A Not-So Holiday Paradise: A Sweet Romance (Christmas Escape) by Gracie Ruth Mitchell

Author:Gracie Ruth Mitchell [Mitchell, Gracie Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-16T05:00:00+00:00

When Molly emerges from the hut some fifteen minutes later, I’m feeling pretty proud of myself.

I don’t look like a man whose best friend’s little sister was about to kiss him. I definitely don’t look like a man who would have kissed her back.

I look calm. Cool. Like a master of rainwater collection as I drop purification tablets into our containers of drinking water.

Is my heart back to normal? No. Not yet. Mostly because I keep remembering the look in her eyes, and my pulse spikes all over again. But from the outside, I’m pretty confident she won’t know the difference.

For her part, Molly looks completely unfazed. In fact, it seems a little unfair. She’s not blushing as she approaches me; her expression isn’t sheepish or embarrassed or concerned in any way about what almost happened between us.

Nope; Molly O’Malley looks like this is just another day in paradise.

“So we can drink that?” she says, pointing at the large plastic container that’s brimming with water.

“Yes,” I say with a nod. If she’s going to act like nothing happened, I’ll do the same. “There was a bottle of water purification tablets in there”—I jerk my head at the hut behind us—“but even if there hadn’t been, it would most likely still be fine.”

“Excellent,” Molly says, her eyes shining with anticipation as she eyes the water. “I’m crazy thirsty.”

“Drink,” I say with another nod. “Take a lot; as much as you want.”

She looks at me, her eyebrows jumping briefly with surprise before her face smooths out again. “Are you not having any?”

“I will in a minute. I just need to check a few other things,” I say, stalling. Logically my mind knows that there’s more than enough water for both of us here, but I’m still going to wait for her to be done. I do my best to tell myself this isn’t weird; I just want to make sure she gets enough to drink. That’s a normal thing friends do.

Very normal. Very friendly. Not weirdly overprotective.

Molly removes her canteen from her backpack and upends it, dumping the contents onto the muddy ground. Some sort of soda spills out, and I shake my head, sighing. Only Molly would have thought bringing soda rather than water was a good idea. I feel better as I watch her refill the flask, though.

“You got any food in there?” I say as I look at her bag. Last night we didn’t eat anything—which was stupid—but I think we both were so tired and drained that it just didn’t even register. Now, though, my stomach is twisting, collapsing in on itself like a dying star.

“I do,” she says, screwing the lid back on her bottle, “and you’re welcome to any of it, but it’s not going to be very filling.” I watch as she tilts her head back and begins gulping down great mouthfuls of water. Her throat bobs as she drinks, a strangely hypnotizing sight, and I have to tear my eyes away so I can focus.

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