Kiss Me Under the Mistletoe: A Small Town Holiday Novella Collection

by Christine Kingsley

  Nothing had changed. That's all Finn could think about as he finished wrapping the twinkling lights around Noelle's tree. She'd just gone into the kitchen to make some homemade hot cocoa for them.

  The sound of Christmas classics played throughout the house. It had started snowing again. He was helping her decorate her tree and they'd been laughing together. It was just like old times.

  From dragging the tree to his truck, struggling to get it through her front door, then getting it set up in the front window—the only place the ridiculously huge tree would fit—it felt as if the last six years had never happened. That this was just another holiday with the woman he'd always loved.

  He thought she felt it, too. He wanted to believe she did. But he couldn't be quite sure. He was going to have to do something to figure it out, though, because if the past few days had taught him anything, it was this—he was determined not to lose her again.

  It wasn't just a coincidence things had worked out the way they had, the two of them pushed back together to work to save the ranch. It was fate. He and Noelle were meant to be.

  He just had to make sure she was on the same page.

  "Here you go," she singsonged, practically skipping back into the living room with two huge cups of hot cocoa. She'd changed from her snow boots and heavy jacket to fuzzy socks and a tacky Christmas sweater—yes, really, his girl loved Christmas that much—topped off with an elf hat.

  It was all he could do not to wrap his little elf in his arms and tell her that he'd certainly been a good boy all year and all he wanted for Christmas was her.

  But he had to tread carefully. Unless something had changed, she was easily spooked by declarations like that.

  "It smells delicious," he said as he took his mug from her. "Same recipe?"

  She laughed. "Yeah. The one on the back of the cocoa container."

  Finn made a face of exaggerated disappointment. "Really? And all these years I thought you had a secret recipe straight from the North Pole.

  She leaned in close, and he could smell a hint of peppermint. "I'll let you in on a little secret," she whispered. "I do add my own little secret embellishments."

  He wasn't surprised. He'd never had hot cocoa as good as Noelle's. There were a lot of things in life that weren't as good as Noelle's.

  "Come here." On an impulse, he pulled her down beside him on the couch and put an arm around her shoulder, then kissed her softly on the top of her head. She stilled against him. "Thank you for this."

  "It's tradition, Finn," she said after a minute, taking a sip of her cocoa and peeking at him from the corner of her eye. "You can't decorate a tree without hot chocolate."

  "And Christmas music."

  "And old movies playing in the background," she added.

  "Of course not. Just the idea is an abomination to the sanctity of the holiday." He tried to keep the smile out of his voice.

  She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You're teasing me." She slapped him lightly on the arm and tried to pull away, but he held her firmly in place.

  "Maybe. But I love that about you."

  She froze and stared at him, wariness creeping into her eyes, and Finn realized with a jolt what he'd said. Not exactly those three words, but close. She looked so much like a deer in headlights that he didn't know if he should backpedal or go ahead and take the leap now that he'd said that much.

  It would be easy to tell her how he felt. That he'd always loved her, for as long as he could remember. And that it didn't look like he was ever going to stop, either. But what would that do? Either send her running or make her feel trapped. Neither of which he wanted.

  So instead, he stood from the couch. "Let's get these ornaments on the tree." He drained his cocoa mug and set it down, then walked back toward the brightly lit tree.

  They decorated the tree in relative silence for the next few minutes, and Finn could see the wheels turning in Noelle's head.

  Finally, he stopped and turned to her, gripping her gently by the shoulders so she would face him.

  "Look, I'm sorry if what I said you—"

  "No, it's not that." She wouldn't meet his eyes. "I just forgot myself for a minute."

  "Noelle, look at me." She didn't, so Finn tipped her chin up with his fingers so that she didn't have a choice. "I know you better than that. No matter how much time has passed or what's happened between us, I still know you. Probably better than you know you. You're upset."

  She didn't say anything, just studied his face with such intensity he wished he could tell what she was thinking.

  "You think you know me so well?" she asked. "What am I thinking right now then?" The words mirrored his thoughts so closely that it almost unnerved him.

  Maybe some things had changed. But not everything. The look on her face shifted to one he'd recognize if a hundred years had passed.

  She stared at him through heavy-lidded eyes, and he could feel her pulse pounding out a hard beat where his hand still rested near her neck.

  He could be wrong. It wasn't inconceivable. But every fiber in his being was screaming out to kiss her, and that she wanted him to.

  There was only one way to find out.

  Chapter 5

  As Finn stared into her eyes, Noelle fought an internal war between her head and her heart, and she had a sinking feeling that her heart was winning the current battle.

  She knew it was a mistake to stand there in his arms, but the way his thumb caressed her jawline, slow and teasing, she couldn't have moved if a train were headed straight at her.

  The next few seconds played out in slow motion in her brain, which was currently becoming so consumed with the need for Finn to just kiss her already that she couldn't stop herself from taking a step closer to him, tilting her head higher, letting her lips fall open slightly.

  But her eyes—her eyes were wide open with equal trepidation and anticipation. She bit her lip and saw Finn's jaw tick as his eyes roamed over her face.

  Slowly. Slowly.

  Seconds ticked by, but it felt like minutes, hours, as Noelle gave up the battle and used what mental energy she had left to will Finn to lean in those last few inches.

  The hint of peppermint flooded her nose as his warm breath came nearer to her, as he whispered her name so softly she may have imagined it.

  Then finally—finally!—his lips met hers, and her eyes fluttered closed as she relished the feel of his warm mouth on hers, gentle, tentative, almost questioning. She heard a soft moan, then realized as his arms went around her and pulled her more tightly to him that it was her own.

  The kiss grew fiercer. Passionate. Demanding. And she opened to him as he angled her head so that he could deepen the kiss.

  Noelle felt her knees turn to jelly as she clung to Finn, half in desperation to get closer, half so she wouldn't sink to the floor at the sheer relief of being in his arms again.

  Somewhere in the back of her mind, angels sang the Hallelujah Chorus, and she couldn't agree more.

  Then she felt Finn smile against her mouth and she realized it wasn't just in her mind, but that the Christmas playlist had somehow mirrored her own internal feelings about kissing him.

  As abruptly as it had begun, Noelle was yanked from the moment as her brain gained control once more. No! Stop! it screamed. Danger ahead!

  She pulled back from Finn, lifting a hand to her mouth, her lips swollen and tender from the kiss as she stared wordlessly at him. His face instantly went blank, a mask she couldn't read.

  Then before she realized what she was saying, the words had tumbled from her lips. "Why Finn? Why now?"

  He shook his head as if to clear it, as if he couldn't understand what she was saying. "What?"

  She took a step backward, putting more distance between them, and it felt as if she were opening up a chasm that she feared they wouldn't be able to cross again.

  "You pushed me away. You practically sent me away. And now you want to act as if none of it ever happened? This whole afternoon I—" She
shook her head and cut herself short, not willing to say aloud what she had done.

  She'd let herself pretend, fall into the fantasy that nothing had changed between them. That they were still two best-friends-turned-lovers who were falling so easily back into a rhythm they'd had before.

  But that was before. And this was now. And she couldn't let herself do this again. Because whatever this was to Finn, to her it was a path leading straight to heartbreak. And this time she was afraid she wouldn't be able to survive it.

  "Noelle." He reached for her, but she jerked her arm away. His mouth set in a grim line. "Don't do this."

  "Don't do what?"

  He gestured at her. "This. All of this. Don't shut me out."

  She laughed, but there was no humor in it. "That's great, Finn. Really rich. I'm shutting you out now? Well, you know what? Maybe it's better that way. You did me a favor all those years ago. You know, if it weren't for you doing what you did I'd probably have been stuck here on this ranch my entire life. I should probably thank you, now that I think about it." Her voice was getting wild, but she didn't care.

  He looked stunned by her words, his jaw set, eyes flashing, but she'd already said this much and it didn't look like she was going to be able to stop until she'd said it all.

  "So, here you go. Thank you very much, Finn. You have my sincerest gratitude. Without you I never would have gotten out of this town and made a real life for myself. And it's a good thing, too, because now I have the skills to fix this mess of a business."

  "Noelle…" he said again, a hint of warning in his voice.

  "No, Finn. You don't have a say in it this time. You made your position very clear the first time around. And you're right. My life is in Denver. So you can rest assured that the minute things are on the right track here, that's exactly where I'll be headed."

  She spun on her heel, not wanting to see the look in his eye. Not wanting to know what he had to say about it. It had been a mistake to let herself get close to him again. They may have been friends once upon a time, but that was gone. They'd been through too much to get back there.

  Safely in her room, she flung herself down on her bed and squeezed her eyes shut against the onslaught of tears that threatened. She'd vowed to protect her heart from him again, but she'd done a miserable job of it.

  Finn McCormack held more power over her heart than she let herself believe. How was she supposed to be around him for the next month if she hadn't been able to keep herself in check for even a week?

  Picking up a pillow from her bed, Noelle buried her head in it and screamed in frustration. Damn him and his sexy smile and good guy act. She'd never stood a chance.

  "You little brat! I can't believe you did this without me!"

  Noelle attempted to smile at her sister, but she knew it looked forced. She couldn't even look at the tree without thinking about Finn and that kiss.

  Natalie pursed her lips, her hands on her hips, and gave Noelle a look of pure sisterly disgust. "Well, we'll just have to go get another one."

  That did get a laugh out of Noelle. "No way. I'm not going out to get another tree until this one is on its last limb."

  Natalie shook her head. "Then I'll do it myself. Or better yet, I'll wait until Nicole gets here and then we can get one together. Surely it will be better than yours." She clapped her hands together, suddenly excited. "That's it! We'll get two more and we can make it a competition. Just like that year that we each had our own trees because we couldn't agree on which was the best so Grandma let us each get our own."

  Noelle rolled her eyes, but couldn't suppress a grin. That had been quite a Christmas. "Daddy was so upset. Do remember the look on his face when he came inside and found all the furniture moved out of living room so that we could make room for three trees?"

  Natalie doubled over in laughter, clutching her stomach. "And then Grandma's when she discovered that Nicole's tree had somehow made it home with a bird nest still intact?"

  "I had forgotten about that! I’ve never heard her scream as loud as she did when the bird took flight in the house." Noelle sank down onto the couch and Natalie joined her, linking their arms together.

  "I'm so happy to be here. How have we gone this long without spending the holidays together?"

  Noelle eyeballed her sister. "We see each other every holiday, you goof."

  Shaking her head, Natalie looked at her with glistening eyes. "Not at home. When is the last time we were all home for Christmas? And I don't mean for the actual day. I mean for the whole holiday season?"

  Noelle smiled at her sister. She thought the same thing when she went to pick her up at the airport earlier that day. "It's been since I went to Denver."

  "Yep. Six years. That's crazy! Way too long. We are so overdue for a good, old-fashioned family holiday." Natalie eyed her conspiratorially. "I saw Finn."

  "What?" Noelle jerked away from her sister and turned to face her head on. "When?"

  "While you were at the store."

  Noelle had gone shopping for groceries for Thanksgiving after dropping her sister off at the house. It was supposed to snow even harder over the next couple days, and she didn't want to have to brave the country roads in bad weather.

  Natalie gave her a sly smile. "I hope you got enough food for an extra guest."

  Her jaw hit the floor. "No you did not, Natalie Cheyenne Silverman! Why would you do that?"

  Natalie rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Enough with bringing out the Cheyenne. Really?" Then she smiled again like a satisfied cat. "Because he didn't have anywhere else to go for the day. What did you expect me to do? I mean, really, Noelle. I have to say, I was shocked when he told me you hadn't invited him yourself. What's up with that? He always used to have Thanksgiving with us."

  "Used to being the operative words. It's been six years. And we aren’t together anymore. Or have you forgotten?" Doubtful, as she'd been nearly as upset over the breakup as Noelle herself. Noelle flushed with anger now and she crossed her arms over her chest. "I really can't believe you did that."

  "Don't be too hard on your sister, Noelle." Noelle looked up to find Grandma Beth making her way into the living room. "She may have gotten the idea from someone."

  "Grandma!" She dropped back on the couch and covered her eyes with her arm before peeking back at her grandmother. "I swear you are out to get me."

  Beth gave her a stern look. "Don't be ridiculous, child. And enough with the dramatics. Finn is welcome here any time. In case you forgot, your father always had a standing invitation for his employees to enjoy the holidays with the family."

  "Whoa, wait. Finn works at the ranch now?" Natalie looked as if she wanted to clap with glee.

  "That's not even half of it. He's the foreman. I swear, I don't know what I did to deserve all this, but fate has it out for me." Noelle didn't move from her position on the couch.

  Natalie scoffed. "Don't play dumb. You know exactly what you did."

  Scowling at her, Noelle said stiffly. "I have no idea what you're talking about. And besides, sis, aren't you supposed to be on my side?"

  "Not when your side makes bad decisions."

  "Natalie," their grandmother said, a hint of warning making its way into her voice. "That's enough from you, too. Listen to the two of you, bickering like little girls again. Do your old grandmother a favor and put an end to it, eh?"

  "Fine," Noelle sighed. "But you haven't heard the last of it from me."

  "I'm sure," Natalie said with a smirk. "Now come help me unpack."

  Noelle followed her sister up the stairs to her old room and they caught up on how things were going for Natalie. She worked in finance at a major firm in New York, and she was never short on entertaining stories to tell her family about the city.

  Noelle shook her head. "Sometimes I still can't believe that you live in a place so different from here."

  "Look who's talking, Miss Fancy Pants. You, who is all involved in big city society."

  "Please." She was quiet for a minut
e, then said what had been on her mind for the last few days, even more so since her blowup with Finn. "Do you miss it here? Do you ever regret leaving?"

  Natalie frowned. "Are we still talking about me?"

  All of the sudden, she felt the need to tell someone about all the inner turmoil she'd been dealing with since she first laid eyes on Finn last week.

  "Oh, Nat, I don't know what to do anymore. Or what to think." She proceeded to tell her sister everything that had happened, from finding out about the ranch and Finn building the new barn and taking over, to their day decorating the Christmas tree and the kiss and ensuing argument that left them both so angry with each other that they'd avoided each other since.

  At least she thought he was angry with her. He was gone when she came downstairs later and she hadn’t seen him since then.

  When she finished telling her sister, she sat there waiting for whatever Natalie had to say about it. But Natalie didn’t say anything, just regarded her with a look of pity as she shook her head.

  “What?” Noelle demanded. “Say something.”

  “Noelle, for being the oldest, you certainly aren’t the wisest.”

  Her mouth dropped. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “You have a habit of running away when things get tough. You’d rather ignore issues than face them head-on. Why else have you not come back home for so long?” Natalie continued to look at her with that same expression on her face, like she felt sorry for her.

  “You’re one to talk. You hightailed it out of here as quick as you could, too. All of us did.”

  Natalie smiled sadly. “But you were the only one running from something.”

  Before Noelle could process that or think more about what her sister was implying, Natalie pointed the conversation back toward what else Noelle had let slip. The ranch.