Page 48 of Merry Fake Bride

“I know.” Kairo’s smile is small. “I don’t blame you. All I can say is I saw you there looking like a drenched rat and I couldn’t leavesomeone like that. Not you or a stranger. Although I wouldn’t have invited a stranger into my car.”

“Is your car going to be alright? And… Martin, was it?”

“Yes. I was just talking to him, actually. The storm and the puddles flooded the engine. My mechanic, George, is working on it just now, although I’m pretty sure the damage could be worse and they would still tell me something simple because mechanics are not in my wheelhouse.”

“Same. The extent of my mechanical knowledge is how not to get locked into a walk-in freezer.”

“An important life skill.” Kairo’s smile widens. “You’ll have to teach me.”

“Depends. My access to walk-in freezers might be limited in the future.”

“Hmm. Why were you out there by yourself?”

Kairo adds a few drops of vanilla to the drink.

Then, as he pours the hot chocolate into two round mugs, one with a snowman that he presses into my hand and one with a Santa for himself, I fill him in on drinks with the girls, the asshole bouncer, and my dead phone leading to my aimless wandering.

“I’m glad I came across you when I did,” Kairo says as he sits in the middle of one of his vast couches in front of the roaring firepit.

I sit on the couch opposite him so the flames are between us and lean forward, curious. “This is real fire?”

“Mmhmm.”

“But it’s blue.”

“It’s perfectly safe. It’s all a trick of the light. You can choose any color.”

“Wow.” Leaning back, I sink into the plush cushions that hold me close and pillows that create the most comfortable seat I’ve ever had.

“Honestly… I’m glad you found me too. I have no idea how I was going to get home.”

“No backup plan?” His eyes lock onto mine across the fire and I watch the flames dance in his gorgeous eyes.

With the windows darkened, the noise of the storm a distant thought, and the warmth of the fireplace swallowing other light, it suddenly feels like we’re the only two people in the world.

“No. I mean, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision, so I didn’t charge my phone like I normally do, and I didn’t bring cash for a cab because my card is contactless through my phone.”

Laughing softly, I blow on my drink and then savor the chocolatey sweetness of the drink.

“Understandable. I’m the same.” He chuckles. “I hope you don’t mind that I touched your phone. It didn’t light up when I was gathering your clothes for the washer, so I set it on the charge pad.”

“I don’t mind, thank you. You think of everything, huh?”

His brow dips faintly. “How do you mean?”

“A towel for my hair, a charger for my phone, hot chocolate to warm me up inside after the bath…”

Kairo looks adorably confused, but there’s a flicker of sadness in his eyes when he speaks. “Is being cared for strange to you?”

His question catches me off guard and my lips part, but no words come out.

His actions feel like a lot, but is it really normal?

Am I so ruined by Axel that the concept of simple, decent care feels insane to me?

I can’t think what to say and Kairo’s smile softens.

“Perhaps it is too much. It’s in my nature, I think. I take care of my mother a lot when she’s… unwell.”