Page 51 of A Taste of Christmas Magic

“Just say it.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

“Chloe, you’re freaking me out.”

“I have to get the words right.”

“Everyone who’s ever met you knows you have no filter. Just spit it out.” Arms crossed, he waited.

“Did you eat Jessica’s cookie?”

That was not what she’d meant to ask, but it was, quite possibly, important. She searched his beautiful charcoal eyes looking for…something. An invitation? A validation? A warming?

Courage. She stood up on her tiptoes.

“Yeah, she dared me to take a bite. You saw me so what about it?” A hint of a smile chased the dare in his voice.

“I’d ask how you feel.”

“Before or after?”

Excitement bubbled through her at the look in his eyes and their teasing rapport.

“After.”

“The same.”

“As before?” She crossed both fingers.

“You asking me how I feel about you, Chloe?”

“I love you,” she blurted. “I’ve always loved you. You are my North Star, Rustin.”

“Did you doubt that I feel the same?”

She fidgeted. “You said it was the book. It was a spell. Magic. Not me.”

“It’s you, Chloe.” He pulled her in tightly and kissed her lips, her cheeks, her chin. Then he held her against him, and she experienced his warmth seep into her body, and her inner trembling subsided. She felt his heart slam against hers, a reminder that they were alive and that they were together. “Thank God,” he murmured feverently.

“You’re magic. You. Not the book.”

She sighed happily and looked up at him.

“Maybeyouare the spell, or maybe the book pushed us there,” Rustin whispered. “I don’t know. I don’t care. You’re real, Chloe;we’rereal.”

She pressed herself deeper into his embrace.

“Jessica told me you and she had been in love. I thought what if she still had feelings for you or that your feelings might have rekindled.”

Rustin pulled away enough so he could look deeply into her eyes.

“I thought I was in love with her when I was a teenager, but I was in love with a fantasy, not a flesh-and-blood-and-heart woman. Jessica’s a memory. And your sister so she’ll always have a place in my heart, but you are my heart, Chloe. I’m a different man now. A better man. And I hope that I’m your man.”

“You are,” she happily agreed and smiled up at him as families and friends moved around them and the lights glowed, casting them in red and gold and the green of new beginnings. “This is going to be the most perfect holiday.”

“This is only the beginning,” he promised, kissing her reverently. She relaxed into his body, his strength surrounding her.

“This is all the magic I need.” She snuggled close. “With you, Rustin, I see the beginning, middle, and the most romantic ending. All we need now is snow.”

His laugh rumbled, tickled her chest.

“Look up, Chloe. Once again you’ve created magic.”

She tilted her head back toward the blanket of black sky illuminated by the ring of dozens of homes decked out for the holidays around the small lake. Fat white flakes drifted in a swirl that seemed sentient. Chloe stuck out her tongue.

“Catch a snowflake, Rustin. First of the season. Make a wish,” she invited.

“I have all my wishes, Chloe. Every single one.”

The End