He was strong and solid and there and she’d never known what it was to feel happy before this moment. But they had to do it right. She leaned back and looked into his eyes. “I meant what I said last week, Lex. I love you but I don’t want to trap you. I don’t want this to be about you giving up something so we can be together. It can’t work that way.”
“I’ve got a chance to take a job in New York for a year, running the photo desk of the wire service. That gives us a good, solid start together.”
“Don’t give up what you love. It’s too important, too much a part of you. We’ll figure something out.” She gave him a grin. “I might look cute in a burka, you never know.”
“The thing is, I’d already about decided to take the job before this happened. The kind of assignments I take can grind you into dust if you don’t watch it. I’ve been needing a break.”
“Yeah, but this much of a break?” She held on to him, still unable to believe it.
“The year off will be good. After that, we’ll see. I can still take assignments, I can still go out but I’ll have a place to come back to. Wherever you are.” He kissed her forehead. “We’ll find a way to make it work. Maybe I’ll decide I like it here.”
“Here in New York or here, here?”
“What do you mean?
“I realized something, too, last night. I’m leaving New York.” Ignoring his shock, she went on. “I want to come back here to live, start my own accounting business. I’ve already got Darlene as a client and she says she can get me more. And…well, you’ll think it’s silly…”
“What?”
“The safe house,” she blurted out in a rush. “It’s so gorgeous out there. When the case is over, it’ll probably be up for auction. I was thinking about buying it.”
“You want to buy a place where my brother held a gun on you?” He half laughed.
“I want to buy the place that we first made love. I mean, we might need to do some kind of a psychic cleansing on it, get rid of all the bad vibes.”
He pulled her close to him. “I know just the way to do that. It’s an ancient African ceremony that involves getting naked together, lots, in every room of the house.”
“Well, if we’re going to do it, we’ll need to practice.”
He grinned down at her. “Well, what are we waiting for? It’s Christmas morning. Time to open your presents.”
“My present is you.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-0982-8
HER CHRISTMAS SURPRISE
Copyright © 2007 by Chez Hardy LLC
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Kristin Hardy Page 22