Chapter 15
Lucy
My plate is full as Samuel leads me over to a small table, where we sit down.
I try to take just a tiny bite of everything, so I won’t get full as I eat. I try to remind myself that this is not for pleasure, this is business.
But Samuel’s not acting like it’s business, he’s acting like...like he’s pursuing me. Like he wants me. It’s a heady feeling, to be honest. I suppose it makes me feel powerful in a way, but also humble. That someone as brilliant and amazing and successful and with as much character and integrity as Samuel thinks I am worth pursuing.
I know he’s not a player. I’ve been friends with Allison for long enough to know that he doesn’t mess with people, and he doesn’t lead women on, only to break their hearts. In fact, after several women were obviously only after him for his money, he had given up on dating completely, from what Allison has said.
So this is unexpected and a little shocking, but still, I have to admit it’s welcome.
“I really like this,” I say, pointing to something that seems like lasagna.
“That’s Flora’s specialty. I don’t think we’ve ever had a sit-down meal that didn’t include Cook’s three meat and five cheese lasagna.”
“That’s what it’s called?”
He nods, taking his off his plate and putting it in his mouth. “It tastes the same every time. I don’t know how she does it, but I could eat the stuff for the rest of my life.”
“Same. Wow.”
Everything on the tray is delicious. There are things I’ve never heard of, things that seem fancy, and then paired with the very common, very everyday lasagna, that was anything but everyday, it just feels like a mix of fancy and approachable.
“I think she’s planned this out perfectly,” I say as Samuel looks at me with a lifted brow. I can read that expression. He wants me to go on. “Just...she has something for everyone. Something to make people feel comfortable, something to make them feel pampered, and everything tastes so delicious it’s almost unbelievable.”
“I hadn’t noticed that until you said it, but I guess you’re right. She’s got fancy little things that take forever to make, and no one would actually have on their supper table, and things that everyone has eaten a time or two, but she’s made it all in such a way that it all feels like you’re being spoiled in the best kind of way.”
I nod and think I feel like I’m being spoiled in the best kind of way by Samuel too.
We finish up eating and take our plates back to the kitchen, where I talk to Flora, complimenting her and what she’s done and telling her that I wouldn’t change a thing. That’s the honest truth.
It’s time to go back into the ballroom, see how they set the tables up, and make sure that they’ve done it the way I asked them to. There’s also going to be some speakers set up, although the decorations are going to be the same as for the party the night before.
As we’re walking out of the kitchen, he holds the door for me, and I wait for him as I have every time. This time though when he catches up to me, his fingers slip into mine, and before I know it, he’s holding my hand.
It feels perfect.
I look up at him, and he’s studying me, like he wants to know what I think about this. I think he can tell from the expression on my face that it’s absolutely perfect.
“Let’s go,” he says softly, and I’m disappointed. I thought we were having a moment, and I thought that perhaps there would be a kiss.
I shake my head. I’m supposed to be working. We walk side by side to the door. He opens it, and we step in.
But he’s holding my hand and stops in the doorway, causing me to stop too.
He looks up, and my gaze follows his.
“Wow. What do you know? Look at that.” There’s no surprise in his voice, just humor, as we both stand staring at the mistletoe that’s over top of us.
A warmth starts in my chest and spreads out through my entire body. I know he did this on purpose, and he knows I know.
“I don’t need mistletoe to want to kiss you,” I whisper.
“I don’t need it either,” he murmurs as he slowly pulls me toward him.
I go willingly.
“I want more than kissing,” he continues, and my throat goes dry. “I want your laughter, your smiles, I want to know that I have the right to be beside you. I want to be able to watch you and not care about who sees me and what kind of admiration I have in my eyes when I look at you. I want you to continue to teach me how to be a better person.”
“I’m learning that from you.” I can’t help but interrupt him.
“Then maybe we can learn from each other?”
It’s a question, and I’m nodding before he’s even done.
“I will, and I want all of that with you.” My voice is soft as well, and I don’t know how it happened, but I have one hand wrapped around his neck, and I’m tugging as he puts a hand around my waist and pulls me closer. I run my other hand up his back, and his head lowers.
This time, there’s not a crowd of people watching us, but I don’t have any more awareness of that now than I did before. I just know how perfect and right and beautiful it is, and I know I found the man that I want to spend the rest of my life with. Not today, we don’t need to talk about that today, but this isn’t a throwaway mistletoe kiss. It’s making a mistletoe mishap into a relationship that lasts a lifetime.