Sebastian chuckled.
“It’s only funny in retrospect,” she assured him.
“I’ll make sure to be on the lookout for a singing herd of zombie reindeer.”
“No, this year we’re participating in the tree lighting ceremony, so it shouldn’t be as bad.” She flashed him a genuine smile. With her bright eyes and the dimple in her left cheek, she looked so much like the girl he remembered.
He smiled back. If only . . .
Layla suddenly seemed to catch herself. Her humor faded, and she quickly stood. “Well, I should head back.”
“Wait.” He rose to stand beside her.
She paused.
“I—” He cleared his throat. What could he say? How long had he chastised himself for the mistake that happened years ago? There was so much he wanted to say, but he needed time. “I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry.”
She blinked up at him, the cool mask back in place. “For what?”
“Back in high school.” He took a step closer. “I never meant to hurt your feelings. That day when—”
“Oh, that.” Layla waved a hand. “That was so long ago. Really, Dr. Harrington. I barely remember!”
He swallowed hard. “Please call me Sebastian.”
She kept nodding, then turned to leave again.
“Come to dinner with me,” he said, surprising himself. He hadn’t planned on asking her out, but he hoped she’d say yes. He liked the idea of spending more time with her, and it would give him a better chance to explain things.
“Sorry, I already ate.”
“It doesn’t have to be tonight,” he said quietly. She looked disturbed, but he had to try. “How about later this week?”
“Oh.” Her gaze shifted around the garden, never quite landing on him. “I’m just super busy this week, so I don’t have a lot of time.”
“Dessert, then?” What the hell was wrong with him? Clearly, she wanted to blow him off, and he should just let it go.
“I . . .” She shook her head, as if she were trying to think of a polite way to refuse.
He found it oddly endearing, even though disappointment settled over him because he knew she’d turn him down. Layla had always been a kind person and could never be rude to anyone, even if they deserved it, like he had.
“I don’t like dessert,” she blurted. “Sweet things. They just don’t appeal to me. But thanks, anyway!” She waved quickly and then marched back inside.
Sebastian watched her go, a wave of amusement mixing with the disappointment. He distinctly remembered her friend Kat at the pet shelter saying Layla had a sweet tooth. He slid his hands into his pockets and continued walking through the garden. Layla Gentry was elusive as ever, but things were different now. He wasn’t the same person he used to be. She might not realize it yet, but . . . A slow smile spread across his face. He’d just have to show her.
Chapter Four
“I can’t believe I agreed to exercise at stupid o’clock in the morning,” Mindy groaned as they trudged from the parking lot toward the Waterfront Gym early on Sunday. “Remind me again why we’re doing this.”
Layla hoisted her yoga bag over her shoulder, sidestepping a patch of ice on the sidewalk. It was shaping up to be a gorgeous winter day with clear skies, but the biting wind coming in off the ocean made it necessary to bundle up in fleece jackets and knit caps. “We’re doing this so we can eat our weight in Christmas cookies with zero guilt, remember?”
“I haven’t worked out in weeks,” Mindy grumbled. “My body’s going to revolt.”
“You’ll be fine. Muscle has memory.”
“I’m pretty sure mine has amnesia.” Mindy scowled down at her shoe and bent to tie the trailing laces. “Besides, it just seems wrong to do hot yoga half asleep. Dangerous, even, with all those pretzel poses and the sweaty yoga mats. A person could slip and hurt themselves. I’m not sure it should be legal at this hour.”
They made their way toward the building on the far corner of Front Street, Layla trying not to laugh as Mindy gave a very energetic explanation about why she had no energy. The Waterfront Gym was a large, two-story facility with free weights and treadmills on the bottom floor, and rooms for spin classes and yoga on the second floor.
Halfway down the street, the delicious scents of fresh-roasted coffee and warm pastries wafted through the air.
“Let’s skip it today and go there, instead.” Mindy pointed to Fairy Cakes bakery. It was a beautiful little pastry shop and café with legendary cupcakes and fabulous coffee, owned by Emma Holloway, who was rumored to bake sweet charms and spells into her cupcakes. Most people thought of Emma’s magic as nothing more than delicious fun, like wishing on a star or tossing a coin in a fountain, but some of the townsfolk wholeheartedly believed in it. Layla was more of a realist, but she never faulted the fanciful locals who did believe. Why not? Life wasn’t always flowers and rainbows, she knew that better than anybody. If a person wanted to believe in a few sweet charms, good for them.
Mindy pointed again and gave Layla a pitiful expression, batting her eyes.
“Are you kidding me?” Layla jammed her hands onto her hips. “We said we were sticking to the plan this time. Balls to the wall, remember? Work out or die?”
“I don’t know.” Mindy slowed to a stop in front of the bakery window. “I’m cool with dying as long as I can get one of those blueberry muffins, first.” She gasped. “Look! They have salted caramel mochas with homemade whipped cream!”
“No,” Layla said, slowing to stand beside her friend. She watched a young couple exit the bakery with flaky pastries topped with chopped nuts and dusted in powdered sugar. “Were those toasted hazelnuts?”
“I think they were,” Mindy said with a sigh.
“Still.” Layla took a deep breath and let it out fast. “We’re not weaklings. We didn’t drag ourselves out of bed this early to skip the workout and have delicious treats instead. That would just be . . .” She watched another person leave the bakery with a steaming hot cocoa heaped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. “Bad.”
“Right,” Mindy said weakly.
“Crazy.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Nuts,” Layla insisted.
Mindy gave her the side eye. “Toasted, though. Toasted hazelnuts.”
They both gravitated closer to the window until they were staring through the glass like starving street urchins.
Layla’s mouth watered at the decadent scents floating in the air around them.
“So.” Mindy paused. “Should I get us a table, or . . . ?”
“Hurry,” Layla said, pushing Mindy toward the door.
Fifteen minutes later, they were seated at a small bistro table near the front window, blissfully sipping their drinks and chatting away. Emma had insisted on pairing their coffees with freshly baked cinnamon rolls, on the house.
“This is divine,” Layla said, licking gooey cinnamon and sugar off her finger.
Mindy grinned like a kid on Christmas morning. “So much better than sweating miserably in a dark room with a bunch of morning masochists.”
“You’re not wrong.” Layla scooped a dollop of whipped cream from her mocha, savoring the rich flavors of French vanilla drizzled with buttery, salted caramel. What could be more mouthwateringly delicious than this?
The front door opened, and Layla’s eyes flew wide.
Sebastian Harrington breezed through the door like the god of the rising sun. With the early morning light behind him, he practically glowed around the edges. He looked much different than he did last night at the party. Instead of a dark designer suit, he was wearing charcoal gray sweats, a black T-shirt, and running shoes. His hair was mussed like he’d just freshly showered, and he looked slightly rumpled, gloriously rugged, and disturbingly . . . hot.
Layla licked her lips and tried not to stare.
Mindy’s back was to the door, so she kept chatting away, completely unaware that her scorching hot client had entered the building.<
br />
Layla pretended to follow along with Mindy’s story as she watched Sebastian order a coffee to go. He didn’t even ask for cream or sugar. Just plain, black coffee like a straight-up, no-frills manly man.
Mindy abruptly stopped talking. “Layla, are you listening to me?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“So you think I should get ‘Fries Before Guys’ tattooed on my forehead?”
“Sure.” Layla took another sip of her drink as Sebastian dropped several dollar bills into the tip jar. That was generous of him. Interesting.
“I knew it,” Mindy said. “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said. What are you—” She spun around in her chair to glance behind her. Then she gasped. “Oh, my gosh, it’s him. That’s my new client I told you about.” She waved her hand and called out, “Sebastian!”
He glanced over his shoulder. Surprise flitted across his face as he spotted them near the front window. He gave them a crooked smile, which somehow added to his attractiveness. Not that Layla cared or anything. It was just an observation.
“Good morning,” he said.
Layla felt heat rise in her face, and she bit the inside of her cheek. What was wrong with her? It’s not like she’d never seen a hot guy before, and she already knew Sebastian could be charming when he wanted to be. She also knew he could be a total jerk when he wanted to be, so she just needed to remember that. Really focus on that memory. Because this new side of him was throwing her off.
“Good morning, yourself,” Mindy gushed. She quickly introduced them.
Sebastian gave Layla a secret smile. “We’ve met.”
“So what are you up to today?” Mindy asked, eyeing his workout clothes in blatant appreciation as she licked her spoon. Layla barely refrained from rolling her eyes. Mindy was not subtle.
He mussed his hair with one hand. Layla tried hard to ignore the way his arm muscles bunched and flexed with the movement, drawing his T-shirt tight across his lean torso. “Just hitting the gym, then heading back to my apartment to take my dog for a run.”
“That’s nice.” Mindy sighed, her gaze traveling down his chest and lower, lingering a little too long.
Okay, time to reel in Mindy the Maneater. Layla kicked her friend under the table.
“Ow—I mean, oh!” Mindy jerked upright in her chair. “Us too. At the gym. Hot yoga. Work out or die, right, Layla? That’s us!”
Sebastian nodded politely, but Layla didn’t miss the humor that flashed across his face. He gestured to the half-mangled cinnamon rolls and melted whipped cream. “Looks like a great way to unwind.”
Mindy giggled. “We couldn’t resist.”
Layla slumped a little lower in her chair. She could feel the heat rising up the back of her neck. This was the part where Sebastian pointed out that she supposedly didn’t like sweets. Then he could gloat about catching her in the lie she told him last night. She pretended to wipe crumbs off the table and waited for him to call her on it. Waited. And waited.
When Mindy started talking about the housing market, Layla stole a quick glance at him.
He winked.
Her heart did a little hop-skip. Once again, Sebastian surprised her. After last night, she’d left the party feeling flustered and more than a little confused. His gentle teasing had gotten to her, and she didn’t know how to navigate around it. This new side of him was different. He seemed more grounded, and everything he said felt genuinely kind. A tiny part of her was intrigued by the changes in him, but the logical part of her brain refused to go there. Layla didn’t get where she was today by allowing for flights of fancy, and she needed to remember that.
“Dr. Harrington,” Emma suddenly called from behind the register. “If you linger beneath what hangs above, you’ll soon be falling deep in love.”
They all looked toward the pastry counter. Emma Holloway’s lovely face lit with merriment as she pointed above the doorway. Another sprig of mistletoe hung from the ceiling with bright red ribbon. This time, Sebastian was standing under it.
“It’s everywhere!” Mindy said. “We have some of that at our office, too. It’s from Juliette Holloway’s florist shop. She’s Emma’s cousin, and her superpower is growing plants and mixing up magic spells. What do you think, Sebastian?” Mindy asked. “Feel like falling in love?”
He grinned and slid on a pair of mirrored sunglasses. “I’m already there.”
Layla couldn’t see his eyes, but she sensed he was looking at her. She concentrated on stirring her mocha. Had to get those chocolate shavings mixed in just right. Super important.
“You are?” Mindy asked.
“Sure.” He swung open the front door. “I’m back on Pine Cove Island, surrounded by all you wonderful people, celebrating the holidays and looking forward to bringing in the New Year. What’s not to love?”
With a final wave, he took off down the street.
* * *
“Ho ho ho!” Santa roared right into Layla’s eardrum the following evening.
She winced and pasted a smile on her face as she bent to fill her basket with more candy canes. Her boss, Albert, was a little overzealous in his role as Santa Claus for the annual tree lighting ceremony, but he played the part well, and the kids seemed to love him. With Albert’s hearty laugh and ruddy complexion, he was practically typecast for the job.
Layla, on the other hand, got the short end of the stick. Everyone in the office had pulled straws to see who had to be Santa’s elf, and she’d been the unlucky winner. But Layla was a good sport, so she’d graciously thrown herself into the role. She’d decided if she had to be an elf, then she was going to be the best-dressed elf this side of the North Pole.
She smoothed her red velvet skater dress and admired her new black stiletto boots. Even on sale, they’d been pricey. But, hey. Life was a gift, right? Sometimes you just have to wrap yourself well. With the green-and-white striped tights and sparkly holly berry wreath in her hair, she felt pretty good about her outfit. At least in this gig, she got to wear things she liked. It was way better than donning antlers and prancing around in the rain like last year, so she wasn’t complaining.
Gazing across the crowd at the petting zoo, she thanked her lucky stars she didn’t have to work that gig. It looked like a muddy madhouse over there.
“Layla,” Albert stage-whispered through his beard after the last kid wandered away. “When does Santa get to take a break?”
Layla checked her watch. “Ten more minutes and you’re home free, Albert.”
He nodded as a mother and her three little kids approached. “Ho ho ho! Who do we have here?” he boomed.
The littlest kid began to cry.
Layla took a deep breath and checked her watch again. Just a few more minutes and she could grab a hot buttered rum from the drink station and get off her aching feet. As much as she loved her new boots, she’d barely had a chance to break them in, so they weren’t all that comfortable. She scanned the crowd for familiar faces, spotting her friend Kat over near the petting zoo. All the animals came from Kat’s farm where she and her husband, Jordan, ran an animal sanctuary. Jordan was one of Layla’s oldest friends, and she was thrilled when he’d moved back to the island and married Kat. They were perfect for each other.
The waterfront lawn was packed with families and kids. There was a face painting station set up near the gazebo, a band playing holiday music, and another tent serving food with a cookie decorating station. Layla was just admiring an adorable little boy in a Santa hat that was too big for his head, when she saw something that made her stomach drop.
The little boy in the Santa hat ran straight up to a tall, laughing man in jeans and a forest green sweater.
Sebastian.
He scooped the kid up and twirled him in a circle, then settled him onto his broad shoulders. A pretty young woman stood beside them, beaming at Sebastian like he hung the moon. The three of them were beautiful together. Picture perfect. They looked like one of those happy families in the black-and-white stock imag
es that came inside Layla’s sparkly picture frames.
A thick pang of disappointment filled her. Ridiculous! Why should it matter to her if Sebastian had a family? She didn’t care. Of course she didn’t. But as she watched them make their way toward the line for Santa Claus, her disappointment turned into a sharp bite of annoyance. What a jerk! Just last night, he’d followed her out into the garden and asked her out to dinner. And he’d winked at her this morning. Acting all charming and flirty . . . how could he?
Layla struggled to look cheerful as she passed out candy canes to the kids. Did Sebastian’s pretty wife know he was oozing his way around town, trailing false charm wherever he went? Maybe she was used to it by now, the poor thing.
The woman’s gaze settled on Layla, her dark hair curling around her friendly face. The smile she gave Layla was nothing but genuine. She turned and said something to Sebastian, and he bent to whisper in her ear. Layla gritted her teeth as she watched the woman pat his arm, kiss the little boy, then wave good-bye.
Sebastian stayed in line for Santa, with the boy perched happily on his shoulders. The minutes seemed to tick by at a glacial speed. Layla hoped he wouldn’t notice her standing near Santa’s sleigh. She pretended to check out the two-story Christmas tree on the lawn behind them. When they finally approached, she kept her face down and bent to fill the basket with more candy.
Albert roared his greetings from the North Pole.
The little boy let out a peal of laughter as Sebastian swung him down to meet Santa and get his picture taken.
A couple more minutes ticked by, and Layla steeled herself to deal with the inevitable.
“You’re an elf?” a small voice asked her. His little boy was looking at her in confusion, and she couldn’t help but smile. He was a beautiful child, with dark hair and big brown eyes.
“Yup,” Layla said quickly. “Would you like a candy cane?”
The little boy ignored that. “But elves are boys.”
Layla was acutely aware of Sebastian standing behind him. He placed a large hand on the little boy’s shoulder.
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