The Christmas Vow (Hallelujah Crossing)

Chapter 2

K rissy Mae had been right. Santa was hot as fuck. Rayla did her best to keep focused on the job before her. not overly difficult because she was running hard. Honestly, she’d not thought the turnout would have been such. But when Hallelujah Crossing did something, they went all out. It was like Leavenworth but in Tennessee instead of Washington. They knew how to do this right.

Thankfully, her Christmas costume was comfortable, and they had used lightweight material, so despite all the hustle she was doing, she hadn’t yet turned into a sweaty mess. As if pulled by him, her gaze returned to Ryker who had an endearing little boy on his lap, with olive skin, pencil straight black hair and eyes that turned up a tiny bit at the corners.

Adorable.

Cue exploding ovaries.

She’d always had a thing for dad’s and kids. Even though the boy on his lap wasn’t his, her ovaries still were reminding her how freaking sexy it was. Not that Ryker looked the same as when he’d first come in the door. No, he looked like Santa.

And here I am, having dirty thoughts about what I would love to do to Santa. And have him do to me. There’s going to be coal in my stocking this year. Probably, a few to come.

Going through the motions helped to keep her centered as she did her best not to think about the hot man on the chair. Even when there were moments that she was up by him, it was strictly professional.

However, by the end of the day, she was exhausted. When the last family left, she hung her head and rubbed the nape of her neck.

“That was a long day.” Her friend popped up at her side.

“Krissy Mae, I may not make it all month.”

Her friend nudged her. “I know who I want to give me a massage.”

She didn’t even bother either looking up or in his direction, well aware she would find numerous women surrounding him. “Go for it then.” Rayla stretched. “I’m going to finish cleaning up and head out.”

Not waiting for a reply, she went back to the list of closing tasks needed to be done before they could officially head out. Moments later, she smiled as The Grass Roots pumped through speakers which previously had just been releasing holiday music. Nicholas was well known through the town, so she’d been told, of his love for throwback music.

Despite people having been run roughshod by a bevy of children wanting the holiday season and experience now, many began singing along and dancing. Even given her current state of exhaustion, she smiled at those joshing around.

Krissy Mae waggled her fingers at her. “Come on, Rayla. Shake what the good Lord bestowed upon you.”

So much for a dip in the hot tub at her cabin and a glass of wine. Perhaps going out would do her a bit of good. Doubtful, but at this point, she was willing to try nearly anything at least once.

Like Krissy Mae knew she’d duck out at the first opportunity, she wasn’t allowed to head home and change. Nope, not even to freshen up. Krissy Mae placed her in the middle of the group, looped her arm through Rayla’s and didn’t let go until they reached June Bug’s .

Despite being a smalltown “dive” bar, she immediately felt more of a kinship with this establishment than she felt at any of the bars she’d gone to in DC.

“Whoop whoop, Krissy Mae’s here!”

Rayla released her friend and shook her head over her antics. The clientele whistled back at Krissy Mae and shouted out greetings. Nudged to the bar, Rayla skimmed her fingers over the smooth bar top. It wasn’t new, there were plenty of dips and dings in the wood, but it was well taken care of.

“What can I get you, darlin’?”

She glanced up and sucked in a sharp breath. Holy shit they grew them hot here in Hallelujah Crossing.

Hallelujah is right!

“Whatever you have on tap.”

Crap she couldn’t find her words. This man was tall, built, sexy as hell and doing bad things to her insides. Second only to Ryker. His black hair styled in that “I’m sexy and I know it” manner, that looked like he, or some lucky woman, had just finished running her fingers through it.

He nodded and she watched his hands grasp the handle of the glass, then angle it and fill it with whatever beer he was giving her.

The bartender plunked it down before her, the white foam sloshing over the side.

“Here you go, beautiful.” He leaned forward, lips twitching like he had a private joke he wasn’t sure if he should share. “Made sure it had a good head.”

“Oh damn,” Krissy Mae muttered beside her.

“I do like a good head,” she replied with a smile. “I’m Rayla.”

“Cole.” He rapped scarred knuckles on the bartop. “How long are you in town for?”’

“At least until the end of Christmas in July celebration y’all have going on here.”

He grinned and she swore this man was dangerous. One dimple popped out on the left side.

Hello swooning ovaries.

“How long are you in town for Cole?” Krissy Mae propped her hip against the counter as bent toward the bartender, flashing a winning smile and yes, her boobs.

“You don’t live here?” Rayla thought he’d been a resident here.

He moved his gaze from Krissy Mae—her eyes—and back to Rayla’s. “I mean, I’m happy to move here permanently with you. But no, I’m not from here originally.” He winked one electric blue-green eye. “I do like your forward marriage proposal. A woman who knows what she wants is one hell of a turn-on.”

Jerking her thumb to where Krissy Mae stood beside her, Rayla replied, “She’s your girl.”

His look curled her toes. “We’ll see about that, darlin’. I expect you in here often now to keep all those dangerous females at bay.” Another wink and he was up the bar serving other customers.

“Two of them.”

Sipping her beer, Rayla allowed the bitter, hoppy taste slide down her throat. It held a bite of citrus as well. She approved and hummed as her toes curled inside her sandals.

“Two of what?” she asked her friend, pitching her voice to be heard over the swell of the increasing crowd.

“Men.”

This deserved another drink. So she took it. “I’m not following. There are more than two men in here.” Turning on the stool, she faced her friend. “What are you drinking?”

Cole chose that moment to return with an open longneck that he passed over the bar to Krissy Mae.

“This,” she said, taking a long swallow.

“Great. Now explain your statement.”

Her friend smiled, a bit kind and hella scary. Not like the sharks she was used to dealing with, no, Krissy Mae there wasn’t anything evil about it just plain old, fear that told Rayla she shouldn’t have asked the question.

“Just that you roll into town here, running from whatever you’se runnin’ from and have not one but two freakishly hot men after you.” No malice tinged her tone, simply amazement. “Here I am with my girls—which are impressive if I may, and do say so—practically hanging out and they are ignoring me—and them—for you.”

Rayla stroked the side of her glass with her fingers, enjoying the cool condensation on the tips. “I walked over here with you but are you sure you’ve not been drinking? Asking for a friend because the words slipping off your lips make no sense.”

“Lips,” she sighed. “You have like ones that are bee stung, all plump and pretty.” Krissy Mae reached forward and Rayla grasped her wrist, halting her before she could actually touch them with her outstretched index finger. “Point is, I haven’t been drinking until now and both Hottie McBartender and Fuck Me Santa want you.”

No animosity rang in her words, and despite all her hesitation and suspicion on things like that, all Rayla could do was shrug. Krissy Mae sounded put out and frustrated that her girls weren’t doing the job as she wanted them to be doing.

Cole, aka Hottie McBartender sauntered by and gave her a wink. Krissy Mae sighed like a girl with her first crush. And Rayla, well, she finished her drink and squeezed her legs tighter together.

It was going to be a long night.

Turned out Krissy Mae had the right of it and Rayla hadn’t a single clue why. She was well used to being overlooked and passed by when it came to members of the opposite sex, unless of course, her family could help them out in some way, she wasn’t sure what to make of the way Cole continued to send her sexy grins and not-so-subtle winks.

Even so, she enjoyed herself. Had entirely too much to drink and got up, with surprisingly little protesting to do some karaoke with Krissy Mae and a few others from work. Thankfully they weren’t Christmas songs.

Not that it would have stopped her if they were but she would like to think she may have at least attempted to put up a tiny bit of resistance.

αβ

Summer Tennessee nights weren’t for the weak. The thick muggy air surrounding them in the Great Smoky Mountains held hints of pine, moss, vegetation and of course everything coming from the small town of Hallelujah Crossing.

Ryker paused on the outskirts of town and allowed his gaze to move over the view. Christmas lights hung, multitudes of decorations had been adorned to buildings and trees alike. It was Christmas, without the snow that would be there in December.

For the most part, the town had settled in for the night. He knew most of the people he’d worked with had headed to a local hangout called June Bug to decompress for the first day of Christmas in July that the town participated in.

A well-deserved break for it had been insanely busy today. Heck, all he had to do was sit there and hold kids but even he was exhausted. Sure, there was more to it than that but compared to those who were running, wrangling, wrapping and all the other things offered, he had it easy.

His elves had kicked ass, making sure the line moved smoothly. Only a few hiccups he had no doubt were because it was day one.

Gives me hope for the next 30 days.

Luckily there was far more to do here than simply come to this well-known Christmas destination in summer. He had his plans and now that he’d met Rayla, he had a few more plans.

Behind him, branches snapped, and birds made their presence known with calls and hooting. The adventurer in him longed to go out and take a look around, enjoy the views he got here. However, his first order of business was to figure out what his brother had been doing here and where he was now.

As he meandered through town, he gave nods to people who did the same to him but hugging the shadows, not to many asked for his time. Ryker bypassed the bar even if his feet hesitated at the jolly sounds rolling out from the establishment.

Continuing along, he again slowed when he reached the rental cabin area. His place was here as well as Rayla’s. In fact, she happened to be three cabins over from his.

His shirt clung to him thanks to the clamminess of the humidity. A moment of pause before he allowed his instincts to take over. Within five minutes he stood before a door identical to the one leading to his cabin. The difference was the plaque over the door. On his, it said Holly , on hers Tinsel .

It fit. Tinsel came from a variation of an Italian word meaning spark.

There definitely was one for us. Even if she is determined to ignore it.

No way he was going to. Even now, with the physical distance between them, his cock stirred well to life. Not that it had gone down when he thought of her, but, he had been able to walk a tiny bit at least without it being rubbed against the unforgiving jean material he wore.

The sparks were there. Currently. Not past tense. It had been a live wire between them, arcing, sparking and sending lust through him in ways he’d not been expecting. Even more than just lust. The connection he’d experienced the second he’d laid eyes on her.

If I wasn’t focused on finding what happened to my brother, I would be more persistent in getting her to recognize there is something between us.

Didn’t stop him from knocking on the door, maybe six inches below the word Tinsel .

He held his breath as the knob turned and seconds later he found himself staring down at a woman who would be starring in every single one of his fantasies for the rest of his life.

My wife. Mother of my future children. The woman I will be chasing around in my walker when we get to that age.

Curves. Deep brown skin. Hair up in a sexy, sloppy bun with a few tendrils hanging from her temples. But it was her eyes that snared him. He looked, blinked, and looked again.

No longer a pair of gorgeous pale brown eyes that stared back at him. Her left was a pale green and her right, medium brown.

He lost his ability to talk, only able to stare. Soft notes of honeysuckle and jasmine wafted from her to surround him in ropes of allure.

“Your eyes are stunning.”

Not his most incredible line that’s for sure.

She bit her plump lower lip, sighed, and muttered, “Fuck Me Santa.” The second the words were out of her mouth, she clamped it shut as her eyes widened.

He smiled, leaning closer, fingers gripping the top of the doorjamb as he did. Ryker didn’t miss the way her gaze heated as it flashed to his biceps. “He would love to.”

Arm porn. He loved it was a thing, flexed his muscles once more just because, he wanted to make sure she got a show.

She huffed. Fuck, even that was adorable. With a lift of her chin, she took a deep breath. “Something I can do for you?”

Lips quirking he barely managed to keep the need he had for this woman from leaking free. It wasn’t the time or the place for such a thing. They would have their time. He had no doubt about that, knew it better than he knew he was in Tennessee playing Santa for their Christmas in July celebration.

“Let me in.”

Her gaze cooled. Correction, it went downright arctic. “I don’t know you.”

He found her gaze once more and found him drowning. “So get to know me. I’m harmless.”

“Right, and I’m in Macau.”

“Say the word and I’ll make it so.”

A careless shrug. “No passport.”

“I can get you in anyway.” He gripped the frame tighter simply so he didn’t sink his fingers into her hair and tug her head back, exposing her lips and throat to him.

“Not interested in a life of servitude. Excuse me, Mr… umm… Mr. Ryker. Have a good night.”

He put his foot in the door before she could close it. The eyes watching him didn’t show fear, but they were cautious.

“I’m sorry, I think we got off on the wrong foot.” He took a deep breath and licked his lips. “I tend to act like a fool around a beautiful woman.”

“And yet, here we stand.”

Oh fuck no, that wasn’t going to fly. He stepped to her, pleased she didn’t shift back and more determined than ever to get her to understand her own beauty to him.

“Rayla, you are a fucking stunning woman and if you say otherwise, I’m going to kiss you until you see it my way.”

Her eyes widened and her lips moved but nothing came out. He stroked down her cheek with the backs of two fingers, reveling in the softness of her skin beneath his.

“Why do you wear contacts?” He swiped his thumb along her lower lip. “I love your eyes.”

She narrowed those incredible eyes and he smirked.

“Something to say?”

“Is there something I can do for you? I was getting ready to turn in.”

“I was walking by and wanted to see you again.”

“I assure you, Mr. Ryker, I have nothing that will benefit you so we don’t need to play this game. I’m not interested and you aren’t either. Let’s simply learn to work together and go our separate ways at the end of the month.”

“Lies.” He put his nose to hers, her subtle scent intermixed with hints of alochol. “I’m very interested in you and I think you are me as well, you simply don’t want to acknowledge it. That’s okay. I have a month to get you to see me in a different light.”

She stepped back from him and he had to stop himself from putting her back in touching distance.

“Good night, Mr. Ryker.”

Kissing the tips of his fingers, he ghosted them over her mouth. “Goodnight, Mrs. Ryker.”

“Not my name.”

He winked. “Not yet.”

Walking off with a jaunty tune on his lips he chuckled as the door shut behind him. She didn’t slam it, no, it was closed with a soft yet definite click.

Two goals now. Find his brother and get his woman.