by R. L. Syme
He opened his mouth but didn’t speak, then looked off into the middle distance. “When I left, all those years ago. I know it was abrupt. I know I didn’t give you any option of coming with me.”
Pain lanced through her heart. So he had known what he’d done. “All these years, I’ve wondered if you really understood what you did to me.”
“Look, I only left after you told me you didn’t want to be married to a chef.”
Her hands came up, defensively. “When did I ever say that?”
“The day of your grandmother’s funeral. Don’t you remember?” He thrust his hands into his pockets. “I remember it like it was yesterday.”
“You were the one who said you didn’t want to be with me,” she corrected. “You said you live to work. What was I supposed to do with that?”
Mason shook his head and blew a frustrated gust of air from his bottom lip. It feathered his hair over his eyes and her first instinct was to reach up and move it back.
But no, she still couldn’t touch him. It had been so dangerous before. No matter how much he had helped her tonight, he was still the man who left her with nothing. No reason, no explanation, no address, no email. Nothing.
“Do you understand what it was like for me to come home from work that day, Mason?” The tears were so intense now, they made her hiccough and stunt her speech. “Let me fill you in.”
With a resigned glance, he nodded his head. “Ok, tell me.”
“Sure, we had a big fight the day before, but we’d fought before. And somehow, we’d always come through it. So when I came home and found all your stuff gone and no sign of you, I… I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I didn’t sleep for days, just sitting at the window, hoping you’d come back.”
Mason stepped toward her with his hand out, but she shook him off.
“And I had to find out from your job that you’d quit. I didn’t even know where you’d gone until that article in the paper.”
“I’m sorry, Jill.” He crossed his arms when she pulled away from his touch again. “I never meant to hurt you like that. I honestly thought you wanted me to go. And that broke my heart. When you said you couldn’t handle the demands of my job, I don’t know… something just snapped. I felt like you were asking me to choose between you and my work.”
Gillian’s heart ached. She’d always thought, somewhere in the back of her mind, that once he explained everything, it might all be fine. He might have a great excuse for what he did.
But when it came down to it, he still picked something else over her. “You didn’t love me enough, Mason. That was our problem. You loved your job more than you loved me, and I was too much of a coward to tell you I wanted…”
Gillian bit her lip. She’d never said this out loud to anyone.
“What? What did you want?” His voice was insistent, pliant. Not demanding. He genuinely wanted to know.
“I wanted you to pick me,” she whispered through her tears. “I wanted to be more important than your job.”
Mason’s face collapsed in pain. “You were.”
“But you just said…”
He grasped her shoulders and that familiar jolt of electric pleasure she always felt at his touch overwhelmed her. “Will you just listen for a minute?
“You said you didn’t want to be married to someone who kept the hours I kept. I told you I couldn’t help the demands of my job, and there was a part of me that believed that. But there was a part of me that needed to find out I was wrong.”
Gillian couldn’t focus on much with Mason so close, and touching her. “You were wrong?”
He looked at his feet and exhaled. “I left to follow my dream. To open a restaurant. To have the career I wanted. But when it came down to it, I didn’t want that job any more than you wanted it for me. And I certainly didn’t want it more than I wanted you back.”
Gillian’s nostrils flared with emotion. She couldn’t think straight. “I need to know something, Mason.”
“Anything you want to know.”
“Did you love me? Even a little?”
He licked his lips. “I loved you more than I knew at the time. Leaving you broke my heart, but I honestly thought you didn’t want to be with me.”
Gillian ventured a touch closer and Mason dropped his hands from her arms. “Do you still love me?”
He gave her that impish smile, like he was up to something. “Like I could stop loving you.”
She smiled in return and fell against him. Mason’s arms were around her in a moment, crushing her against him.
“I wish I’d said it before I left,” he whispered against her hair. “And I wish I had decided to stay and fight for you to love me back. I was just such a dumb kid.”
She relished the scent of him, the smell of heat and salt and inspiration. He’d always made her hungry in ways she could never explain.
Mason pulled back to look into her eyes. “I’m not a dumb kid anymore. I know I hurt you and I want to make up for that, more than you’ll ever know.”
Gillian met his dark gaze and smiled. She loved these moments with him, when he would look so deep into her, she thought he could see her heart. “I’m not a dumb kid anymore, either.”
“No, you are not.” His smile was wide. Mason’s eyes darted around the room. “You realize that we’re surrounded by mistletoe, right?”
Gillian smiled and dipped her head.
Just as Mason was about to kiss her, one of the ushers ran past them, an iPhone spotlight in his hand. “It’s time for the pudding to come out,” the kid whispered.
Mason gestured back toward the kitchen with his head. “My staff can handle it. I’m a little busy at the moment.”
The kid ran through the curtains and Gillian could hear him talking to the waitresses in the kitchen.
“The food is a big hit.” Gillian stepped to the side of the door, taking him with her, relishing the feel of his arms around her, and the nearness of his lips… his body. She could feel his breath on her cheek.
“I hope it is. I’ve cooked for Rocky Reed before. He’s a friend.”
Gillian laughed. “Of course he is.”
“Oh, he’ll love the pudding. He’s a big fan of caramel.”
“I hope he loves it enough to fund another year of programming.” Gillian moved Mason a little farther out of the way as the curtains opened and the wait staff started to pour through the lobby with dessert plates in their hands.
“He will. How could he resist the mistletoe explosion out here?” They both laughed as the kids streamed past them. Any other day, Gillian would have been embarrassed to be in a man’s arms in front of her kids, but tonight was different. Tonight was the night of mistletoe.
With Rocky Reed and Arthur happy, with the show successfully at its end, and with Mason’s profession and apology, she didn’t know what else she could possibly expect from this crazy night.
She happened to glance up and saw the cluster hanging just overhead. “Hey.” Gillian nodded toward the ceiling and then met Mason’s eyes. “Speaking of mistletoe…”
Gillian dipped her head in for a kiss and this time, he met her more than halfway.
Before you go…
From the author: I hope you enjoyed Montana Mistletoe. I want to thank you for joining the adventure. I would like to invite you to post a review of the book on Amazon.com or Goodreads, or your favorite bookstore.
-R.L. (Becca) Syme
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Read more about Granite Peak, MT in upcoming books from R.L. Syme, coming in 2015.
Other Books from R.L. Syme
From the Highland Renegades Series of Medieval Scottish Romance:
The Outcast Highlander (2013)
The Runaway Highlander (2014)
The Pirate Highlander (2014)
Novella - Lachlan’s Revenge (2014)
Novella - Malcolm’s Return (2014)
Novella - Cadha’s Rogue (coming in 2015)
From the Montana Smokejumper Series of Contemporary Romance:
His Wounded Heart (2013)
From the Granite Peak Series of Contemporary Romance:
Montana Mistletoe (2014)
Montana Heat (coming in 2015)
Montana Sweet (coming in 2015)
From the Line of Fire Series set in Somewhere, TX
Fire Away (2014)
McAdams Scandal: On Fire (June 2015)
Fire Fight (July 2015)
McAdams Scandal: Catch Fire (coming in 2015)
Fire Up (coming in 2016)
Month of Sundays (April 2015)
Heroes worth loving and villains worth hating…
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