Stranded On Christmas (3 page)

“
Sure.
That sounds great.” I went over to Pumpkin and sat down on the rug
by his basket.

Gideon
set the tray down on the hearth and sat down next to me. He handed me
my mug and smiled at me. He had great eyes. I could hardly believe
that I was sitting in front of a fire with this beautiful man. And I
thought that Jamie had looked good, but he couldn't hold a candle to
this guy. Jamie wasn't nice like Gideon was either. If Jamie had been
the one to save me, I would never have heard the end of it. He would
have let me know exactly how I had inconvenienced him, and he would
have mentioned it often.

“
Thank
you so much for coming to my rescue. I don't know what would have
happened without your help.”

“
It
was really clever of you to send out the SOS. I heard it and wondered
about my sanity, but you kept right at it, so I went out to check
what was going on. I'm glad I got to you when I did. The temperature
in the car would have dropped quickly otherwise. Tell me, what were
you doing out in a snowstorm anyway?”

“
I'm
on my way to my aunt and uncle's house for Christmas. I didn't know
that you were having a snowstorm today, or I would have postponed my
trip.”

He
smirked at me and shook his head. “You always need to check the
weather before you take off on such a long trip,” he scolded me as
if he was honestly worried about me.

“
Don't
worry. Consider that a lesson learned. I’ll never just take off on
the spur of the moment like that again. No matter what happens.”

“
Did
something happen that caused you to leave at the spur of the moment?”
He looked concerned.

I
ended up admitting the whole story, even telling him that my aunt and
uncle had no idea that I was coming.

Somehow
or another I ended up in his arms while he was whispering that any
man who didn't want me was a fool.

He
leaned down and kissed me then. There was so much passion in his kiss
that I felt the butterflies in my tummy, just like the ones I read
about in cheesy romance books.

His
hand slipped into my hair, and his fingers combed through it. “I
like your long hair. It is really beautiful.”

I
was moved to tears. Today had been too much for me.

“
Hey,
he isn't worth your tears. If I had a girl like you, I would never
give you the feeling that you weren't the most important thing in the
world to me.”

“
Do
you honestly mean that? Or is it part of your routine to get women to
sleep with you?”

He
was shocked and taken aback. He moved away from me. “He slept with
you, and then he didn't marry you?”

“
I
guess I was naïve. I shouldn't have believed him. He said that he
loved me, but obviously he didn't mean it.” I shook my head like I
was trying to erase the memories.

Jamie
had lied to me. He had only been with me until he met someone better.
Our relationship wasn’t meant for the long run. Why hadn’t I
heard that clock ticking in the background? The one that was counting
the minutes that we would be together. Only when the alarm sounded,
telling me that the time was up had I notice it.

“
I
am so sorry that he hurt you. I would never break your heart like
that, I promise.” He looked like he meant it.

I
sat up a little more. I thought about giving Gideon a kiss. Should I?

I
leaned over towards him and kissed him. This time it was my hands in
his hair pulling him close. He was grinning from ear to ear when we
came up for air.

I
noticed that his hands hadn't wandered, as men's hands tend to do
when they are close to a woman. He was waiting for me to take the
lead, but I really wasn't that kind of woman.

What
if he didn't really want me? What if he changed his mind when he saw
me naked? That would break my heart, and he had promised not to do
that. I was so unsure of myself.

“
It's
late. I think we should go to bed,” Gideon suggested.

I
moved away from him and stood up. “I just need to step outside for
a moment.”

His
face fell like he was disappointed. “You smoke?”

“
No,
of course not. Pumpkin needs to go outside.”

At
the mention of the word
'outside'
Pumpkin raised his head.

“
Don't
worry about that. I'll take him out. You stay here by the fire.”
Gideon was on his feet in seconds. “Come on, Pumpkin, let's go.”
Pumpkin followed him out of the door like he had done it a million
times before.

I
decided to clean up the mugs in that time. I put the empty mugs back
on the tray and carried them back into the kitchen.

The
kitchen surprised me. For one thing, it was huge. The other was it
was old-fashioned. It was filled with cupboards everywhere, floor to
ceiling. The walls (without cupboards) were painted white. The
cupboards were a soft light green color with white knobs. There was a
table in the middle that was white but the legs were decorated with
green stripes that matched the cupboards.

It
was so perfect that it could be in a magazine, but it was just so
unusual to see something like this. I guessed that as a guy he didn't
know better or he wanted to redo the kitchen later. He had probably
just painted over the cupboards and thought that would suffice until
a woman told him otherwise.

I
washed up the cups and dried them with an embroidered dishtowel. Had
those been here too?

I
started opening up cupboards looking for the cups when I saw that the
cupboards were new, like brand new. I could smell the freshly cut
wood. He must have just put all of this in.

He
had cupboard after cupboard of preserves. This room was like going
back in time. A hundred years ago this room would have been the hit.

From
the looks of the stove you needed to light a fire to get it to heat
up food. There was still heat coming from it. It looked like
something I once saw in a museum. It was a dark copper-color, but the
oven doors were white. It had six different sized circles for placing
the pots and pans on. There was a pipe that went up to the ceiling.
It could only be for the smoke. I was surprised that something that
old still worked – and that someone wanted to use it.

I
opened drawers to put away our spoons. Hanging up the pot he had used
to heat the milk was easy. The pots were hanging from the ceiling
from hooks. Only one hook was empty.

“
Thank
you for cleaning up, Jessica.” I hadn't heard Gideon come in.

“
You're
welcome. It was the least I could do after everything that you have
done for me today. Thanks for going out with Pumpkin.”

“
I
was glad to do it.” He was staring at me. “Tell me, why did you
name him Pumpkin?”

“
He
was born on Halloween.”

Gideon
laughed lightly and nodded. “I guess that makes sense then. Come
on. I'll show you where you can sleep.” His eyes lingered on mine
for a moment longer than would be considered normal.

Was
he asking me if I wanted to sleep with him?

I
liked the idea of that. Seeing him undressed would probably be very
pleasing to the eye. But him seeing me undressed would embarrass me
to death. Someone like him would have been with some very beautiful
women.

I
couldn't sleep with him, but I wouldn't mind cuddling with his warm
body, and then waking up with his arm around me. That would be nice.
The lucky woman that he would marry one day would get to do all of
that with him.

Would
she know to appreciate him? Perhaps she would never have a Jamie type
of guy in her life, and she would only know Gideon. She might take
him for granted.

I
walked over to the door he was holding open for me. He was the
perfect gentleman.

I
went to the stairs and peeked over my shoulder. Pumpkin was following
me. “Umm – he usually sleeps with me in bed. I understand if you
would rather he didn't.”

He
thought about that for a while. “I'm gathering that you don't want
to sleep alone.”

“
I
guess, I don't.” It was something that I had taken the time to
train Pumpkin to do. I had laid doggy treats on the bed and taught
him to jump up. With time he had found his place. He slept by my feet
every night. I had tried to get him to sleep in my arms, but he
preferred my feet. It was what he saw all day long anyway.

Gideon
went over to the fireplace and grabbed Pumpkin's basket. He carried
it up the stairs, and Pumpkin hopped up the stairs behind him. I
followed the two of them up.

Gideon
laid the basket down in the corner of his bedroom. Pumpkin jumped
right into it, again like he had done it before. Gideon seemed to
have a way with him.

“
You
honestly don't have to give up your room for me. I could – we could
– Pumpkin and I could sleep in another room.”

He
cocked his head to the side and looked at me for a while. “I kind
of thought that maybe you wanted to – I mean we were kissing and
now – Never mind.”

“
Are
you serious?” I couldn’t believe that he wanted to sleep with me.
He was even nervous about asking, like rejection would truly hurt
him. He was good at this. The butterflies were fluttering in my tummy
again. He played the innocent shy guy so well that my heart was
softening up.

“
I
didn't mean to insult you; I just kind of thought that we had a
moment downstairs. I hoped that you wanted to continue it – ”

He
looked so hopeful that I had to smile. But the idea of getting
undressed with him watching would be too embarrassing.

“
I
got the picture. I overstepped a boundary. My apologies. You have
been through so much today. I was insensitive.” He went over to a
drawer and opened it and pulled out a pair of pajamas. He tucked them
under his arm and went to the door.

Somehow
I didn't want him to leave. “I umm – Thank you for everything
that you did for me today. I’m so sorry for showing up out of the
blue, like I did. I’ll be out of your hair as soon as possible. In
fact, I can't believe that I’m intruding like this. I would feel
more comfortable if you slept in your own bed. I can't kick you out
of here, too.”

He
set his pajamas down on the bed and took hold of my face in his
hands. He kissed me so tenderly that I felt my eyes moisten up with
emotion.

“
I
think I’ve fallen in love with you. I didn't know that something
like that could go so fast. Just hearing you talk about being out of
my hair – ” He shook his head, like the thought was too much for
him to bear. “I like it when your fingers are in my hair.”

“
I
like you a lot, too,” I admitted.

He
kissed me more deeply, and I felt myself swooning. I wanted to be
loved and held. I even needed it, but I knew out of experience that
after a guy got sex that a girl became uninteresting to him. Men
would either leave, or want you to leave, or they would turn on the
TV and ignore you completely.

“
I
don't even know you.” Those words could only be considered a last
ditch effort to wake myself up
from the
trance his kisses were putting me in.

“
We
have a whole lifetime to get to know each other. I'm really looking
forward to it.” The way he talked made it sound like he wanted to
be there for me for the rest of my life. He sounded so sure of
himself that I caught myself believing him even though I knew it was
just some line.

Gideon
walked me over to his bed. He sat down and pulled me down on his lap.

“
I'm
not just jumping from one mistake to the next, am I?” I held his
face in my hands and turned him, so he was looking at me.

“
No,
not this time.” His amazing blue eyes could lie so well, and I
wanted to believe the lie tonight, so I leaned in and kissed him.

We
shyly undressed. He turned the light out before I got a good look at
his body, but what I saw was perfect. He pulled the covers back, and
we both climbed in without saying a word to the other.