He wanted to say more. He wanted to tell her he wanted to see her again, alone. Just the two of them. He wanted to suggest they spend the month together. Naked. He wanted to propose all sorts of crazy and impulsive and objectively bad ideas to her. He wanted to confess that all he wanted for Christmas was her.
But they were in the middle of a crowded parking lot.
And she was working.
And they just met a week ago.
And he was leaving in a month.
And up until five minutes ago, he was fairly sure she hated him.
And this wasn’t a Christmas movie or a sappy holiday song.
This was real life, and in real life people didn’t lay out all their romantically misguided thoughts in the middle of a Christmas-tree farm even if it was, objectively, the cutest Christmas-tree farm on the planet.
So, he didn’t say any of that. But he was sure he’d spend the rest of his time in Dream Harbor thinking about it.
‘I should take care of that,’ Kira said, pointing to the cabin and the empty cocoa carafe inside it.
‘Right, of course.’
‘But make sure you say goodbye before you leave. And I’ll tell Iris your tree is on the house.’ She gave him one last smile before leaving him with his sister and her friends, still arguing about spruces versus firs.
Bennett watched her walk away, knowing that any rational reasons he had for not pursuing Kira were as futile as this Christmas-tree argument. In the end, he wanted her and if there was an inkling of a chance that she wanted him, too, he was damn well going to take it.
Chapter Ten
Things had been going so well. Too well. And now it was all about to fall epically apart, and it was only day one.
Damn it, damn it, damn it.
Kira was not going to cry.
She was going to handle this like the capable adult that she was. Or that she was trying to be. Or that she wished she was.
‘What are we going to dooooo?’ Oops, the question came out in a wail.
Iris looked at her with concerned eyes. ‘Um…’ Iris frowned. They were in the customer-service cabin together and Kira was starting to sweat. It was too stuffy in here to still be wearing her coat.
‘How much weight can you lift?’ Kira asked, eyeing her employee. Iris was slight, but maybe she was stronger than she looked.
‘I’m pretty strong,’ she said with a smile, clearly game for anything. ‘But then who will man the booth?’
‘Right, good point. Never mind. I’ll figure something out.’
‘Maybe we should close for the afternoon?’
Kira peered out the window. The place was packed. Think of the money they would lose if she closed now. No, she couldn’t do it. Not when things were just taking off.
‘No, I can make it work.’ Kira tried to give her a reassuring smile as she turned and fled the cabin, but she felt like her face was going to crack in half. Things had been going so well! And now her afternoon help had canceled on her. Her two large college men that were hired to lift trees onto people’s cars had bailed—and now what the hell was she supposed to do? She couldn’t ask customers to do it themselves, could she?
They already had to cut their own trees, but surely they wanted help getting them on the cars? Oh, damn it, the tears were pushing hot against the backs of her eyes. And, of course, right on cue, Bennett and friends came traipsing out of the rows of trees with their own trees slung over shoulders, and one extra-large tree lay across the bed of one the wagon’s Kira had found in the old barn.
She’d really wanted Bennett to see her as capable, and she’d felt so confident this morning, so freaking happy, for once. And now it was crumbling down around her.
Already.
And like a drug-sniffing dog, but for female distress instead of narcotics, Bennett noticed her right away. He was going to come over here and try to fix everything for her and damn it if she didn’t want to let him. She wanted to lean into him and just let him fix it.
Old habits die hard.
Instead, she sniffed back her tears and rolled her shoulders back, preparing for battle. Bennett lowered the tree from his shoulder and propped it against the side of the cabin as the rest of his group went to the window to pay for their trees. Kira ignored how his arms flexed as he did it.
‘Hey,’ he said with a frown and a creased brow. He knew something was wrong. What, did this guy have some kind of extra sensory perception?
‘Hi!’ Kira tried to sound perky, but it came out more deranged than cheerful. ‘How did it go?’
‘It went fine.’ He was still studying her. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Nothing?’
‘Right. Nothing. Everything is fine. Great, actually. Really, really good.’
His frown deepened. ‘Then why is that old couple trying to shove their own tree onto their car?’
Kira’s head whipped around to where there was indeed an elderly couple grappling with a giant tree and an SUV that was way too tall for them.
