“There wasn’t a lip,” she protested, but maybe there was. And when he shut the fuse box, the furnace once more humming, Rick walked over to her.

He sank down to a knee next to the couch, brushing her hair out of her eyes. Chuckling, he tapped her lip with his thumb. “No?”

“Definitely not. Montgomerys don’t pout.” She poked a finger into his pajama pants. “You really are bootytastic.” She waggled her eyebrows at him.

“I try.” His palm slid over her hip where the hem of her own pants had dipped to reveal her hipbone. He squeezed her gently, as if tempted. Then Rick shook his head. “You’ve had a long day. You need to get some rest.”

Okay, this time, there might have been the tiniest hint of a lip.

“Or I can get you some more banana bread,” Rick added.

Tempting as that was, Lana slipped her hand behind his neck, pulling Rick in for a long, slow kiss. “I like it when you talk banana bread,” she said to him, scooting tight to the back pillows of the couch to make room for him. A low, warm chuckle accompanied his equally warm arm wrapping around her waist, drawing her into his warm, flannel-y form.

“Lana? Tonight at the party…your mom told me some stuff. About you and the company.”

“Yeah? Did she scare you away?” Snuggling in, Lana looked at him. “Mom loves to give everyone a thorough interrogation if they’re interested in me.”

“I’m not scared,” Rick told her. “I just didn’t realize how important to them you are. It’s really huge. Your job…your place in that room tonight. You matter.”

“It’s the family business. We’re all worker bees doing our parts.”

“Are you? Because what it looked like to me was everyone was circling you like the heir apparent.”

Lana didn’t answer immediately. “It’s not for certain. Silas is trying to make a move for the company by discrediting me. Killian was my strongest supporter.”

“And now?”

“Now I have to watch my back. Especially if I don’t want anything bad to happen to Moose Springs.”

Rick tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“Work is the last thing I want to think about now.” When he simply waited, Lana closed her eyes. “If I tell you, you’ll hate me.”

“Or you could let me decide,” Rick replied quietly. He threaded her fingers inside his, as if knowing instinctively they were starting to shake. “Lana, I’m your person. I have you, sweetheart.”

Opening her eyes, Lana nodded. “Okay. Silas is gathering votes to liquidate the Moose Springs properties and halt construction on the condos. He wants to wait until the Shaws go bankrupt.”

Rick went still.

Swallowing hard, Lana said quickly, “I’ll fix this. I won’t let it happen.”

“Sounds like it’s already happening.”

“Rick, I promise I won’t let it go through. Whatever I have to do, I’ll do it. Please trust me.”

Lana braced herself, waiting for him to get angry. To tell her she was the worst thing to happen to his town. That good intentions had resulted in terrible consequences, and now, even if she helped the town, it was because she had broken it in the first place.

Taking her face in his hands, Rick kissed her instead. A long, slow kiss, his body strong and solid against her. “I trust you, Lana. I love you. How could I not?”

His words were so soft, his touch gentle as he drew her in closer.

“You love me?” she asked in a whisper.

A sweet smile curved his lips. “I was a goner by the time you walked out the door of my pool hall.”

“I love you too.” She’d never said that, taken that risk or that leap before. “We made a mess of this Christmas fling, didn’t we?”

Rick didn’t answer, instead pressing the softest of kisses to her temple.

In hindsight, when he lingered, gazing down into her eyes as if trying to memorize this moment…she should have asked him why he was saying these things now. Instead, Lana reached for him, letting Rick’s strong hands take her problems away.

* * *

Rick’s intentions had been aiming toward the seductive, but trying to be quiet so that they didn’t disturb Madge resulted in far more giggles from her than other noises.

As they lay there, Lana and her fuzzy pajamas tucked into his form, Rick realized something very important. It wasn’t that he loved her. Rick had loved Lana Montgomery for a very long time. He had always understood that Lana was made for bigger things than a guy and a worn-down pool hall in a tiny corner of the world. It had just been nice to pretend for a while that what they had would last. But she had places to go, very important things to do. While he could never resent that—because he was so proud of her, he couldn’t see straight—he also couldn’t be a part of it.

Every interaction he’d had so far with her family, in her world, had shown him that whatever this was, it was destined to be short. At least it had been sweet.

He’d kept Jen tied to him, thinking love would be enough to make her accept a small-town life. For her to be happy. But Jen had never been happy, because it wasn’t enough to love someone. You had to have your dreams too. The Montgomery Group was Lana’s future, and she was going to do such amazing things for the world. But she couldn’t do those things in Moose Springs, and not with him pulling her down.

Loving her had been the absolutely best thing that had ever—and would ever—happen to Rick. But he knew what he needed to do. This holiday romance was destined to run its course. Rick wasn’t taking her down, dragging this out, or hurting a woman he desperately loved. No, it was time.

He had to let Lana go.

* * *

The roads were icy that morning. Since they were both used to the slick conditions but only one of them kept getting work emails and updates about Killian on their phone, Rick drove.

Zoey’s grandmother had filled them to the stuffing point before allowing them to leave, causing Lana to feel pleasantly sleepy.

“The only thing better than the milkshakes are Madge’s biscuits and gravy,” she decided contentedly.

“Lana, we need to talk.”

Those words were never good. Lana turned to make a joke, then she saw the way Rick’s hand gripped the steering wheel.

“Ah.”

Two letters, one word. Neither of which did justice to the feeling of utter dread ripping through her right now.

“I need to go back to Moose Springs. Diego’s responsible, but he’s never had to handle a delivery shipment or pay the bills. My landlady’s not going to appreciate it if rent doesn’t get paid. Plus, I don’t want him to be alone on Christmas.”

Rick’s voice was quiet, his eyes locked on the road. Every single muscle in his arm was tensed.

“You’re breaking up with me.” She didn’t even need to phrase it as a question. Lana hadn’t said the words accusingly, but Rick still flinched.

“It’s not because I want to,” he told her, voice lowering to a rough whisper.

“And yet, here we are, full of too many carbohydrates, and you’re about to end things.”

Finally, he looked at her.

“Is there a reason why? Or should we call an end to a good thing and say we’ll still be friends?”

Trying for breezy and light only fell flat. Rick pulled off the road, hitting the hazard lights. “Lana, we both know the reason.”

“It’s because of Silas’s power play, isn’t it? Rick, I swear I’m going to fix—”

He cut her off with a shake of his head. “That’s not why. Am I worried about what might happen? Yeah. But I’ve been worried every day for years about whether my business will keep afloat. If I’m screwing up by not taking tourists’ money. If I’m screwing up with Diego after all. I worry all the damn time, Lana. What’s happening with the group is just more of the same.”

Rick’s hands gripped the steering wheel too tight as he sat there staring out at the expanse of snowy crop fields. “That’s how it’s always been. When you live in Moose Springs, you never have control of what happens to you. You just have to survive what’s constantly being thrown at you.”

“Like me.”

Hazel eyes found hers, despite her attempts not to look at him. “You are the best thing to happen to me. You’re amazing, Lana. Which is why this isn’t going to work and why I’m not going to hurt both of us by dragging it out.”

“I don’t understand,” she said softly. “You told me you loved me last night. I refuse to believe that wasn’t what you truly feel. So how does ‘I love you’ turn into ‘let’s break up’ by the next morning?”

“Your shoes click.”

She had no idea what that meant.

“I never noticed it before.” Rick pressed on in a gruff voice. “I mean, I did. But when you were with your family, every woman’s shoes clicked on the floor. Every man was wearing slacks.”

“You’re ending this because of my shoes?”

“No. I am just starting to realize that we live in different worlds. Your world is a lot bigger and a lot more important than mine. Being with me…your loyalty to my town…it’s costing you.”

“Whatever my mother said—”

“What she said was you might lose control of the Montgomery Group. A multibillion-dollar company. Lana, this is just a holiday fling. I didn’t realize what the stakes were at play. I can’t cost you that.”

“The choices I make in my professional life are my own, Rick.” Lana’s voice caught on his name.

“I know. And I have the choice to make things harder for you or to walk away.”

He made a soft, soothing noise in his throat, as if she were a deer about to shy away. Lana didn’t feel like a deer; she felt like a lion, digging its claws in, desperate not to let something good slip out of her hands.