The Naughty List Bundle with The Night Before Christmas & Yule Be Mine. Fern Michaels
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child, thinking if she just closed her eyes, she could will time to go backward instead of forward, and she could stay where she was, in the perfect place, with this perfect man, forever.
“Melody.”
But, of course, that wasn’t going to happen. It hadn’t worked when Bernie had been drifting in and out of consciousness her last few days, and it wasn’t going to work now.
She lifted her gaze to his. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”
His mouth tightened, just a little, at the corners. She already knew him well enough to know what that meant. The regret she saw in his eyes chipped at what little control she had left. She’d tried her hardest not to think about the day he would leave, but when she had, she’d tried to believe she’d somehow be strong. Insouciant, even. Able to celebrate her fortune in having had him in her life for the time they’d been together.
All true. But she hadn’t envisioned curling into a sobbing mess while being confronted with the finality of it.
“Melody, I—”
“I guess I didn’t think it would happen so soon. You’re right, maybe we should have talked more about what was coming.” Almost by silent agreement, they’d never discussed at what point he wouldn’t be needed in Hamilton any longer. She just thought it would be a point far away. “We haven’t even started with the first phase yet.”
“It’s no’ that. I’d hoped to stay longer.”
“Is something wrong? Back in Dublin?”
“Not wrong, just…complicated. All business matters, no worries, no’ anything personal. But…I’m needed there.”
“For how long?”
He simply looked at her, his eyes growing increasingly more miserable.
“You’re not coming back?” She barely choked out the words. “But—” She cut herself off. But what? What had she expected? She’d known this. It was her own fault they hadn’t prepared themselves better for it. She could have asked, could have made it a part of their ongoing discussion.
But she’d been too busy enjoying her little dreamworld. It had been enough harsh reality dealing with the fact that her town was going to morph into a miniature Disney World before her very eyes. She’d told herself she deserved to have some fun while she could.
Stupid, stupid plan.
“Melody,” Griffin repeated, taking her face in his hands. “You’ll recall I didn’t come in here unhappy.”
“You’re much better than me at putting on your happy face. We both know that.”
“It wasn’t a put-on face. I was a man with a plan when I walked in here. It was your very happy face lighting up when I walked in that removed any doubt I might have had about my plan.”
“Plan?”
“I don’t want to leave you. That smile, the way you instantly light up for me, I don’t want to get to the end of my day and not have that waiting. My days have always been planned around work, as were more of my nights than not. What brought me joy was success in business. Now, I get to experience that through the day, with the knowledge that when that day’s work is done, I’ll double that joy by coming home and sharing it with you.”
He’d said “coming home,” she noted in some distant part of her brain that wasn’t buzzing loudly with panic. She tried desperately to quiet it so she could hear what he was saying to her. Had he realized what he’d said? Did he know the rush of pleasure that sentiment brought to her?
“I’m not sure how I ever thought my life was full. I decided, long ago, that relationships weren’t something I was made for. I never wanted them.” He pulled her closer. “But I believe I was made for you. And I want this. I want you.”
“Griffin,” she whispered, looking into eyes glowing with what he’d claimed he’d seen in her own. If she hadn’t been so worried, so confused, and trying so hard to stave off the crushing avalanche of grief she knew was coming her way, she’d have felt the warmth of it all the way to her toes. “You’re…leaving. I don’t understand.”
“Why do you think I’ve been trying to talk you into expanding your shop globally?”
“I don’t want to run an empire. That’s your job. I want to bake.”
“I know. I’m hardheaded, and also so out-of-my-head besotted with you, that I clearly haven’t been thinking straight. But I do listen. I do.”
He’d said besotted—which was a lot like love. And exactly how she felt about him. Only she’d never told him. Because they didn’t talk about that. Should she tell him now? Would it make a difference?
All she knew was that she felt better. Knowing. So she had to think he would, too.
“I know what you mean,” she said, surprising him. “About not thinking clearly. I’m having a hard time, right now, thinking at all, because I can’t even stand the idea of not seeing you. Ever. I’m…” She faltered, not because she was scared to say it, but because she was scared to feel it. But silence wasn’t going to make the feelings go away. “Griffin, if anyone had told me, that morning when I found you behind the counter, that you’d consume my every waking thought, and every single one of my nights, I’d have called them crazy and offered them a cookie. But you’re right. It took one day.” She smiled. “Besotted. I rather like that word.”
She hadn’t realized how much fear he was feeling, too, until she saw the nerves twitch as he tried to smile, but failed to sustain it.
“What?” she asked. “Tell me.”
“I was listening to you, Melody. All those nights that we talked. I’ve watched you work, often when you had no idea I was watching you.” His smile grew then. “I’m not always glued to my BlackBerry, you know.”
“Yes, you are,” she said, and they both laughed.
“There are moments, here and there,” he said, the lingering smile moving to a grin, and that light returning full force to his eyes. “I know this is what you’re meant to do. I know the joy it brings you. I’ve watched you handle your books like the overly educated shopkeeper you are, but I know you aren’t motivated by increasing your bottom line, or investing for future growth potential.”
“If I was, I’d have already done that.”
“I know. So I’m not asking you to think about going global with Cups & Cakes. I’m just going to ask you to consider relocating the one shop you have from this village…to a different one.”
“What do you—”
“My village, Melody. I want you to come to Dublin. We’ll find the perfect spot.”
Her head was spinning…but not in panic. It was with…excitement. She had decided against leaving Hamilton because she’d had noplace else to go that mattered to her. But Griffin mattered. Wherever he was would matter to her, too. Could she adopt a whole village? “Would the Dubliners accept me?”
“I fell in love with you in a single day. I’m sure you’ll work your magic on them, too. One cupcake at a time, if necessary.”
“Sugar shock them into it, you mean,” she said dryly. Her mind was still on the “I fell in love with you” part, and she basked in the heady glow of the words for a bit, even as her mind was already racing ahead, to all the possibilities. It was scary, and not a little exhilarating. The thing that made her mind up was that even though it was terrifying to contemplate uprooting not only herself but her entire livelihood, she had absolutely no doubts about being with Griffin.
“Wait. Can I do that?” she asked. “Open a shop in Ireland? Aren’t there laws?”
“You can work for a period of time on a visa.” He shifted back long enough to slide his