by M. E. Carter
“Oh.” He looks kind of crestfallen. “Well I guess that makes it really convenient.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just for dating purposes and stuff.” Stuff. What guys says stuff when referring to sex? I mean, that is what he’s referring to, isn’t it?
“Are you talking about sex? Trust me, I don’t have sex—or stuff—with my neighbor.” I stare at him for a minute and then burst out laughing. “Cody is my very gay next door neighbor. I love him, but we spend our evenings watching chick flicks and painting each other’s toes.”
He glances down at my feet. “Well Cody did a nice job. I like the red.”
“Thank you.”
The elevator moves, jolting us both.
And just like in the movies, when I almost fall, Adam catches me. “Gotcha.”
ADAM
She’s standing at the Christmas tree when I approach, it’s blue ornaments bright and shiny amongst the glowing white lights. The white star on top is unlit, like it is every year, but that does nothing to detract from its beauty.
Hey. Maybe I am catching a little holiday spirit, after all.
I clear my throat. “Uh, hey.” She smiles at me, amused. “Hi. Can I buy you a drink or something? You look…amazing tonight. Incredible, actually—and I know this might seem random, but I’ve actually been thinking about coming over here for a while now but needed something to drink first. So sorry this took so long.”
Her lips twitch. “I was wondering when you’d come over.”
“You were?”
“Yes.”
I move in closer so my lips are close to her ear, and now I know what she smells like: sugar and spice and everything nice. And sweet. “You really do look beautiful tonight.”
“So you do.” Her reaches up to brush what I suspect is an invisible piece of lint from my collar. “You’re so handsome.”
“I know you don’t know me from Adam,” I say, chuckling. “But can I kiss you?”
We grin at each other.
“Please tell me you want to kiss me and that we aren’t practicing.”
“I want to kiss you. If you want to pretend, you can pretend there’s mistletoe hanging above us.”
“Kissmas Eve,” she sighs.
“Your favorite,” I add.
“We are so cheesy.” She laughs. “But I love it.”
“Right, but do not tell anyone, or so help me God…”
I look up at the unlit star atop the tree; it rests lopsided but sparkling brilliantly. I swear it shines just as brightly as if it were…
It twinkles.
I blink, taking Meg’s face in my hands. Kiss her.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
And on the fourth, we open our mouths just slightly, reaching for each other with our tongues. She tastes of bourbon and Christmas.
“By any chance, were you over by Sheila and the gals from accounting after you stole away to text your friend Tabitha a few minutes ago?”
Her eyes widen. “Yes, how did you know?”
“The bourbon,” we say at the say time.
Suddenly, Jason’s words come back to me. “If you don’t ask, you’ll never know.”
“Never know what?”
Huh. Either she can read my thoughts, or I said that out loud. “Meg,” I say pulling back so I can look down at her. Into her gorgeous green eyes. Damn, she’s beautiful with her half-lidded gaze. “Do you want to come to a real Christmas party with me this week? Not an office party, but a real party with games and food and gifts?”
Her eyes light up. “I would love that!”
“As my date?”
“Yes,” she says and leans for me again, kissing me again and wrapping her arm around my neck to hold me tighter. “Yes.”
“Wait. I forgot one little detail.” Shoot, how do I put this. “It’s an Ugly Christmas Sweater party.”
“Oh!” She waves me off. “No worries. I have an Ugly Christmas sweater. Actually, according to half the people in this room, I have a ton of them.” She laughs and leans in for another kiss. “Did you know they place bets about my Kissmas attire?”
“Uh…”
“It’s okay. Sheila’s not very good about keeping secrets. I’m her winningest horse.”
Her winningest horse? What the hell does that mean?
Maybe it’s time to have a chat with HR about Sheila’s office etiquette.
“One more thing.” I push her away, hopefully the final time. “What does this sweater of yours look like? There’s a contest and I need yours to be really, really ugly.”
“A contest? Nice!” And then she blushes. “Well, I won’t lie; it’s really ugly. I mean, I know I wear some tacky things this time of year, but you might actually be really embarrassed to be seen with me in this thing. Maybe I better not wear it...”
“It’s that bad? That’s is fantastic news!”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. You have to wear it—I’ll be wearing one, too.”
“Alright, alright—you win. But for the record, it’s green and stupid fuzzy. It’s got the Grinch on it. And it’s covered in bells. They jingle and Sheila loathes it with a passion.”
I want to say Fuck Sheila, but instead I I throw my head back and laugh. She just described the exact sweater Addison got me last year.
“Why are you laughing?” she asks. “I can get something more toned down if you want?”
“Oh no,” I say cupping her face. I plant a kiss on her pink lips. “That sounds perfect.”
She smiles at me and we lean in to each other.
“Merry Kissmas, Meg.”
“Stop talking.”
I stop talking.
Instead, I kiss her.
Acknowledgments
(To the tune of Jingle Bells)
Dashing through the snow, she made the cover right…
Alyssa Garcia made it fast, she also made it bright! (Ho, ho, ho)
Dashing through this book, we didn’t have the time…
We wrote it anyway, with word count on our mind! (Ho, ho, ho)
Of all the stress we add, we brainstormed through the night!
Kristin Phillips checked our errors, two author Holy-terrors! (Ho, ho, ho)
Alexandria Bishop shines, we’re glad she doesn’t sleep!
She formatted this book, it looks so spark-ly sweeettttt.
Our families think we’re nuts, most likely cause we are…
The End!
ME Carter: Dude. That doesn't even go along with the tune!
Sara Ney: Yes it does!
ME Carter: Uh, no it doesn’t. You never actually did the Jingle Bells part.
Sara Ney: Wrong song? Dashing through the snow—is that not Jingle Bells?
ME Carter: Whatever. Close enough.
Want to know more about Adam Roberts? Meet him in Change of Hart, available here!
Want to know more about Meg McClaren? Meet her in Things Liars Hide, available here!
