All Madison wants for Christmas is the same person who once wanted her. Free from the shackles of her broken heart, she's finally ready to give love another shot. But is Madi too late to win back the man of her dreams?
SEQUEL to The Heartbreak Hypot...
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His eyes were burning.
I was sure of it. They were like flames amongst the ice, as hot as the blaze searing my limbs. He'd shed his usually composed mask, replaced it with something far less assured. He looked as equally reluctant as he did certain, a puzzling concoction that would have been impossible to unravel if it wasn't exactly how I felt, too.
I didn't know what we were doing. But, somehow, it just made sense.
We just fit.
"Sweetheart, help her!"
Two firm hands gripped my sides, pulling me up and away like the chairlift that had transported us to the Northern peak. Mr. Bennet hauled me upright, making sure that I was steady on my feet before he reached back down to offer a hand to his son.
"You poor dear!" Mrs. Bennet exclaimed, throwing her bubble-gum pink poles aside to dust the snow from my black parka. "Are you hurt?"
I opened my mouth to reply.
Nothing came out.
It was like I was in shock. Like I was dazed. Like my body was there—in the present—but like my mind was still down in the snow. Like my eyes were still searching James', asking him to kiss me at the same time as they demanded him to.
"I'm fine," I managed to croak.
It was a lie. A massive one.
I wasn't fine. I was a mess.
Because I was falling in love with my best friend.
And it was making me crazy.
No. I was making me crazy. I couldn't even function around James anymore, not without taking innocent things and twisting them or overthinking them or blowing them out of proportion.
Like the Blair thing. I'd totally overthought it. I'd overthought a couple of texts to the point of concocting a whole entire person to compete with for James' affections. And for what? For Blair to be his totally sweet, totally lovely and not at all threatening younger cousin who was one of the nicest people I'd met at the resort?
It was pathetic. Obsessing over made-up scenarios was pathetic. It was a waste of perfectly good anxiety, and it was exactly the kind of habit that I was trying to unlearn.
James placed his hand on mine as his parents retreated, and I could have killed him for it. Because it simply wasn't enough.
"Are you really okay?" he asked, his voice so low and concerned it pinched my heart.
I could only stare at him. Couldn't stop my eyes from drinking in his face. My heart was beating so fast and so hopelessly, and I didn't know why, but I felt so emotional that I wanted to cry.
