The next day, I arrived at the salon slash furniture store and Dallas handed me two lattes from Sleigh Café and said we were going for a drive. So grateful for the coffee after a night of barely any sleep due to stressing over my problems, I agreed with no fuss.
We’d gotten a lot of work done yesterday with the electricity on again, but not enough that I felt comfortable showing my mom. Like a coward, I sent her a text that I wasn’t feeling well—which was so the truth—and that when I was feeling better I had some news I wanted to share with her. A baby step in the right direction at least.
We drove up high in the mountains. Snow coated the ground and the wind hit Dallas’s truck, making it rock slightly as we climbed higher. I had no idea where he was taking me. And I didn’t care. I was just enjoying the ride, the view, and the coffee.
I stared out at the pine and fir trees, stripped of their leaves now, and the occasional glimpse of rock through the powdery dusting of snow. The air was cold and clear up there, so I could see for miles in all directions. My heart warmed. Home was where the heart was and right then I was exactly where I wanted to be.
The last few days had been a strain, despite my having run into my bracelet bff, Ashley Brooks, yesterday—she’d caught me crying on a bench by the Falls after Connor left—and how good it was to see her. I still had to face my mom eventually.
And, yeah, it had been awesome running into Lexi Townsend during the big Christmas Mountain tree lighting ceremony last night, and being with her and Ash made it so extra good to be home, but it’s not like I could tell them about Dallas and those kisses when I still didn’t know what to make of it. Dallas and I hadn’t talked about it either.
Dallas shifted the truck into a lower gear and the engine caught and sent us up even higher before we landed on a hair-raising road that ran in a slim band along the side of the mountain. My fingernails became in real danger of shattering as I clutched at my seat.
“Where are we going?” I asked, finally.
“You said a tree would look nice next to my window at home.” He glanced my way and we exchanged a look that warmed my belly. “We also need a tree for our front window at the store.”
“I figured we’d go to Tinsel Tree Farm to get one, not the North Pole,” I joked, and then glanced back at him. His jeans had patches of the glue he was using to put down the first part of the hardwood floors we had agreed upon for the space. His hair was messed up in a sexy way. He smelled of sawdust and lumber, a scent I was getting used to fast. Yum.
My heart gave a slight twist. He hadn’t kissed me again since Saturday night, but then again I hadn’t attempted to kiss him either. The last thing I needed to do was get mushy and weak in the knees around him when I didn’t know what our kisses meant. To avoid confusing emotions, I’d focused on cleaning the salon and made lots of progress.
“A tree lot is not how I do things,” he said.
“I can see that,” I said, as we came to a halt in a small clearing that featured a gentle hill in the middle of a ring of trees. He cut the truck off and dusted more of the glue off his sleeve, or tried to. It seemed to be stuck pretty fast. More worry hit me. We had agreed on the floors, but how would I pay Dallas back if Coraline gave the salon to me?
“You ready?” He opened his door and I followed suit. The cold air slapped against my face, stinging my cheeks and sending a tingle to my blood. I yanked my gloves out of my coat pocket and put them on. He reached into the big metal toolbox in the back of the truck and pulled out a chainsaw. “Now, we find a tree.”
“The perfect tree,” I replied, wanting the perfect tree in the window under the C.M. Salon and Parker’s Furniture “coming soon” sign we’d put up yesterday. We set off toward the wooded section on the other side of the clearing. The weather was a lot colder at this high elevation. My toes were cold even through the boots and the heavy socks I wore. I tilted my head back and looked up at the towering treetops. “We need a tree that’s small enough to fit through the door and not hit the ceiling.”
Dallas gestured to my right. “How about that one?”
I looked at the scrubby tree he’d pointed at, which was about two feet high. “Um, no.” I laughed. “That’s way too Charlie Brown.”
He chuckled as we trudged on. My feet crunched across a patch of ice and then I slipped. Like lightning, he caught me and steadied me.
“Be careful,” he said.
“I’ll try,” I said. But his hands on my arms had caused little shocks to bolt up along my central nervous system, making me so want to slip again.
We hiked along in amicable silence. The wind picked up, bringing the scent of pine. I shivered as we moved through the tree line and into the actual woods beyond the clearing.
“I saw Connor yesterday,” I blurted.
“Yeah?” He stopped at a tree and knocked on the trunk, shook his head, and moved on. I had no idea what that meant, but I figured he knew better than I did. “How’s Connor doing?”
“He’s good.” I stopped at a tree. I gave it a good rap, which didn’t give me any better idea of whether or not the tree was right for us. It basically just made my knuckles sting. I winced. “We talked about you.”
Dallas’s gaze shot to mine. “What did you say?”
“Not much,” I said, reassuring him I hadn’t repeated anything personal he’d told me. Then I looked up at the top of the tree, which was about six feet tall with a wide and full set of branches. It was the best Christmas tree I’d ever seen. “This might be the one.”
“I like it, too.” He knelt down to study the trunk of the tree, lifting a few branches out of the way. He started fiddling with the button and blade on the chainsaw. “Good choice.”
As I watched Dallas checking out the base of the tree, I squinted down at him. “Do you know what Connor said about me? He said I used to have a crush on you.”
He looked up at me, a startled look on his face. “He thinks so, too, huh?”
I giggled, my belly fluttering. “He claimed that I stalked you.”
Dallas blinked. Then the corners of his mouth tipped up. “You were always hanging around.”
I batted his arm. “Maybe I was making sure neither of you got hurt.”
He stood, leaving the chainsaw on the ground. Snow fell off his jeans and his grin grew wider as he came closer. “You had a lot of friends, Morgan. I might believe you were worried about Connor’s safety. But there was no reason for you to worry about mine. Connor’s right. You were definitely stalking me.”
I bit my lip, lifting my lashes. “Maybe I did have a crush on you.”
He reached for my hands. “Maybe?”
I shrugged. “I will confirm nothing.”
“Say it.” He suddenly tickled me and I erupted in a fit of laughter. I reached around him and pulled him down. We fell into a high drift of snow. I hollered as a chunk of snow slid into the neck of my coat and another chunk went up one sleeve. He continued tickling up and down my ribs, saying, “Admit you had a crush on me.”
“I can’t remember!” I laughed so hard, loving the feel of his body against mine. I rolled over, pinning him down, my hands bracing his on either side of his head. Then my breath left my lungs. “Okay, I did have a crush on you. Kind of a big one.”
Creases formed on either side of his eyes and the corner of his mouth turned up. Then he lifted his head and I lowered mine at the same time. We kissed once before I pulled away. My heart pounded against my chest as I stared down at him, releasing his hands.
“Did you have a crush on me, Dallas? Is that why you punched my boyfriend at the Falls?”
His eyes locked with mine. “You deserved better than him.”
“You didn’t answer my other question.”
He brushed my cheek with his fingers. “Yes, I had a crush on you.”
Joy flitted around my heart. “Why didn’t you ever say so?”
“I wasn’t good enough for you, either.”
I rested my hands against his shoulders. “I don’t know why you’d think that . . .”
“Come on,” he shifted, so he was propped up on one elbow and I was next to him. He smoothed my hair back behind my ear. “You deserved way better than me. I was a troublemaker and you were a good girl.”
“I’m not such a good girl for sneaking around behind my parents’ back with my career change,” I said. And with you, I almost added.
“You’re still a Reed.”
“I’m the black sheep beautician.”
His eyes twinkled. “How could I forget that? I mean, you’re in my shop after all.”
“Your shop?” Ugh. I opened my mouth to give a retort, but before I could his mouth came down on mine. Then I forgot about the cold snow beneath me, about the fact that I needed him out of my salon, and even the Christmas tree we came to find.
At that moment there was just us.
I kissed him with everything in me as his mouth claimed mine. Shivers skittered up and down my spine. My belly did a cartwheel. I opened my mouth and our tongues melted together. I could feel his warmth through every pore in my body. There was no way I could resist this man anymore. I didn’t even want to. Wrapped in his arms and surrounded by the natural beauty all around me, I felt a peace I’d never known. This was the most flawless moment of my life and I never wanted it to end.