Mistletoe Magic (Evergreen Lake: Under the Mistletoe)

Chapter 12

twelve

CHRIS

It had been almost an hour and there was no sign of Holly. Noelle and I had come downstairs and talked about her favorite reindeer over a bowl of Lucky Charms before her attention faded and her focus turned back to her doll.

After checking on the fire and finding Noelle her book from the backseat of the car, she was settled on the couch reading while I headed upstairs to check on Holly.

I stepped into my apartment to silence. An eerie silence filled the space.

“Holly?” I called out, stomping the snow off my boots on the mat.

When she didn’t reply, I went looking for her.

Big mistake.

Huge.

I nudged open my bedroom door and had the wind knocked out of me.

Holly was lying on my bed, completely naked, her skin flushed red.

Spinning around, I put my back to Holly doing my best to at least try to be a gentleman. “Holly?” I called again only for a murmur to reply.

Something was wrong. I knew it and I didn’t have to be looking at her. I reached around the bedroom door and took my robe from the hook on the back. I took a deep breath and assured myself that I was doing this for all the right reasons before turning back around and stepping toward the bed.

“Holly?”

Her beautiful eyes flickered but remained unfocused.

I draped my robe over her body, giving her back her modesty before closing the gap between us and reaching for her hand.

The moment our skin touched, an electric zing passed through my body but I shook it off. Now was not the time for my dick to come to the party.

She was hot. Temperature hot. I didn’t need to touch her to know she was sexy as hell and more than enough to scramble my brain and have me changing my ways and who I was.

I squatted down, ignoring the cracking of my knees. With trembling fingers, I reached out and wiped the hair from her sweaty forehead. “Holly?” I tried again.

“Um … what … where?” Holly mumbled as she tried to sit up, the robe sliding down her body exposing her magnificent tits and those dusky pink nipples my mouth watered to taste.

“Just relax, Holly,” I replied, gently pushing her back down on the bed and pulling the robe back over her.

I rested my hand on her forehead and yanked it back hurriedly. She was burning up.

“Just wait here a minute. I’ll grab you some Tylenol,” I instructed, stepping into my bathroom and rifling through the cabinets. The whole room was still bathed in steam and smelt like something I could easily become addicted to. Something sweet and delicious. Something uniquely Holly .

I was only gone a second, but when I returned to the bedroom, Holly had fallen back to sleep. I was no doctor, but I didn’t need to be to know she wasn’t well. I sat the pills on the bedside table and pulled the blankets up over her. The last thing she needed now was to get a cold. Once she was settled, I walked into the kitchen and filled a glass with water.

I returned to the bedroom only to freeze in the doorway. She was snoring like a freight train. Her face was flushed. Her hair was a knotty mess, and she was still the most beautiful thing I’d seen in a long time. With the exception of her daughter of course. Noelle was beautiful but in an adorable, innocent way. Holly was enough to knock a man on his ass and take his balls before he even realized he’d handed them over and I was quickly coming to the realization I wasn’t immune.

As much as I wanted to let her rest, first she needed to take some medication, and then she could sleep it off.

I managed to wake her long enough to get her to take the pills, and flash me another look at those spectacular tits I’d never forget before she rolled over, hugged my pillow to her chest, and drifted back to sleep.

I didn’t want to leave Noelle alone too long, so I hastily scribbled a note, left it on the bedside table and headed back down to the office.

“Where’s mom?” Noelle asked, looking up from the nest of blankets she’d turned into a fort.

“Mom’s upstairs sleeping. She’s got a cold,” I explained. “So, you and I are going to hang out down here for a while and let her get some rest.”

“Can we build a snowman?” Noelle asked, bouncing to her sock-covered feet.

“You want to go and build a snowman?”

“Can we? It’s not too cold.”

I didn’t think it was even possible, but Noelle was somehow even more dangerous than her mother. She had the ability to look at me, bat her lashes and pout her pink lips, and I became putty in her hands.

“I’ll make you a deal,” I began, and Noelle stopped bouncing and stared at me, waiting to hear what came next. “We can go out and make a snowman …”

“Yay!”

“If …” I cut off her excitement, needing to get the rules out before she went and got ahead of herself. “You dress up in your coat, scarf, boots, and gloves. You dress warmly and we’ll go build a snowman.”

In a rush to get out the door, Noelle slipped on the blankets and face-planted. Thankfully, she fell on the pile of pillows, and while my heart threatened to burst through my rib cage, she giggled happily. The sound was infectious and once my head caught up with the idea that she was fine, I let go of the breath I was holding and joined in laughing.

I reached out my hand and helped pull her to her feet.

Noelle stuffed her feet into her boots and shrugged on her coat before spinning in circles.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Do you know where mom put my scarf?” she asked, her face filled with worry.

I had no idea where her scarf was, but I wasn’t about to let the lack of a scarf stop us from going out and playing in the snow. “You can use mine,” I offered, winding the navy scarf around her neck and watching as she tugged her beanie over her ears.

“You ready?”

“Yep,” she exclaimed.

I hated to admit it, but I might’ve even been more excited than Noelle. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d taken a minute to appreciate the snow rather than just bitch and moan about how cold it was and all the things it was making harder. Things like getting out of bed in the morning, people staying on the roads and not skidding on black ice into the ditch or the power going out.

“Let’s go!” I cheered, and Noelle reached for my hand.

With her tiny hand clasped in mine, we headed out the door. Patting the pocket of my coat, I made sure I had my phone. Holly mightn’t be well enough to be out here with us, but I’d make sure I captured the moment to share with her.

I shoved open the heavy door, thankful the wind had eased. Heavy white snowbanks were pushed against the buildings. Overhead, dark clouds filled the sky, but they were holding off. It felt like the worst of the storm had passed, and soon enough, the world would go right back to normal. Too soon. I was going to have to say goodbye to them and I was sure I wasn’t ready. I didn’t know if I ever would be.

Noelle though, she wasn’t caught as deep in her thoughts as I was. While I was staring across the road and down the deserted streets, Noelle shouldered her way by me and threw herself recklessly into a pile of snow.

I went to call her out, but the giggles once again reached my ears and all thoughts of chastising her evaporated.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Making a snow angel,” Noelle replied as she waved her arms and legs about.

Reaching for my phone, I clicked a few photos before sliding it back into my pocket. “I can see that. I thought you wanted to make a snowman,” I reminded her.

Noelle ignored my comment and, instead, insisted that I lay down beside her and make my very own snow angel. And since I was wrapped around her little finger, I dropped to my knees in the frigid snow and swooshed my arms and legs back and forth like a damn fool, completely unable to wipe the smile from my own face—a problem I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had to face.

For the next hour, Noelle and I played in the snow. We threw snowballs, built a snowman, and chased each other around.

“You ready to head back in?” I asked her as I slumped forward and sucked in deep breaths. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had so much fun or laughed so hard.

“A few more minutes,” Noelle pleaded with her puppy dog eyes, and I folded like a house of cards.

Around us a gust of wind rattled the trees, dumping their snow all over the sidewalks. The whole place was buried. It was going to take a while to get this mess cleaned up, but until the storm eased, it was a pointless endeavor.

“Chris?” Noelle snapped my attention back to her.

Noelle was a beautiful little girl. With the red staining her cheeks and the tip of her nose, I knew she must be getting cold.

“Yes?” I replied, moving over to where she was dusting the snow from her hands.

“Can we go inside now? I’m hungry,” Noelle asked.

“Me too,” I confessed, instantly picturing an ooey gooey grilled cheese sandwich with a steaming bowl of tomato soup. Shame that wasn’t an option until the power came back on.

I kicked the snow drift from in front of the door before ushering Noelle inside. While she shed her snow-covered clothes, I added a few logs to the fire and got it roaring. Surely the storm would ease soon and the power would be back, but until then, we needed to stay warm.

I got Noelle settled in the office to warm up while I headed upstairs to find some food and check on Holly.

I shoved open the front door and stepped inside my frigid apartment. The temperature up there had plummeted, and I knew Holly needed to get downstairs where it was warmer. I grabbed a bag and filled it with things we could make a sandwich with, along with some crisps, marshmallows, chocolate, and crackers. What was the point of having a fire roaring if we didn’t make S’mores?

I set the bag by the door and went to get Holly.

Quietly, I crept into the bedroom, and instantly, the spot on my chest ached. I rubbed at it aggressively and focused on the woman lying in my bed. She hadn’t moved. She was buried under a mountain of blankets, her head tilted to the side as she slept.

“Holly,” I called out softly as I moved into the room, trying not to startle her.

She didn’t flinch.

“Holly?” I tried again.

I stood beside the bed and looked down at her. Holly was a beautiful woman. There was something innocent and gentle about her. She was the sort of woman who brought out the protector in me.

I reached down and pulled the blanket back, exposing her shoulder. She wriggled but still didn't wake.

“Holly?” I whispered, touching her shoulder and feeling the chill of her skin.

“Mmmm,” she murmured as she tried to burrow deeper under the covers.

“Come on, Holly. I need you to wake up so we can get you downstairs where it’s warm,” I encouraged, taking a step backward.

The last thing I needed was for Holly to wake up and find me towering over her like a creeper.

“Noelle?” she asked as her tired eyes fluttered open.

“She’s downstairs by the fire. I got sent upstairs to find snacks,” I offered as Holly’s eyes adjusted to the light.

“Sounds like my daughter,” Holly conceded before she started coughing.

I leaned down and put the back of my hand against her forehead. I wasn’t a doctor, and I wasn’t pretending to be, but you didn’t need years of med school to know Holly wasn’t well. She was hot to the touch and covered in a thin sheen of sweat.

“Why don’t you have a hot shower and warm up, then come downstairs by the fire?” I suggested trying to be helpful.

Her brows furrowed as a stubbornness took over her features. “I’m fine,” Holly declared as she tossed back the covers and stood up.

Either she didn’t care she was standing there, hands on her hips, wearing nothing more than a scowl, or she hadn’t realized. Fuck it was hard being a gentleman. I bit the inside of my cheek as I fought the urge to look. Instead, I locked my eyes with hers and buried my hands in my pockets, pretending that would be enough to stop me from reaching out and touching all that smooth skin she had on display.

I sucked in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to let out the frustration. “Holly,” I began, trying to reason with her, “you’re not fine. You’re sick. And standing around getting cold just to prove a point isn’t going to help you. Have a shower, then come downstairs and you can crawl into bed by the fire.”

I felt like I should be talking to Noelle, not Holly. It was like trying to reason with a stubborn child who thought they knew everything.

“I don't …”

My patience snapped. The longer she stood there arguing, the more of a chance she’d get worse. “Shower now, Holly. I’ll find you some more cold meds then you can come down and eat with us,” I declared before spinning on my heels and exiting the room, silently patting myself on the back for not ogling her nakedness .

I’d just about made it out the door when I heard Holly mutter, “You’re not the boss of me, Christopher.”

I can’t remember the last time I’d been called Christopher. It wasn’t a name anyone ever used for me. Not even my parents.

I stopped where I was.

I didn’t look back.

But I did throw out one last barb, refusing to let Holly think she got the better of me and got the last word. “Shower, Holly. Or I’ll turn that sexy ass of yours as pink as your cheeks are right now.”

I shuffled toward the kitchen, laughing at the loud squeak that had been drawn from her before the slamming of the bathroom door. Guess she just figured out her stubborn ass had been naked the whole time.