Mistletoe Mischief

by Karice Bolton

  She grabbed my hand and pulled me inside. “Of course. Anyone who saves my granddaughter is welcome.”

  “I’m sure she would have been fine with her energy drinks and potato chips.” Colton smiled, coming in behind us as he closed the door. “At least for a couple of hours.”

  “I should call my parents and explain the situation.”

  “You know,” Colton began, “I could drive you two back to your parents’ home. I have nothing else to do since the pass is closed.”

  “Oh, no. I couldn’t let you do that.” I shook my head and glanced at my grandmother, who seemed far too amused. “Just wait here until it opens up and take off.”

  “It’s the least he could do,” my grandma mumbled under her breath as she wandered away.

  “See?” Colton took a step forward. “It’s the least I could do. Listen to your grandma.”

  I watched her trundle off into the kitchen and turned around to face Colton.

  “She doesn’t know everything.” I drew a deep breath as a spark pulsed through me just from mere proximity. “I really wouldn’t feel right if you drove us all the way back to town only to have to drive back up the pass in the middle of the night.”

  He took my hand and his touch sizzled through me. “I insist.”

  My grandma came into the living room with two cups of steaming coffee, and I quickly pulled my hand away from his. “It’s just instant coffee. With Colton’s wonderful offer, I figured why waste a pot of coffee? Don’t you need to call your parents? When should we leave?”

  She handed me the cup of coffee at the same time she nearly pushed me to the green rotary phone on her wall. It really was like stepping into a time capsule in this house.

  My eyes moved to Colton, who seemed utterly pleased with my grandma’s power of persuasion. My shoulders sank in defeat as I picked up the phone, took a seat, and dialed the hardware store.

  After a few rings, I set my coffee cup on a coaster and toyed with one of the ivory doilies draped over the arm of the chair.

  Right when I was about to hang up, my mother breathlessly answered the phone. She apologized and explained how swamped they were, which worked perfectly because I then proceeded to fill her in on our little situation.

  Right when I was about to hang up, Colton wandered over and held up his hand.

  “Pass is closed both ways.” He grimaced. It’s snowing too heavy to keep it plowed.”

  “Both ways?” I repeated in shock, and he nodded.

  “They don’t think they’ll have either side open until morning.” He glanced at his phone, swiping it for more updates.

  My blood froze. “Are you serious?”

  My mom wanted to know what was going on, and I quickly filled her in.

  “It’s probably for the better,” she said into the phone. “I’m not sure we’ll even be home before midnight. I’ve never seen a rush like this. I don’t know how many wives are going to be thrilled with a vacuum tomorrow morning, but that’s what a lot of ‘em are getting.”

  I chuckled, yet the thought of spending Christmas Eve with Colton McAlister and my grandma wasn’t exactly my idea of whooping it up, but there was nothing I could do about it. My mom promised she’d call when they left, and I hung up the phone when something struck me.

  “How come you have cell coverage?” I asked Colton as he stared at his phone.

  He shrugged. “Just do.”

  “And how long have you had it?” My brow arched.

  “I never lost it.” His lip curled into a sexy smile, and I suddenly wanted to slug him.

  “So you could have called a tow truck when we were at my car?” I stood up, knocking a doily to the floor, which he promptly picked up for me.

  “And you’d still be there, stuck in the cold, waiting for a tow truck that wouldn’t be able to get to you.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Pretty good assumption, I’d say.” He looked out the window where the flakes continued to float through the air at a steady pace.

  I wanted to argue, but he was absolutely right.

  My grandma showed up with a platter of cookies and looked at Colton before turning her gaze to me.

  “Why do you look like someone died, Gina?” My grandma motioned for Colton to take some cookies, which he quickly did.

  “Pass is closed in both directions.” I took a gingerbread man and bit the head off. “Looks like we’ll all be spending Christmas Eve here, but the passes might be open in the morning.”

  “You hope,” she added with a wink.

  “Yes. I hope.”

  “I have to confess that I’m happy we’ll be here.” She turned to Colton. “Another one?”

  He nodded and took a few more before she headed back into the kitchen.

  “You know, I think there’s a hotel up the road—” Colton began.

  “Which I’m sure is booked.” I straightened up. “We’re all adults here. You can take the guest room, and I’ll take the couch.”

  “That’s ridiculous. You’re not taking the couch. I’ll take the couch,” he said firmly.

  “How about we decide where everyone sleeps after we make dinner, shall we?” My grandma had reappeared in the living room with a red- and white-striped Mrs. Claus apron tied around her waist, and I was immediately grateful she was here.

  Any illusions or delusions I might have about Colton McAlister were completely dispelled with her around. He was a man with a mission, always a mission, and if you weren’t part of the mission, you were discarded, and I wasn’t about to be discarded, even if the thought of being with him all night was far too appealing for my own good.

  Wait. Where’d that thought come from?

  “Sounds like a really good idea.” Colton clapped his hands together and immediately followed my grandma back into the kitchen while I stood wondering how in the world I was destined to spend Christmas Eve with the one man in the world I’d hoped to never see again.

  My mind flashed to homecoming senior year and a chill cascaded over my skin. Yeah, I’d definitely never planned to bump into this man again, or any of his brothers.

  I glanced out the window and saw the snowflakes swirling to the ground as the breeze picked up. Several snowdrifts had already formed against her front porch and another shiver ran through me. I really hoped we’d be able to get home on Christmas.

  “Gina, are you coming?” my grandma’s voice rang through the air, and I instantly smiled. It was so good to be back home in Colorado. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I belonged.

  I’d given up so much for my ex-boyfriend, and if the relationship had worked out, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but it didn’t. The last several years of my life were a complete waste of time, all because I didn’t want to deal with the obvious.

  He was a cheater.

  Sure, I’d made plenty of friends, and I did love where I now called home, especially when he moved off the island, but I’d given up my family and my home here.

  I drew in a deep breath and made my way into the kitchen. The sparkling white Formica counters with tiny gold specks wrapped around the entire kitchen. Bright red Santa potholders hung on the white cabinets and frilly lace curtains framed the only window in the kitchen overlooking the woods behind her house.

  Colton was already busy chopping carrots, and my grandma was bending over in the refrigerator mumbling to herself. I noticed a pink sash around Colton’s waist and bit my tongue until he turned around wearing a peony print apron.

  “Well, don’t you look smashing,” I teased as he pointed toward the apron hanging over a dining chair.

  “Don’t think you get out of wearing one.”

  I glanced at the yellow-and blue-checkered apron and quickly looped it over my head and tied it around my waist.

  “Voila,” I said, spinning around with my arms in the ear.

  “Gorgeous.” His eyes locked on mine and a thrilling shiver ran through me at the way he was looking at me. It was as
if he thought I was some puzzle to solve, but I knew I’d never give him the pieces.

  “Thanks,” I muttered as my grandma pulled what looked like some kind of roast out of the fridge and set it on the counter with a thud.

  “Isn’t it a little late to start cooking that?” I asked, standing next to Colton.

  “Nonsense. What else do we have to do tonight?” Her twinkling eyes landed on Colton, and I got the funny feeling they’d talked about something before I appeared. “Who cares if we eat at midnight? I’ve got plenty of snacks to tide us over. Now get chopping and let me worry about the roast.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Colton turned back to his carrots, and I grabbed some potatoes and started peeling.

  “So, Colton . . .” My grandma began shaking salt and pepper on the meat. “What is it you do for a living? Same thing as the rest of the McAlisters?”

  I cringed, hoping she’d stop there because I understood the sharpness of her tongue if she chose to use it.

  “I work with my family, yes.” He nodded.

  “And what is it, precisely, that your family does?” She turned to face him with garlic powder in hand, and I peeled my potato faster. I could tell she was starting to get revved up.

  “We’re developers.” He dumped the peeled and chopped carrots into a glass bowl.

  “So you look at what you do as developing?” Her brow arched and my chest tightened. “That’s an interesting way to view it. I certainly don’t see it that way.”

  This could go very badly.

  “I suppose that’s true, depending on which side of the fence you’re standing on.” He picked up a potato from my pile and began peeling.

  “Is your father still in charge?” My grandma turned to dust the roast with more seasoning.

  “He retired several years ago.”

  “And his business practices with him, I hope?”

  I hummed under my breath and kept my focus on my potatoes. I knew exactly where my grandma was going. After all, it was her son who’d lost his hardware store. Sure, he opened up a new store a town over, but it was only after draining my parents’ retirement account, savings account, and refinancing my childhood home to make it happen.

  Not to mention, my parents went for over a year without being able to bring in any income due to construction and permitting at the new location. They were in severe debt for years. All so the McAlisters could tear down the hardware store and construct a small tower of apartments with retail space below in its place.

  It was a fiasco. The McAlisters ripped away something that had been in my family for two generations. To say that my grandma understood why the hardware store her husband had built was torn down would be a gross miscalculation. Life wasn’t only about dollars and cents. My grandfather had passed the reins over to my father to run the hardware store that had been in the same location for decades, so it was a blow for everyone when it shut down.

  My dad often worried my grandma would never recover, and in a sense, she hadn’t. Grandma never came into town unless she absolutely had to, and she was just grateful my grandfather had passed away before the building came toppling down.

  So were the McAlisters some of my grandma’s favorite people? No.

  “I do believe we give more careful consideration to the needs of the people we deal with now.” He cleared his throat and sliced the last potato. “My father had a different set of guiding principles.”

  “He had principles?” My grandma shut the oven door and turned to face Colton.

  “Grandma.” My cheeks flamed, and I muttered a quick apology but Colton laughed.

  “No, I understand where she’s coming from.” His eyes settled on mine, and I instantly calmed. “When my father made that deal, I was in junior high, and all my family talked about was how it was the biggest development deal the town had ever seen. We weren’t taught to focus on the people it might affect.”

  “Like my family.” I dumped the potatoes and carrots around the roast, and my grandma slid the pot into the oven.

  “I always hoped I’d get the chance to see you again someday to apologize.” He sucked in a breath and glanced at my grandma. “To apologize to your entire family. I know what my father did was unfair, especially the way it was handled.”

  “Your father gave my dad no time to even liquidate his stock, and that’s just the beginning.” I looked over at my grandma, who was studying Colton closely. “It didn’t help that all of your brothers ribbed me and my sister endlessly about the hardware store closing, as if my family had failed at something.”

  He bit his lip and shook his head. “When I found out what my brothers were doing to you guys, I let them have it. I’m sorry.”

  I shrugged. “The damage was done.”

  “An older brother can only do so much.” He moved closer and I stiffened.

  “What about your father?” my grandma asked. “Did he ever tell his boys to quit making girls cry?”

  “Honestly? No, he didn’t.” Colton’s eyes darkened. “He had one love in life and that was money. If there ever were a Scrooge, it would be my father, but my brothers and I have all seen a different side of life. People change. Goals change.”

  “I hope so, for your sake.” My grandma rinsed off her hands and walked into her pantry.

  Colton’s eyes connected with mine. “I’m really sorry about what my father did to your family. I can’t imagine uprooting someone’s entire livelihood without a care in the world. My father isn’t a kind man. He never has been.”

  “It all happened a long time ago, Colton,” I said softly. “I just never expected it all to be unearthed over Christmas.”

  He rubbed the day’s growth along his jaw, and I was immediately turned on again.

  “Neither was I,” he admitted, shaking his head. “And about that night—”

  I held up my hand and took a step back, condemning myself for being foolishly aroused by his presence.

  “It doesn’t matter. We’ve both grown up a lot since then and—”

  “I never meant to stand you up at homecoming,” he blurted out.

  My eyes steadied on his, and I released a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

  “I barely noticed,” I said as he took another step closer. “It was for the best and I should have known it was a setup.”

  “It wasn’t a setup,” he said, his voice lowering.

  My grandma popped back into the kitchen with a box of crackers in hand and set it on the table.

  “It’s all pretty horrible what children can do to one another.” She took a cheese plate out of the fridge and set it next to the crackers.

  “I wasn’t a child, though. I knew better. I was two years older than Gina.” He didn’t move his gaze away from mine as he spoke. “I should have protected her, not hurt her.”

  “I have to agree.” My grandma grabbed a few small plates from the cabinets and placed them next to the snacks before pointing at Colton. “I had no idea he was the one who stood you up at homecoming.”

  “It wasn’t something I really boasted about.” I gave a faint smile. “It was generally a night I’d like to forget about. In fact, I think we should all put that night firmly out of our memories where it belongs. I’m a woman in my thirties. I’ve moved on long ago.”

  “Except you keep winding up with men who treat you the same way.” My grandmother scowled, and I suddenly wished she had a filter, after all.

  The moment my grandma’s words settled in the kitchen, I wanted to hide.

  Heat began rolling through my chest and up my neck until it reached my face. This really wasn’t the family Christmas Eve I’d imagined.

  Sipping hot toddies by a Christmas tree and playing card games with my family?

  Yes.

  Standing next to an extremely sexy, charming, and annoying McAlister and digging up old high school wounds?

  Definitely not.

  “Well, I wouldn’t say it all relates back to being stood up in high school.” I didn’t w
ant to look in Colton’s direction. “I’m seriously over it, but thanks, Grandma, for bringing it up.”

  “Well, nonetheless, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that you two are stuck together on Christmas Eve. On that note . . .” She began untying her apron. “I’m going to dash upstairs for my nightly bath.”

  “What about dinner?” I asked.

  “Dinner has hours to go and my bath is less than thirty.” She looked at Colton and then back at me. “Besides, I think you two need some alone time.”

  Which was precisely what I didn’t want.

  Chapter Six

  Despite my grandma’s plan, I didn’t really have anything else to say. I stood in the kitchen staring at Colton, wondering how in the world I was going to make it through Christmas Eve.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” I realized I was hugging myself and quickly let go.

  “Just a hunch.”

  “It’s just weird” —I waved my hands between us— “seeing you after all these years. I guess I’d painted you to look different.”

  “I thought you hadn’t given me much thought at all?” He took a step toward me and that’s when my hand knocked the potato peeler onto the floor.

  We both bent down to pick it up, our hands tangling in a fight to pick it up first before we both looked at each other, still bent over.

  “Umm. I got it.” I grabbed the peeler away from him.

  Our faces were so close I smelled the faint hint of his aftershave from the morning, and my belly warmed with the scent, spicy and sweet.

  When he opened his mouth to reply, my gaze dropped to his beautiful lips and another wave of heat ran through me.

  I snapped out of it, straightened up, and slid the peeler on the counter.

  “So, have you thought about me at all?” he asked, narrowing the gap.

  “There have been moments where you popped into my head, but usually, my thoughts were a little hostile.” I cleared my throat and ran my hands over my ponytail that was falling out.

  He let out a low chuckle and the sound did all kinds of crazy things to me.

  “Cookie?” I asked, taking a couple of steps away from him.