“What’s all the ruckus, Lucy?”
Lucy swung her gaze up from the computer at the sound of her name. Seth Clifton, one of her regular patrons, was standing in front of the circulation desk, juggling a stack of books. He was a rather curmudgeonly figure in Mistletoe. He had a tendency to be a bit sharped-tongued, but Lucy took it in stride since she knew he’d led a sad life. With his mane of white hair and a disheveled beard, he had a distinctive appearance.
She grinned extra hard at Seth. Lucy had made a vow to herself to put a blissful smile on her face regarding the filming taking place on the premises and reassure all the patrons that it was a short-term project. “Something really exciting is happening. A film is being made here.”
Seth sucked his teeth. His brows were knitted together in a fierce frown. “What do you mean?”
“As you probably know, Dante West is back in town making a movie. He’s selected our library as one of his filming locations.” Lucy tried her best to inject her tone with sweetness and light, along with a healthy dose of enthusiasm. It wasn’t hard to tell that Seth wouldn’t be pulling out the welcome wagon for Dante and his crew.
Seth’s frown deepened. “Do you mean to tell me that my tax dollars are being spent on this nonsense?”
“Umm, well honestly, the library is getting a sizable amount of money from Mr. West in return for him being able to use the space,” she said in a neutral tone. She wasn’t defending Dante, but it was only fair to look at the situation with all the facts at hand. Surely Seth was in support of a hefty donation to the library.
He rolled his eyes. “Everybody just bows down when some Hollywood jerk comes back to his roots. Phony baloney is what I say. Where’s he been all this time? Kissing up to those folks in La-La Land.”
Whoa. She’d been under the impression that the whole town was in love with Dante West, but Seth sounded downright hostile. He wasn’t being fair, considering Mistletoe was getting a large cash infusion from Dante’s production company.
“Come on, Seth. That’s not very nice. He’s a hometown success story.”
Seth snorted. “Nice. It wasn’t very nice when he ditched you and this town for greener pastures.”
Eeek! Lucy struggled to speak. Had the entire town known about her and Dante? It was wild that Seth knew about their teenaged romance. “I-I’m surprised you remember that we dated. It was such a long time ago.”
“I sure do. You moped around like a lovesick puppy when he dumped you and left Mistletoe. Frankly, it was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen in my life. You used to push around that library cart as if it was the only thing you had to hold on to.” Seth made a tutting sound that grated on Lucy’s nerves.
She didn’t need or want his pity. And he was totally exaggerating about the library cart! As if that had ever happened. She drew herself up to her full height and smiled at him through gritted teeth as she handed him back his library card and pushed his stack of books toward him. “You’re all checked out, Seth. Be careful on the walkway. It’s a bit slippery.”
“I’ll be fine, Lucy. Steer clear of that Hollywood Romeo.” He wagged his finger at her. “Don’t play the fool twice.”
Her mouth swung open. What was it with this town? The fact that people even recalled her high school romance with Dante was fairly shocking. It had been nearly a decade ago! Frankly, they all needed to get a life and butt out of her business. And if she wasn’t a public servant she would have told Seth off in no uncertain terms. He needed to mind his business and hold his tongue.
She was nobody’s fool. Oftentimes, she was written off as the sweet-natured librarian, when in reality she had a lot more pluck and grit than anyone ever gave her credit for. No one had the right to write her story except Lucy herself.
By the time evening rolled around, Lucy could see crews packing up equipment and driving away from the parking lot. She no longer heard any noises emanating from the other side of the library. Lucy tried to stuff down her disappointment that Dante hadn’t sought her out. She was being ridiculous! He was directing a movie, for goodness’ sake. Why would he have time to leave the set just to check in with her?
The kiss they’d shared the other night had seriously messed her up. She shivered just thinking about it. Dante was an amazing kisser. He’d been all heat and fire. Clearly, he’d been practicing a lot since their days together. Jealousy nipped at her. Back in the day they’d been young adults with limited experience in the kissing department. Over the years they’d both matured and grown, and now he left her wanting more.
“Hey, Lucy. Do you want me to stick around and help you lock up?” Denny’s voice jolted her out of her thoughts about locking lips with Dante. She felt her face flushing at the heated memory.
“Thanks for asking, Denny. I’m all set. Maybe you could walk Nora to her car and give her a hand with her books.” Lucy knew her coworker, Nora Letts, had a crush on Denny. If only Denny could see what was right in front of his eyes. Nora was kind and a bit on the shy side, but she was adorable. Perhaps Lucy could push the two of them together.
Denny looked over his shoulder. Nora was standing a few feet away, struggling with her bag. Denny sighed and called out to her. “Hey, Nora. I’m heading out now. Let me help you.” Nora’s face lit up with pleasure as Denny strode over and reached for her bag. As he walked out, Denny cast a backward glance at Lucy filled with longing.
Please, please. Let some magic happen between Nora and Denny. More and more, Denny was popping up throughout the day to check in on Lucy at her various workstations. She viewed him as nothing more than a friend and a coworker, so she hoped he didn’t consider her as a potential romantic partner as Stella imagined. If Denny did have feelings for her, Lucy knew she couldn’t reciprocate. Her heart didn’t pitter-patter when he was nearby. And the last thing she wanted was for Denny to get hurt. He was one of the good guys.
Seeing Dante again reminded her of what it felt like to be enthralled with someone. That rush of adrenaline. Butterflies floating around in your belly. Your heart thumping like crazy in your chest. Sweaty palms. Getting excited when they were in your presence.
All of a sudden, Lucy felt herself break out into a sweat. No, she couldn’t be falling for Dante all over again. No way. Not this time, when she’d sworn she wouldn’t have anything to do with him. She was almost nine years older now and no longer a kid with stars in her eyes. She’d grown and matured over the years. She knew better!
She didn’t think she was mistaken. All the sensations she was feeling at the moment were exactly the same as she’d felt the first time around. Surprise. Nervousness. Wonder. Fear. Giddiness. They were swirling around inside her like confetti flying through the air. She hadn’t gotten over Dante, and the realization was terrifying. All this time she’d thought that she had moved past their relationship, but she’d been terribly mistaken. Her feelings for Dante were alive and kicking her butt. And with him back in town, they would be impossible to deny.
At least the library was quiet now. Normally at this hour she had the place all to herself. It was sheer perfection as far as she was concerned. Her special time alone with the library, her thoughts, and Ella Fitzgerald. Lucy went over to her phone and studied the choices on Spotify. What was it going to be tonight? She sighed in satisfaction as she cued up the music. The strains of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” began to float through the space. Lucy started tapping her foot to the beat. As the tempo picked up, Lucy swayed back and forth to the music as she belted out the words. “Someday soon we all will be together if the fates allow. Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow.”
A slight shuffling sound caused her to whirl around. Dante was standing twenty feet away with his gaze glued to her. So much for thinking she was the only one left in the building! Dressed in a nice-fitting pair of dark jeans, a pullover long-sleeved tee, and a New England Patriots baseball cap, he looked like the old Dante. Although he could never look like a regular guy, he didn’t look like a big Ho
llywood star either. There were slight shadows under his eyes, which hinted at long work hours and not enough sleep. She felt a slight pang in her heart at the sight of him.
“Dante! I had no idea anyone was still here.” Embarrassment threatened to swallow her whole. Dancing all by herself in an empty library to Ella Fitzgerald must look all kinds of silly to Dante. She was now kicking herself for not making sure everyone had left the premises before she’d started to let loose. This was the first time they’d seen each other since their out-of-this-world smooch session. She wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, but a slight tension hung in the air. Even from a distance she could feel the flicker of attraction.
“I’m sorry if I startled you. I didn’t want to leave without seeing you and saying hello. The shoot worked out really well.” The smile on his face spoke volumes about how he felt about his workday. She was so happy for him.
“I’m glad to hear it. I meant to pop over and take a peek, but things got so busy,” she said. “I’ll definitely make a point to stop by tomorrow, if that’s okay. I mean, if it’s not all right I’ll steer clear.”
“You’re welcome any time, Lucy. You know that,” Dante said in a low drawl.
She wished she wasn’t so flustered by his presence. Why couldn’t she be calm, cool, and collected? It was just Dante after all. Once she cut through all the hype and the action-hero label, he was still someone she’d known all her life. Someone Lucy had dearly loved.
Lucy ran her fingers through her hair and shifted from one foot to the other. The jazzy music was still playing, and she was torn between turning it off and allowing it to fill the silence between them. Before she could make up her mind, Dante moved toward her, quickly erasing the distance.
“Can I have this dance?” he asked, holding out his hand to her. His voice was smooth and sexy. Lucy hesitated a moment before nodding and slipping her hand in his. The thought of being so close to him unnerved her. Dante swung her into his arms and placed one hand at her waist while holding her hand in his. His moves were graceful as he whirled her around the makeshift dance floor. When he pulled her close so that there wasn’t even an inch between them, Lucy sighed and rested her head against Dante’s chest, breathing in the masculine scent of him. She felt protected in Dante’s solid embrace, as if he could shelter her from all the bad things that might come her way.
When the music ended they were still holding on to each other and moving to their own silent rhythm. She stopped dancing and looked up at him, searching for something in the depths of his brown eyes. Did he feel the same romantic pull toward her that she felt for him? Was he regretting ever having left Mistletoe? And her?
“What are we doing?” Lucy whispered.
“Dancing.” His voice sounded huskier than usual.
Lucy licked her lips. “It seemed like a lot more than dancing.”
“Would that be so bad?” Dante asked, sliding his hand down her arm. She felt goose bumps rise up on her flesh. His touch sent her soaring, as if everything in her world had gone from black and white to vibrant color.
“I don’t know,” Lucy said. “We’ve been down this road before and it didn’t end well.” To say the least. Lucy had been bruised and emotionally wrung out after things had ended between them. She never wanted to feel so broken ever again. Nor did she want to hope for something that might never come to pass. But being around Dante made her want him. Want things she thought she’d buried years ago.
“I won’t hurt you again, Lucy. I promise. Last time I was young and full of way more pride than I could handle,” he admitted. “I know who I am now.”
It made her sad to think she might have expected too much of him back then. Dante had been brash and cocky and tender. In her eyes he’d been some kind of wonderful. But he’d also been young and impetuous. How many people would have run off to Los Angeles without a place to live and a decent amount of money in their bank account? Dante hadn’t been thinking clearly when he’d left, and the ripple effects of his life in California had led to him being homeless. That took a little sting out of her being left behind. She couldn’t imagine what he’d been through, and although she wanted to know everything, a part of her was glad he hadn’t given her the nitty-gritty details. It would shatter her to know how badly he’d suffered.
“I’m happy about that, Dante,” she said. “What you’re doing here in Mistletoe is a good thing.” She smiled at him. “You’re putting us on the map. And giving our economy a huge boost.”
A famous movie star returning to his hometown to film a movie had created a renewed interest in tourism. Mistletoe had already experienced a large uptick in revenue as a result of Dante’s presence. All the restaurants in town were servicing more customers. The Knightsbridge Inn was booked solid for weeks, along with countless Airbnbs. Now that their boiler problem had been fixed, the inn was accommodating a full house of guests. Mistletoe offered unique experiences for tourists such as sleepovers at the famous Holly Hill Lighthouse and glassblowing workshops with Jules Winchester, a famous local artist. Other producers were also scoping out Mistletoe as the setting for future films, following Dante’s lead. Hopefully the surge in tourism would continue after Dante headed back to California. She needed to keep reminding herself that he wasn’t staying on in town permanently. His life was on the West Coast, thousands of miles away from Maine.
Pretty soon he would be nothing but a memory.
“If I’m being honest, I came back for you, Lucy.”
His confession served as a knockout punch to her equilibrium. Lucy felt her knees wobble. She sucked in a big dose of air to steady herself. Had she heard him right? She was the reason for his homecoming?
Just as Lucy summoned the courage to ask him to elaborate, he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, surprising her with the sudden gesture. She couldn’t have pulled away if she tried. She didn’t want to. His lips swept over hers lightly at first—like gossamer wings—until a few seconds later when the pressure intensified. She tilted her face upward and slanted her mouth against his. His lips tasted like pure sweetness.
“Dante,” she said, murmuring his name against his lips.
His lips wandered to the sensitive spot at the base of her throat. Dante rained kisses on her skin, leaving a fiery trail in his wake. This type of intimacy, she thought, is what I’ve been missing out on all this time. Feeling so close to another person that you weren’t sure you could breathe without them. She was falling…tumbling, plummeting, disappearing into the abyss. It felt so good, but this was what she’d been afraid of with Dante’s return.
The sound of a door slamming shut caused them to break apart with both of them still breathing heavily. Lucy turned toward the sound of the loud noise and saw a woman holding a vacuum cleaner. She’d completely forgotten about the cleaning service scheduled for this evening. As usual, being around Dante turned her brain into scrambled eggs.
“Hey, Annie,” she called out, waving at the owner of Clean and Shine. A few times a week the cleaning crew came in to make the library sparkling and tidy.
Annie’s eyes widened as she looked back and forth between Lucy and Dante. Crap! This was a one-way ticket to gossip town. She could tell by the stunned expression on Annie’s face that she’d seen them kissing.
Dante waved at Annie, who looked as if she might pass out at the sight of him. The older woman slowly moved toward the conference room, turning around several times to brazenly gawk at them before fading from view.
Lucy moaned and covered her face with her hands.
“You okay?” Dante asked, reaching out and pulling her hands away from her face.
“I’m fine,” she said, “but I have to warn you that we might be the talk of the town tomorrow. Annie is probably already texting her friends and spreading it all over Mistletoe that she caught us kissing.” She knit her brows together. “It’s possible the story might even be embellished.”
Dante grinned. “That doesn’t bother me for myself, but I’m sorry i
f it’s going to be a problem for you. It kind of reminds me of the past. If you remember, we set tongues wagging back in the day. The girl next door and the rebel. People didn’t know what to think about the two of us,” he said with a chuckle. “It was perplexing enough when we were best friends, but when we started dating they nearly lost their minds.”
“Including my parents,” Lucy added, cringing at the memory of how overprotective they’d been when her friendship with Dante had segued to romance their junior year. Although they’d always loved Dante, neither one had been prepared for their intense high school romance. Dante had been more experienced than Lucy since he’d been dating since ninth grade. Her parents had both worried about him smashing her heart into little pieces, which is exactly what he’d done in the long run.
Dante looked down at his watch. “I’d love to stay and talk some more, but I have to head out. I need to rewrite a few scenes for tomorrow. Don’t forget to stop in tomorrow afternoon to watch the shoot. No excuses will be accepted.” Dante’s tone sounded firm. He was staring at her with an expectant expression.
Lucy didn’t bother arguing with him. No matter how busy things got tomorrow at the library, she would make time to watch a little bit of the filming process. She had to admit it was pretty exciting to have a movie made in Mistletoe. Someday when she was old and gray, Lucy could tell her grandkids about the achingly handsome movie star who’d come back to Maine to make a movie.
“I accept,” she said, her eyes fixated on his wide, kissable lips. Now that she’d had a taste of Dante’s swoon-worthy kisses, she didn’t know how to stop wanting more of them. “I’m really looking forward to it,” she admitted. “Now I can see what all the fuss is about.” She flashed him a cheeky grin.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Luce,” Dante said as he turned on his heel and strode toward the door.
As soon as he’d left the building, Lucy immediately felt his absence. He was raw energy—like the tide crashing against the shore. And every time she was with him Lucy felt as if she was dreaming. She needed to float back down to reality. Quickly. Bit by bit, she was unraveling. Instead of steering clear of her own personal kryptonite, she was making out with him at every opportunity that presented itself. She was falling deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole.
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