I'll Be Yours for Christmas (12 page)

She shook her head, looking at him like she'd never seen him before.

“Don't worry, Reece. As far as I'm concerned, it didn't mean a damned thing.”

Reece closed his eyes, wishing he knew a better way to handle this, but he was fighting on so many fronts, he didn't know what else to do. He felt as if he was fighting the whole damned world and himself, and he was tired of it.

He started to say something, he wasn't even sure
what, but she'd already started to leave the room. He stepped forward, thinking about following, but instead he grabbed his jacket from the hook by the door and went out the back door to the barn with his cold coffee.

 

“H
EY, WHERE'S
R
EECE?”
Hannah asked Abby, smiling at a young girl who stood with her father, waiting on a paper cup of hot chocolate. “Anything interesting progressing there?” she asked slyly.

The father took a small tasting glass of Baco Noir, and Hannah marked his plastic bracelet with a second check—no one got more than three tastings in the course of an hour, even if they spat between tastings, so that they were okay to drive when they left.

Abby hadn't filled in Hannah on everything going on, but that was because she had an event to focus on, which was good. Having a couple dozen people flying in every direction and Christmas trees being decorated kept her from dwelling on what had happened that morning.

She was still furious, though maybe with herself as much as anything. How could she have been so stupid?

“Hardly. He's around here somewhere,” she said vaguely. Reece hadn't left, and he hadn't been in the house the last time she went inside, sparing them both another awkward moment.

She'd heard some noises coming from one of the barns, the sounds of power tools. He must be working on something, though she didn't go to find out what. She didn't care.

Well, the sad fact was that she
did
care, but she
had to stop. The ache that had been dully thudding in the background of her heart all afternoon became so sharp as she replayed his words in her mind that she swallowed hard and pushed it back down. This was not the time.

Hannah watched father and daughter walk away, her eyes clearly focused on the man's butt, distracting Abby enough to make her smile.

“Why are all the cute ones married?” her friend sighed. “What I wouldn't give for just one night of unbelievably hot sex right now.”

Abby coughed, looking around to make sure none of the children or parents had overheard Hannah's heartfelt wish.

“Weren't you dating that lawyer?”

“Yeah, that was over weeks ago. He was boring. I could hardly get through dinner on our first date with out falling asleep in my spaghetti. That was enough for me.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. And it's getting pretty sparse out there. I can't date the guys I work with, of course, and most of the other men our age I've known since we were kids. If I slept with one of them, everyone in town would know and my mother would have us married.”

Hannah sighed, pouring herself a larger glass of the noir. “What I need is some wild, kinky sex with some one who's not local. I'd settle for just one night with a guy whose mother or friends I might not bump into the next day at the store.”

Abby shook her head, grimacing. “Watch what you wish for.”

“I'm willing to risk it,” Hannah said. “But I take it things fizzled between you and Reece?”

“More like they imploded,” she said, closing her eyes at the hitch in her voice.

“Oh, no, honey…you fell for him, didn't you?”

“Not really. Well, a little,” Abby admitted. “It's not like I am madly in love with him or going to jump off a cliff, but I thought we had something. Then he—he just decided that we didn't. I didn't see it coming, not really. I knew it was temporary, but he just ended it and let me know later,” she said, filling Hannah in on the gruesome details of that morning's conversation.

“Jerk.”

“It's complicated for him, I know, but I can't believe he actually thought I would be so naive,” she said, and told Hannah about the phone call she heard and their resulting argument.

Hannah looked thoughtful for a moment. “My Aunt had PTS after a bad car accident—she couldn't even ride in a car for a long time, let alone drive, and it can make people act very strangely, but it sounds more like Reece's ego is just too big for his body, nice as that body is. You have to watch out for yourself, too. You were just trying to help,” Hannah said, giving her a hug.

“Yes, that's exactly it! He knows all about my life, he helped me with recovering from the fire, he has been there for me every step of the way, which was just…incredible,” Abby said, swiping a hand at a tear that snuck out.

“But then, when I reach out to him, when I want to help, he swatted me back. Told me not to mistake sex for the right to care about him, basically,” she concluded with a sniff.

“Ouch.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, maybe in some ass-backward male way he's trying to protect you by pushing you away,” Hannah offered, shrugging.

“Yeah, maybe, but it's stupid.”

“Well, he's a
guy,
” Hannah said, and for the first time in hours Abby had reason to laugh.

“I guess. A lesson learned, I suppose.”

“And you had some great sex, got to live out a high-school fantasy and got back in the game.”

“I would hardly call it getting back in the game,” Abby said. “Probably heading for another long dry spell.”

They both looked over at the people happily decorating trees. She envied their simple holiday cheer.

“Oh, I don't know. I think you might be putting out the sex vibe.”

“The
what?”

Hannah grinned. “The sex vibe. It's probably pheromones or something, but when someone is sexually active, it's like they put out a signal and attract other people who are interested, too.”

“Hannah, what the heck are you talking about? Give me that wine, you've had too much,” Abby said, laughing.

“See for yourself,” Hannah said, holding her glass
back where Abby couldn't reach it. “A totally hot guy has been checking you out all day.”

Abby had no idea what Hannah was talking about until she spotted two cute guys standing by the far edge of the crowd of half-decorated Christmas trees. One smiled at her boldly.

“Where did they come from?” Abby asked Hannah.

“They've been here the whole time, and that one hasn't been able to take his eyes off you, though you've been too distracted to notice. Good thing you have me watching out for you,” Hannah said, smiling and waving back at the cute guy.

“Hannah,
don't,
” Abby insisted, but then saw he was already on his way over.

“Why not? It's the perfect distraction from your troubles. Maybe his friend would be interested in doubling,” Hannah said, elbowing her slightly.

Abby sent her a look that promised retribution later on, but turned to the handsome guy—whose name was Derek—and offered him a taste of the Baco.

She maintained her professional composure for the first few minutes, but Hannah was right. Derek was charming and obviously interested. Unfortunately for Hannah, his friend was already making a move on another of the event guests, and her friend winked at her, giving her an “oh well” shrug before leaving Abby alone with Derek.

He was a local business owner, too, running his own computer software shop. He was also about three years her junior, but that didn't seem to bother him any. Maybe it shouldn't bother her, either.

He
was
hot, with wavy blond hair and mischievous blue eyes, and he looked great in his jeans, but Abby didn't feel any sparks at all. For all the attraction she felt, Derek could have been her brother.

But she chatted with him, enjoying the distraction from thinking about Reece.

“I'm glad we decided to stop when we saw all the commotion,” Derek said, studying the group decorating trees and stepping back to watch Abby fill tasting cups or dole out hot cocoa as people approached the booth.

“I'm glad you're enjoying yourself,” she said diplomatically, wondering if there was a way to discourage him without losing a new customer or being rude. He was a nice guy, but contrary to Hannah's theories about sex vibes, Abby wasn't feeling too flirty or sexy at the moment.

“I am. I've never really been into wines. I mostly like a beer after work,” he said, smiling at her in that way that surely sent many a girl into a flutter.

“I like beer, too. Many of the gourmet ones are so interesting,” she responded vaguely, and that set them off talking about breweries and beer tasting, which she had to admit, was very interesting. He didn't know much about wine, but he was very knowledgeable about beer.

“It looks like the trees are almost done—I'm going to have to do some judging and hand out prizes,” she said, hoping to find her exit that way.

Where had Hannah gone?

“Do you need any help?” Derek offered.

Abby was about to refuse, but then she saw Reece,
walking from the barn up to the house. He stood by the front and watched her, not moving.

She felt her annoyance kick in again and smiled brightly at Derek. “Sure. You can help me collect votes,” she said, standing close to him as she explained the voting process.

Abby didn't look back, but she heard the door slam in the background and grinned.

Derek was lit up like one of the Christmas trees by her interest, and she had to stop and think while he helped her collect votes for the best tree.

What was she doing? Derek was a sweet guy, as far as she could tell, and she had absolutely no romantic interest in him at all—using him to poke at Reece was ridiculous. She just hadn't been able to help herself. Still, it wasn't fair to Derek.

She watched her new friend smiling with a group of kids as he collected their votes and laughed as he took a snowball to the shoulder from one boy. Abby smiled, wishing she could just flip her emotions off from Reece and on to Derek. But she couldn't.

“You two seemed chummy,” Hannah said, appearing back at her side suddenly.

“Where were you?”

“I had to watch over the snowman-making contest,” she said innocently.

“Judy is doing that,” Abby said knowingly. “You left me alone with him here on purpose.”

Hannah grinned. “Did he ask you out?”

“Not yet.”

“You going to go?”

“I don't know.”

“Then my evil plan worked.”

“Reece saw us,” Abby said.

Hannah smiled. “I saw him staring at something, and he nearly broke the window in the door when he went inside.”

Abby shook her head. “Yeah, I think I got a little carried away and made it look like I was more interested in Derek than I am,” she confessed.

Hannah grinned more widely. “Then I would say my evil plan
really
worked. Reece was fit to be tied. Only one thing would get him that worked up at seeing you with another guy.”

Hope leapt in Abby's chest, but she squashed it.

“I'm not going to count on that. Nothing has changed.”

Derek walked back over, and they wrapped up the contest, awarded the prizes and made sure everyone had a little something to take home with them.

It was a very successful event, in spite of her own personal challenges, and Abby felt good about pulling it off.

When Derek asked her out before he was leaving, she regretfully declined, leaving Hannah shaking her head. Derek smiled and gave her his email, just in case, writing it down on a napkin and sticking it in her pocket.

“Why couldn't I have met him a few weeks ago?” she asked Hannah as the yard turned dark, and she sat with her friend on the porch step, looking at a field filled with brightly decorated trees and a crowd of snowmen. If she had met Derek then, maybe none of this would have happened.

“Would that have made a difference, really?”

Abby sighed. “Probably not.”

Whatever was between her and Reece, if anything, it wasn't easy, and it wasn't what she'd counted on. Still, she knew she wouldn't trade one second of the fun or passion they'd had, even though it blew up in her face.

“Want to spend the night at my place?” Hannah offered.

Abby shook her head. Even though it was awkward, she and Reece were in this until the end, and she'd handle it. She wasn't sure how, but she didn't really have any other choice.

R
EECE'S HANDS OPENED
and closed around the leather-covered wheel. His old friend Brody Palmer, who was sitting in the passenger's seat, chuckled. Brody had come up from Florida to see family for a few days, and Reece had really enjoyed a night out with a friend, having a few beers and talking shop. It was also the first time he'd driven anything other than his dad's old, slow truck for a while, and truth be told, he didn't drive that if he could avoid it, relying on friends or public transport.

It felt good, though he was somewhat nervous. That was to be expected, right? His mind went to Abby, distracting him from his doubts. It had been a week since their argument, and they managed to move around each other without a lot of fuss, talking when they had to, but not much else. He also seen her talking with the fire investigator sent to do the second report, and the strain she'd been under was obvious. He made himself scarce, not wanting to add to it. How could they think she would have torched her own place?

He wondered where she went when she was out.
With the young stud he'd seen her flirting with at the Christmas tree contest?

He'd wanted to punch the guy in the face, but that wasn't his right. Never was. Still, it had been all he could do to keep from crossing the field and claiming Abby as his.

Which left him more confused than ever.

“Stop feeling her up and drive already,” Brody said, making Reece laugh.

“Sorry. It's been a while,” he said, enjoying the snug fit of the seat and the powerful purr of the engine as he hit the gas and pulled out from the restaurant where he'd met Brody for dinner. Brody had been in the NASCAR circuit for a while and was thinking about retiring, which he'd told Reece over dinner.

“It's like sex. You might be a little rusty, but it will come back to you,” Brody reassured.

“You sure you trust me not to scratch her?” he asked with a hint of humor, but his nerves betrayed him.

Brody's new Dodge Charger SRT8 was a nice machine. This was the most car he'd driven since he crashed, and his hands were a bit sweaty, his heart slamming not from excitement, but apprehension.

“It's right to be nervous after a crash,” Brody said, reading him. “It's normal, but if you want back in, you have to start working through it. Open her up gradually. See how it feels. You can back off if you need to.”

His friend's understanding helped ease his anxiety. Brody was absolutely right—how could Reece expect to return to driving if he couldn't drive a regular road car?

He left the parking lot, and relaxed as the car started moving.

This was familiar. It felt good.

As they hit the lake road heading to the winery, Reece picked up speed, feeling his reflexes kick in, and he laughed with pure pleasure.

“Told you,” Brody said, chuckling, too.

Except for when he'd been making love to Abby, he hadn't been this pumped in some time. Her face, her scent, came back to him with startling clarity, and he lost track of what he was doing for a moment, which had him backing off on the gas.

“You okay?” Brody asked.

“Yeah, sorry. I was distracted for a minute,” he said, irritated. He still craved her touch, but he couldn't afford any distractions if he was going to drive, and that included women. Even Abby.

Reece focused for the rest of the drive up the side of the lake, turning into the driveway where he found a crowd of cars in the parking lot.

“I guess the party is still going, but we can head into the house, have a few beers,” he said to Brody, parking the Charger and handing his buddy the keys. “Thanks for that. It felt good.”

Brody stuck the keys in the pocket of the leather bomber jacket he wore, watching Reece speculatively. “I heard they were thinking of a new guy for your team,” he said.

“Yeah, I heard that, too. Hope to convince them differently, but it's hard, being stuck here.”

“I know a few guys at Daytona. If you want to fly in for a day, I could set up a test drive for you. We could go down there for a few times around the track, do some timed runs, if you want to see how it goes.”

Reece knew he should jump at the opportunity, but the sweat broke out on his hands again. He didn't understand why he was reacting this way, and it pissed him off.

“Sure, set it up,” he said evenly, though his stomach lurched as they walked up to the house.

His left leg was still bothering him. He was starting to think it might never get better, though he knew it felt worse after being locked into position while driving. Exercise and time would solve that problem, he kept telling himself.

“So what's the big event?” Brody asked, nodding toward the group of cars.

“Bachelorette party,” Reece said with a laugh, shaking his head.

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nope.”

Reece explained about Abby, and how she was working out of the winery. The bachelor party was at a bar in town, but Sandra had decided to have her party at the winery. Reece had overheard that conversation on his way through the house one day.

Brody stopped, rubbing his chin with his thumb and forefinger, grinning as he looked toward the reception rooms. “Should we crash?”

Reece laughed. “We're not eighteen anymore.”

His friend cocked an eyebrow in his direction. “Yeah, we wouldn't have known what to do with a roomful of half-drunk chicks in the mood to party when we were eighteen,” he said, making Reece laugh harder, his former tension dissolving.

“And you do now?” Reece teased back, slapping
Brody on the shoulder, but Brody was already heading toward the party. Reece followed, reluctantly.

“It's kind of Abby's thing,” he hedged. “Maybe we should just stick to the house.”

“Gotta get your spirit of adventure back, friend,” Brody said with a grin, and Reece gave in and continued to follow. They made their way over to the tasting room, walking in the side door where it was dark in the lobby, moving like spies along the bar and cracking open the door to the reception room out back.

Reece wasn't sure what he expected to see, but it sure wasn't what he saw.

“You sure this is the
bachelorette
party?” Brody asked on a whisper, his eyes wide.

“Yeah,” he answered, though he had to admit to a moment of confusion, as well.

At the far side of the room, women all gathered, and Reece had to blink a few times to believe what he was seeing. Abby had been very hush-hush about the party and changed the subject or was vague when he asked how it was going. Now he knew why.

He'd figured the party would either be a bunch of women dancing or talking, or sticking dollar bills in some young guy's jock strap, but instead, a ministage had been set up on the far end of the room, and there was a pole that braced from ceiling to floor.

And the women were taking turns dancing around it. They had their clothes on, of course. And most of them collapsed laughing as they tried to imitate classic stripper moves—some more successful than others—to songs playing so loudly all he could hear was music and shrieks of laughter, along with encouraging comments.

“Women are strange,” Brody said. “Don't they usually get mad at us for going to watch this kind of thing?”

Reece laughed, edging the door open for a better view of the merriment. It was all innocent fun and games, and no one even noticed they were there, they were all enjoying themselves so much.

He naturally sought out Abby, who was standing to the side, monitoring the event and making sure all was going well. She smiled and spoke to Hannah, who stood by her side, the two women standing apart from the main action.

The song ended and Sandra, much happier than the day he'd found her screaming at Abby out in the field, took the stage. She definitely appeared to be tilting a bit, a martini sloshing dangerously in her hand.

She took a microphone and grinned at the group of women in front of her.

“This is such a blast—as you know, it's all on video, and I'll be sure to let you know which cuts make it to YouTube tomorrow,” she promised. Laughter and a few playful threats ensued.

“But the martinis aren't gone and we're not done yet!” she announced to a chorus of hooting and howling.

“And not everyone has taken their turn, and we said everyone has to take a turn,” she warned, turning to face Abby, who was still talking to Hannah.

The crowd cheered again as Sandra said, “Now we know Abby Harper can throw a monster bachelorette party, but can she dance?”

Abby stopped midconversation with Hannah, just then noticing the room's attention was on her. Her eyes widened and she shook her head.

“Oh, this just got interesting,” Brody said, leering at Abby and Hannah. Reece elbowed him.

“The one on the right is Abby,” Reece told him, but the light warning in his voice was clear.

Brody grinned. “So the one on the left is free?”

Brody was a shameless womanizer, teased in the media as to whether he had more trophies or romantic conquests. About the only thing in life he was serious about was his driving. Behind the wheel, he was all business, but out in the world, he was all play.

“Yeah, bud, go for it,” Reece said, thinking it might be funny to see Brody get shot down. He'd known Hannah as long as he'd known Abby, and Hannah was as no-nonsense as they came, and she didn't suffer fools.

Abby was still vociferously protesting, even as Sandra tugged her up on stage, everyone laughing and daring her to do it.

When Abby was left alone by the pole, the crowd clapping to the beat of some bump-and-grind rock song that started playing, Abby laughed, put a hand to her face in embarrassment and rolled her eyes.

“Oh, my God, she's going to do it,” Reece said, finding himself inexplicably breathless.

Abby was dressed in a very simple black dress that seemed conservative next to some of the outfits in the room, but when she kicked her heels off and grabbed the pole, Reece's cock jerked and hardened.

She slid her back up and down the pole, the simple dress sliding down off her shoulder slightly, and rising as she bent her knee to reveal a smooth expanse of thigh. When her head fell back in apparent sexual bliss, Reece heard Brody hiss a breath and elbowed him again.

When she came back up, vamping for the girls, she looked across the room and froze as she saw him.

He smiled, nodding once, and mischief sparkled in her expression. No one seemed to notice them watching but her.

Her eyes stayed on his as she started dancing again. Wrapping herself around that pole like a pro, she bent forward to show the tops of beautiful breasts as she shimmied, impressing him with flexibility that he knew he wanted to learn more about.

“
That's
your high school girlfriend?” Brody said in awe.

“No, she was just a neighbor then, a girl I knew,” Reece said, not looking away.

“And now?”

“Not sure,” Reece said, wanting to stop talking and focus.

Laughing, Abby held her hand out. All hell broke loose when Hannah strutted up on stage, wearing a classic wool skirt and plain white blouse, but Reece suddenly saw the smart-mouthed accountant that he knew turn into a sexy vixen. She undid a few buttons and her hair swished around her face, making those dark-rimmed glasses downright intriguing.

Brody lost all control and started whistling, cat-calling for more, and the women turned, gaping, a moment of silence falling over the room, except for the heavy beat of the music still playing.

Reece wasn't sure what their reception would be, but he was poised to either apologize or make a run for it.

Brody's eyes were glued to Hannah, and he seemed to care less if they had been discovered, yelling to the women to start dancing again.

Laughter broke out, and some women came back, taking Reece and Brody by the hands, pulling them forward and insisting if they wanted to join the party, that
they
had to dance.

Reece laughed, but “over my dead body” was his silent reply to that. Brody, though, was in party form, grabbing a martini and jumping up on stage with a shocked Hannah, leading her to dance more with him, just as Reece took Abby's hand and helped her down.

“I missed you” was the first thing he said, and he realized it was true.

“I missed you, too,” she admitted.

His eyes devoured her flushed cheeks and the rest of the room around them fell away.

“I don't get the dancing thing, but I sure did like it,” he said in a low voice.

She grinned. “I don't know, either. It's some stripper fantasy, girl-power deal, I guess,” she said, shrugging. “It was fun, though.”

They both cracked up when they looked back to see Brody dancing around the pole.

Something clicked for Reece when he heard Abby laugh. He wanted to drag her off to a dark corner and take her now.

She seemed to know what he was thinking. The party had taken on a life of its own, and no one even noticed them anymore.

Before she could find some reason to change her mind, he took her by the hand and led her out of the room, into the tasting room, behind the bar. It was mostly dark, and no one else was there, though everyone was about twenty feet away at the party.

He backed her up against the wall, silencing anything she might say with a kiss that made his need clear. She moaned into his mouth, and as he slipped his hand up under the skirt of her dress, he found her slick, as aroused as he was.

“It's not the hedges, but it will do,” he said roughly into her neck, need clawing at him as he picked up the scent of her sweat and sex, her skin hot from dancing and arousal.

“Someone might come out, they could see,” she said, but he knew from her tone it was exciting her more…and she didn't ask him to stop.

“Yeah, they could, so we'd better hurry,” he agreed, freeing his erection from his jeans and lifting her hips, cradling her butt in his hands so that she could wrap her legs around him.