CHAPTER 20
S kydovia’s park, less than half a mile from the village square, looked like a winter wonderland with dozens of trees glittering with Christmas lights.
In the center of the park was an impressive display of life-size sculptures.
There was a spectacular snow angel, a perfectly carved Christmas tree, a snowman, and a Santa with a bag of toys.
One of the most impressive sculptures was a five-pointed star that sparkled from every angle.
As Ava and Justin hurried toward the sculptures, they looked around everywhere for Stormy. Ava nervously adjusted her so-called disguise. She lowered her hat, covered more of her face with her scarf, and made sure her sunglasses were secure. She was trying to be as unrecognizable as possible.
Justin glanced over at her. “Don’t worry, no one is going to recognize you.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I barely recognized you,” Justin said with a laugh.
“But you barely know me,” Ava said.
“Does anyone really know you?” Justin asked. “But seriously, you’re a hard person to forget, but in that outfit, you look almost like a regular person.”
“Almost?”
“Those giant sunglasses are still a bit…dramatic.”
“They hide most of my face,” Ava said as she picked up her pace. “Let’s find this dog and get out of here.”
“Yes, boss.”
Ava shot him a look. “Please, stop calling me that.”
“There are so many names I can’t call you. I can’t use the ‘P’ word. Oh, that’s right, I can call you Holly. Is that your code name because you love Christmas?”
“Can we please just focus on finding the dog?”
Justin frowned. “Why are you always calling Stormy the dog. He has a name—”
“Because I don’t care what his name is,” Ava fired back. “All I care about is finding him before Edgar calls my mother.”
Justin shook his head, looking disappointed. “So, you just care about not getting in trouble with the queen? You don’t care about Stormy at all.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Yeah, you did,” Justin said. “I just didn’t want to believe it.”
Ava glanced at him and saw that this time, he wasn’t kidding. She could feel his disappointment and disapproval. She wasn’t sure which bothered her more.
Why do you care what he thinks? she asked herself.
Because I do , a nagging inner voice answered.
She didn’t know what was happening to her, but she felt like with Justin, she was all over the place.
She usually prided herself on being in control of her emotions, but right now, she couldn’t think clearly.
One minute, she thought she had him all figured out, and the next, he’d say or do something that forced her to completely reevaluate everything she was thinking about him.
And now at this moment she knew he was reevaluating her, and not in a good way, and she hated that.
Being around him was unnerving—exhausting, even—because she’d never felt like this before.
The way he could turn on the charm and become utterly irresistible at any moment was dangerous.
She hated feeling like she wasn’t in control of her own emotions.
And yet, as much as he frightened, flustered, and fascinated her, something about him kept pulling her in.
“I don’t see Stormy anywhere,” Justin said, looking around.
Ava had stopped to check out the angel sculpture. Not bad , she said to herself as she studied the angel’s intricate wings. She was leaning in to get a closer look when a teenager, coming from the other direction, bumped into her, sending her sunglasses flying through the air.
Justin scrambled to pick up her sunglasses for her. “I got them.” As he was picking them up, he saw a group of photographers heading straight for them. “Oh God!”
“What’s wrong? Are they broken?” Ava asked as Justin ran toward her.
Before she knew what was happening, Justin pulled her into his arms and started kissing her!
For a moment, she froze.
Then, as the kiss rocked her to her core, her body surrendered, melting into his as she kissed him back with a passion she hadn’t known she had.
As they deepened the kiss, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing herself even closer to him, longing for things she hadn’t even known she wanted.
Time stood still as her desire consumed her.
Until a dog started barking.
Justin pulled away first, leaving her breathless and dazed. “Stormy?”
But when they both looked over to where the barking came from, they saw a terrier playing in the snow.
Justin raked his fingers through his hair. “I thought that was Stormy.”
Ava nodded, touched her lips, and smiled. She was still trying to process the best kiss she’d ever had.
“That kiss…” Justin started.
Ava felt like she was in a dream. “It was—”
“To protect you from all the photographers.”
Ava’s smile disappeared. She shook her head, confused. “What?”
“There was a group of them headed straight for you,” Justin said. “I didn’t want them seeing you or taking pictures or anything, so I ran up and kissed you. Like you said, no one would ever expect you to be with someone like me, right?”
Ava couldn’t find her words as she stared at him.
“I’m really sorry,” Justin said. “I was way out of line. I should have handled that differently. I promise it will never happen again. It was a mistake. Please don’t send me to the dungeon,” Justin finished with a laugh.
As Ava stared back at him, his voice echoed in her brain, crushing her heart.
It was a mistake. It was a mistake. It was a mistake.
She felt like someone had just tossed a giant bucket of ice water over her.
Moments ago, she’d been lost in the most amazing kiss of her life—only to be told it was fake, a mistake, an accident, something that would never happen again.
She knew she should be relieved to hear the kiss wasn’t real, because that would have been highly inappropriate.
But all she felt was a crushing sense of loss—and that upset her even more.
She felt her cheeks burn red thinking about the way she’d passionately kissed him back. She knew she needed to pull herself together and do damage control fast.
“I saw them, too,” she said swiftly. “The photographers.”
Justin looked surprised. “Really? How did you see them? They were behind you.”
Ava scrambled for an answer. “I, uh, I thought I saw someone…in front of me. That’s why I kissed you back, so no matter where they were, they saw it.”
Stop talking now, she warned herself. She knew she wasn’t making any sense.
Justin looked around, worried. “Why are there so many photographers in the park?”
“Maybe they’re hoping my mother will show up,” Ava answered. “She’s always attending public events. I think she’s even judged this local ice sculpture contest before. She’s all about being involved in the community.”
Justin continued to look around. “Well, it looks like we’re good now. I don’t see them anymore. I’m sorry, I panicked.”
Ava forced herself to smile. “I did, too. But it worked. It looks like we fooled them.”
Their eyes met.
Ava thought she saw of flicker of something in Justin’s eyes, but in a second it was gone.
“That was a close call,” Justin said, still looking around. “Luckily, no one else was around. Here you go.” He carefully started to put her sunglasses back on. “Keep these on, and we should be fine.”
As Ava adjusted her glasses, their hands brushed, sending another spark through her, stealing her breath.
Justin frowned, taking both her hands in his. “You’re freezing. Your hands feel like ice cubes. We need to get you warmed up.”
Ava’s pulse jumped. She yanked her hands away, stuffing them into her coat pockets before he could completely turn her brain to mush. “I’m fine,” she said, a little too quickly. “We need to find the dog. We’ve had enough…distractions.”
“If you get frostbite, we won’t be doing anything. Come on,” Justin said. Not taking no for an answer, he took her hand and started walking off.
“But wait…” Ava tried to protest but gave up when he only tightened his grip and picked up their pace.
? ? ?
Next to the park, Ava paced outside a festive, holiday-themed wine bar named Mulled and Merry, waiting for Justin. He’d run inside to make sure there weren’t any photographers and that it was safe for her to come inside.
She rubbed her ice-cold hands together and blew on them to try and warm them. Justin was right. She was freezing. The one thing she’d forgotten to wear was gloves. She was twisting her watch around her wrist when Justin opened the bar’s door.
“We’re good to go,” he said as he waved for her to come in. “No photographers.”
Ava hesitated. “We really should keep looking—”
“We’re not going to stay long. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
“Why?” Ava asked. She snapped her mouth shut. Damn , she thought, annoyed with herself. She hadn’t meant to say the words out loud, but she was baffled. Why was Justin always acting like he actually cared about her well-being?
She knew if she were with Henry, the first thing he’d do would be to ask why she hadn’t brought along gloves in the first place. Henry wasn’t exactly known for his patience or empathy.
Justin walked over to her and held out his hand. “Come on.”
Ava grasped her hands together and locked eyes with him. “Your number one concern right now should be finding this dog and saving your reputation and your career, not me being cold.”
“You don’t like people helping you, do you?” Justin asked, catching her off guard.
Ava thought about it for a second before answering. “I don’t like asking people for help when I’m perfectly fine handling things on my own—”
“But what if someone offers to help, like I’m trying to do?” Justin asked.
“Then I wonder why,” Ava answered.
Justin arched an eyebrow. “You don’t trust someone is just trying to be…nice?”
Ava shook her head. “No, because in my experience usually when someone is trying to be, as you say, nice , they are only doing it because they want something from me.”
“Wow, that’s dark,” Justin said.
“It’s the truth,” Ava said.