Christmas on Main Collection

Chapter 3

Chapter Three

PAZ

“I’ll be damned,” I grumble under my breath as I unlock the hardware store door to let in the early bird shoppers the morning after Thanksgiving.

There are plenty of familiar faces in the line of customers as they shuffle in. But there are almost as many new faces, too. What’s even more surprising is that they aren’t all men. Not that I don’t think women shop at hardware stores, but I don’t see many around here.

Aurora spent Wednesday afternoon taking videos around the store but wouldn’t show me any of the finished products. She said that if I wanted to see what she put together, I’d have to find everything online by myself. I’m sure she knew I wasn’t going to take the time out of my busy day for something like that. She may have joked at the diner when she called me “old man," but my lack of technology proficiency is really starting to show the age range between us.

When she was recording, I heard her tell one of my customers she recently graduated from college. That’s another big divider between us. She continued on to higher education while I barely got my GED. Instead, I worked my ass off doing multiple jobs around town to save every penny to buy this store.

Doris even helped me prepare the paperwork for my business loan application with the bank. She’d been looking out for me ever since I was seventeen, and she found me sitting on the bench in front of her shop.

My father had just come off a three-day gambling bender and lost everything we owned but the car, that was good because we'd been living out of it for the previous year and a half. I’d long since stopped going to high school and was working any under-the-table, cash-paying job I could find to keep us fed.

But after an argument with my dad, which I started when I didn’t want to hand over my meager earnings so he could go right back to the poker table, he kicked me out of the car and left me on the side of the road. I’d never heard of Central Coast in all our travels around California and Nevada. But it was the first town I came upon after picking a direction on the highway to walk toward.

Doris could see that I was in trouble, but she didn’t look at me like I was a charity case. She offered me work and found me a place to stay. With her guidance and pull in the community, people stopped looking at me like I was a teen delinquent with no family but a productive member of society.

I missed out on a lot of experiences because of my need to grow up too quickly, but I wouldn't be where I am today without everything she did for me.

“I’ve never seen the store so packed,” Dr. Hastings says, patting me on the shoulder. “Even when my dad owned and operated this place.”

I’d stepped in to buy the business from Dr. Hastings, when he inherited it, after his father passed five years ago. With his own thriving medical practice, he wasn’t interested in keeping the place for himself but hoped to find a buyer to keep it up and running.

“I'm more surprised than anyone," I say, looking around.

Aurora clearly knows what she's doing when it comes to marketing a business on social media. Christmas on Main never struggled under Doris, but some of the town's people were skeptical when Aurora and her sister Allegra were handed the reins after Doris's passing. Not only have they maintained the appeal and popularity of the place, but they’ve brought in new customers.

Aurora and I may have made a bet on whose marketing strategy would work best, but I’m guessing that whatever my fliers have done for either of our businesses, they’re more of the tail end of what Aurora’s set in motion.

“Any chance you stopped by Christmas on Main yet?” I ask Dr. Hastings.

“I dropped my wife off there on my way here.” He smiles brightly at me. “The place was packed.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “I thought as much.”

Aurora

“Since when do you use fliers for marketing?” Allegra asks between customers.

Defeat seemed impossible when I made the bet with Paz. But nearly all the customers in the store are holding copies of the fliers he used to pass around town.

“It’s a great deal,” one female customer says nearby.

“I know, right? Two birds, one stone.”

The conversation between the two customers pulls my attention away from the customer I'm checking out. But I don't miss that they are looking at the fliers as they are talking. It occurs to me, at this moment, that I haven’t checked out the flier that Paz made for his marketing strategy.

A few hours later, there is finally a lull in the crowd of customers, and I can take a break. I head out the back of the shop towards the lot filled with Christmas trees and sit on some empty crates piled near the door. I lean back and take a deep breath. This day has been crazy busy, but totally worth it. Allegra was smiling from ear to ear, seeing all the business we'd had before noon. I'm hoping this feeling she's having can be used to convince her that keeping the shop might be a good idea.

The wind kicks up, and something flutters against my leg. I look down and see one of Paz's fliers. His hardware logo is printed across the top with the word “SALE” in big, bold letters. I read over the items he’s using to draw people in, but my eyes are pulled to the words printed at the bottom.

“ Get an extra 10% discount on your entire purchase when you shop in-store with your same-day Christmas on Main purchase .”

“That sneaky son of a bitch!” I say, jumping to my feet.

A family with two small children standing a few feet away from me stops inspecting the Noble Fir they've been eyeing and looks over at me. The two little boys have wide-eyed expressions on their faces from hearing me curse while their parents are glaring at me.

“I’m so sorry," I tell them and run back into the shop.

“Where are you going?” Allegra calls after me as I run for the front door.

“I’ll be right back.”

The hardware store is packed with customers, many of whom I'd just rung up, checking out his sale items.

Paz is working behind the counter, checking out customers, when he notices me standing there. He leans down to the teenage boy bagging the items and whispers something to him. The boy nods, and Paz looks back at me and points in the direction of the backroom of his shop.

I weave my way through the customers and meet him in the back room.

“What the hell is this?” I hold up the wrinkled flier in my hand.

He squints at it like he doesn't immediately recognize what I'm holding. “It looks like?—”

“Cut the crap.” I crumble up the paper and throw it at his head. “You cheated.”

“Did I?” He crosses his arms and leans back against his office desk. “Or did this old man beat you at your own game?”

I open my mouth to argue, but nothing comes out. He’s right. I’m not angry at him for what he did. I’m angry at myself for not thinking of this strategy on my own. Not only did he get customers into our store, but he got those same customers to come into his shop as well.

“You didn’t beat me.” I step towards him. “Our place has been packed all day.”

He pushes off the desk and takes a large step towards me, closing the rest of the distance between us. “This is the first break I’ve had all day. And it wasn’t for the lack of customers.”

“You—” I seethe in frustration, but his closeness is very distracting. It’s clear that he’s shaved most of the scruff off his beard and trimmed his hair. It's easier to see his handsome features, and I wonder for a moment if he did this for me.

The idea that he did this for someone else sends a jolt of jealousy pulsing through me, and I'm suddenly angry at him again.

“You what?” he asks.

“You are infuriating. And cocky. And an all-around jackass.”

He smirks, and the heat between my thighs turns into a blazing inferno.

“Aww, come on. You should be careful, or you might hurt my feelings, Princess.”

“Princess?” I gasp.

“Well, if the glass slipper fits. Not many people are handed a thriving business straight out of college. Some of us have to work for all that we have.”

“I was wrong, you aren’t a jackass.” I push him hard in the chest. “You’re an asshole.”

Paz grabs my wrists and pulls me close to him. The room feels suddenly smaller and hotter all at once. I lean my head back and close my eyes just as his lips crush against mine in a searing kiss. His hands move to my ass, and he lifts me up as if I don't weigh a thing. We spin around, and he sets me down on his desk. I loop my legs around his waist, and he presses his hard cock against my aching center.

“Oh god,” I cry out, finally feeling some relief from the ache that has been pulsing through me nearly since the moment we met.

Paz growls into my neck, and his grip on my ass pulls me closer against him.

“Hey boss, we could—” someone says from the door to the backroom. "Oh, crap! I’m sorry.”

We pull apart just as quickly as we came together. The loss from the heat of his body no longer pressed against mine sends a cold shiver through me. I slip off the desk and stand on wobbly legs.

"I'll be right there," Paz says to the guy but doesn't take his eyes off me. He doesn’t speak again until we hear the worker leave. “I should get back to work.”

“Yeah,” I say, trying to catch my breath. “Allegra will be wondering where I am.”

It’s obvious to me that we still have some things to discuss, most importantly the fact that he just had his tongue in my mouth and was dry-humping me on his desk. But Paz doesn’t say anything else. I’m beginning to understand that he’s not the type of guy who will use words when a brooding stare will do the trick.

Like, I don't already have enough to deal with trying to find a way to convince my sister not to sell our Christmas shop, but add a confusing grinch next door to the mix, and it's clear that this holiday season is going to be the craziest of my life.