Sasquatch?
She grabbed her cell phone, ready to take a picture just in case, when she recognized the auburn beard and heavy flannel jacket. “Chris?”
What was he doing so far from the cabin on foot? She honked her horn once and flashed her lights. He paused, then started jogging in her direction. She put her hand up to her hair. It was a sloppy mass of curls in a loose knot. But there was nothing to do about it now. Maybe he’d be so grateful for the SUV’s heater that he wouldn’t notice what a mess she was.
He came around the passenger’s side and opened the door. “Georgia? What are you doing out here alone?”
She gestured him inside and he sat down, his body twisted so he could face her. Was that worry for her in his eyes, or shock at seeing her again? “I could ask you the same thing.”
He shook his head, looking completely bemused. “My truck broke down, which it never does, and I forgot to charge my cell phone so I couldn’t call anyone.”
“So you decided to walk?”
Chris nodded. “I have a patient who lives less than a mile down that road, and I was going to use her phone to call James. See if I could borrow his car.”
Georgia nervously wiped flecks of flour off her hands. “Where are you so determined to go on Christmas Eve? I mean, it’s none of my business, but I could take you if you need a ride.”
He sighed. “Georgia why were you on the side of the road again?”
She bit her lip. “Aliens?”
“Try again.”
She might as well try the truth. “I was trying to get to the cabin and my GPS went all crazy and got me lost.” Again.
He took off his gloves and placed his large hand on hers, forcing her to meet his gaze. “Why were you coming to the cabin?”
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I’d rather wait and get the awkward over all at once with all three of you so—“
“Georgia?”
She made a sound of frustration. “Because I’m sorry for what I said that morning. I’ve just been a wreck since Grandpa Bale died, but I didn’t know it. And I thought Christmas hated me, and that what I felt for you was just a big setup for something horrible to happen and I was scared.” She took a gasping breath, realizing that she’d been talking so fast that he probably hadn’t understood a word.
Was he smiling? “I was coming to see you and bring you back for Christmas. I was willing to bribe Connie by pulling some strings to make sure she got the midwife she wanted…” He paused and took a deep, steadying breath, proving he was just as anxious as she was. “I’m sorry for what I said that morning, too. I overreacted.”
“I did too. Why now? Why Christmas Eve?”
“Your book. We all read it again, as well as the dedication. He died right before it was published, didn’t he? Your grandfather?” She nodded and he squeezed her hand. “We’d just finished when Jimmy noticed you’d left your locket on the tree. And since none of us could stop thinking about you anyway, I knew I needed to bring you back. At least, I needed to talk to you.”
She was thinking about how hard it was to resist his beautiful blue eyes when he smirked. “Georgia, baby? Why do you have flour all over your face?”
“I bake when I’m sexually frustrated.”
He let out a surprised bark of laughter and she pulled her hand from his, feigning insult. “It’s true. And let’s just say Connie is set on chocolate pies until her child is born. It’s a wonder I’m not the size of a house after all these years, but then,” she licked her lower lip, “I never actually knew enough about what I was missing to be too frustrated about it.”
Until now. It was left unspoken but she knew Chris understood.
One moment they were staring at each other, all the longing of the past few days in their eyes—the next he had pulled her across the console to straddle his lap, his mouth on hers.
Finally, she thought. She kissed him like she hadn’t seen him in years. And it felt like that. A homecoming. A reunion. A frantic reconciliation.
Chris tugged her shirt up and caressed her back with his hands while his tongue tangled with hers. She could feel the heat of his erection through their jeans, and she didn’t want to wait. She couldn’t.
She reached down and felt for the lever on the side of the seat. When she pulled it, the passenger seat went flat, and she was on top of him. His grip tightened and he held her above him as though she were a child playing airplane. “What?”
He growled. “Not this time.”
Somehow he managed to slip her beneath him on the chair, until he was the one hovering above her. She gasped. “Oh.”