“This is the part where you forgive me and give me another chance.” He scrunches up his face in a cute, irresistible, pleading expression.

“I still don’t know if I can trust you not to run away at the first difficulty. We were only together for two days, and when you left I was so crushed… I don’t think I could survive you leaving again.”

One of his hands sneaks back up to my neck, his fingers caressing the sensitive skin just behind my ear. “I won’t leave you again. I promise I’ll face every fight like a man, without running.”

I frown. “You expect many fights?”

The foxy grin is back. “If you keep on being so bossy, I don’t see how we won’t.”

“I’m not bossy—”

“Yes, you are. You’re bossy, and stubborn, and impossible to deal with sometimes. But you’re also beautiful, and kind, and smart, and that’s why I love you so much.”

My heart stops. “You what?”

“I love you, Nikki,” he repeats, and my name on his lips sounds like the softest caress. “And I think you love me, too.”

“Really? How do you know that?”

He bends forward to whisper in my ear. “From the way you call my name when we make love.”

The last ounce of resistance I had evaporates. Tears streak down my cheeks, but I can’t stop smiling. “Diego, I…”

“Yes, just like that,” he breathes down my neck.

“I…” I’m too choked to speak.

“Shh.” He massages my shoulders to soothe me. “It’s okay.”

Diego pulls back to look me in the eyes for the longest time. Then he leans forward and kisses me.

As our lips touch, an explosion of cheery noises and sounds invades the apartment from outside, above, and below.

And so, at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, my happily ever after becomes true.

Note from the Author

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed A Christmas Date. If this is the first book in the First Comes Love series you’ve read, you can go back to Book 1, Love Connection, to learn how Richard ended up being a single British bachelor in New York, and then Book 2, I Have Never, to laugh out loud as he and Blair fall in love, with the added bonus of meeting Chevron as an adorable puppy.

The next book in the series, To the Stars and Back, will feature six-times-in-a-row Sexiest Man Alive and Hollywood superstar Christian Slade as he struggles to find a girl who’s not after him just for his fame. You might remember him as Richard’s famous friend from I Have Never. I can’t wait to get started on this new novel, set in sunny Los Angeles. California, here we come!

Now, I have to ask you a favor. If you loved my story, please leave a review on Goodreads, your favorite retailer’s website, or wherever you like to post reviews (your blog, your Facebook wall, your bedroom wall, in a text to your best friend…) Reviews are the best gift you can give to an author, and word of mouth is the most powerful means of book discovery.