Mistletoe & Kisses

by Anthology

  In my house, I have photos covering every wall of my mother, Ella, my grandparents, and even photos of Gia and me, and of us with Aaliyah. I love seeing my loved ones all around me. I’m a sucker for knickknacks and throw pillows. This place needs some serious TLC to make it more cozy and inviting. I don’t know why most guys are so plain when it comes to their living space. This place is just depressing.

  I’m broken from my thoughts when I hear his voice again. “Sorry about that; I had to take a quick shower...” His tapers off and his feet falter when he walks out of the bedroom and spots me standing in his doorway.

  Wow. I think my brain just short-circuited. Standing before me, looking way too delicious for this early in the morning, is Brody in loose fitting jeans that are hanging off of his hips, his shirt in his hands, and his dark red hair damp from a shower. The ends are slightly curls, and I feel my fingers twitch as he walks towards me, slipping his shirt over his head.

  I’ve never wanted to run my hands over every inch of a man so badly in my entire life. My eyes slide from his waist, following his happy trail that appears from beneath his waistband and trickles up his solid six-pack and perfectly defined, wide and muscular chest. My eyes hesitate as they take in his deeply cut V.

  Damn, damn, damn.

  My pregnancy hormones are in high gear right now. I suddenly feel myself grow wet just from taking in his freaking Adonis-like body. I guess all the woodcutting does a body good!

  “Oh, sorry. I thought you were Ella. You sounded just like her.” He gives me an apologetic smile before slipping his long sleeve thermal tee onto his body. With every step he takes towards me, I feel my heart rate increase and my body flush. I went from being freezing cold five minutes ago to scorching hot, just from looking at this man.

  I laugh nervously and tuck my hair behind my ear. “Yeah, sorry about that. She’s feeding your son, who by the way is the cutest little guy I’ve ever met. She sent me out to find you to let you know breakfast is ready…oh, and I’m Callie. I’m Ella’s niece.”

  God, I don’t know how I am even speaking right now. He’s smiling at me with this perfectly straight, sparkling white smile. I normally go for the bad boys with tattoo-covered bodies, but for some reason, I’m finding his ink-free, chiseled body to be turning me on faster than anyone I’ve ever met.

  His neatly trimmed beard, which I’m assuming he keeps because he either hunts or because he works outdoors all winter, is giving him a rough, dark, and mysterious persona, and I find it extremely attractive.

  I blame it on becoming addicted to the Outlander TV series, because I’m crushing like a school girl on this guy, who looks a whole hell of a lot like the sexy Scottish Jamie-dude on the show. All I can say is damn.

  “Shit. I better stop dragging my ass then.” Reaching his hand out to me, he says, “You already know my name, but it’s only polite to make proper introductions. I’m Brody, and it’s very nice to meet you, Callie. I’ve heard her talk about a niece in Albany. It’s nice to finally put a face to the name.”

  I slide my hand into his and he gives it a gentle squeeze as he shakes it. I don’t know how something as innocent as a handshake can have every nerve-ending in my body firing as the warmth from his hand travels through mine and straight to the pit of my stomach. I don’t know if it’s the baby moving, or something more, but my belly just got the weirdest fluttering sensation, one which I’ve never felt before.

  The feeling must not be mutual, because Brody’s eyes never changed as our hands made contact. I feel like every inch of me awakened for the first time just from holding his hand, while he has the same content expression on his face and friendliness in his eyes.

  No look of burning desire glowing in his eyes, they are the prettiest shade of green I’ve ever seen, with a hint of blue. His aquamarine orbs pop with his dark reddish-brown hair framing his face. His hair hangs to just below his ears, and a few strands are dangling in front of his face as he smiles down at me with a look of curiosity taking over his strong features.

  “How the hell did she get breakfast done so fast? That woman cooks enough food to feed an entire platoon, so having breakfast ready before nine a.m. is a miracle.”

  “I was up bright and early, thanks to a certain lumberjack chopping up wood at sunrise, so I helped her with breakfast.”

  He stares at me baffled for a few seconds before a smirk curls up the corner of his mouth. “Sorry about that. Normally I don’t work on Saturdays, but this morning I had to chop wood because there’s talk of a northeastern storm coming, and it’s expected to land in a day or two. Since Ella never serves breakfast before nine, I figured I had time to take a shower. I didn’t want to stink at the breakfast table...”

  I’m just standing here gawking at the poor guy, practically drooling all over myself listening to him, but not really hearing what he’s saying. I heard shower, and then my concentration flew out the window.

  I notice he stops talking, so I nod my head in agreement. What I’m agreeing to, I have no clue. All I know is I want him to keep talking, because his voice is doing crazy things to my body.

  My stomach growls again and I laugh, pressing my hand to my stomach. “Sorry. I haven’t eaten yet either. It was torture smelling all that food and not being able to eat it. Anyways, I’ll head back to the house and let you finish getting ready.”

  Just as I turning to grab the door handle and leave, he reaches out and grabs my shoulder. “Hold on and I’ll walk back with you. I just need to slip my boots on real quick.”

  My heart pitter-patters in my chest and I have to close my eyes for a moment to regain my composure. He’s so close I can practically feel the electric charge from his body jolting straight into mine. The baby moves, startling me, and I bring my hand to my belly as I try to control my breathing.

  “Okay,” I murmur as I spin around, still gripping the doorknob, and sag against the door.

  His gaze slowly moves from my face down to my stomach, where my hand is resting. His eyes darken as he watches me rub my belly. “You expecting?” he asks lowly.

  I let out a nervous laugh. This is awkward. I’m fantasizing about this guy I just met, while I stand here pregnant with another man’s baby.

  “Yeah, five months along. I just found out yesterday it’s a girl.”

  “A girl. Well, I guess it’s safe to say you’ll be going pink-crazy, now that you know.”

  With laughter in my voice, I tell him only half-jokingly, “Yeah, it’s going to look like Pepto-Bismol exploded in her nursery. And seriously, I am not kidding when I say I can only hope my daughter is born with even a fraction of Corbin’s cuteness.”

  At the mention of Corbin, his eyes light up and a playful chuckle escapes him as he runs his fingers through his damp locks. “Oh, he has the face of an angel, but don’t underestimate him. He hides his little devil horns well.”

  Rolling my eyes, I give him an I-don’t-believe-you look. “There’s no way. He is too adorable, and quite the flirt too.”

  “Now that, I believe.”

  We continue talking about Corbin and his mad flirting skills the entire walk back to the bed and breakfast. I notice when he talks about his son his face brightens, and he looks younger and even more attractive…if that is even possible. I notice a few times his gaze turns distant and darkness takes over his smiling eyes. I want to ask where Corbin’s mother is, but we only just met and I don’t want him to feel like I’m just being nosey.

  My mind is working on overdrive the entire walk back to the house. I can’t wrap my head around what the hell happened up in his loft just now. I’ve been with Jase for a few years, and sure, I’ve gotten butterflies when he’s around and I love him, but I’ve never felt an uncontrollable attraction to someone like I did with Brody.

  These next two weeks here are definitely going to be interesting to say the least. The only good thing is for the few minutes I was up there with him, I was just me—not Jase’s Callie, who gets sympathetic glances around town and wh
o everyone talks about as the poor girl who got knocked up and then abandoned by her boyfriend.

  When Brody looked at me, he saw just me.

  The Callie I want to be.

  Chapter Six

  THE WEEKEND FLEW by. I spent all Saturday and Sunday with Ella. We went to Queensbury Saturday afternoon to get some groceries she’ll need for Christmas. She said she planned on going Monday, but now with the storm growing in strength as it makes it was towards us, she thought it was best to do it now. We had dinner at Olive Garden, where I put away an entire plate of chicken parmesan, when before I was pregnant, I’d have to box up half of my plate to bring home.

  I couldn’t resist grabbing a few pairs of yoga pants and a couple more sweaters at the mall. A girl can never have too many, especially with my growing belly. I’ve been craving chocolate and candy canes all week, so I grabbed a few boxes of each before we headed home. We stopped by Starbucks on the way home, and I got a mocha latte and stirred that bad boy with a candy cane, and there was only one word to describe it: Heaven.

  Pregnancy cravings are no joke. When you’re craving something, you want it then and there—no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Ella just laughed at me as I moaned after enjoying the first sip. My lil’ pretty peanut happened to agree too. I only allow myself one cup of coffee a day because of the caffeine, so I savored the hell out of that latte.

  Sunday, we spent the day baking apple crisps and tons of other fattening and way-too-yummy goodies in preparation for the storm. There’s talk of possible power outages in the area because of heavy snow and strong winds, so Ella said it’d be best to have lots of things made we can eat without having to use the oven.

  Today is the day the storm is coming. Ella’s boyfriend Devin got here this morning and said it was crazy in town. Everyone was out getting last minute things before the storm hits. Devin tended bar all weekend, so he wasn’t able to come to the B&B, but he said due to the storm and Christmas, he was closing it from Monday until Thursday, giving himself four full days here to be with Ella.

  I’ve never seen her smile as much as she did this morning while she waited for him to get here. As soon as he walked through the door, she practically tackle-hugged him. I offered to watch Corbin until Brody was done working, getting everything prepared for the storm. Corbin is the easiest kid to babysit, because he is always silly and playful. Ella and Devin didn’t fight me too hard before finally disappearing upstairs.

  The house is empty right now. The elderly couple went snowshoeing, and the family with three kids ended up going out to ride the snowmobiles Ella has here.

  Almost two hours after they went upstairs, I fell asleep on the couch with Corbin curled up against my chest. He had fallen asleep about twenty minutes before me while watching cartoons. I was fighting to keep my eyes open, but I lost the battle after deciding I would just ‘rest my eyes’.

  The feeling of someone laying a blanket on top of me causes my eyes to snap open. Blinking through blurriness, a fuzzy image of Brody standing above me comes into focus.

  “I didn’t mean to wake you. There’s a chill in here and um…I didn’t want you two to get cold.” He is adorable when he’s nervous.

  I purse my lips and push my eyebrows together as I stare up at this gorgeous, sweet, and caring man. No guy has ever done something so kind just because. Normally with Jase, it was because he had an ulterior motive.

  “That is really sweet of you Brody. Thank you. I’m actually hungry now that I’m awake, so I think I’m going to grab a snack.” I slowly slide down the couch and successfully get away from Corbin without waking him.

  “While you do that, I’m going to start a fire to help take the chill out of the air in here.”

  “Sounds cozy. I love sitting by the fire; it is so relaxing.” I pause for a moment and watch as he gets to work starting the fire. I don’t know why, but I love watching him. Just him doing the simplest things seems so intriguing and sexy to me. I keep blaming it on the pregnancy hormones. They’re making me behave like a horny teenager, I swear. “Do you want anything to eat? You’ve been working all morning; you have to be starving.”

  Kneeling in front of the fireplace, he glances at me over his shoulder. “Umm, I guess. Yeah, I am kind of hungry. I’ll settle for a ham and cheese sandwich I guess. Thanks, Callie.”

  My heart stutters in my chest again when he says my name. It sounds amazing coming from his lips—lips I’d really, really like to become acquainted with.

  What the hell is wrong with me?

  I need to stop these thoughts. I’m setting myself up to get hurt by getting ideas in my head that will never become a reality. Hopeful thinking only sets you up for devastating disappointment.

  I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Brody since Saturday morning. I mean, come on. The first time I met the guy, he was shirtless, making every cell in my damn brain short-circuit!

  We spent all of Saturday morning together with Ella and Corbin before Ella and I went shopping. Brody was very quiet, but what I found to be the craziest thing is that even when we’re not talking, I feel comfortable around him. Sometimes with people, if we don’t speak a lot, I get that weird, uncomfortable feeling. With him, it was more like we basked in the peacefulness of being around one another, even without a ton of talking.

  Corbin is wiggling his way into my heart. He is so precious, and just the thought of leaving in two weeks and not seeing his big, bright smile every morning breaks my heart. I hate I’m getting attached to everyone already, because this is temporary. Before I know it, I’ll have to return to the real world, go back to dealing with Jase, and try to get some kind of support out of him for this baby.

  I need to just chill out and relax. I’m here to get away and rest. I talked to Gia this morning for a few minutes. I texted her when I knew she’d be on her lunch break. She was all too supportive of me banging the hot handyman at my auntie’s bed and breakfast. She was a lot of help…not. I was hoping she’d be the voice of reason and make me see the things I’m thinking about are crazy, not encourage me!

  I set to work getting the stuff out of the fridge and cupboard to make Brody’s sandwich. I’m craving hot cocoa, so I make myself a mugful and plop a candy cane in it. I balance Brody’s plate, along with my banana muffin and cocoa, and make my way back through the house and into the living room.

  Corbin is still fast asleep on the couch, taking up a whole section of the L-shaped sofa. The only spot open is right next to Brody. I bite back a nervous smile as I hand him his plate. “I didn’t think to ask if you need something to drink,” I whisper before setting my muffin and cocoa down on the coffee table.

  Patting the sofa, he gives me that damn makes-my-knees-weak smile. “Sit down, Callie. I’m fine. You’re the pregnant one, yet you’re trying to run around and get me everything. Relax and eat your muffin.” I let out a soft sigh and grab my snack before joining him on the couch.

  Chapter Seven

  WE SIT QUIETLY and eat while Brody takes advantage of Corbin being asleep and flicks the television off of cartoons. I become slightly giddy inside when he stops on the Hallmark Movie Channel, which is playing one of my favorite movies, Christmas in November. I love this channel, especially during the holidays, because it’s a continuous marathon of Christmas movies.

  “I love this movie,” I tell him, breaking the silence as I pop a piece of muffin into my mouth. “I always cry though. It makes me so darn emotional. I think it’s because my mother had cancer, so I can relate to the characters. She passed away just before the holidays too. This time of year is always really hard.”

  I turn my gaze from the TV to Brody when I feel his hand squeeze my knee. “I’m so sorry to hear that. I remember before, Ella mentioning her sister passed from cancer. I never put two and two together that it was your mother. Cancer sucks. I hope one day we’ll finally have a world that is free of it.”

  “Me too…” My words tapper off as I start to eat again. I hate talking about my mom. Even to
this day, it is so hard, especially at Christmastime. What hurts more is trying to remember the sound of her voice, or her laughter and smile. Slowly, it’s all faded from my mind, and I hate it. I only keep her face imbedded in my mind thanks to the pictures throughout my house. Without them, it would probably fade too.

  I find myself relaxing beside Brody as we watch the movie. I look at Corbin every now and again and find myself wondering about his mother. Where is she? Why isn’t she here?

  Cupping my mug against my chest, I watch the movie as I slowly stir my candy cane in the cocoa. I slowly suck the chocolate off of the peppermint and almost choke on it when Brody clears his throat beside my head. “What?” I ask with a hint of laughter in my voice.

  “You really love cocoa and those candy canes, huh?”

  I feel my cheeks flush as his eyes focus in on my lips. It never occurred to me how awkward it would be to eat a candy cane in front of a guy. I’ve been so focused on just the need to eat it I hadn’t paid attention. Now, all I can think about is how many guys watched me and got turned on from me eating a freaking candy cane.

  I decide to play it cool and pretend I’m not freaked out. I take a sip of my cocoa and smile at him. “I love them. And the baby does too. I feel like I need to have it morning, noon, and night.”

  His Adam’s apple bobs up and down as he swallows hard. I have to stifle a giggle. Men are so easy. Any double-entendre referring to their penis and they’re a mess.

  “Are you having any other crazy cravings with your pregnancy?” he asks as he shifts beside me, now facing me more so than the movie.

  I lay my head back on the couch and stare up at him as I try to think of the things I can’t get enough of lately. Number one on that list would be him, but I’m sure as hell not telling him that.