Escaping Christmas

Angie shrugged and pushed another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, stalling for time. She was still trying to catch her breath after the moment they had just shared. As she looked around she realized that it was already dark outside. She’d drawn the lovely bamboo blinds that morning before she went out and hadn’t closed them yet. She turned to look at his face in profile and remembered his question. What could she say? That she’d crossed several continents just to get away from Christmas? She shrugged again.

“Don’t you get enough of Christmas stuff in all the malls?”

He smiled. “It’s crazy, isn’t it?”

Malaysians went all out when it came to Christmas. They didn’t even let a lack of snow stop them; they created their own snow in the malls and had sexy little elves passing out fliers advertising the many events that took place.

Handing him a spoon, she gestured to the ice cream. “It’s melting.”

Angie watched Alex as he took a spoonful of the ice cream. She saw his reaction and couldn’t help but chuckle.

“It’s divine, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “I can’t believe you’re sharing this.”

“Well, you sent it. Seemed rather churlish not to share with you.”

“I’m glad I got it, then.”

Angie caught her breath at the undertone in his voice but decided to ignore it. She was suddenly finding it hard to enjoy her ice cream, and not for the first time, she wanted to regret inviting Alex to share it with her. It was taking her completely out of her comfort zone, but she had to admit that she was enjoying the banter.

There was something really intimate about sharing ice cream with a stranger, and the air around them was slowly filling up with tension.

“So tell me something about you that I don’t know.”

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Are you asking for my life story now?”

“It would be a good place to start.”

“Okay, I’ll play. But let’s do it this way. I’ll tell you something about me, then you tell me something about you.”

Angie wondered what the hell she was thinking. Oh, who was she kidding? She was thinking that it had been a year since she’d had sex, a year since any man had caught her interest. And going by the way she could feel heat pooling in her center, she knew Alex had done just that. The look on his face as he watched her lick that ice-cream spoon had convinced her the feeling was mutual. But it went beyond that. He made her feel good about herself, which was a feeling she’d forgotten. He looked at her like he saw the real Angie Scot, and he had no idea how sexy that was to her.

“You mean like truth or dare?”

His question brought her out of her reverie, and she caught her lower lip between her teeth. Dare she? But she already knew her answer. “Sure, why not?” She shrugged, trying to appear casual.