When I opened the box, my mouth fell open. “Kelly…”

  It was the most gorgeous jade pendant—a green, oval stone, surrounded by small diamonds.

  “This is… It’s beautiful.” I looked up at him. “This isn’t real, is it? The diamonds and all?”

  “Everything is real, yeah,” he said.

  My eyes widened. “Kelly…why did you do this? We were supposed to give each other gag gifts. I—”

  “I wanted to. And I didn’t think there were any rules.”

  “This is too much,” I stuttered. “I can’t take it.”

  “Well, you’d better, because I’m not taking it back.”

  Wow. “It’s…” I sighed.

  “Look, you hosted me on this vacation. And I wanted to give you something to remember me by.” He winked. “After all, that jade is Kelly green.”

  “It’s truly beautiful.” I rubbed my finger over the stone. “Will you help me put it on?”

  “Of course.”

  I lifted my hair as he took the gorgeous piece and placed it around my neck.

  I fondled the chain. “I’ll always cherish this. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” He beamed.

  Kelly had already made me feel special tonight, and we ended up having an amazing dinner after our little Christmas party. We continued to chat, and I loved how self-deprecating he was, despite the fact that he was also quite successful, as I’d come to learn. And he was a damn good person. Even after his ex burned him, he’d still found it in his heart to forgive her. He understood that holding on to toxic resentment was worse for him than anything else. He was wise and offered a perspective I knew I would take home with me. Actually, I started really hoping this didn’t have to be the end for us. But at the same time, I knew I wasn’t over what had happened with Trent, and I didn’t want to lead Kelly on if I wasn’t ready to start anything. But did Kelly even want something with me? He hadn’t been all that forward, so I wasn’t sure.

  After our dinner, he walked me back to my room. I’d done something earlier that I hoped wouldn’t backfire now. I was about to find out.

  We arrived at my door, and he looked up at the mistletoe I’d hung earlier.

  “Well, well…what do we have here?” I said.

  “That looks like a mistletoe to me.” He grinned.

  “Indeed, it is.”

  Adrenaline pumped through me. I reached up, wrapping my hand around the back of his neck, and stood up on my tiptoes. Thankfully, he lowered his beautiful face down to me. When our lips met, I realized how much I’d been starving for this. I slipped him the tongue and heard him laugh under his breath.

  He spoke over my lips. “She strikes again.”

  He was right, but this time, it was so much sweeter.

  Our kiss grew more intense as Kelly took the reins, pushing his tongue deeper inside my mouth. He tasted so damn good. I felt my panties getting wet and knew I had a choice to make. I could open the door and pull him inside, or open the door and say goodbye. In the end, fear won out over passion.

  I pulled away and suddenly said, “Goodnight, Fugger.”

  His mouth opened and closed a few times. “Okay…uh, goodnight.”

  I used my key and slipped inside my room. Leaning my back against the door, I panted as my heart raced, my body still aching for Kelly.

  SARAH

  I slept like shit.

  Not only was I chock full of pent-up frustrations after the amazing kiss with Kelly last night, but I also felt terrible about how I’d pushed him away. He’d been nothing but kind to me—taking me out on an ATV tour, nursing me when I was sick, and then last night he’d given me a gorgeous, expensive necklace. And what had I done in return? Let’s see… I’d refused to share my beautiful suite that he’d rightfully won, bought him cockroaches as a gift, and to top it off, I’d dragged him under the mistletoe for a kiss and promptly ran away like he’d given me something contagious.

  This morning, I also felt panicky that our trip was coming to an end. I decided I needed to pull up my big-girl panties and lay my cards on the table—tell Kelly I liked him and thought maybe there was something there, but that I was nervous about jumping into something so soon after my breakup. I hoped maybe he’d be okay taking things slow. But when I called to ask if he wanted to meet for breakfast so we could talk, he didn’t answer. By lunchtime, I still hadn’t heard from him, even though I’d left a message. Finally at two in the afternoon, my phone buzzed. Seeing Kelly’s name flash on my screen, I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Hey. I was starting to get worried,” I said. “It’s not like you to skip a meal.”

  “I grabbed a muffin at my hotel before I went to find a place to stay tomorrow night.”

  I’d forgotten the hotel where he was staying didn’t have a room available for the last night of our trip. “Did you have any luck?”

  “Not anywhere around here. Every hotel on this side of the island is sold out. I found something about a half hour away, though. Before I booked it, I called the hotel you’re staying at and asked if anything opened up. They said they might have a room for me, but they won’t know until tomorrow morning. Apparently, a guest had a family emergency of some type and is trying to get a flight out, which would leave a vacancy. So I figured I’d wait on booking a place on the other side of town, since they seemed to have plenty of rooms there.”

  “Oh, wow. It would be great if you could get a room here.”

  “Yeah. Tell me about it. The walk to a hotel with blue balls kind of sucks.” Kelly laughed. “Less chafing if I can move closer.”

  “About that…”

  “It’s fine. I’m just teasing you.”

  “It’s not fine. I was actually looking for you earlier, hoping we could talk about last night—about the kiss, I mean. What are you doing right now?”

  “I was thinking about going for a swim. It’s hot as hell today.”

  “Would you want to do that over here at my hotel? We could have piña coladas poolside, my treat?”

  “Will you wear the white bikini you had hanging in your bathroom when you weren’t feeling well the other day?”

  “The white thong?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “Sure, if you want.”

  “You can’t see me, but I just fist pumped.”

  I laughed. I could totally visualize the fist pumping. “Meet you in the lobby in a half hour?”

  “Sounds good.”

  Even though I was going to the pool, I put on a full face of makeup. I also heated up my curling iron and made some loose waves in my hair before slipping into the white bikini. I tied a sheer white sarong around my waist and added a big straw hat and sunglasses to complete my ensemble. Checking myself out in the mirror, I thought I looked pretty good. That gave me the confidence I needed as I made my way down to the lobby to meet Kelly. But my outfit wasn’t powerful enough to stop the nervous jitters that swarmed in my belly when the doors slid open at the lobby level. I was anxious and excited and…

  What the…

  I froze midstep getting off the elevator.

  What the actual hell?

  I blinked a few times, certain I had to be imagining my ex standing at the front desk. But no such luck. That man was definitely Trent.

  The elevator car doors tried to close, but I was still standing halfway in and halfway out. So when they hit me, they bounced back open. The woman working behind the desk heard the sound and looked up. Noticing the shocked look on my face, her brows drew together, and Trent turned to follow her line of sight.

  A smile spread across his annoyingly handsome face. “There she is…”

  “What—what are you doing here?” I shook my head.

  “I came to grovel and get my girl back.”

  A few feet behind him, the lobby door swung open and Kelly strolled in. He took one look at me and whistled. “Wow. My girl looks smokin’ hot today.”

  Trent’s eyes jumped back and forth between Kelly and me before scanning the rest of the lobby. He seemed to be looking for another person, anyone other than me that Kelly could’ve been talking to. But we were the only three in the lobby, so it was pretty damn obvious. His eyes narrowed. “Who the hell are you, and why are you calling my girl your girl?”

  I walked over to Kelly first and quickly explained who Trent was.

  “This is what you wanted to talk to me about?” Kelly folded his arms across his chest.

  I shook my head. “No, no—not at all. I had no idea he was coming when we spoke a little while ago.”

  “Who the hell is this clown?” Trent thumbed at Kelly.

  “This is…Kelly. He won your half of the trip.”

  “Won my half of the trip? What are you talking about?”

  “It’s a long story, but Jane ran a contest on her podcast, and the winner got to join me on the trip.”

  “You auctioned off my spot on our vacation for a date?”

  “No, no. It’s nothing like that. It’s not a date.”

  Kelly frowned. “That kiss at the end of the night last night sure felt a hell of a lot like a date.”

  Trent scowled. “You kissed this joker?”

  Kelly took steps toward Trent. “Who you calling a joker?”

  Oh shit. This was about to turn ugly. I stepped between the two men and put my arms out to keep distance between them.

  “Kelly, I had no idea Trent was coming. Would you mind if we skipped the pool so he and I can talk?”

  Kelly frowned and shook his head. “Whatever. I’ll see you around.” He turned and stormed out the lobby door. Watching him walk away upset caused a lump to form in my throat. So I ran after him. “Wait! Kelly!” But he was already marching across the parking lot and didn’t turn back.

  Trent followed me outside. “Sarah, what the hell is going on?”

  KELLY

  Maybe I overreacted.

  I shouldn’t have left her alone with him. But then again…she sent me away instead of telling me to stay, so alone time with him was what she’d apparently wanted.

  Sitting at a bar by the beach not far from my motel, I read the text from her again.

  Sarah: I’m so sorry my ex showed up. I had no idea he was planning on coming here. I felt like I needed to hear him out. I’m sorry he ruined our plans and you left upset.

  I didn’t respond. A full hour passed, and I came to the conclusion that if she hadn’t reached out to tell me he was gone by now, maybe her asshole ex was getting his message through to her. But it was killing me to sit here and do nothing, so I finally texted her back.

  Kelly: Look, Sarah, I don’t know your ex from Adam, but what I do know? You deserve better than that guy. I don’t know what he’s saying to you right now, and I don’t give a fuck what he has to say. Not everyone deserves a second chance, especially lying, cheating bastards. I’ve said my piece.

  She didn’t respond. Another hour went by, and I decided to go back to my room and figure out an exit plan. The more time that passed, the more I started to feel like she might be taking him back. And that sucked. Because I was really starting to like her and had a different idea of how this trip might have ended. For a while there, I’d believed I’d won more than a trip—it’d felt like I’d won the lottery. And now it felt like it was all a freaking dream.

  My phone rang. My pulse raced for a second because I thought it was her, but unfortunately, it wasn’t. It was a call from Sarah’s hotel.

  “Mr. Fugger?” a woman said.

  “Yes.”

  “This is Vanessa from the resort hotel?”

  “Hi.”

  “This is a courtesy call to let you know that the room I mentioned to you earlier, the one we thought might become available tomorrow night, is in fact going to remain occupied. The situation with the occupants’ family emergency changed, so they’ve decided to stay through the remainder of their trip after all.”

  “Great,” I muttered. “Well, thank you for letting me know.”

  I hung up and pulled on my hair. What now?

  If I wasn’t going to have a place to stay tomorrow night, I needed to book myself a flight for tomorrow. I didn’t want to stay here anyway if Sarah’s “boyfriend” would be sticking around.

  I opened my laptop to check flights. There was only one plane out in the morning and a couple more at night. I called the airline. That 10 AM flight was full. They told me they could put me on standby if I wanted to just come to the airport, so that’s what I decided to do. Given that Sarah still hadn’t contacted me, I was at peace with the decision to leave. Her silence spoke volumes.

  The following morning, I was all packed up but felt my walls breaking down a bit. My original plan had been to leave quietly, with little fanfare. But a part of me couldn’t do that without seeing her face one last time. I owed her at least a proper goodbye after the time we’d had together, despite my bitterness over her not texting me back.

  I decided to have breakfast at the restaurant in her hotel. It would be her call if she wanted to join me. When I got there, I texted her. If she didn’t text back this time, it would be the last time I ever reached out.

  Kelly: Hey. Not sure if you’re still sleeping or what. But wanted to let you know I’m here at the restaurant for a quick breakfast before I head to the airport this morning. I’m leaving soon, if you’re around to say goodbye.

  Not even two seconds went by before a response came in.

  Sarah: Goodbye? What do you mean?

  Kelly: I had to check out of my hotel, and the room at yours didn’t pan out. Between that and your original vacation partner showing up, I thought it was best I head out early. My flight leaves at 10 AM.

  Sarah: Your flight? Oh my God! Don’t you dare leave! I’m coming right down.

  Confused, I sat at a table and waited.

  The next thing I knew, Sarah was running into the restaurant—in a short, white bathrobe.

  I couldn’t help but laugh as I stood up from the table. “You could’ve gotten dressed.”

  She fastened the tie around her robe. “You were really going to take off?”

  “You never texted me back last night. What did you expect?”

  “Not this!” She sighed. “Trent wouldn’t leave. We spent hours going back and forth—mostly him trying to make excuses for what he did and explaining why I should take him back. It was torture. By the time he finally gave up and realized I wasn’t letting him stay with me, it was so late that I decided to just contact you this morning. But you beat me to it.”

  My eyes narrowed. “Where is he?”

  “He went back to the airport late last night.”

  “He’s gone?”

  “Yes. I sent him packing. I’m never taking him back after what he did to me. Never.”

  Relief washed over me. “Well, good.”

  “He asked me to explain what was going on between you and me. I told him the truth: that, sure, you were a contest winner, but that you turned out to be so much more.” She inched toward me. “Kelly, in the short time we’ve known each other, you’ve taught me that life is too short to waste time with anyone who doesn’t appreciate me. The last thing I told Trent was that I would send him one of your clit ticklers so he could give it to the next poor woman he screws over, because she’s going to need it when he leaves her high and dry. He looked at me like I was crazy, but I didn’t care.” She laughed, then said, “I realize now I should have texted you last night to tell you all this. I never imagined you would have tried to take off so soon.”

  “I thought you were…with him. I didn’t want to stick around for all that.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “All I’ve wanted this entire time was to get back to you—to get back to that moment where you and I were going to have piña coladas at the pool. I’m so sorry that never happened.”

  I took a step closer. “You’d said you needed to talk to me yesterday—before he showed up. What was that about?”

  “I was going to ask you to spend tonight with me. In my room. In our room. The room that was rightfully yours from the beginning.”

  My heart sped up as I cradled her cheek. “You sure that’s what you want?”

  “I’ve never been more sure of anything.”

  Letting out a sigh, I tried not to seem overly excited. But I was. “Okay. If that’s what you want.”

  She looked down at herself. “I need to get into something more presentable. Will you come upstairs for a bit and then we can come back down for breakfast together? You can dump all your stuff there, too.”

  I gathered my stuff as adrenaline pumped through me. “Let’s go.”

  I followed Sarah back to her room and noticed she hadn’t taken the mistletoe down.

  “You kept it hanging.”

  “Yeah.” She smiled as her cheeks reddened.

  Before she had a chance to open the door, I pulled her toward me, taking her lips with mine. I just couldn’t wait to taste her again. Sarah moaned into my mouth as she used the key card to open the door, our lips still locked, our tongues colliding.

  “Maybe we could skip breakfast,” she said into my mouth.

  My heart thundered against my chest. I stopped and looked into her eyes. “I need you to clarify what you’re insinuating because I’m too damn excited right now and could very well draw the wrong assumption.”

  “Do you want me, Kelly?” she whispered.

  “Fuck, yes. I want you in every way.” Pulling her close, I said, “And just to be clear, by that I mean more than just a vacation fling, Sarah. I want us to continue seeing each other when we get home…if that’s what you want.”

  “It is what I want. And also to be clear, I’m not wearing anything under this.”

  I felt my dick stiffen. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  “I’m saying I want to get laid right now, if that’s what you want, too.”

  My mouth curved into a huge smile as I nodded. “Sleighed.”

  Her eyes widened. “What?”

  “Getting laid over Christmas time…‘sleighed’.”

  She snorted. “That’s probably the corniest thing you’ve said thus far, Fugger.” She ran her hands through my hair. “It’s a good thing you’re irresistibly handsome…with special talents.”