“It’s not the only reason,” he told her, talking fast now that he had her here and it was so important to make her see what he was feeling. “Your dad’s a good man and it’s a good business decision for both of us, but you’re the main reason I did it, Anna. I did it because of you.
When she didn’t say anything, he added, “I don’t expect anything from you. You don’t have to do anything. Hell, I don’t even expect you to believe that I love you, but I do.”
She still wasn’t talking, and Sam suddenly couldn’t stand still under her gaze. He grabbed her, giving into the instinctive urge clawing at him. He pulled her close, stared down into those green eyes of hers and said, “I’d do anything for you, Anna.”
He loved her.
Anna sighed, grinned up at him and threw her arms around his neck, holding on for all she was worth. “Oh, Sam, I love you, too. I love you so much.”
“God.” He buried his face in the curve of her neck and swept his big hands up and down her spine, as if reassuring him that she was once again in his arms.
He kissed her, long and deep, and Anna felt her world right itself again. Fires burned inside her and she knew that with him in her life, she would never again be cold.
“You could have said something,” he accused, when he finally broke the kiss long enough to look down at her. “Did you have to let me keep babbling?”
She grinned and leaned into him, arching her body into his. “Sorry. But after you said you loved me, I sort of zoned out.”
“Is that right?” His voice was low and almost seemed to rumble along her nerve endings.
“Yeah, it is. I do love you, Sam,” she said, staring into his eyes and letting him see everything she was feeling. “And what you did for my dad-you didn’t have to.”
“I know that,” he said, and bent to kiss her again. Once. Twice. “I wanted to do it, not because I had to but because I knew it would make you happy.”
“You make me happy, Sam. Just you.”
“I’m making that my mission in life,” he told her. “Because I never want to be without you again, Anna.”
“Never,” she whispered and sighed as he kissed her again and again.
At last, though, he pulled back and pointed at the mural. “This is the first time I’ve come in here since you left,” he admitted. “I couldn’t look at that painting without thinking of you. Couldn’t look at that snake without remembering that I’d let you go.”
She laid her head on his broad chest and smiled at the steady beat of his heart. “I’ll paint over that snake,” she promised.
“No,” he told her. “Leave it. It’s a good reminder to me.”
“Of what?”
“Everytime I see it, I’ll remember how close I came to losing you, and that’ll make me appreciate what we’ve got together even more.”
Tears filled her eyes as she smiled at him. “Tell me what we’ve got, Sam.”
“Everything, Anna,” he said. “Marry me and we’ll have everything.”
“Yes.” She didn’t have to think about it. Didn’t have to wonder. Didn’t have to ask herself if she was sure. It didn’t matter if she’d met him two weeks ago or two years ago. This was the one man for her. The man she would love for the rest of her life. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
One corner of his mouth tipped into that delicious half smile she loved so much. “Just what I wanted to hear.”
His hands swept under the hem of her sweatshirt to cup her breasts and she groaned at the contact. He tweaked her nipples through the lace of her bra and Anna sighed in pleasure.
“I know a great way to spend a rainy day,” he said.
She sighed, and almost surrendered before she remembered, “Oh, I can’t! I have to work. I told Mateo and-”
Sam kissed her again until she couldn’t think, let alone speak. When he lifted his head, he smiled down at her. “It’s okay,” he said. “We’ve got tonight to celebrate.”
She winced and groaned aloud as she remembered she’d already made a promise to her stepmother. “I promised Clarissa I’d go to the house for dinner. To celebrate. You have to come, too, so we can tell them our news together.”
He laughed and rested his forehead against hers. “Dinner with the family. Agreed. And I should probably have a talk with your dad about us anyway. But
“Absolutely.” She couldn’t wait to get him alone. To feel his body sliding into hers. To hear him say he loved her again and to know that she would be with him forever.
“Since we missed our first Christmas together,” Sam was saying, “we’ve got some catching up to do.”
“What did you have in mind?” she asked a little breathlessly.
“Well,” Sam said, “I’m thinking we’ll have some wine, sit in front of the Christmas tree and open our presents.”
“Presents?” she asked, confused.
He dropped his fingers to the snap of her jeans and flicked it open. Anna gasped as he undid her zipper and slid one hand across her abdomen. Then she understood. “Ah.
“You really are my kind of woman,” he mused, zipping up her jeans and snapping them closed again.
“And don’t you forget it,” Anna told him, her insides melting at the wild, wicked look in his eyes.
“Not a chance, babe.” Taking her hand in his, he kissed her knuckles, then said, “Come on, I’ll drive you to Mateo’s. I don’t want you taking chances in this rain.”
Anna hugged him and whispered, “Rain? What rain? All I can see is sunshine and rainbows.”
While the rain pelted down from a steel-gray sky, inside the garage there was warmth and love and the promise of tomorrow.
Sam held on to her for another long minute, giving each of them a chance to settle. To relish the realization that they were together now and everything was going to be just as it should be.
“Happy New Year, Anna.”
“Happy New Year, Sam.”
MISTLETOE MAGIC by SANDRA HYATT
To the wonderful women and men of RWNZ and especially Barbara and Peter Clendon.
One
The babble of chatter and laughter ceased.
The only sounds left in the sudden hush of the living room were the rich baritone of Bing Crosby crooning “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” and the crackle of the fire in the stone fireplace.
Perplexed, Meg Elliot turned, careful not to spill the pyramid of Christmas tarts from the silver tray in her hands.
And came face-to-face with a stranger.
Face-to-chest, actually. She had to look up from the navy polo shirt stretched across his shoulders to see his
