Getting In the Spirit: a Sapphire Falls novella (11 page)

Levi reached for something and came back with a huge platter.

“Are these Christmas cookies?” he asked.

Kate felt her heart trip. Cookies. That would definitely help.

“They are,” the woman said. “I own Scott’s Sweets down on the highway.”

“Noticed your shop on my way into town,” Levi told her. “Had you on my to-do list while I’m here.”

The woman’s little laugh made Kate feel that same stab of jealousy—or concern. She stepped into the doorway, very much in Levi’s personal space.

“Hi, I’m Kate.”

“Nice to meet you, Kate, I’m Adrianne.”

Adrianne looked like a nice woman. She was short and curvy and blonde. She wore blue jeans, brown leather boots and a navy-blue coat.

“Thanks for the—” Kate’s attention dropped to the bright red ceramic platter with white snowflakes around the edge. The cookies were magnificent, “—
cookies
.”

Levi chuckled at her reverent tone, but she couldn’t help it.

Her mouth was already watering.

She lifted the edge of the plastic wrap over the top and snagged a snowman. She bit into it and groaned.

Levi cleared his throat and she looked up at him. There was heat in his eyes that took her breath for a moment and she could only stare. He lifted a hand and ran his thumb along her bottom lip. Her tongue traced the same path on her lip as he lifted his thumb to his mouth and licked the smudge of white frosting.

Holy…

“So do you both have everything you need?” Adrianne asked.

Kate jerked back, her gaze going from Levi’s mouth to the other woman. Then back to Levi…and his naked chest.

“Phoebe asked me to stop by and check in,” Adrianne added.

“We, um…we’re…”

“Good,” Levi said, his eyes on Kate. “We’re really good.”

Kate nodded dumbly. They were something, and it didn’t feel
bad
.

“Hey, Adrianne,” Levi asked. “I don’t suppose you know where Tucker Bennett lives?”

He moved his gaze from Kate to Adrianne and Kate could breathe again. She took another bite of cookie. Sugar and fat never failed her. She loved them and they were true.

“I do,” Adrianne said with a grin. “About three miles south of here.”

“I don’t suppose you know if he has his tree up yet?” Levi asked.

“Actually, I know that too. Yes, he does. He’s also decorated two outside in his yard.”

“And does he have any of these cookies of yours?” Levi pulled another cookie from the tray, a wreath with thick green frosting and red candy balls, and handed it to Kate.

Well, who was she to argue? She took it and bit into it.

Adrianne laughed. “No, not yet.”

“I’ll pay you a thousand dollars
not
to take any cookies to Tucker,” Levi said.

Adrianne looked from him to Kate. Kate somehow tore her attention from him to meet Adrianne’s curious, amused eyes.

“Tucker prefers my peanut-butter balls anyway,” Adrianne said.

“How about you, Kate? You like peanut butter balls?” Levi asked.

“Not as much as cookies,” Kate admitted around the bite of the one she’d just taken.

“Well, there you go,” he told her. “You can go meet Tucker, who has already decorated his tree and has no cookies, or you can stay here with me, help me pick, cut down and decorate a tree
and
have cookies. Your choice.”

Kate felt her eyes widen. She had a choice? As in, if she picked him, they would still hang out and he’d forget about Hailey? “What about your date to the formal?”

“I haven’t asked her yet, but I’m hoping she’s standing right here with me now.”

Kate’s heart tripped.
Yes, yes, yes!
But she didn’t let on that he could have whatever he wanted from her.

“You’re going to go cut down a tree for us?” she asked.

She noticed that he noticed the us.

“Yep.”

“Do you…” She had to be careful here and not tromp on his male ego. Even if it was a city-boy’s ego.

“Do you know how to cut a tree down?” Adrianne asked. Her grin said that she knew it might bruise his ego but that she had to ask.

“Chainsaw,” Levi said.

Adrianne nodded. “Can I make a suggestion then?”

“Sure.”

“There’s a Christmas tree farm not too far away. Take the highway eight miles east. There will be signs.”

“Got it. Perfect.” Levi turned to Kate. “You coming?”

The chance to not only decorate a tree but to actually pick it out, cut it down and drag it home. Hell, yes. But maybe she shouldn’t let on how much she wanted to do this. And that it had as much to do with him as it did with the tree.

He moved in a little closer, fully facing her now, holding the plate of cookies out of the way so he could press her up against the doorframe. “Hey, Adrianne?” Levi asked, his eyes still locked on Kate’s.

“Yeah?”

“Is there a place to get candy canes between here and the tree farm?”

Kate’s heart tripped again, and this time felt like it flipped over.

“A few places. The grocery store, the gas station, we have some at Scott’s Sweets. I think the diner even has some up by the register,” Adrianne said.

“Awesome.” Levi’s voice was gruff and it made heat swirl through Kate’s belly. “So what do you say, Katie? Wanna go get a tree with me?”

Katie. No one had ever called her Katie.

But she didn’t mind.

And at least he wasn’t calling her Hailey.

“Yeah, I do,” she said, her own voice husky.

Adrianne laughed softly. “Poor Tucker.”

For a second, Kate had forgotten she was there.

“Tell Tucker…” Levi trailed off as if not sure what exactly his message to Tucker was.

“That it’s nothing personal?” Adrianne suggested.

Levi lifted a hand and traced a finger down Kate’s cheek. “Oh, it’s definitely personal.”

“Right. Okay.” Adrianne cleared her throat. “Things are clearly good here. I’m going to go.” She was halfway down the porch steps when she turned back. “The tree farm thing. When do you think you might go over there?”

Levi stepped back and Kate pulled in a big breath. “An hour or so, I suppose, why?” he asked.

“Oh, good. You don’t want to wait too long,” Adrianne said. “It’s close to Christmas. The good ones might all be gone.”

“Thanks.”

Adrianne gave them a wave and headed for her car. They stood in the doorway as she drove off. Then Levi turned back to Kate.

“So you’re staying? With me?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“I should tell you that last night I was determined to stay away from you, to make sure you met Tucker and went to the dance with him.”

“Because?”

“Because I need to prove to myself that I can be a good guy and do something for someone else. Something that doesn’t benefit me at all. Maybe even something that hurts a little. And trust me, you going out with Tucker would hurt.”

He lifted his hand and ran his palm down over her hair from her head to the middle of her back.

“But then I saw your face when you saw the cookies.”

Yeah, she’d been more excited than a grown woman probably should be about snowman cookies. “And?”

“I wanted to make you light up like that. I want to give you all the things you’re looking for this Christmas. And surely that makes me a good guy, right? Wanting to make someone else completely happy?”

She put her hand over his heart. “Why so worried that you’re not a good guy?”

“Because I’m not.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

He gave her a wry smile. “I’ll tell you about it, but not until we’re out cutting down a tree and decorating. You’ll be more forgiving of me then.”

She studied his face. There was something there, something hopeful, and something that looked like…fear. He was afraid that he could tell her something that would make her not want to be with him?

That should probably freak her out.

But it didn’t. Because he was worried about it. A true jerk, someone she couldn’t trust, wouldn’t care. And that was what she saw in his eyes. He cared. About what she thought and felt about him.

Besides, this was Joe’s brother.

“Okay,” she agreed. “Let’s go.”

He gave her a relieved grin and turned into the house, pulling her with him by the hand. “I’ll get dressed.”

“Okay.” She laughed. Talk about relieved. So he wasn’t the guy she was supposed to be spending this Christmas with. He was the guy she wanted to spend Christmas with.

He was dressed and at the door twenty minutes later.

Kate was through her third cup of coffee. And her sixth cookie. She quickly brushed the crumbs from her mouth and the front of her shirt while surreptitiously rearranging the cookies on the tray so it wasn’t quite so obvious she’d eaten half a dozen, then she turned to face him.

“Ready?”

He looked excited. And sexy.

His hair was still wet, even blacker than when it was dry. He hadn’t taken time to shave so his jaw was sexily scruffy. He was dressed in blue jeans and a blue T-shirt that made his eyes glow even brighter blue.

Damn.

“Don’t forget the candy canes,” she said as she made a beeline for the living room where her coat and gloves and purse were on a chair near the front door.

He grabbed her hand as she passed. He pulled her in and dipped her back, kissing her hot and sweet before setting her back on her feet and grinning. “I dreamed about candy canes last night.”

“Maybe the tree can wait.”

He laughed. “No way. If we’re going to get to know one another, I’m going to need all the brownie points I can get.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Shameful.”

“Shameful? Or shameless?”

He tipped his head. “A lot of both.”

“Sounds like fun stories.”

“Stories that lead to a car accident, a concussion and me here in Sapphire Falls changing my life.”

A car accident and concussion? She lifted a hand to his head. “Are you okay?”

“I’m getting better every second I’m with you.” He took her hand and pressed a kiss to the center of her palm.

She felt tingles shoot through her body, but she still asked, “Is this the result of the concussion?”

He shrugged. “If it is, I never want to get over it.”

She smiled and then frowned. “Wait, you mean this might actually all be a product of a brain injury?”

He kept hold her hand when she tried to pull away. “It’s not a brain injury. It’s a concussion.”

“Which means your brain was tossed around like a rubber ball inside a box.”

“Yeah, kind of. I’m fine though. Doc wants me to take it easy. Make some lifestyle changes.”

She nodded as it hit her she knew almost nothing about this man except that he knew what he was doing with his lips and fingers. And he was Joe’s brother. Which meant he’d grown up in Vegas in their family’s casinos and had money on level with Trump. Her eyes went wide. “You’re rich,” she blurted out before she could think better of it. Then she blushed. “Sorry. I just realized I know some things about you because of what I know about Joe.”

He nodded. “I’m rich. Part of my problem.”

Some people might have scoffed at that, but she actually knew what he meant. His money allowed him to be less responsible in some ways. Maybe many ways.

Her family had money too, and that was what had allowed her mother to run from and self-medicate her depression rather than dealing with it. She could have afforded great therapy, but she’d chosen the path of denial and liquor and shopping. It wasn’t only Christmas that had suffered from her emotional turmoil, but it was the thing that was most obvious to her children. At least until they’d gotten a lot older and realized Mom was so fun because she preferred to cover up any and all pain or difficulty with trips—to the beach, to the mall, to Disney World.

Dealing with pain and confronting difficult things was definitely harder as a grownup since Kate hadn’t had a role model or any practice.

Hence Kate’s plan to hibernate in her apartment and ignore Christmas completely.

It seemed that every time she’d put herself out there and tried to make some happy memories, it had blown up in her face. She’d begun to think her mom was right.

But then Levi had come along.

“It wasn’t your money that helped you give me a wonderful night last night, and cutting and decorating a Christmas tree, cuddling by the fire and watching Christmas movies on Netflix won’t cost a thing.”

His expression changed from one of self-deprecation to something that almost seemed like affection. “You’re right. The hot chocolate cost me, but everything else was all me.”

He seemed so pleased by that she couldn’t help but grin and slip her arms around his waist in a hug.

Levi seemed startled for a moment, as if he wasn’t sure how hugging worked, but Kate held on, and a few seconds later, she felt his arms around her.