The Holiday Kiss

by Maggie Dallen

  She shot me a narrow-eyed glare but I could see her lips twitching with amusement. She knew I was trying to get her riled and she wasn’t having it. I’d just have to try harder.

  When we were once more “running,” I brought it up again. “So this boyfriend,” I started.

  I didn’t have to look at her to know she was uncomfortable with this topic. “Come on, spill,” I said when she remained quiet. “It’s all in the name of research, remember?”

  Some hair slipped out of her ponytail and she brushed it off her face. “Fine,” she said. “What do you want to know?”

  “Why is he just a sort of boyfriend?”

  “Because we’re on a break.”

  I stared at her profile as we jogged, waiting to see any sort of emotion. Nothing. Nada. God, sometimes it was hard to remember she was human.

  Until she smiled after spoiling the ending of a book, or I caught a flicker of hurt in her eyes when she accused me of making fun of her. No, she was human all right. Just a human who did a remarkable android impersonation.

  She breathed loudly as we jogged, but she didn’t offer up any additional information. Which meant I was going to have to pull it out of her. “For how long?”

  She looked surprised that I’d asked a follow-up question. “What?”

  “How long is the break?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. This year, at least. We’ll see how things go next year when I’m a freshman at Harvard.”

  “You’ll see how things go,” I repeated, trying to echo her lack of emotions.

  She nodded, totally serious. “I have no way of knowing what my bandwidth will be that first year. I might not be able to commit to a relationship.”

  “I see,” I said. I did not see. “And him?”

  She shrugged again. “Last we spoke he seemed to think he would be open to dating again during his sophomore year, but he understands that I might not be in the same position.”

  “Uh huh.” I kept staring and finally she looked over and blinked, brushing that stray hair back, this time with more force.

  “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

  I shook my head. “No reason. Just trying to understand how things work on your planet.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “You’re not supposed to judge, remember? You’re supposed to be an unbiased observer.”

  I widened my eyes in fake innocence. “Oh, I’m not judging. Just marveling.”

  She furrowed her brow. “What does that mean?”

  “It means I have never heard anyone be so cold about relationships, that’s all.”

  She frowned before facing forward again. Her pace slowed even more, which I hadn’t thought was possible. We were now jogging in slow motion.

  “I’m not cold,” she said. “Just practical.”

  I resisted the urge to mock that. It was hard, but I managed to keep my mouth shut. I might have been half joking when I’d brought up the anthropology analogy, but I had come up with the whole unbiased observer thing. I should probably at least try to stick with it.

  In fact, I should drop this conversation because I was clearly having a hard time being objective about Maya’s dating situation.

  “Do you love him?” Despite my good intentions, that question just sort of came out of my mouth.

  She stopped running to turn and stare at me, her heavy breathing making that stray lock quiver and sway against her cheek. I had to clench my hands into fists at my side to keep from brushing it back for her.

  “Why are you asking that?”

  “Because I’m fascinated by you.” That was the God’s honest truth. I was intrigued, I was fascinated. Maybe my brain just needed a distraction from my family life, but this girl seriously was like no one else I knew and the more I got to know her, the more fascinating she became. Getting to know Maya was like waking up one day to find that my mom’s cat could actually speak and had a whole life I didn’t know about. I’d be damned curious to know what that stupid cat was thinking about all day and what it got up to when we went off to school.

  Maya’s chest rose and fell with her breathing and I forced myself to look past her to the ocean so I wouldn’t stare.

  Okay, so Maya was no cat. And maybe some of this fascination with her was more personal than I cared to admit. But either way, I wanted to know.

  When I knew I wouldn’t leer, I turned my gaze back to hers and saw her brown eyes still staring at me, cataloguing my features and trying to read my expression.

  Finally, she drew in a long breath. “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t—”

  “I don’t know,” she said, turning and starting to jog again. “That’s your answer.”

  I walked next to her as she jogged. Seriously, that’s how slow she was. I just couldn’t keep up the pretense of running any longer, not when I could take a nice leisurely stroll beside her and watch her jog.

  “What about you?” she asked suddenly.

  “What about me?” I don’t know why I played dumb. I guess I just wanted to hear her ask it. I wanted to know exactly what she was curious about.

  She let out a huff of exasperation. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

  “Nope.” That was easy to answer. “Never have.”

  She shot me a look. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.” I could have let it drop, but I didn’t. “I don’t date.”

  She looked over again, and I saw her brows drawn together in confusion. “But I’ve seen you with girls.” The flush in her cheeks deepened. “I mean, I’ve seen you making out with girls—”

  She looked so uncomfortable, it was an effort not to laugh. Instead I teased her, hoping to make that blush an even brighter shade of pink.

  Pink looked good on Maya.

  I narrowed my eyes and lowered my voice. “Maya Rivero, have you been watching me?”

  “What? No.” Her flustered response was even better than I’d hoped. Score one for me. Getting under Maya’s skin might seriously be my new favorite pastime.

  “I just…” She flailed her hands and I realized she was still trying to defend herself. She let out another exasperated huff of air. “You’re just so public about it.”

  I grinned. God, she was cute when she was flustered. Maya Rivero was cute? Huh. This was the dawn of a new day.

  “Yeah, well,” I said, finally answering her unasked question. “I do make out with girls. Sometimes publicly, though that’s not my preference. But I don’t date.”

  “Oh.”

  Her ‘oh’ sounded off. When I looked over she was concentrating on the horizon a little too hard. “Why not?”

  “Why don’t I date?” I asked.

  She nodded.

  I also stared ahead so we were both scanning the horizon with avid interest. “I don’t know, I just don’t.” I shrugged. I didn’t exactly spend hours self-analyzing this particular topic of my life and I wasn’t in the mood to start now. “I have too much other stuff going on. I don’t have the time.”

  That was probably a lie. I mean, I had plenty of time for my friends. If the right girl came along I was sure I could make time for her too. “And maybe I just haven’t met someone I…” I trailed off with a lame shrug.

  “Someone you love,” she finished.

  The way she said it, so cold and clinical, made me laugh. “Yeah, I guess.”

  She nodded and her shoulders relaxed. She’d gotten the answer she was looking for, I guess and we fell into a companionable silence as we hit Maya’s mile marker and turned around to head back.

  I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Maya had a boyfriend—sort of. Though clearly not currently at the moment. Did that mean she was free to…oh, I don’t know…have a vacation fling?

  The thought nearly made me groan. It wasn’t like I hadn’t thought about kissing her before, but that was in the sanctity of my hotel room. I’d chocked it up to lust and boredom and, yeah, some curiosity. But I wasn’t really contemplating kissing
Maya, was I?

  I glanced over and watched her for a moment. Hell yeah, I was. And now that I was really letting myself think about it, I couldn’t stop. What would it be like? How would she respond?

  Would a kiss break through that ice queen façade she had going on?

  Oh hell, I shouldn’t have let myself go there. Now I was the one breathing heavy as I walked beside her. I’d had images of what Maya would look like all tousled and sexy, her lips pink and swollen from kissing, her eyelids heavy as she gave me a longing look.

  Crap. I had to go for a swim in a very cold ocean.

  “Do these girls know that?”

  Her question cut into my dirty thoughts and I stared at her in surprise. “What? What girls? What are you talking about?”

  It seemed while I was pondering her non-relationship and slipping deep into fantasy land, she’d been giving my non-relationship status some thought as well.

  She was still pretending to jog and she licked her lips when she glanced over.

  I held back a groan, because seriously, I was in temptation territory right about now. I focused on her words. “Do they know what?”

  She pursed her lips, clearly annoyed at my inability to keep up. But really, she was the one wearing a skin-tight top and licking her lips like that. How was I supposed to focus?

  “Do these girls you kiss know that you don’t date?”

  I couldn’t stop a slow smile of satisfaction that she was still fixated on me and my love life. “Why are you so worried about these other girls?” I teased. “Are you jealous?”

  Those words might as well have been a taser. She jerked away from me. “No, of course not. I didn’t mean that, I meant—”

  “I’m kidding,” I said. But holy crap, her reaction had been priceless. I don’t think I’d ever heard Maya stumble over her words before, or get all worked up like that.

  I glanced over and saw her cheeks turning red again. “Oh. Well…I’m not jealous.”

  “Of course not,” I said. “Why would you be?”

  She gave me a sidelong glance, suspicion clear in her eyes at my mild tone. “Right. Why would I be?”

  Why would she be…unless maybe she’d been having similar temptations. That thought accomplished what this slow jog had not. My heart pounded furiously in my chest.

  She cleared her throat, slowing to a walk as the hotel came into view. A breeze off the ocean lifted her ponytail, blowing those long black curls in every direction. “So?” she asked, her voice stiff. “You haven’t answered my question.”

  “Right. Do they know,” I repeated. I paused for a moment, loving the way she was waiting impatiently for an answer even though she was clearly trying to act like she didn’t care. “Yes,” I finally said. “They know. Everyone knows I don’t do girlfriends.”

  She peered up at me. “And they’re okay with that? I mean, they don’t mind that you’re just using them?”

  I stopped dead in my tracks. “I’m not using them.”

  She blinked rapidly and I realized that had come out harsher than I’d intended. But Jesus Christ, just how much of an asshole did she think I was? Never mind. I wouldn’t ask that. I didn’t want to know the answer. Running a hand through my hair, I took a deep breath to calm my temper. “Look, I’m not using them. These girls know what the deal is when they hook up with me and they’re happy with the arrangement.”

  She tilted her head to the side, her expression filled with disbelief.

  “Believe it or not, Maya, not every high school girl is looking for a practical relationship.” I’d meant it to be teasing, but I clearly missed the mark. Her eyes grew shuttered and she straightened her spine. Once more she looked like she had a stick up her butt.

  Actually, this was the first time she’d gotten that prissy, stuck-up look since we’d arrived in Mexico. That thought filled me with guilt. Maybe I brought that out in her. Maybe that was a defense mechanism for Briarwood guys, or maybe just me.

  Ever since she’d all but accused me of being a douchebag at school, mocking the little guy—or girl, in this instance—I’d been battling this guilt. But that wasn’t me. I mean, yeah I talked about people behind their backs. I wasn’t a saint, and everyone did that. Mocking people was an age-old high school tradition, but that didn’t mean I was Biff from Back to the Future. And yes, my brothers and I had watched that one last night before bed.

  Still, much as I told myself that, I couldn’t shake the guilt that came every time she got that wary look around me or stiffened defensively like she was waiting for a blow—a verbal blow, if not physical.

  God, I hoped she wasn’t bracing for a physical blow. I’d never hit a girl in my life. She knew that, right?

  She stared straight ahead, her chin lifted with pride. “There’s nothing wrong with choosing practicality and logic in a relationship. It’s more dependable than hormones and emotions.” She cast me another sidelong long that I couldn’t decipher. “There’s a reason typical high school relationships are notoriously short-lived, you know.”

  Well, that was a cheery thought. But I couldn’t argue with her there. “That’s really freakin’ cynical, you know that, right?”

  She turned to me with arched brows, a flicker of amusement in those dark, unreadable eyes of hers. “Oh, but hooking up with random girls you don’t really care about isn’t?”

  I scowled, not because I was pissed at her but because she’d made a point. A good point. I’d never really given it much thought, but when she put it like that…it sounded jaded. But that’s not what it was.

  “Look, I like girls,” I said. “And they like me.”

  Usually. Most of the time. Well, all of the girls but this one liked me. The urge to change that fact was hard to dismiss. I always had loved a good challenge, and this girl…well, she definitely was not easy. Not in any sense of the word.

  Her lips twitched up with amusement when she glanced over at me and I couldn’t look away. Hell, this girl was hot when she smiled. And the fact that she rarely smiled made it all the better. Like these smiles were meant for me and only me. Like I’d gotten a peek behind the curtains and saw the mysteries of the world.

  “Was there a point to that humble statement, or did you just feel the need to inform me of how beloved you are by girls at large?”

  Her comment brought me back to my senses. “My point is that no one’s getting hurt. Practicality aside, we’re humans. We have urges. Natural desires.”

  She glanced over and yeah, I’d made her blush. I wasn’t sorry about that. But even more interesting was the look in her eyes. Those dark depths held some mysterious emotions. They were there and gone in a flash but I knew what I’d seen.

  It was a reflection of this heat between us. In her eyes I saw lust, desire…passion.

  The air rushed from my lungs and I turned to face the ocean, my hands on my hips as if I was surveying the sea like a goddamn sailor. Really, I just needed to get a grip on my sanity before we headed back up the beach to the hotel.

  She’d stopped too and was stretching her legs. Nope, could not look yet, not without wanting to pounce.

  I saw her straighten out of the corner of my eye.

  “I guess your modus operandi holds merit,” she said slowly.

  I turned to stare at her. Only Maya would be discussing my modus operandi while I was barely holding on to my sanity and she was cooling down from a run.

  “Excuse me?” I said.

  She’d pursed her lips and was staring thoughtfully toward the ocean like I’d been doing. “I’m just saying that I think I understand your logic.”

  Clearly she didn’t. “That’s my point,” I said with a laugh. “My modus operandi as you call it, doesn’t thrive on logic. It’s all about…” Getting laid. I tried to think of a nicer way of saying it that wouldn’t shock the hell out of this uptight prude. “It’s all about finding satisfaction and making sure needs are met.”

  She frowned. “Yes, but the way you go about it is quite logical.”
Her blush intensified even as her brows drew together in thought, and I found myself wondering if she was aware of how much she sounded like Spock when she was uncomfortable in a situation. I’d noticed it before whenever conversations took a turn toward the personal, and now I could see that hard mask slip into place as the conversation took personal to a whole new level.

  “You’ve taken romance out of the equation,” she continued. “And once you do that you limit the emotional fluctuations and variables that make relationships so difficult for people our age.” She cast me a quick look. “At any age, I guess.”

  I met her gaze before she looked away. I knew what she meant. She was referring to my parents, and maybe even to hers.

  I didn’t want to think about that stuff. Not now, anyways, not when I was enjoying the hell out of this bizarre conversation with this odd girl. She might be unexpectedly hot, but she was still weird. Besides this wasn’t about our parents. It was about us. It was about me. I thought about what she’d said and I wanted to argue. Her clinical take on the hookups and flings I had with girls in our school sounded…depressing.

  But it wasn’t wrong.

  “So really,” she said slowly, “your method of interacting with members of the opposite sex is just as cold as mine.”

  She arched one brow in challenge when she said the word cold and I flinched. Damn, I’d definitely gotten under her skin with that one.

  I knew she had a point but I was loath to admit it. Besides, I was ready to be done with talking. I couldn’t handle hearing Maya say the word “sex” even if it was preceded by the word “opposite.” I stripped off my T-shirt and flashed her an easy grin before replying. “Maybe it is cold, but my modus operandi is a hell of a lot more fun than yours.”

  Chapter Seven

  Maya

  I watched in horrified fascination as he stripped his shirt off. “What—what—what are you doing?”

  And also, why could I no longer speak the English language?

  I couldn’t seem to stop staring at his chest. His ridiculously well-sculpted chest. Nobody aside from a Greek statue should have a body like that. It wasn’t fair to mere mortals.