Mistletoe Magic (Evergreen Lake: Under the Mistletoe)

Chapter 18

eighteen

CHRIS

Damn, books were heavy, but it didn’t matter. The happiness on Holly and Noelle’s faces meant I would’ve carried the bags all damn day. We hadn’t even made it to the Christmas festival, and I was already ready for a nap. We’d thrown snowballs, drank hot chocolate, laughed, read books, ate cookies, and had a great day. At least I had, and from the way Noelle and Holly laughed, I guessed I wasn’t the only one.

Noelle walked between us, holding our hands.

“Can you lift me?” Noelle asked, her eyes bouncing from me to Holly and back again.

“Lift you?”

“She means she wants us to swing her between us. We don’t have to,” Holly confirmed, offering me an out. I didn’t need an out and I certainly didn’t want one. If Noelle wanted to swing, then Noelle was going to swing.

“Ready?”

“One, two, three,” Holly counted, and we lifted Noelle into the air, her legs swinging in front of her, her squeals earning us strange glances.

We closed in on the festival, still swinging Noelle between us. I could see people moving about, but it didn’t look like it was open yet. More like they were putting it back together after the storm had knocked it around.

“I’m not sure it’s open,” I admitted, strangely disappointed. For someone who’d spent years hiding and avoiding the holidays, I was definitely feeling festive this year and I suspected I had these two beautiful women to thank for it.

“Can we have a look?” Noelle asked, and I wasn’t about to say no.

As we got closer, I could see some of the guys from around town cleaning up and clearing away the snow. One of them offered me a wave, but the magic of the festival was certainly on hold.

Noelle broke free of our grasp and darted forward, sliding on the snow as she went. Beside me, Holly gasped as she watched her daughter run with reckless abandon.

“She’s going to turn me gray before my time,” Holly confessed.

Somehow, the distance between us had vanished, and when my hand brushed against Holly’s I froze and looked down.

“I didn’t mean …”

The last thing I wanted was for Holly to feel uncomfortable and think I was putting a move on her.

“Come on!” Noelle called out, interrupting the moment.

Together, we fell in step as we approached the entrance to the festival. Holly and I turned and walked beneath the arch of holly and garland when Mark, one of the guys I’d known since middle school, called out.

“You’ve gotta kiss!” he cat called.

“What?” I replied, confused.

“It’s mistletoe. You have to kiss. It’s the rule.”

I looked at Holly who looked stunned. “We don’t have to,” I offered .

A weird smile crept across Holly’s face as her eyes lit up. “You heard him, it’s the rule.”

Holly stepped toward me, and I felt my heart pounding in my chest. When her hand rested on my hip I took a breath. This was really happening. With her eyelashes fluttering, Holly’s tongue snuck out and wet her lips, making them glisten. This angel wanted me to kiss her, and I wasn’t about to let her down.

Not wanting to miss my only chance, I set the bag of books on the ground by my feet before I reached for her, tugging her so our bodies pressed against each other. I could see her breath coming in short, shallow pants. With one hand, I cupped her face, frustrated at my gloves and wishing I could touch her skin as I ran my thumb across her cheek.

“Chris …” My name fell like a plea from her lips, and I couldn’t hold back any longer.

I stooped my head and pressed my lips to hers. It should’ve been a short, innocent mistletoe kiss, but I don't think it would ever be possible for me to kiss Holly like that. When her hand pressed against the center of my back, holding me close, I deepened the kiss. Holly opened for me, and I plunged my tongue in.

It was the single best kiss of my life.

If I never kissed anyone again as long as I lived, the memory of this kiss alone would be enough to sustain me.

I heard a whistle and ended the kiss, keeping our foreheads pressed together not wanting our moment to be over.

“That was …” Holly began.

“Magic,” I finished. It was the only explanation that made sense. That wasn’t normal, it was so much more.

“Ew! You’re kissing,” I heard a small voice point out, followed by a deep laugh.

Holly and I broke apart and I felt lost and alone. She was barely a foot away and I already knew it was too far .

While Holly went to talk to Noelle, I wandered over to the group of guys huddled around Santa's sleigh.

“How’s it going?” I asked as I approached.

“Who’s the girl?” Jonathan asked, nodding in Holly’s direction.

“Absolutely none of your business,” I replied. If I only had Holly for a few more moments, I wanted every single one of them to be mine. I was a possessive bastard, and I had no intentions of sharing. Not today. Not ever.

“How busy are you tonight, Chris?” Dominic asked, redirecting the conversation.

“He’s busy getting busy,” Rob joked, and I wanted to knock his head off. Holly wasn’t a joke to be laughed at.

Ignoring Rob, I turned back to Dominic, “What do you need?”

“The sleigh …”

An icy cold shiver tore down my spine and every muscle in my body pulled taut. Dominic was still talking, but I wasn’t listening. I was back there. It was happening again. Santa’s fucking sleigh was about to ruin the first Christmas I’d enjoyed in years.

“No.” My answer was firm and there was nothing they could do or say to change my mind.

“It shouldn’t take more than a few hours. The storm …. The kids will be disappointed …” Dominic was rambling, but I couldn’t move.

I knew Holly was beside me before I saw her. “Who’s disappointing kids?” she asked innocently. When she shifted closer, her warmth pressed against my side. My fingers itched to take her hand or wrap my arm around her, to claim her.

“Chris is …” Rob blurted out, and Holly looked up at me.

“How? ”

Dominic explained about the damage to the sleigh and how I was their best chance of getting it fixed. He laid it on thick. The drama, the disappointment, how it would ruin Christmas. He played every card he had, and I knew I was fucked.

“If you want to help, don’t worry about us. Noelle and I are quite capable of looking after ourselves,” Holly reminded me, thinking she was being helpful.

“I don't have …”

“It’s not going to be like last time, Chris,” Jonathan reminded me, and he was lucky he wasn’t spitting out his teeth. My fist itched to be put in his face.

“Last time?” Holly asked, confusion marring her beautiful face.

“It’s nothing. A long time ago,” I brushed it off only for it to backfire on me.

“Then it's sorted. If it was nothing, you’ll have no trouble taking a look at it. We’ll get it to your workshop in the next hour or so then you can take a look,” Dominic declared, already barking instructions.

I felt Holly’s fingers lace with mine. “If you didn’t want to …”

“It’s fine,” I bit, and Holly dropped her hold. I felt like an asshole but I couldn’t worry about that now.

Holly went and spoke to Noelle, then they were both waiting for me by the arch. All I wanted to do was rewind ten minutes, step back under the arch, and kiss Holly like no one was watching.

“It’s getting late,” Holly hinted as I approached.

“We’ll head back,” I answered, barely any better than a grunt.

Silently, we walked back to my place. Even Noelle stayed quiet and walked along holding Holly’s hand. When Holly tried to reach for the bag of books, I shot her a look that had her cowering. I didn’t want to turn into a beast, but the last thing I needed was that goddamn sleigh back in my workshop. I knew history couldn’t repeat itself. I wasn’t engaged for one, but I didn’t want Holly anywhere near it. She was the epitome of a Christmas miracle. She was my Christmas miracle and the last thing I needed was my miracle and my painful past colliding. The problem was, from where I was standing, they were on a collision course I couldn’t stop.

Twenty minutes later, Holly and Noelle were upstairs in my apartment, and I was pacing back and forth across the workshop. The sleigh would be here any second and the sooner I got it fixed and back out the door, the better it would be for everyone.

I kept pacing waiting for it to arrive.

Then I waited some more.

Two hours.

Two fucking hours it took for them to get it to my workshop.

By the time it got there, I was on the verge of telling everyone to go screw themselves, stomping upstairs, and getting a beer.

“When will you have it done?” Dominic asked as he edged toward the door.

“As soon as fucking possible,” I grumbled. The less time it was there the better. “So, you better be ready to come get it as soon as it’s done.”

“Well, I’m going to my in-laws …” Dominic started before seeing the expression on my face and backtracking just as quickly. “I’ll figure something out.”

“You do that.”

Without hesitation or even a goodbye, Dominic turned and fled, climbing in his truck and hightailing it down the road, leaving me standing there staring at the huge red and gold sleigh wondering who I pissed off to have to deal with this. Again.