Christmas In The City (Imperfect Match 1.50)

“It is.” Michael swallows and sits up a little straighter in bed. “Is this Reid guy’s last name something Italian?”

“Fortino,” I whisper. We stare at each other, our eyes going wide. I almost expect the music from the Twilight Zone to start playing.

“Oh my God.” Michael blinks, leaning back against the headboard. “I don’t fucking believe it.”

“Me neither.” It can’t be … can it?

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he asks.

“That we were both supposed to be at the same party tonight so that we could be set up … with each other?” Even as I speak the words, it strikes me as too coincidental. Too unbelievable. Too insane.

Michael shakes his head. “It’s fucking crazy. But I think it’s true. My sister works with Reid. And she said his fiancée was bringing a friend who’d be perfect for me.”

I start to laugh. I can’t help it—this entire night has been so ridiculous and fun. “And Willow said I had to go to this party tonight to meet the little brother of this Laura woman who works with Reid.”

“Christ.” Michael runs a hand through his hair.

“I guess we saved them the trouble,” I wheeze. “Who’d have thought?”

“Right?” Michael laughs too, a deep, joyful sound that warms my insides. “I can’t believe it. My sister was right about something.” He pulls me onto his lap so I straddle his legs.

“They’re all going to flip out,” I tell him. “Willow especially. She’ll try to take credit somehow.”

He wraps his arms around my waist. “So will my sister. But I didn’t need them to find a perfect girl. I found her all on my own.”

I grin. “Stuck in a doorway with a Christmas tree. God, it sounds like a Hallmark Channel holiday movie, doesn’t it? We had our very own meet cute!”

“Do Hallmark Channel movies have sex in them?”

“Not onscreen.” I giggle. “It’s more like behind closed doors.”

“Your door is closed.” He flips me onto my back and covers my body with his. “And I’m very interested in a happy ending right now.”

“Me too.” We kiss, and I wonder if I’ll ever get enough of his sexy mouth on mine.

I wonder if this is the start of something as good as it feels. I wonder if someday we’ll be telling our meet cute story to our children and grandchildren—maybe it will be the one we tell every single Christmas as we put up the tree. And I wonder if it’s possible to fall for someone so fast, because as he moves inside me again, I feel myself spinning head over heels. I never want it to end.

Of course, I don’t say that to him.

But later, as we’re saying goodbye at my door, I tell him that tonight feels like an unexpected gift.

“For me too,” he says. He kisses my forehead. “And I, for one, would like to open it again tomorrow night. And maybe even the night after that.”

“Really?” My toes tingle, and I can’t keep my smile from getting bigger.

“Really. I don’t know what you did to me tonight, Harlow North, but I’m under your spell. And I’d like to stay there for a while.”

I lift my shoulders. “You know where to find me.”

And he does—the next night, and the next night, and the next. In fact, we don’t spend a night apart for the following year and a half, and two years to the day after he came to my rescue in the lobby, I walk down the aisle and become his wife.

We celebrate our first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. West in our own home, where Michael is in charge of getting the tree in the stand, I am allowed to bake but not sing, and we laugh about how destiny wanted us together so badly, it left us no room to mess up.

Christmas miracle? Maybe.

But one thing is for sure—we were always meant to be.

THE END