by LuAnn McLane
“Yes,” she managed to answer, and smiled through the tears.
Jesse grinned. “Good, because the train has already departed, so you’re stuck anyway.”
“And you made sure of that?”
“Kinda.”
She arched one eyebrow.
“Okay . . . yes.” When Claire laughed, he tugged on her hand like an excited kid. “Come on. I have something for you.” Claire followed him over to the tree. There was a package wrapped with her name on it. She put a hand to her chest when he handed it to her. “Open it.”
With trembling fingers she fumbled with red ribbon tied around newspaper.
“Sorry, I didn’t have any wrapping paper.”
“Oh . . . ,” she breathed when she revealed an exquisitely carved angel. “Jesse, she is absolutely beautiful.”
He smiled and then shook his head. “I found her on my workbench when I went out to get the Bobcat. It’s funny, because I thought I had sold all of them, and yet there she was. Her face haunted me while I started plowing the road, and before I knew it, I was chopping down a tree.”
Claire was so overwhelmed with emotion that she couldn’t speak.
“I remembered that you collected angels and I wanted you to have her.”
“She is a treasure.Thank you.” Claire carefully set the angel down and then gave Jesse a hug but then pulled back and said, “Ohmigosh. It’s your birthday and Christmas Eve! And I don’t have anything for you!”
Jesse picked up the discarded red ribbon and tied it around her neck. “I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Hot for the Holidays
Susanna Carr
Chapter One
The silver tinsel looked as if it had been ravaged. One spot was crushed, another part stripped bare. A long stretch of the decorative string was twisted, the silver strips fanning out wildly. It was beyond repair.
Maybe no one would notice. Rachel grabbed for a tack from her desk. Once she pinned it back up, she could hide the damage with a few well-placed Christmas cards.
“Whoa, Rachel.” She recognized her friend Nikki’s voice at the doorway. “What happened to your cubicle?”
Shoot. So much for no one noticing. Rachel felt the unfamiliar heat sting her cheeks. Was she blushing? Terrific. She used to think she was physiologically incapable of showing embarrassment. The inability had come in handy many times over the years.
“It was a wild party last night,” Rachel said, keeping her head low and her attention on the denuded tinsel so Nikki couldn’t see her blush.
“The office Christmas party?” Nikki asked in disbelief. Rachel heard her friend step into her work space.“Were we at the same party?”
“Pretty sure,” she muttered as she drove the thumbtack into the wall with more force than necessary.
“Really? Because the highlight of my night was getting stuck in the corner with the drunk copy machine guy.”
“He’s cute.” Rachel took a step back and surveyed the repair job. “Did you get very far with him?”
“He talked nonstop about the best way to get copy toner out of clothes. His cuteness factor took a big hit,” Nikki said. “Now, if he had plans of rolling around with me in copy toner, that would have been a different story.”
“Agreed.” Rachel stabbed a strategically placed Christmas card over the worst spot of tinsel.
“Why didn’t you get me away? I looked for you.”
Rachel turned around and faced her friend. Nikki was a short, voluptuous woman who loved to show off her curves in low-cut shirts and tight jeans. She made up for her lack of height with stiletto heels and by piling her long red hair on top of her head.
“Sorry about that. I got . . . distracted.” Well, that’s one word for it, she thought.
Nikki didn’t say anything as her attention was drawn to Rachel’s desk. “What happened to your chair?”
“Uh . . . nothing.” She wanted to wince at the lame answer.
“It’s totally destroyed.” Nikki gave the wheels a kick and watched the lopsided piece of furniture sag.“It looks like there was an orgy in here. . . .”
All of Rachel’s muscles locked. She knew there was no getting out of this. She watched Nikki’s face with dread. She saw her friend’s eyes flicker over the cubicle, indexing every damning piece of evidence.
Nikki’s jaw dropped as her shoulders hunched. “Oh, my God!” she screeched excitedly. “Did you—?”
“Look around, Nikki.” Rachel raised her hands as if she could stop her friend’s thoughts.“This cubicle isn’t big enough for an orgy.”
“Rachel Bartlett, what were you doing last night?” Her voice dropped low as delight shone in her eyes. “More important, who were you doing it with?”
Rachel raised an eyebrow, trying to appear indifferent. She needed to deflect Nikki’s probing questions. “You have an active imagination.”
“Apparently it needs to be broadened.” Nikki grabbed Rachel’s arm and drew her close. “Come on, Rachel, don’t hold back,” she whispered. “You obviously didn’t last night.”
Rachel looked around, hoping no one could hear the conversation. Most of the work spaces were empty, as her coworkers were seemingly having difficulty dragging themselves to work after the late night. They obviously didn’t have as much practice as she and Nikki did.
The closest person around was Chuck. She didn’t have to worry about him. His gaze was focused on the computer screen, and his earbuds couldn’t contain the marching band music blasting through his MP3 player.
Nikki’s sharp inhale echoed as she followed Rachel’s gaze. “You had sex with Chuck?”
“Oh, hell no.” How could her friend think such a thing? Then again, she was trying to date a different kind of guy. But that didn’t necessarily mean she was going for odd or weird. She wanted a sweet and stable guy. Now, if only the nice guys weren’t so afraid of her.
Nikki’s shoulders slumped with relief. “Then who?”
Rachel carefully avoided eye contact. “Nikki, seriously. This is me you’re talking to. I’ve given up my wild ways.” Give or take a relapse. Like the one last night.
“Still?” Nikki looked like she wanted to shake some sense into her. “I was hoping that was a phase.”
Rachel removed her arm from Nikki’s grasp. “I like the new and improved me.”
“We could debate on the improved,” Nikki muttered, frowning at Rachel’s tight ponytail, button-down shirt, baggy jeans, and chunky shoes. “You know, there’s nothing wrong with a little cleavage, especially with the size of your—”
“Thanks, but I’m comfortable with what I’m wearing.” Rachel wasn’t going to apologize for the uninspired outfit. When Rachel first met Nikki in high school, everything they wore was skintight and barely there. She had fun testing the boundaries with her hemlines and necklines, but those days were over. Rachel had tossed out all her party clothes when Nikki encouraged her to apply for this job. The move was a chance to stop hitting rock bottom, and Rachel wanted to dress for success. Her wardrobe suited her new life in a quiet mountain town, and her new job as a graphic artist. She was getting used to the buttoned-up look, but Nikki still missed the old Rachel. “I need to get back to work.”
“Yeah, fine.” Nikki looked around the cubicle one last time. “So you didn’t get lucky?”
She didn’t want to lie to her friend, but she wasn’t ready to reveal how badly she’d relapsed. Nikki would encourage it, and she needed to be stricter with herself more than ever. Rachel settled for a partial truth.“I came into work and found my cubicle looking like this.”
“Bummer.” Nikki tsked. “Why would they use your work space?”
Good question. “Geographic bad luck?”
“Hmm, that’s possible.” She tilted her head as she studied the bald patches on the tinsel. “Who do you think it was?”
Rachel shrugged. She wasn’t going to make this worse by pointing any fingers. “It could be anyone.”
“I bet it wa
s Leah.” Nikki looked over at the nearby empty cubicle. “She was all over Ben last night.”
Rachel was about to disagree when she caught the faint sound of footsteps coming down the corridor. She knew that purposeful, confident stride anywhere.
“But then that new guy . . .”
Nikki’s voice faded to nothing as Rachel’s heart started to pound. The last time her heart pounded against her rib cage like this was two years ago. It was right before she got caught by the cops for skinny-dipping in a park fountain. Sadly, that event was not the most stupid moment of her life, but the fiasco, with a heavy fine, was a turning point and helped her get on the straight and narrow.
She recognized the pulse-tripping, heart-pounding, nerve-racking feelings. Caused by the one guy who could make her go wilder than she had imagined.
Her pulse gave a violent skip as Justin O’Rourke came into view. His head was tucked down as he stripped off his worn olive green jacket, revealing a navy blue merino wool sweater.
She hungrily stared at him, noticing everything from his short brown hair that looked like he had run his hands through it a few times this morning to the dark stubble covering his angular jaw. Her gaze skimmed the hard planes of his chest to his lean hips to the way his soft, faded jeans clung to his strong legs.
Justin pushed the sweater sleeves up, exposing an intricate dragon tattoo that curled along his right forearm. The colors were dark and muted, the fierce lines emphasizing the dragon’s savagery, but Rachel always saw the beauty and power of the mythical beast.
Realizing that she was staring, Rachel made herself look away. Her gaze collided with Justin’s. His light blue eyes were playful. Mischievous.This guy was a charmer. He could talk his way into bed and out of trouble.
“Hello, Rachel.” His low and rough voice sent a tingling flutter down her spine. Only two words from him and her self-control was ready to splinter.
Rachel gritted her teeth.“Good morning, Justin.” If he noticed how forced her greeting was, he didn’t show it.
“Hey, Justin.” Nikki motioned for him to come forward. “Get a load of Rachel’s office.”
Rachel winced.That was the last thing she wanted, but before she could come up with a reasonable excuse, Justin stepped inside the cubicle. She was immediately aware of the tight fit.
She stood next to him, so close that she felt his body heat. His scent distracted her. It was clean, masculine, and irresistible. She wanted to move closer. So close until they were pressing against each other.
“Wow,” Justin said.
Rachel’s head jerked up. She momentarily forgot about the state of her work space. She had to keep Justin from saying anything. “Nikki is under the impression someone had a wild night in my cubicle,” she said in a rush.
Justin looked over at her with a lazy grin. “I’d say.”
Rachel felt the blush zooming up her neck and flooding across her face. She glared at him.“She’s trying to figure out who.”
“Oh.” Justin looked at Nikki. “That’s easy.”
Rachel went completely still. Her muscles froze with such intensity that she was surprised she didn’t fall over. Her breath caught in her throat as her stomach gave a twist.
“Who is it?” Nikki asked excitedly.The woman always enjoyed a good gossip session.
“You see where that tinsel is worn off?” He pointed at the portion that Rachel had just tacked back up. “That could only happen from friction. Hot and sweaty friction.”
Rachel blinked several times, but it didn’t work. She couldn’t get rid of the memory of when Justin took her against the wall. They had been naked, their skin flushed and damp, their lips clinging together as they gasped for their next breath. Her arms and legs were wrapped tightly around Justin as he drove into her, the cubicle wall shaking with each thrust.
“You’re making that up,” Nikki declared as she smacked him on the arm with her palm.
“I’m simply offering my expert opinion,” Justin said. “You need to find someone who has rug burn on their back.”
Rachel squirmed as her shoulder blades began to sting. She stopped the moment she saw Justin smile at her telltale move.
“And they probably have bruises on their legs from giving a lap dance on that.” Justin pointed at the broken chair.
Rachel squeezed her sore legs together as heat flashed through her body. She had felt sexy and powerful as she mesmerized Justin with her moves. Christmas songs had pulsated from the party a floor below them, but she and Justin had found a sensual rhythm that kept them going long after the chair broke.
“I’m gonna have to disagree with you there,” Nikki said. “It could have been Cosmo’s sex position of the day.Yesterday’s was called the Joystick Joyride and—”
“So all you have to do is look for someone with rug burn and bruises,” Rachel interrupted before Nikki gave a thorough description. “That’s going to be difficult, since it’s the dead of winter and everyone’s covered up.”
“That’s true,” Nikki said with great disappointment.
Justin suddenly crouched down and reached under her desk, his hand grazing Rachel’s leg. She flinched and backed up.
“And”—Justin retrieved something small and pearly white—“the guilty party is missing this button.”
Damn, she’d missed that. Rachel curled her hands into fists. She wasn’t going to snatch it away. No matter how much she wanted to.
Justin stood to his full height as he tossed the button in his hand. Rachel’s head bobbed up and down as she focused on the pearl. “Probably happened while they were ripping each other’s clothes off.”
Rachel tugged at her shirt collar as she remembered brazenly tearing off her ivory lace blouse and offering herself to Justin. But her wanton behavior had hit a new level when she clawed off Justin’s clothes.
Nikki studied the pearl button in Justin’s hand. “Wow, you’re good.”
“So I’ve been told.” Justin gave a sidelong look in Rachel’s direction. “Repeatedly.”
Rachel closed her eyes and prayed for patience. She knew it was probably dangerous to close her eyes whenever Justin was around, but she didn’t think she could handle much more.
The phone rang, and Rachel yelped. Her eyes shot open and she wildly reached for the phone. “Sorry, I have to take this.”
“No problem,” Nikki said as she hooked her arm with Justin’s. “So, Justin, I didn’t see you at the Christmas party.”
Rachel’s hand stopped midway as she reached for the phone.
“How could you see me?” Justin asked. “You always had a group of guys surrounding you.”
“True,” Nikki said with a laugh.
Rachel exhaled with relief. Justin wasn’t going to slip. He knew how to dance around the truth. That would usually worry her, but right now it was an asset.
No one would find out about her mistake through Justin, Rachel decided as she grabbed the phone. He would be discreet, and she would keep this dirty little secret to herself. She was confident of this until she saw Justin pocketing the pearl button.
She wanted to get that souvenir of her relapse back.Throw it away, give Justin the usual it-was-a-mistake-never-to-be-repeated speech, and then she could act like it never happened. She needed to retrieve the button.Today.
Justin wondered how long it would take Rachel to approach him.Their cubicles were across from each other, but she seemed unusually busy today, flitting from one meeting to another. She didn’t stay at her desk for more than a minute. He kept his distance, knowing Rachel had to come to him.
Justin bet himself that Rachel would show up under the guise of a work project at the end of business today when no one was around. He knew she wanted to say something this morning. She was almost vibrating with suppressed nervousness.
But if there was one thing he’d learned about Rachel since she started working at the studio almost a year ago, it was that she was private. He suspected she had a wild past, based on the amazing time they ha
d together, but there were no rumors about her. In fact, no one had anything to say about her. Nikki probably could, but she was uncharacteristically silent on the matter.
Of course, one had to work very hard to be scandalous in this quiet town. The only reason a sexy woman such as Rachel would pick a remote town like this was that it offered little temptation. If Rachel indeed was as wild as he expected, why would she move here? Why not to some big, bad city? It was this drastic measure and her obvious self-discipline that intrigued Justin even more.
It was a surprise when Rachel dropped by after three o’clock. He looked up when he heard a soft, hesitant knock against the wall of his cubicle.
“Rachel, it’s a pleasure to see you.” Justin leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers together. “Always.”
And it was. Rachel Bartlett was a striking beauty. Her long black hair was contained in a tight ponytail. He preferred it falling in waves around her face like it had the night before, but this style allowed him to see every nuance of her expressive face.
As far as he could tell, she wore no makeup. Her lips were pale, pink, and pouty, and there was a sprinkle of freckles over her high cheekbones. She was trying to look proper and innocent, but nothing could hide Rachel Bartlett’s wild nature.
Justin decided it was probably because of her large, dark blue eyes. She used them to great effect with a sultry side glance or a bold stare. And when she looked up from beneath the long, dark lashes, the mix of vulnerability and vixen made his head spin and his body temperature rise.
“I wanted to thank you,” she said quietly. Her arms were crossed tightly against her chest and she looked around to see if they had an audience.
“I should be thanking you.”
Rachel pressed her lips together with impatience.“I meant for not telling Nikki.”
His eyes narrowed. “Did you think I would?”
She paused as if she was weighing her words. “You aren’t easy to predict.”