Silent Night: Vampire Holiday Romance (The Night Songs Collection Book 4) (10 page)

As the band started playing again, Aidan held out his hand. “Can I have this dance?”

“Of course.” I held my breath as he led me out on the dance floor. Couples joined us in the middle of the room, surrounding us as they moved to the music. I stood awkwardly in front of Aidan, letting him take the lead.

He placed his hands loosely on my hips, moving them slightly up and down, to mimic the movements he probably hoped I’d start making. I started to tap my foot to the beat and tentatively raised my arms up to his shoulders. Without any warning, he pulled me in tightly and swung me around, almost lifting me off my feet. I shrieked in surprise. It worked, after that I loosened up and didn’t have that much of a problem keeping up with him for the rest of the band’s set.

“Do you want to go out on the deck?” he asked. He hadn’t even broken a sweat dancing. I definitely was glistening.

“It’s almost midnight. Will we miss the countdown?” After such a great night, I didn’t want the New Year to start without us.

“We’ll hear it. Come on.” We had to weave through the crowd, which seemed to have blossomed while we danced. Only a few people were on the deck when we stepped out, the cool night keeping the celebration inside, even though the deck had heat lamps.

“It’s so beautiful out here,” I marveled as I held on to the railing and looked out at the city.

“It is.” Aidan brought his fingers under my chin, and turned my face toward his. He wasn’t looking at the view. He wasn’t looking at anything but me. Even with the cold, I wanted to melt.

“They’re doing the countdown!” someone near the door exclaimed. “Ten…nine…eight.”

“Happy New Year, Kyndra.” Aidan caressed my jawline. “Here’s to new beginnings.”

“To new beginnings,” I forced myself to say, only taking my eyes off of Aidan as the crowd erupted, signaling midnight had arrived. I looked back at him and smiled.

His other hand slipped around my waist, pulling me into his body. He tipped my chin up, and then his hand moved back over my hair. I put my hands around his neck, being so close to him I didn’t have anywhere else to put them, even if I had wanted to do anything else but kiss him. I closed my eyes as he leaned in, his lips landing softly on mine. I parted my own, letting his tongue explore my mouth shyly, and I held on to him for dear life. My whole body relaxed against his. Aidan’s hand rubbed my lower back, and I sighed against his lips.

We stayed out on the deck, kissing for what seemed like hours. Everyone else had disappeared. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the lights come on in the lounge.

“We should head out,” Aidan said, his voice raspy. He rubbed my arms. “You must be freezing.”

“Not really.”

“You have goosebumps.” Aidan shook his head slightly. “I’m the worst suitor ever.”

Suitor? Part of me wanted to giggle at him using such an old fashioned word, but the rest of me wanted to die a little that Aidan might really consider this a real date. Not just having too much wine and making out with his roommate.

I’d always heard that what you did at midnight on New Year’s Eve set the pace for the rest of the year. If that was true, this year promised to blow the last out of the water.

Twelve

My class was awesome. I came back from my first day of school with a smile plastered on my face. Aidan’s house was still and almost cold after the whirlwind my day had been. I stopped in front of his bedroom door, running my hand slowly along the frame, talking myself out of waking him up. Out of going into his room and crawling under the covers with him.

I leaned my head against the frame and closed my eyes. He’d be up soon, and I had to be patient.

Not only had we not kissed again after New Year’s Eve, we hadn’t even talked about it. We were like two people renting rooms in the same house, and nothing more. Of course, I wasn’t renting. Just freeloading. Would it be out of bounds to ask him why he didn’t want to do it again? I didn’t want to risk finding out. I felt foolish hovering around him, hoping to catch his attention while he tried to meet his deadline, so instead I just started hiding out in my room.

Thank God school started, because it would help me get my mind off of Aidan. Maybe. I rubbed my eyes, and headed in to my room to relax for a few minutes before getting ready for work. After barely getting any hours and a demotion during our big sale week, I was scheduled every night this week. The schedule had to have been made out of pure spite. No one at the store had been happy about my decision to go back to school, except for me. I’d been so excited about school starting today I tossed and turned all night.

The teacher had released us early today, and I had some time before I had to get ready for work. Even if I could only wear my pjs for an hour, it was worth it. I crawled under my blanket and opened my textbook to review today’s lesson. We didn’t have homework, yet, but I wanted to make sure I absorbed every bit of information we were given. The first day of anything always overwhelmed me.

I woke up to my phone ringing and my heart pounding. Crap, I’d fallen asleep. What time was it?

“Kyndra, where are you?” Katie didn’t bother with a hello. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. I just fell asleep, and I didn’t mean to. It was my first day of school today.” Five thirty. I should have been on the sales floor and updated on our daily goals thirty five minutes ago. Five minutes early was five minutes late. Great, in hot water again at work. I jumped up, and went straight to the mirror to wipe mascara away from my face. I could be there by six, if I could get a cab right away, it didn’t stop at any red lights, and ran through the mall. “I’m sorry. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Actually, don’t bother,” Katie said, and I watched my jaw hit my chest in the mirror. It took everything I had to hold the phone. “We’re placing you on suspension until payday.”

Suspension until payday meant one thing only. “You’re firing me?” I squeaked out.

“With the two LP issues, and the no call no show tonight, that’s three violations in less than a month.” Katie almost sounded apologetic, but I knew she was probably psyched to be getting rid of me. “We’ve given you every chance we can, Kyndra. I hate to do it, but the rules are the rules.”

Two LP issues that weren’t my fault, and Katie knew it. “Okay.” I’m not sure if my words actually had volume.

“Make sure to bring in your keys when you come on Friday to get your check.” Actually, Katie just sounded tired. “I have to get back on the floor. I’m doing a double now.”

Instead of saying anything else, I just nodded, a foolish thing to do during a phone conversation. After I heard Katie hang up, I hugged the phone to my chest as I squeezed my eyes closed to keep the tears from falling. When that didn’t work, I fell to the floor in the middle of the room and bawled.

What if I couldn’t find another job? That was the only one I’d ever had and I got fired. I couldn’t even use them for a reference. I worked so hard, and all I did was screw things up. All I had to do was make it another month, and I couldn’t even get that right. What was I going to do with no money? I couldn’t expect Aidan to provide everything for me. He was already doing so much.

Aidan. I wanted him so bad right now. He had to be getting up soon. I stared at my door, and tried to talk myself out of doing the second stupid thing of the day.

Failing at that as well, I took a deep breath as I pushed Aidan’s door open. His room was even darker than the rest of the house. A fan whirred, the cool air the only motion in the room. My heart pounded so loudly I worried that alone would wake him.

My eyes needed a few seconds to adjust to the darkness, so I could even see the bed. Aidan lay on his side under a plaid comforter. He was still asleep and he stirred slightly as I approached the edge of the bed. I held my breath, hoping not to disturb him. He slept with one arm under his pillow, and the other clutching the blanket, and much to my surprise, in a thermal shirt. A little part of me was hoping to catch him shirtless. Okay, a big part of me. I watched him sleep for longer than I intended to, and then jarred myself back to consciousness. Between the dark and the whir of the fan, it was enough to make me fall asleep again.

Holding my breath, I tiptoed over to the other side of the bed. I picked up the comforter just enough to slide my body underneath, and crawled in, still near the edge of the bed. I stared at Aidan’s back. He hadn’t moved. This guy slept like the dead. Feeling slightly more confident, I scooted closer to his body. He still didn’t move. I worked up the courage to press my body against his back and rest my hand on his shoulder.

I sighed, our bodies fit together perfectly. I pushed closer to him. But my bliss didn’t last long. Aidan flipped toward me, almost faster than my drowsy eyes could process. His hands dug into my shoulders, hard. I jumped back and gasped.

“Oh, Kyndra.” His voice was gravelly but relieved. “You shouldn’t do that.”

“I’m sorry.” I scrambled back, devastated, pushing away the blankets. “I’ll leave you alone.”

“No.” Another quick movement and he held my hand in his. “Stay.”

So many emotions swirling around my brain I couldn’t think straight. I had one foot on the floor, one leg still folded under me on the bed. I struggled to catch my breath. Aidan sat up, the side of his hair stuck up, smashed from his pillow.

“I guess I don’t like surprises, either.” He pleaded his case one more time.

“I just really needed some company,” I murmured.

“You needed me.” His voice was soft.

I nodded.

Aidan let go of my hand to switch on the lamp. We both blinked awkwardly. When I looked back at him, one corner of his mouth was turned up in that half smile that made my heart beat faster. He patted the mattress. “Sit with me.”

I looked down at his hand before pulling my standing leg up underneath me, on to the mattress. Again, I favored the edge of the bed. I tucked my knees under my chin and let him take the lead.

“How was school?” Aidan spoke softly, and squinted a bit, not quite awake.

I brightened. “It was awesome. I think I’m really going to like the program.”

“That’s great.” He reached out to my foot, the only part of me sticking out of the ball I’d rolled myself into. “Then why are you upset and in your pajamas at six in the afternoon?”

“That obvious something’s wrong, huh?” I tried to smile when he nodded. “I just got fired.”

“That’s ridiculous. Why?”

“I fell asleep after school. I missed my shift.” I hugged my legs tighter into my chest, not wanting to look at him. The look on his face when he realized I had no money coming in was something I didn’t want to see.

He scoffed. “They fired you for that? Is that even legal?”

I shook my head. “There was a bunch of dumb loss prevention stuff that happened on my shifts, and I think they just wanted to get rid of me, anyway. They wanted to when they found out I was sleeping in the back room before Christmas. They demoted me when I changed my availability to go to school.”

“They don’t deserve you.” Aidan’s hand moved from my foot up to my ponytail, which was draped over my shin. “You’re going to go so far past that place.”

“I don’t have any money coming in now.” I forced myself to look up at him.

“What do you need money for?” His question seemed genuine.

“My phone, my Charlie Card for the subway, food, school stuff. You can’t function in life with no money.” Panic rose from the pit of my stomach, bubbling beneath the surface of my skin.

“Come here.” Aidan caught my gaze. When I didn’t move, he reached forward and pulled me toward him, cradling me in a hug. I let myself break down for the second time in an hour while he rubbed my back.

“Why are you so nice to me?” I wiped tears and whatever else from my face when I looked back at him.

“Because you keep getting handed a bad deal, and all you need is a chance to break that.” He tipped my face up toward his. “And like I told you before, you remind me of Marielle. So much.” His voice cracked on the last words.

“But she had you, so she didn’t have it so bad.”

Aidan shook his head. “I left her.”

“Why?” It just didn’t make any sense. Not only was he still in love with her, he wore his regret for leaving her on his sleeve.

“Someday I’ll explain it to you. I promise. But now, let’s just think about our future.” He lowered his head down on top of mine.

“Why haven’t you kissed me again?” The words flew out of my mouth before I even knew what I was saying.

Aidan drew away from me, confirming my worst fear. I could screw up everything else, and he was fine with that. But I was a fool to assume anything.

“I thought I made you uncomfortable.” He looked so sad. “I didn’t want you to think I expected anything in return for having you here, or school. I don’t expect you to pay me back.”

I burst out laughing, and it felt good. This was one of those days, and there had been more of them in the last few months that I cared to admit, that I thought I’d never laugh again. “I thought you regretted doing it. I was just so confused, because you were so into your book and I thought you wanted me to be seen and not heard.”

“I have a deadline!”

“So you can’t kiss anyone when you have deadlines?”