‘Tis the season of Wicked Deeds (A Holiday romance Book 1)
‘Tis the season of Wicked Deeds: Chapter 37

Twinkle left.

Without a word or even a goodbye.

And took my heart along with her.

Everything I did was for nothing.

Her scent mixed with her lavender perfume lingers in every corner, wrapping around me like a ghost of her. Tormenting and making me miss her.

After we had woken up at the hotel, she silently freshened up and met me at the door when it was time to check out. She neither smiled at me nor spoke to me on the way back to my resort. Not even in the car or the train. She just kept gazing out the window.

As soon as we reached it, I didn’t stop her when she went to the cabin.

Deep down, a part of me knew that I lost her at that moment.

I just didn’t want to believe it.

Instead of following after her—a mistake—I went into my office to distract myself with work. I gave myself false hope that she’ll choose us. I haven’t let anyone in the way I let her. It pains me to know that it wasn’t enough.

When a knock sounded on my door, my heart lurched, thinking it was Twinkle.

Instead, it was Hilda who came to tell me that she checked out and left Zermatt.

I’ve been numb ever since.

It’s evening now and most of the staff is gone since there are only a few guests staying today. The lobby is deserted as I glance at the clock on the wall. She’ll be getting on the plane right now, putting several miles between us again.

The bell over the door chimes behind me, bringing in a cold draft of air.

I have half a mind to turn whoever it is away. Nothing holds meaning in life anymore, like Twinkle took all the colors away, and now it’s cold and gray.

Sighing, I straighten and say as I turn, “Sorry, we’re clo—”

The words die on my tongue when I lock gazes with none other than the woman with whom my world begins and ends.

At first, I wonder if I’m hallucinating.

Did I conjure up the ghost of her?

No, she’s too real.

She came back.

My heart pangs as I stare unblinking at a disheveled Twinkle in a zipped-up light blue puffy jacket, hair messy and wind-blown, eyes red and glistening while she clutches the handle of her suitcase with one gloved hand.

“Darling,” I whisper, my voice raw and bleeding.

She eats the distance between us with furious steps, bringing every nerve ending in my body to life just like the first time I saw her sitting at the bar, looking like the woman of my dreams. And the second time at the lodge, before her hilarious attempt at hiding from me. It doesn’t bring me amusement, knowing she’s mad and hurt because of me.

It was never my intention.

I shouldn’t have waited to tell her the truth.

But she’s always been skittish, and I needed a chance to show her that we belonged together.

She stops midway, letting her suitcase drop with a thud.

“Darling,” I murmur again, the sound thick with disbelief that she’s standing within touching distance and with emotions of having fallen fast and hard for her.

I didn’t believe in love at first sight.

Until I met her.

I’ve never known obsession until I met her. I thought I did when I spent my nights and days training to become a professional basketball player, but then Twinkle came into my life, and taught me the real meaning of what it’s like to yearn for someone.

We both suck in a gasp as we stare at each other across the room. I breathe her in while trying to read her eyes. For the first time in my life, I’m scared and unable to think straight.

When the tension becomes too thick, she rasps, “I couldn’t get on the plane.”

“Why?” I stay where I am.

“Because…” She trails off and stares at me madly.

“Why?”

“Damn you!” Her small palms hit my chest as soon as she’s standing before me. “For making me fall in love with you. That’s why I couldn’t.”

One hand curls in my sweater, while the other yanks me down by the back of my neck to fuse her lips to mine with fiery passion. She kisses me rough and deep, sighing in pleasure in the back of her throat.

Pure relief and joy overpower me.

She loves me.

My dream girl… my Star loves me.

I smile against her mouth and deepen the kiss while picking her up. Her lean legs wrap around my waist, hugging me tighter to her chest.

“I don’t.” Kiss.

“Want to.” Kiss.

“Lose you, you infuriating man.” Kiss.

Twisting around, I place her on the desk and lazily glide my tongue against hers. My hands run all over her back, twisting in her hair, squeezing and caressing her ass to prove to myself that this isn’t a figment of my imagination.

My world bursts with colors again as I taste her again and again.

“I love you too, Twinkle,” I confess between nips and sucks, swallowing her moans. “So damn much. You’re never losing me. This is forever.”

“Promise?” she demands, tearing her mouth away.

I rub her tears away and vow, “I promise.”

“Even if I argue or make you mad?”

“Even then.”

Caressing my jaw, she says, “Do you forgive me for leaving without a word? I regretted it as soon as the cab left.”

“As long as you forgive me for lying to you.”

“I have. I just panicked when you told me everything.”

“I understand, darling.” Our foreheads touch as I lean down. “There will be no more need for secrets between us.”

“Done.” She smiles brightly. Nothing but love for me shining in her light pupils. “You told me you wanted all of me. I want the same from you, King. Not the man the world knows, but the one underneath. I don’t care if you’re famous or not, I love you for how beautiful and alive you make me feel. The man who loves me unconditionally, who fixed my broken soul.”

“I never saw you as broken, Twinkle. Maybe scared, but never broken. You’re perfect just the way you are. And I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

She pulls me down for another kiss and I’m more than happy to oblige. I trail my hungry mouth to her neck and mark her with a love bite before burying my face there as I hold her tightly.

We stay locked in an embrace until she says, “We’ll need to tell our friends.”

“Soon. I want you all to myself for now.”

“Thank God! Me too.”

I laugh and lean back. “I need you to make me one more promise, Twinkle.”

“Anything,” she replies without a second thought.

“No more running from me.”

“I’ll be attached at your hip, will that satisfy you?”

“Yes. Very much.”

Her face goes somber as she thinks.

“What?” I ask.

“We still have a lot to figure out, King. We live in different countries. I hate the thought of being apart from you.”

I kiss the frown between her eyebrows and assure her. “We’ll decide together.”

The tension melts away. “Okay.”

“So, a part of you did replace my gestures romantic?” I joke.

“Well… if you could go to such lengths after only meeting me once, I needed to be brave and take a risk too. Because, you, Kingston, are worth it.”

A rush of warmth spreads through me, making me feel ten feet taller. Winning championships didn’t bring as much bliss as hearing her say this.

“I love you, Twinkle.” I can’t stop myself from saying it again and again. I’ve been holding it in for too long and the freedom is a heady drug.

“I’m the luckiest girl,” she whispers, looping her arms around my shoulders. After a beat, a deep thought flickers in her gaze and she begins to worry her lip and tilt her head. “King?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t you feel like we’re moving too fast?

“So what if we are?” I say with a shrug. “Yes, we fell hard and fast for each other. But that doesn’t mean we won’t work out, Twinkle.”

“You’re right.”

“Every up and down, every challenge, we’ll face together. I won’t let anything or anyone rip us apart.”

“Me neither,” she promises. A grin teases the corner of her pouty mouth. “So, does this mean we’re in a relationship?”

“In my head, we have been for a very long time. I was just waiting for you to catch up.”

A sultry laugh slips from her and she bites her bottom lip. “But you haven’t officially asked me to be your girlfriend.”

“Oh, you want me to make it official?”

“Yes. It’s a ritual just like kissing at the end of a date.”

She squeals when I lift and put her on her feet. Blush blooms on her cheekbones as she watches me get down on one knee. Taking her hand, I pop the question, “Will you give me the honor of being my girlfriend, Twinkle Seth?”

“Yes,” she cries out. “A thousand times yes.”

She throws herself into my arms as I rise, and I whisper in her ear, “As my first act of being your boyfriend, tell me how to make it up to you for hiding the truth from you, darling.”

The look in her eyes is pure deviant when she pulls back, making my cock thicken in my pants.

“Take me to our bed and I’ll tell you.”