“I actually prefer it that way. I run my own life. I’m happy. I’m proud of who I am and I like what I have. The only time I find it hard is at Christmas. At Christmas it’s like standing outside a party you’re not invited to, knowing that everyone else is inside having fun.” She eased away from him and lay on her back, staring up at the soaring ceiling. “There’s something about this time of year that makes your emotions sharper. You feel as if everyone else has someone, even though you know that isn’t true.”
“You never see your mother?”
“She moved to New Zealand.”
“You don’t visit?”
“I went once, a few years ago. Hard to say which one of us found the experience most painful. I’m just a reminder of a part of her life she’d rather forget. And my father just sees me and feels guilt.” She turned her head to look at him and gave a crooked smile. “I know how to kill a romantic atmosphere, don’t I?”
“We’re naked in front of a fire and it’s snowing outside.” His voice rough, he hauled her back against him, holding her tightly. “You can’t kill that.”
She was silent for a moment, knowing what she’d told him had changed things.
There was the intimacy of sharing their bodies and then there was the intimacy of sharing inner secrets. That one was new to her, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it.
“Should we check on Maple?”
“She’s asleep. She uses so much energy during the day she crashes out at night. She won’t wake until morning.”
“But she’s in the bedroom.”
His fingers were in her hair. “There’s another bed.”
He was planning on staying the night?
She never spent the whole night with a man, but he was already on his feet and tugging her upright.
Kayla felt a flutter of panic. “What are you doing?”
He cupped her face and kissed her. “It’s time someone gave you some new Christmas memories.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
HE WOKE IN the cold darkness of the early morning to find the bed empty.
It didn’t feel right.
What would have felt right after a night filled with the best sex of his life would have been to wake up next to the woman he’d shared it with. Preferably with both of them still naked.
Unfortunately the woman in question obviously felt differently.
He wasn’t surprised.
What surprised him was how much he minded.
Cursing softly, Jackson reached for his watch and checked the time.
Seven a.m. Where the hell could she have gone at 7:00 a.m?
“Kayla?” He called her name but he already knew the cabin was empty. And the fact that there was no answering bark told him she’d taken Maple. Which meant she’d gone over to the house.
His mother probably wasn’t even awake yet.
Rubbing his hand over his face to clear the fog of less than four hours sleep, Jackson leaned back against the pillows.
She could have woken him so that he could walk with her. The fact she hadn’t told him all he needed to know about the way she viewed their relationship.
She’d already pushed it into the history books.