“It doesn’t matter,” she whispered as the stinging in her eyes increased, turning her vision into a blur before the tears finally spilled over.
She was done for. She was in love with a man she shouldn’t be in love with—a man who hadn’t even found her himself. She was being a good little puppet in a game set up by people she loved because they thought she wasn’t capable of doing something on her own.
Though she was twenty-six, she would forever be a frightened ten-year-old child who had lost her parents too soon, who was afraid to love because love was so easily snatched away. Who always put work first. Who had goals and aspirations in life.
And she couldn’t be in love with Spence—she couldn’t. It was just her hormones thinking she was in love because she’d given him her body, not because she couldn’t imagine a life without him. She reached into the box and picked up a wand; a note lay next to it.
Make a wish, and I will make it come true.
This wasn’t just any wand, some toy from a store. It was a scepter. Sage knew her history, and this was the real thing. At one time, royalty had held this, not to wield some magical force, but as a symbol of their importance.
Did this mean he’d returned to town? She hated that her heart thundered at the thought. Was he telling her that he hadn’t given up? She didn’t know what to do. They’d been manipulated into dating, and then he’d found out and hadn’t told her. Didn’t that mean she couldn’t trust him, couldn’t trust anyone? Maybe it was herself she couldn’t trust.
Spence gazed out his window and watched as the neighbor children built another snowman. Three snowmen now stood in their yard, each with a carrot nose, rocks for eyes, and something he couldn’t quite figure out for mouths. Each had sticks in its sides for arms, and he couldn’t help suspecting that the little tyrants had purposely chosen one of those branches because it had what looked like a hand making a gesture particularly inappropriate during the holidays.
Chuckling, he watched as a snowball fight happened down the street, and his neighbor three doors down hollered at Jimmy to come back inside. On the other side of the street a father was pulling his daughter on a sled, and she laughed with glee when he slipped and landed on his behind.
“It’s almost as if I’m living in the middle of suburbia,” he said aloud. “Except that Sterling isn’t urban enough to have any suburbs.” Why he’d chosen to live here instead of buying a nice estate nearby, he didn’t know. When he’d found this place, he hadn’t hesitated. The Realtor was pleased. A little too pleased at first. When he’d shown no interest in her personally, she’d finally stopped calling—two months later.
She probably figured he’d be looking for a wife to fill the five bedrooms, three bathrooms, and bonus rooms. She was right. He was looking for a wife—it just wasn’t her. And when he bought the house, he’d had no thought of marriage, but after one day in Sage’s presence, he’d known she would be his.
Maybe he hadn’t known, exactly, but deep inside, he must have. All he had to do now was convince the woman. It wasn’t going to be easy, though. It had been four days since he’d seen her, and Christmas was only two days away. If his plans for Christmas Eve didn’t work, there was no hope.
But of course his plans would work. He was a closer—he didn’t ever lose. It just wasn’t in him to give up until he got what he wanted. And right now he wanted Sage Banks to become Sage Whitman.
When he knew something was right, he went for it, and he had no doubt that the two of them were meant to be together. It didn’t matter how their relationship had started. The bet, the meddling, none of it mattered. The point was that it had started, and now he couldn’t seem to focus on anything but her.
It really didn’t help that he’d been called twice to Seattle this month for emergencies. It seemed the holidays were causing a lot of heart conditions. Maybe people should lay off on the eggnog and fudge. He normally lived to do surgery, and he’d done his job perfectly, but the second he’d finished with it, all he wanted to do was fall into Sage’s arms.
Being away from her just wasn’t an option anymore. The sooner she came to the same conclusion, the happier they both would be. Running his fingers through his hair in frustration, he paced his large living room. Though he was normally a smart man, he’d still pushed her, still expected a different reaction from the one he should have known he’d get.
Maybe love really did make a person blind—make them do things that were out of character. Though he didn’t analyze everything like Sage did, he generally used his brain a bit more than he had been since meeting up with her again. She was probably wondering how he’d managed to get through medical school.
He was wondering the same thing. When he realized he’d crossed his living room for the hundredth time, still with no answers, he decided enough was enough. With a determined step, he grabbed his coat and keys and walked out the front door.
He was careful when he pulled out of his driveway and drove off—the neighborhood was full of playing children. But when he hit the main road, he picked up speed. He was on a mission, and the sooner he got to Sage’s place, the better.
After pulling up at the apartment, he let out a deep breath and gazed up at her window. The string of lights circling it were inviting and warm, just like the woman he loved. Stepping from the truck, he moved slowly up the steps, his heart pounding and his hurry all but forgotten. It was ridiculous to be nervous. He knew she loved him. She was just frightened.