Page 63 of Wilde Flame

I grabbed my coat and followed her out. “Have you found a place to live yet?”

She looked confused for a moment, and I was guessing she probably was wondering how I knew about her living situation. Then she sighed. “I don’t really want to move in with my parents, so I think for now, I’ll crash at the store. The sofa I have upstairs turns into a bed. There’s a bathroom, and I can easily just grab food from one of the restaurants close by.”

God, how I wanted to tell her to move into my place. I wanted to get lost in her and not worry about anything outside of what was happening in my house. Even before we’d hooked up, Lilibeth was who I thought about when I lay my head down at night, and who I thought of when I first opened my eyes each morning. I’d jacked off in the shower so many times to the memory of being inside of her, it was getting embarrassing.

I reached up and touched the ribbon tied in her hair. It was then that I realized there were small baby’s breath flowers tied to the bow. “This is cute.”

Smirking, she asked, “What, no Flower Child comment?”

Lifting my eyes, I met hers. “You’ll always be my Flower Child, Lili.”

She blinked a few times, then looked down before smiling. “I should get going. It was such a great day. Being an only child, our Christmases were always pretty quiet. I can’t remember the last time I had such fun on Christmas Day. Your family really is the best.”

I nodded. “They are.”

Opening her car door, she bit down on her lip before laughing slightly and sliding into her seat. I shut the door and waited for her to start it. When she rolled down her window, I said again, “Text me when you get home?”

“I will,” she replied softly. “Merry Christmas, Caden.”

Making myself step back, I raised a hand, “Merry Christmas, Lili.”

She slowly backed out and headed down the long drive. I stood there and watched her go, until I couldn’t see the red brake lights any longer.

I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath before exhaling. “What in the hell are you doing to me, Lilibeth Asher?”

Turning, I slowly headed back into my parents’ house.

Lilibeth

After texting my parents and Caden to let them know I was home safely, I put some wood in the fireplace and got a roaring fire going. Stepping back to admire my handiwork, I placed my hands on my hips and nodded.

“That fire deserves a good book to help me get Caden Wilde off my mind.”

Today had been exhausting in both a good and a bad way. I’d had so much fun spending Christmas with the Wildes, but trying not to look at Caden every other second was difficult. Why did I have to feel the way I felt? It would make it so much easier for me if he was still an asshole. And that smile. I closed my eyes and sighed.

“That smile.”

With a quick shake of my head, I walked away from the fire and toward the bathroom.

“It was a one-time thing, Lilibeth. You knew that, so now you have to let it go and move on. You got what you wanted.”

Staring at myself in the mirror, I let out a humorless laugh.

“Who are you kidding? You are so head over heels for that man. You have to snap out of it, girl! He doesn’t want a relationship.”

I pushed all thoughts of Caden out of my head as I washed my face and took my hair out of the ponytail. I gathered it up and piled it on top of my head in a loose bun, then changed into my favorite Christmas pajamas. An impulse buy, because I adored Moose. They were flannel, with little moose all over them, saying “Merry Moosemas.”

Maneuvering around my boxes, I walked over to the small stack of books I hadn’t packed yet and randomly picked two. The first was Lacey Black’s A Simple Request. The second was Make the Play by Kaylee Ryan.

Placing them both on the coffee table, I moved my finger back and forth. “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe…”

I picked up Make the Play and smiled. “You’re the lucky winner. We get to spend Christmas night together.”

Settling on the sofa, I covered up with a blanket, took a sip of my hot tea, and opened the book. Snuggling down into the cushion, I got ready to lose myself in a fictional world for a bit—but a sudden knock on my door had me pausing before I could begin.

“Who could that be?”

I reached for my phone and pulled up my doorbell camera app. My eyes went wide with surprise.