re full of crap every time you try to act like a cocky asshole.”
“Okay, that’s enough out of you, Coop.” He gets me to stop talking in the most wonderful way.
And we don’t stop kissing for more than a few seconds, all the way back to the hotel room.
He removes his coat and drops it to the floor as soon as we’re inside the door, but I slowly unzip mine, stepping away from him so he can stop and get a good look at the dress I’m wearing. It’s a black sleeveless gown with a plunging neckline and a slit that goes all the way to my upper thigh. It’s one of the many sale items I’ve purchased online over the years, just in case I ever got invited to one of those masquerade balls that people always seem to go to in dirty romance novels.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.”
“Piper packed my