Starved for food, but maybe for much more than she’d bargained for. Nothing in her life had prepared her for Riley. She was supposed to be taking charge of her life, learning to deal with her Christmas aversion. She was not supposed to be becoming so entangled with a man she’d have a difficult time ever letting go of, and yet she didn’t regret being here with him. She cherished every precious second of his company, of his attention.
She’d given up pretending otherwise.
“Starved?” He grinned. “That’s my girl.”
His girl. He didn’t care who knew, who saw them together, or who saw him brushing his knuckles across her cheek or just giving her hand a quick squeeze. If anything, he acted possessive, as if he wanted everyone who saw them to know they were together. As if he was proud she was with him.
It had been months before Chase had wanted anyone at the hospital to be aware that they were dating and then he’d acted more embarrassed than proud.
“Why are you so nice to me?” she mused out loud.
“Huh?” Obviously, he had no clue what she meant. Which made her happy inside. He wasn’t putting on airs or trying to impress her, just being himself.
“I’m just curious why you’re so nice to me.”
“I already told you the answer to that, princess. More than once.”
“What’s that?”
“I like you.” He smiled and she deep-down knew he believed what he said. He liked her. “A lot.”
“This is good,” Trinity praised twenty minutes later, the lemony grilled salmon practically melting in her mouth. “Much better than my grilled cheese the other night. I think you missed your calling.”
“I happened to like your grilled cheese the other night, although perhaps not the butt-kicking at chess that followed.” He grinned. “You really think I should give up cardiology and cook for a living?”
She snorted. “When you word it that way, probably not, but you are a very talented man and I am well aware that I barely won that chess game.”
“Glad you noticed and appreciate my efforts.”
“Oh, I notice.” Every detail about him. She took another bite. “You have a beautiful place, Riley.”
“I like it. When I was looking to buy, I knew I’d make an offer on this one the moment I stepped inside, even though it’s a little further from the hospital than I’d intended. It felt like I was coming home.”
She glanced out the windows towards the sea. “Great view.”
“It’s better tonight than usual.”
But when she turned to him, he wasn’t looking at the gulf. He was looking at her.
Heat infused her entire body. “You don’t have to say things like that, you know.”
“I know. I want to.”
“Why?”
“Why?” He sounded confused. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I don’t know. You’re just always complimenting me and I don’t want you to feel it’s necessary.”
“But complimenting you is necessary. Very necessary.”
She wanted to ask why again, but didn’t want to sound like a broken record. So she smiled. With Riley, when in doubt about what to do, smiling seemed to work best. “This house suits you. Functional, beautiful—”
“Christmasy?” he interjected, grinning.
“Christmasy,” she agreed, unable to deny his claim. He was everything Christmas should be. Everything that Christmas had never been. Not for her. But everything he did made a long-suppressed part of her memory pull forward.
Enough so that she experienced a twinge of panic, but the evening was too nice to let doubt ruin it.