Chapter 22
S adie
Rochelle gave Sadie a thumbs-up in an all-systems-go gesture as Sadie and Kreston passed the front desk on their way to the elevator.
Once on the third floor, the historic wooden floor creaked as they ambled along the hallway to Sadie’s room. Her hand trembled as she turned her room key, hyperaware of Kreston’s presence behind her. Inside, her room glowed with the warm light she’d left on. Out her window, the northern lights danced in the night sky.
“I better call Lucky. Let him know I won’t be back tonight.” Kreston tapped his phone speaker for Sadie’s benefit. “Let’s see if he has reception.”
Thankfully, the call went through, and Lucky’s voice burst through the speaker.
“Well, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!” Lucky’s thick brogue suggested multiple Jamesons had been involved. “If it isn’t our wandering mayor. And where might you be this fine evening?” It sounded like he was at the Crooked Spoon, and the whole town was partying down.
“Overnighting in Talkeetna at Denali Roadhouse. Didn’t want you to worry.” Kreston raised his phone and stage-whispered to Sadie, “Wait for it, wait for it... ”
As expected, Lucky whooped and hollered, then announced to his party cohorts, “Mayor Collins is spending Christmas Eve in Talkeetna!”
Amid the uproar of whoops and hollers, Lucky yelled into the phone, “Lemme guess—you’re with a certain copper-haired lass who’s finally come to her senses? Or perhaps you’ve both come to your senses?”
“You could say that,” Kreston answered, his eyes meeting Sadie’s with such intensity it made her breath catch. She remembered his same look when they kissed the night before.
The continuing explosion of cheers from his phone nearly deafened them, and both burst out laughing. Sadie secretly loved it.
“Aloha! Welcome to the romance of the century!” Aloha’s voice carried clearly over the chaos, and Sadie heard a deck of cards shuffle.
“It’s about time!” Jessie’s voice overrode everyone else’s congratulatory remarks.
“We knew it!” gushed the Gossip Trio in unison.
“Mayor Collins, we love you!” Ten Second Tess chimed in. “Come home and kiss under the mistletoe! I forgot where I put it, but it’ll turn up, you know, like a turnip?” She laughed at her own pun.
Lucky howled, “Kreston, your dogs miss you!”
“Mayor Collins has dogs?” Ten Second Tess piped up.
“Got to go now. Merry Christmas to everyone! See you tomorrow,” Kreston hollered into the phone.
“Merry Christmas!” yelled Sadie, then Kreston ended the call.
“They’re happy about our news. Come here, Seattle.” Kreston waggled his finger at her. “Let’s get a selfie with the northern lights.”
She snuggled into him as he held his phone out, positioning it to capture them against the light show out the window.
“Look, red and green for Christmas Eve!” Sadie whispered as Kreston pulled her in tight and kissed her lightly on the lips.
She hungered for more, but they had all night. Right now, she reveled in the fact he’d come after her. Actions speak louder than words. Even if he said nothing the rest of the night, she wouldn’t care. The fact he was here spoke volumes.
She didn’t need his words.
Kreston powered down his phone and plugged it in. “How about a soak? Except I don’t have my swimsuit.”
“I do.” She wasn’t yet comfortable to strip naked in front of him. She was shy and had to ease into it.
“I have an extra pair of boxers.” He unzipped his small backpack.
She didn’t know whether to be relieved or what. All they’d done until now was kiss.
“Whatever makes you comfortable. See you in the hot tub.” Sadie snatched the bikini she’d packed for hot tubbing. On the way into the bathroom to change, she reveled in how quickly things had changed on this holiday trip to Alaska.
Who would have thought I’d be spending Christmas with an Alaskan bush pilot and mayor of a town instead of the person I’d intended to marry?
Sadie wrapped herself in the terrycloth robe she’d found hanging on the bathroom door, then opened the sliding glass door leading to the cedar deck and the two-person hot tub. The chill hit her skin, goose-bumping it. She scurried over, tossed off the bathrobe, and climbed in. She lowered herself into the frothing water across from Kreston, who was enjoying his soak with closed eyes.
He opened them when her toes touched him underwater. “Look up.”
Sadie’s breath caught at the emerald ribbons twisting around bursts of red and purple above them. She luxuriated in the hot water, every sense on hyper-drive as the steam rose and vaporized. The contrast between the hot tub’s warmth and the crisp December air, along with the sight of a half-naked Kreston, raised goosebumps on her exposed shoulders.
It was exhilarating.
Christmas carols drifted up from the Roadhouse’s main deck, accompanied by laughter and the clink of glasses. Below them, people clustered around a large gas-fired deck heater, talking and laughing.
“I’m the luckiest woman in the world right now,” she murmured, rubbing her foot up and down his leg.
Kreston smiled in response and sat up, lifting the champagne bottle from a table next to him. He poured the bubbly into two plastic flutes with measured precision, his graceful movements shooting straight to her core, turning her on. She loved the perfect fusion of East Coast refinement and Alaskan ruggedness, setting him in a unique class all his own.
He offered her the champagne, and she leaned forward to accept it, grateful for his companionship on this Christmas Eve.
“Thank you. You’re so classy,” she teased.
“To second chances.” Kreston tapped her glass as steam swirled between them like a happy dream.
“And being brave enough to take them,” she added, her body tingling with the anticipation of what would unfold tonight. “I appreciate your understanding of my job situation. It’s like we’re kindred spirits.”
His brows winged up, and he chortled. “I’ve been thinking the same thing. Tell me what happened—with you and—what’s his name?”
“Clayton.” She traced the rim of her glass. “I spent so much time and energy managing other people’s situations, I ignored my own life. With Clayton, it was easy to be co-dependent. I relied on him to manage our relationship. He controlled all of it. All of me. And the worst part was, I let him.”
She furrowed her brow. “Didn’t realize it until I got to Alaska. When he texted, and I knew he’d been cheating, I finally opened my eyes to see things for what they really were.”
“Must have ripped you in half. I can’t imagine the hurt.” He shook his head.
Her eyes watered. “I feel like a fool, allowing him to control me like that.”
He reached for her hand and squeezed it. “You’re anything but a fool. You just needed to distance yourself from the situation, that’s all.” He sipped, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. She found it erotic, shooting to her core along with everything else about him.
Sadie downed her champagne, loving the buzz and warmth that spread through her. She thrust out her empty glass. “When I caught Clayton cheating, I texted him it was over. But he didn’t even fight for us—instead, he cast me aside like yesterday’s trash. But you...” she trailed off, resisting the impulse to fling herself into Kreston’s arms.
“You came after me, and you hardly know me.”
Kreston refilled her glass. “Because you’re worth pursuing. Your ex is a mother-effing bonehead.” He set the bottle on the table and moved toward her. He brushed back a tendril from her cheek, leaving trails of hot lava on her skin.
Sadie emptied her glass, and he took it from her and set it on the table. The Aurora reflected in his eyes, each color mirroring her emotions: hope, desire, and what she was finally brave enough to admit.
That she loved him.