Page 8 of Kissing Nick

Then, to my mortification, a sexy, slow,not-at-allChristmassy song starts playing.

I feel my cheeks burn at the sound of it. I’ve heard this song plenty of times before but I swear it didn’t sound so…seductive. And the lyrics. Oh my God. Have the lyricsalwaysbeen that dirty?

Should I say something about the song? Would that just make this moment evenmoreuncomfortable?

“Hey, I realized I never answered your question from earlier,” says Nick.

I look up at him. “What?”

“Your question about why I ignored you before.”

Oh. Right. I totally forgot. The pottery incident interrupted him before he’d been able to give me an answer.

“Do you still want to know?” asks Nick.

“Um…sure,” I say. I feel a wave of relief as the sexy song ends and a Christmas one starts to play.

Nick nods. He sets down the little bowl that he’s just finished gluing back together, setting it next to the other ones he’s already completed. Wow. I can’t believe he’s gotten so much done already. And they all look really good.

“Holly,” he says. My eyes drift from the repaired pottery up to his face. He’s looking at me seriously now. There’s something different in his eyes.

It’s something that makes my body tingle all over.

“Yes?” I say.

“The reason I ignored you before,” he says, slowly and evenly, “was because I’ve been attracted to you since the day I met you. And the only way I could deal with my feelings was to push them away. To ignore you.”

“Are you…serious?” I ask.

He nods.

“That’s…I…” I can’t get any coherent words out. I’m overwhelmed. In the best of ways.

When I still can’t find the words, Nick moves toward me. He slides his hand around the back of my neck and pulls me to him, pressing a kiss to my lips.

Nick iskissingme.

And it’s really, really nice.

Chapter Six

Nick

“This is going to make things awkward tomorrow, isn’t it?” Holly murmurs.

We’ve pulled out of the kiss but we’re still leaning in toward each other. I still have my hand around the back of her neck, anddamnis her skin amazingly soft.

“It’s not going to be awkward,” I say.

She smiles. “Okay. If you say so.”

“Holly…”

“Uh huh?”

“I want you. So badly. You have no idea.”

Holly’s face flushes. I can see desire flood her eyes.