When Riley smiled at him and met his eyes, she didn’t feel afraid anymore. She knew that no matter what happened she was following her heart. She’d had three great loves in her life because she’d trusted her heart. It hadn’t let her down yet.
When the piano player in the band began to play the classic Christmas song “The Christmas Waltz,” Riley took Luke’s hand. “Will you dance with me?”
Luke looked around. “What about Tyler?”
“What about him?” Riley asked. “I’m not with Tyler, and I’m not with Colin or Brendan. They’re my past. I’m looking for my future, a future that could start with this dance . . . So what do you say?”
“To a dance or to a future?” Luke asked, completely serious.
Riley leaned in and whispered in his ear, “To both.”
She pulled back and smiled at him. For a moment, he was silent.
Riley held her breath.
When Luke slowly smiled back at her and she could see the passion in his eyes, she didn’t want to waste any more time.
She kissed him, and when he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back, she didn’t just feel a spark—she felt fireworks.
Everyone cheered, with Colin, Brendan, and Tyler cheering the loudest.
After the kiss, Riley looked into his eyes and smiled a smile that was filled with love. “Merry Christmas, Luke,” she said softly.
“Merry Christmas, Riley,” Luke said before kissing her again.
Chapter Forty
One Week Later, Christmas Morning
“Ho! Ho! Ho! Time to get up and go! Ho! Ho! Ho! Let’s go! Go! Go!”
Riley awoke to the Santa alarm clock in her room at the lodge. But this time, instead of yanking the batteries out of Santa, she sang along as she jumped out of the sleigh bed. With the enthusiasm of a cheerleader, she danced around in her new red silk pajamas.
“Let’s go! Go! Go!”
She couldn’t wait to celebrate her first Christmas with her mom, stepdad, and Luke at the Christmas Lake Lodge.
It was hard to believe a week had already gone by since the Christmas Camp dance. Riley smiled remembering her first kiss with Luke and how the dance had also sparked some other possible romances—Tyler dancing with Margo, Maryanne dancing with Colin, and Brendan dancing with Rachel, one of the pretty Christmas Campers from Tennessee.
After the dance, Luke had invited her and her family to spend the next week leading up to Christmas at the lodge with Caylee, Comet, and his mom, who would be able to make it home for Christmas after all.
As hard as it had been to say goodbye to her Christmas Campers, Riley felt confident that the friendships they’d formed would last far beyond the holidays. For a Christmas present, Paul had made her a special Christmas Camp album that included all her favorite pictures. She would cherish it and the memories always.
As for the Christmas Camp itself, her publishing team had called it a huge success. They had gotten a ton of positive publicity and had signed off on Riley’s idea for her first Christmas novel to be about a children’s author who was writing Christmas fairy tales and fell in love with her illustrator. Riley also got the greenlight to do a children’s book featuring her dad’s Christmas fairy tales.
The Christmas Camp had also inspired Luke to move forward with his career. When his mom had arrived at the lodge, he’d announced the exciting news that they had a new buyer for the property, and he wanted his mom to take the deal.
When the offer turned out to be from him, his mom had been thrilled to keep the lodge in the family. Luke had decided he owed it to his family’s legacy, the community of Christmas Lake, and to himself to use his expertise to turn the lodge into a Green-friendly property. He wanted to try to set an example of what other small lodges and inns in the area could do to help compete with the new big luxury resorts.
For Riley, what she’d loved this last week was spending time with Luke enjoying the simple things in life. They’d spent every day together doing different Christmas activities. Luke had shared some of his family favorites, and Riley had shared some from the Google list she’d made. She’d even gotten everyone to go caroling and had loved every second of it.
She’d also sent her favorite New York bartender a picture of her making a snowman with Luke and captioned it, He’s the one. Alex had congratulated her by sending her his Grandma Lola’s secret mulled wine recipe, the recipe she’d tried to get from him for years. It had truly touched her heart because Alex had always told her he could only share the secret recipe with family.
After Luke shared his family’s secret hot chocolate recipe with her, she’d asked Alex if she could share Grandma Lola’s recipe with Luke. He’d agreed, and when she’d sent him the secret hot chocolate recipe, he’d gotten a kick out of Luke’s personal secret ingredient, little chopped-up pieces of York Peppermint Patties. She couldn’t wait for two of her favorite guys to meet.
The more time Riley spent with Luke, the more she realized how truly compatible they were. She felt as if she’d known Luke forever, and he was already her best friend. Her heart hadn’t been wrong, and the spark between them only grew brighter with each new day.
Riley had a lot to celebrate and be thankful for. Her only disappointment had been when she’d stopped by Merry and Bright wanting to get Luke one of the Christmas Lake Christmas Angels and Lisa had told her they’d sold out already. Riley had been excited to carry on the tradition and give the angel to Luke, someone she was starting to care very much for.
Now, as she got dressed to go downstairs for Christmas morning, the smell of peppermint hot chocolate and her new favorite blueberry cinnamon rolls
