White-Hot Holiday(20)

The young woman swung around as he reached her, shining hair tumbling around pale cheeks. He stopped. His heart stopped, too.

It was her. It couldn’t be. But it was.

Her lips parted slightly. Her blue eyes widened, fixed on him. The corners of her mouth began to edge up, then froze, as if she’d spotted something in his expression, and anxiety clouded her eyes.

“Uh, surprise,” Naomi said, her voice fragile.

Aaron’s heart boomed. He strode forward and wrapped his arms around her in a fierce hug, lifting her effortlessly off her feet. She trembled in his embrace. Her cap fell off as he buried his face in her hair and sucked in her familiar, longed-for scent. He couldn’t get enough of her. His muscles shook as emotion swept over him.

“Surprise is an understatement,” he murmured into her hair. He loosened his grip just enough to allow him to feather his lips over her face. Then he found her mouth, soft and warm and quivering slightly. Suppressing his animal need to devour her, he pressed tender, lingering kisses upon her, determined not to overwhelm her.

When they finally came up for air, she was flushed and breathless. “I didn’t call ahead,” she said, uncertainty still lurking in her voice. “I needed to see how you’d react.”

“A test?” He pulled off his gloves to run his hands over her hair and face before clasping her shoulders. “And what grade did I get, Ms. Spencer?”

A smile fluttered over her face. “An A, definitely.”

Light and warmth soared through him. “Just so you know, I’m determined to keep my grade up.”

“But I should have told you I was coming.” She chewed her lip. “I don’t want to be an inconvenience. You mustn’t think you have to be my personal tour guide. You’re probably itching to get back into the work groove anyway.”

“Nonsense. There’s no way on earth I’m going to be stuck in my office while you’re here.” He glanced about her. “Where’s your luggage?”

She arched an eyebrow. “You assume I came running straight here from the airport?”

“Well, didn’t you?”

“All right, I did.” She laughed self-deprecatingly. “I left my suitcase with your doorman. I was too nervous to wait in the lobby.”

Aaron picked up her fallen hat and tenderly placed it on her head. “Come on, let’s get you inside.” He put his arm around her, his mind already busy with plans for their first New Year’s Eve together.

“Wait.” Her expression grew pensive again. “Before we go in, we need to talk.”

“Uh-oh, I hate we-need-to-talk talks.”

“Aaron, I’m serious.” She pleated her lips, a slight frown on her brow. “I came here because—because I was going crazy missing you even though it’s only been a few days since you left. But you have to understand that I’m just here for a couple of weeks. After that, I’m going back to Burronga. I want to find a place to rent and prepare for the new school year. My life is back in Australia.” She drew in a breath, eyes clouded with apprehension. “I hope you accept that. If you can’twell, then I should leave right away.”

A biting wind nipped at his ears. He shivered, but not from the cold. Swallowing, he curled his fingers around her hand. “Honey, I know you want to stay in Burronga and teach there. I know you want to be with your family and friends. I know you don’t want to risk so much for a guy you just met. I know all that, and I’m fine with it.” He pulled off one of her gloves and chafed her cool hand in his, relishing the smoothness of her skin. “But I also know that what I feel for you isn’t some fleeting holiday romance. It’s real and solid and important. You’re important to me. More important than anything else. So this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to enjoy whatever time we have together. For the next two weeks we’re going to hang out, I’ll show you New York, you’ll have a great time, and then you’ll go back to Burronga and start that teaching job you’re looking forward to.”

She was gazing at him as if he were reading a fairy tale. “And after that?”

He squeezed her hand. “And after that we’ll see. After two weeks, maybe you won’t like the way I chew or my taste in music or the way I hog the TV remote. Maybe you’ll be sick of me.” He couldn’t imagine being tired of her. Ever.

“No. That won’t happen.” The swift shake of her head gratified him.

“Well, then, we’ll e-mail and call each other and have long, rambling conversations and lots of hot phone sex.” He winked at her.

Her cheeks grew pink even as her lips curved into an impish smile. “Phone sex?”

Blood pumped in his veins, but he tamped down his salacious imaginings. He was getting ahead of himself. “No pressure, of course. And my apartment has a guest room, in case you’re wondering.”

“I wasn’t, actually.” Her face grew rosier even as she shot him a bold stare.

Hot damn. Naomi was coming on to him. He liked that a lot. “I can see you’re going to make it very hard for me to say good-bye when your two weeks are up.”

Threading her fingers through his, she drew him closer. “It’s a terrible conundrum.” Her voice was husky with longing. “I want this to be the best two weeks of my life, but if they are, how can I say good-bye to you at the end?”

“It’s not the end.” He held her close, fierce with love. “It’s just the beginning.”

She gazed up at him, naked emotion written over her face, and he knew she felt the same groundswell of love as he did. They weren’t ready to verbalize it yet, but it was there, flourishing, ripening. She nodded, acknowledging the silent message that passed between them, her thoughts attuned to his.

Lifting her head to the sky, Naomi inhaled deeply. “It’s snowing,” she said in awe. It was, too. Soft, white snow sifted down like icing sugar, turning the concrete landscape into winter enchantment. He grinned as she stuck out her tongue to catch a falling snowflake and then copied her.

Arms wrapped around each other, they strolled through the fluttering snow, oblivious to everything except themselves and the magic surrounding them.



Christmas Eve. Mecklenburg,

NY. Twelve months later

Aaron’s mother smiled as Naomi entered the living room. “I knew that sweater would look good on you, honey.”

Naomi tweaked the hem of the sweater Carol had pressed on her not long after she and Aaron had arrived in Mecklenburg a few hours ago. Her sweater was a colorful riot of fat snowmen, splendidly complementing the florid sweaters worn by Aaron and his parents.

“It’s perfect,” she said.

Carol grinned even wider. “I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s very sweet of you to humor me, especially this Christmas.” Rubbing her hands together, she peered out the window at the garden. Outside the sun had already set, and a thick blanket of snow glimmered in the dusk. “Where are those men of ours? Still fixing those Christmas lights?”

As she spoke, crunching footsteps sounded on the porch, and a few seconds later Aaron and his father entered the house, bringing with them a flurry of snowy cold.

“Look at Naomi,” Carol declared when the two men came into the living room. “Doesn’t she look darling in that sweater?”

Naomi met Aaron’s gaze and grinned at him.

“She sure does,” Aaron’s dad said. “She looks like part of the family now.”

Aaron lifted his eyebrows at her, and the brown depths of his eyes warmed. Part of the family. His parents had no clue how much a part of the family she was about to become. Aaron moved over and put his arm around her, and she hooked her thumb into the waistband of his jeans. As she snuggled into him, the small box shoved into his jeans pocket nudged her hip, reminding her of its precious contents. She’d been reluctant to take off the platinum-and-diamond ring, but Aaron wanted to announce their engagement to his family at the right time on Christmas Day, so until tomorrow they would be “just dating.”

“Just dating” didn’t adequately describe their relationship over the past twelve months. There had been wonderful times, like the first two weeks in New York, and the trip to Hawaii in July, and the video recording where Aaron had declared how much he loved her. There had been some troubled times, like saying good-bye and missing calls and coping with the frustrating time difference. And then there had been some truly wretched times, like their first real argument, and Aaron’s pain when she’d turned down his marriage proposal two months ago, and her desolation at hurting the man she loved. Thank God he hadn’t given up on her. He’d allowed her time to consider and conclude that, no matter what continent they lived on, their future lay with each other.

She had proposed to him, thankfully he’d accepted, and now they were planning the details of their life together. As soon as her visa was arranged, she would enroll in a certification program enabling her to teach in New York. Aaron had already cut back on his workload during the year. He wasn’t earning the big bonuses anymore but had become a regular competitor at chess tournaments, where he was gaining a fierce reputation.