The Christmas Village by Annie Rains

Author:Annie Rains
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2021-10-12T00:00:00+00:00

Miles’s brain understood that Lucy wasn’t talking about anything romantic. His heart still took a leap of faith on the slight chance that Lucy actually meant she wanted him here for romantic reasons. “Oh?”

“Mm-hmm. I went to Olivia’s house after work to discuss that silly rule about not being able to enter the decorating contest if you’re behind on HOA dues. I mean, it’s not silly. It’s a good rule because some people might take advantage. But not me. I would never.”

“And what did she say?” Miles asked. “Will they bend the rules for us?”

Lucy’s eyes narrowed with the word us. They weren’t an us unless you believed everything that Reva blogged. “Well, I told her if we won, I’d use the prize money to pay the dues I’m late on.”

Miles ran a hand through his hair. “Did she agree?”

“It took a little bit of convincing but Olivia is going to talk to the board tomorrow. I think they’ll agree if I use the winnings to pay the HOA bill. And if we don’t win—”

Miles held up a hand. “I’m competitive, remember? We’ll win. There’s no stopping the Hannigan-Bruno team.”

Lucy visibly swallowed.

Miles’s throat was suddenly parched too. His gaze unwittingly lowered to her dark pink lips. The memory of that kiss they’d shared the other night flashed across his brain. It hadn’t stopped flashing there since the night their lips had collided.

“Miles?” Lucy asked in almost a whisper.

He lifted his gaze back to her eyes. “Hmm?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“You just did. But go ahead. Ask away.”

She suddenly looked nervous. “Why did you break up with me? When we were eighteen.”

He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting but it wasn’t that question.

“I know it was a long time ago, and it doesn’t really matter. Or it shouldn’t. But it’s haunted me over the years. It kind of felt like the breakup was out of nowhere. We were in love and engaged. We thought we were going to have a baby. I thought we were happy.”

Her eyes shimmered, flashing a raw pain that he’d caused. “Then…” She trailed off, visibly swallowing back what he suspected was an onslaught of tears. Lucy Hannigan had never been a crier though. She always kept her emotions bottled up. She was tough before him and even tougher after him.

His heart ached. All he’d ever wanted was to make her happy—when they were together and when he’d realized that they couldn’t last. “Lucy, we were young. We weren’t ready for marriage and kids.”

Lucy’s eyes were shiny. “I agree. But why did that mean we had to break up?”

Miles hesitated. “We had love back then. But love isn’t always enough, Luce,” he said.

Lucy visibly bristled. “I can’t agree with that. As long as we had each other, we would have been fine. We’d have married and been happy. We’d have a family by now. Maybe a big one with lots of kids. Instead, I’m alone in this huge house.”

“You’re blaming that on me?” Miles asked quietly.

“Well,

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