Page 11 of Cooped Up for Christmas

I blinked. “I was. I am. What?”

The smirk on his face was beyond irritating. “You just called me Cam.” He said it like it was a victory of some sort. How ridiculous.

“I called you Cam because you annoyed me.”

“Still counts.”

I frowned. “No. It doesn’t.”

“Does.”

“Doesn’t.”

“Does…times infinity.” This, he crowed in a triumphant tone.

“Ghaaa! You are so aggravating.”

He made a jaunty bow—like an old-timey-knight you want to slap in the face—and pronounced, with the flourish of an imaginary hat, “Anything for you, my love. I do try.”

And yeah. It took me over, the hilarity of all this. The goofiness I’d forgotten I loved. Oh, remember when we laughed? Just laughed and laughed, together in our safe womb of love?

I wanted to feel that way again. And I wanted it with him.

I wanted it so badly, it hurt.

My expression must have changed because his did too. A sadness touched his eyes. His smile faded. He stepped toward me.

This time, he didn’t touch me. He just looked at me for a long while and said, “I’ve missed us, Vic.” His voice was a little ragged, but it was clear he was trying not to let it show.

“Us?” I said, my hand hovering just over his lapel. I could feel his heat from there.

“Yeah. Us. We were a good thing, I think. Maybe we were too young to know how good it was.”

My gaze flicked to his lips, then back.

He frowned at me.

“What?”

His frown deepened. “You’re supposed to agree.”

“Agree to what?” How was I supposed to pay attention to the conversation with him being there, so close? Smelling like that?

He grinned. That lethal grin. “Agree that maybe we had a good thing.”

And then, he kissed me. Nothing but a peck. Nothing but a whisper.

Still, it rang through me like a Christmas bell, damn him.

It took everything in me to pull back and blurt, “Please don’t flirt with me.” Out with it! No point beating around the bush.

“What?” He seemed truly stunned, which made me feel a little guilty, but not enough to back down. I’d decided, during those long sleepless hours, that I was not going to fall back into that same old tired trap. I was a different person now, and the fact that he made my head spin was dangerous. The fact that he made me forget about my job, was horrifying. I couldn’t think when he was near. I certainly couldn’t do my best work. And this was an important Visit for Eden...

“Look, Coop…”

He barked a laugh. “Oh great. I always love it when sentences start with look, Coop.”

“I’m sorry. But I just can’t deal with this right now.”