I was about ready to weep with gratitude when I opened the door.

But it wasn’t Sharon standing there.

My voice dried out, and my heart came to a dead stop.

It was Josh. Josh Grant, the man I’d vowed to stop loving by this Christmas.

Chapter Four

Josh. Josh Grant

Josh. Josh Grant. The man I had been trying like hell to stop loving from afar for years was here. Standing on the doorstep of my mother’s cabin.

His blond hair was all politician now, parted and gelled back. He also had more brow and eye creases than when I’d seen him last. But he was still all soldier underneath the dark grey suit he’d paired with a dark blue peacoat—same strong jawline, same heavy muscles, same upright posture, same cool and steady gaze.

“You probably don’t remember me, Ms. Winters,” he said, his voice stiff and polite. “We only met once under less-than-ideal circumstances. But I’m Josh Grant. Sawyer Grant’s brother.”

I didn’t know what blew my mind more. That Josh Grant remembered meeting me or that he thought I could possibly forget meeting him.

I finally managed to push words out of my mouth. “Yes, I know who you are. You’re Representative Josh Grant.”

“Oh…good. You remember, too.” He gave me a polite smile. Then after a few too many awkward seconds of me just gaping up at him, he asked, “May I come in?”

Still in a daze, I opened the door wider so that he could come all the way inside—then concentrated on not fainting when he walked past me, smelling of some luxurious pine-scented soap.

He scanned the small cabin as soon as he stepped through the door.

“This is nice,” he said as I closed the door. “Small. Quiet. Whoever decided on the window placement did a good job. You’ve got sightlines from every direction.”

“Oh…I never noticed the sightlines before,” I said out loud as I mind-screamed, What are you doing here? What in the world are you doing here?!

“You’re probably wondering what I’m doing here,” he said, turning to face me fully. Maybe he had ESP. “I’d hope to swing by in a more casual manner when you visited my sister-in-law this year. But then she told me you’d decided to come to this cabin instead. So I got your number and the cabin address and decided to come up here to have a conversation.”

“Have a conversation,” I repeated. My heart beat so loud in my ears, I could barely hear the words coming out of my own mouth. “A conversation about what?”

He looked to the side, then back at me. “I think it’s obvious.”