by Lane, Soraya
Jasmine smiled as she watched her daughter. “The poor thing was so excited about coming here for Christmas.”
“I’ll do my best to get you there in the morning, but…” Blake shrugged, not wanting to get her hopes up. “I can’t promise anything. The way this snow is falling is going to make getting anywhere tough.”
Jasmine suddenly clamped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide, then let out a low groan. “Oh no.”
“What is it?”
“I never even thought about her presents,” she said, shaking her head. “She’ll expect Santa to know where she is, to have gifts when she wakes up.”
Blake grimaced. “Maybe you could tell her that Santa didn’t know she was here. That he left them at her grandparents place for her?”
“They’re all safely hidden in the car,” she said, reaching for her glass of wine and taking a long, slow sip. “I packed most of them in my suitcase so she wouldn’t go snooping.”
“Look, if I can get to your car, I will,” Blake said, hating the idea of Chloe being disappointed. He’d only just met the kid but he already had a soft spot for her.
“It’s fine,” Jasmine said, blowing out a breath. “I’ve just always tried to make birthdays and Christmas time so much fun for her. Maybe it’s my way of making up for the fact that it’s always just the two of us.”
Blake nodded and reached for the bottle of wine, holding it up. Jasmine smiled and nudged her glass closer to him. They were sitting on the floor, close to the fire, leaning against the sofa that Chloe was asleep on.
“Her dad’s not around?”
“Nope,” Jasmine said, her fingers playing against the stem of the wine glass. “He left me when I was almost five months pregnant, the day before I found out that I was having a little girl.”
“Asshole,” Blake muttered. He thought of his sister with her little baby, what it would have been like for her being pregnant or coping with a newborn on her own. “I know it’s clichéd, but I’m guessing you’re better off without him?”
Jasmine laughed. “I’ll drink to that. Although some child support payments wouldn’t go amiss every now and again.”
“And your family?” Blake asked, curious as to why she’d obviously been estranged from them for some time.
“Let’s just say they’re very religious and they didn’t support me keeping the baby. They tried to push me into adoption, but I just, well, I couldn’t do it. Even before I gave birth to Chloe there was no way I was going to let strangers raise my baby.”
Blake liked the protective mama bear look on her face, the don’t mess with me attitude. “So what happened?”
“They gave me an ultimatum, and being the stubborn bitch I am, I walked out and never went back.”
He understood how that could happen – hell, he’d been a prize jerk when his sister had fallen for his friend – but being stubborn meant it was damn hard to back down even if you wanted to.
“And this vacation was supposed to be a reconciliation of sorts?” he asked.
“Yeah, something like that,” she muttered. “I mean, I know they’ll love her once they meet her, but I just can’t forget how unsupportive they were. I mean, it wasn’t like I was on the streets doing drugs. I was committing to raising a child and I’ve done a damn good job of it.”
Jasmine burst out laughing, shaking her head and putting down her wine – he just watched and waited.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I’ve just blabbed my entire life story to you like you’re Doctor Phil.” Jasmine held up her hands. “I’ve officially put down the wine. Don’t offer me any more.”
“Look, it’s Christmas Eve and we’re both stranded. We may as well share all our life stories to pass the time, right?” Besides, he didn’t mind chatting with Jasmine. She was beautiful – long straight dark hair, big brown eyes and a smile that made it hard for him to take his own eyes off her – so she wasn’t exactly the worst company in the world.
“How about you tell me about you then?” she suggested, reaching for one of the blankets he’d brought in and tucking it over her legs. “How does a rugged rancher end up with such a superb bottle of red wine waiting at the ready?”
He cleared his throat, reaching for the bottle and holding it so he could stare at the label. “My dad was a rancher all his life, but he loved his wine. Back home we have an entire cellar filled with the stuff.”
“When you say was…”
Blake met Jasmine’s gaze, wishing it wasn’t so hard to talk about his father. There were times when he was out on the ranch, on his own, and the fact that he’d lost his dad was the only thing he could think about.
“He passed away a few months ago,” he replied. “I brought a couple of these bottles home with me because they were his favorite, and I’ve been waiting for a good excuse to drink them.”
“Well, here’s to your dad,” Jasmine said, reaching for her glass again.
“Yeah, to dad,” Blake said, holding his up before taking a sip. “You know, I think he was on to something with this wine drinking. I’ve always been a beer man, but it’s not half bad.”
They stared at each other for a moment, before Jasmine reached for his hand, her palm closing over his. There was something about the softness of her touch, the warmth in her hold, that made him stay dead still, not wanting to give her a reason to withdraw it.
“If your dad was anywhere near as kind as you are, I’m guessing he was a great man.”
Blake nodded, staring into Jasmine’s dark eyes and wondering if she’d still think he was so great if he leaned over and kissed her right now.
“I don’t think there’re many guys around who’d leave a pretty woman and her daughter stranded,” he told her.
She raised her eyebrows and withdrew her hand, resting it on her lap instead.
“You’d be surprised, Blake. Chivalry is dead these days.”
Maybe she was right, but leaving a woman to fend for herself would have been an offense punishable by death in his family.
“Can I get you anything else to eat? Or is there anything else you need?” he asked.
Jasmine sighed and shook her head. “A hot bath and a warm bed?”
“The fire heats our water when I have the system switched over, so if you want a long soak, go for it,” Blake told her. “The bed I can’t help you with, because the heating in the guest rooms isn’t powered by the generator. How about a pillow and another blanket, and you can snuggle up in front of the fire for the night.”
“Sounds perfect,” she said, reaching for his hand again but squeezing it this time. “And thank you, for taking us both in and being so kind.”
He nodded. “You’re welcome.”
It was the least he could have done, and besides, it wasn’t like he had any better options. If Jasmine hadn’t shown up he would have been sitting in the dark alone, with no one to talk to or drink with. And as stupid as it sounded, it wasn’t going to be half bad waking up with an excited child in the house on Christmas morning, either. He just needed to figure out how to make sure she didn’t start to doubt Santa if he didn’t show up with her gifts.
“I’m beat, so I think I’ll skip the bath and take a shower in the morning. Even if a bath does sound heavenly,”
Blake smiled across at Jasmine, watching her yawn.
“No problem.”
CHAPTER THREE
“Mommy!”
Jasmine groaned and threw her arm across her face.
“Mommy, come look!”
She stretched and tried to keep her eyes shut, but Chloe was insistent. She was tugging hard on her top and shaking her.
“Okay, okay, I’m awake. What is it?”
Jasmine sat up and blinked, realizing where they were and why her neck was so sore. She’d been tucked up with Chloe on the sofa all night, but given that she’d only ended up with about a quarter of the space, it hadn’t been the most comfortable way to sleep.
“Mom, it’s Christmas morning!” Chloe said,
jumping up and down.
“Honey, don’t get too excited, Santa…”
“He came, Mom!” she squealed. “Come see the presents. Come see!”
Was she dreaming? That was the only possible explanation for how excited Chloe was, because there was no way… unbelievable. There was a way. And there was only one way that those gifts had ended up sitting across the room.
“Can you believe it, Mom? He knew where I was even though we weren’t at grandma and granddad’s.”
“Blake?” Jasmine called out, smoothing down her hair and rubbing under her eyes to get rid of any smudgy mascara. She knew she probably looked a mess.
Her suitcase was resting across the room, too, but there was no sign of the man who’d now rescued her twice. She left her daughter for a second and walked to the window, parting the curtains so she could glance out. There was thick snow everywhere, but no Blake.
“Can I open them?” Chloe asked.
“Of course,” Jasmine told her, smiling when she heard a door bang somewhere in the house. “You’re so lucky that Santa managed to find you in the snow.”
Chloe’s grin made her drop to her knees and put her arms around her little girl, giving her a tight hug before watching her start to rip open her gifts. She’d owed Blake a lot last night, but now she owed him everything. Maybe there was hope for the men of this world yet – the ones she usually met had only ever let her down. But Blake was different. No matter what he said, she knew for a fact that there weren’t many guys who’d not only take a stranger in after rescuing them, and get up early to retrieve Christmas presents for a little girl they hardly knew, just to maintain her faith in Santa Claus.
She was still smiling to herself when Blake walked into the room, arms folded across his chest and his face looking like it was half frozen from the cold.
“Santa came!” Chloe exclaimed the moment she saw him.
Blake chuckled and glanced at her, giving Jasmine a wink. “So I see.”
“Amazing, don’t you think?” Jasmine said, eyebrows raised as she smiled right back at him.
Blake watched Chloe for a moment, before nodding toward the kitchen. Jasmine rose and followed him, wanting to thank him in private without her daughter hearing.
“You,” she said, shaking her head, “are possibly the kindest man I’ve ever met. Thank you.”
He shrugged like it was no big deal. “I woke up early and I couldn’t stand the thought that she was going to be disappointed. It took me a while, but it was worth it.”
She grinned. “Worth it? She’s going to be buzzing all day.”
“I’m just sorry for going through your things,” he said, a worried look crossing his face. “You said last night that you’d hidden most of her presents in your case, and I just opened it and took out the things that were wrapped.”
Jasmine bit down on her lip. It was cute that he was worried, like she was going to stress about the fact that he might have seen her panties or something.
“Seriously, it’s fine.”
Blake leaned against the kitchen counter, glancing out the window before fixing his gaze back on her. He was impossibly handsome, even more so in the daylight, with thick dark hair and blue eyes, which was making her even more self-conscious about how she must look.
“I’ve found the damaged power line, so we’re going to be without main power for a few days at least,” he told her. “And the roads are thick with snow.”
“So no getting out of here today?” she asked. “At least you have power.”
“Yeah, no getting out of here, but the good news is we have plenty of diesel, so the generator isn’t going to let us down anytime soon.”
Jasmine felt like she was the one who’d just had a visit from Santa. A hot shower would be heaven right now and it seemed that the whole kitchen was up and running just fine.
“So we’re still cooking that turkey for lunch then?” she asked with a grin.
Blake grinned right back at her, a cute dimple in his right cheek catching her by surprise. “We sure are. How about you go finish up with the gift opening, take a shower, and I’ll get the bird in the oven.”
She nodded, wondering how on earth she’d managed to find her way into this man’s house. Christmas Day here with a stranger was probably going to be more enjoyable than it was ever going to be at her folks’ place, so the last thing she wanted to do was complain or feel sorry for herself that things hadn’t worked out as planned.
“Have I said thank you yet?” she asked, laughing.
“Yeah, just a couple of times,” Blake said, folding his arms across his chest as he leaned back, not taking his eyes off her.
“Well, I mean it,” Jasmine told him, crossing the room and touching his shoulder, before standing on tiptoe to press a kiss to his cheek, so close to his mouth that she was almost tempted to place one there instead. “Thank you.”
If he was surprised that she’d kissed him he didn’t show it, just kept watching her with that relaxed expression, gaze soft but intense, body language telling her that it probably took a lot to rattle him.
“Take a nice long shower,” he said, “I’ll keep the fire cranking, so there’s no chance you’ll run out of hot water.”
“Bliss,” she called over her shoulder, “taking a long hot shower is my idea of absolute heaven right now.”
She made herself walk away from Blake, even though she could have stood and chatted to him in his kitchen all day, and went back in to see how Chloe was getting on. Today was going to be a fun day, she just knew it.
“Mommy, come see all this,” Chloe said the moment she saw her.
“You,” she said, bending to drop a kiss into her daughter’s hair, “are one very lucky little girl.”
She’d been buying things for months for Chloe, wanting her to have an amazing Christmas morning, and it had been worth every sacrifice.
Blake turned on the oven and started to prepare the chicken. A hot shower was his idea of bliss right now, too. Complete with the gorgeous brunette who was probably stripping her clothes off, naked in his bathroom…
He pushed the thoughts away, shaking his head like that was going to help erase the mental image he’d been enjoying. It was way too easy to imagine her lips on his cheek again, turning his head so their mouths connected instead, or heading into the bathroom and joining her for a wet and soapy encounter in the shower. Thank god her daughter was in the adjoining room, otherwise he might have found it a whole lot harder to keep his thoughts, and his actions, in check. There was no way he was going make a heavy handed pass at Jasmine with her little girl around to witness it.
“Blake?”
Speak of the devil. He looked up and saw Chloe standing in the door to the kitchen.
“Yeah?”
“You wanna come play with my new toys?” she asked, twisting a long lock of hair around her finger like she wasn’t sure about asking him.
“Sure thing,” he said, not sure how good he’d be at playing but happy to oblige. “Just give me a sec to get this in the oven and I’m all yours.”
“Can I help?”
He put down the string he was using to tie the legs together and shrugged. “Um, I guess, but I’m not sure what you can do.”
“Mommy says I’m not allowed to use sharp knives, but she lets me do everything else.”
“Okay,” he said, putting the turkey on the baking dish as fast as he could so he didn’t have to figure out how to let her help. “Hey, you know what?”
She shook her head, standing on tiptoe beside him so she could peer at the countertop. “What?”
“I think you could make something yummy for dessert with your mom. Why don’t we go play now.”
She was easily distracted, bouncing back off to the other room. Blake finished up, slid the bird into the oven and washed his hands, before following her. At least she’d managed to take his mind off her hot mom.
Or not. Holy fuck. Jasmine walked into the room with her long hair wet and hang
ing down her back, a towel wrapped around her body but showing off enough bare skin to make his mouth go dry.
“Sorry, I thought you’d still be in the kitchen,” she said, face flushed pink. “I forgot to get my underwear from my suitcase before I jumped in the shower.”
Blake diverted his eyes, tried to focus on the toy that had just been thrust in his direction. He sure as hell hadn’t needed to hear about any missing underwear, because now his mind was full of filthy thoughts again.
“You can take the room to the left of the bathroom,” he said, glancing up again and wishing he hadn’t. “Although it might be warmer to keep camping in here at night.”
She nodded and disappeared, holding her towel in place with one hand, the other lugging her case. He would have offered to help, but then that would have involved getting way too close to her bare skin, inhaling the scent of her orange-scented shampoo some more… Blake groaned.
“What’s wrong?”
He looked at Chloe. Your mom’s so fucking hot that I can’t stop thinking bad, bad things about. “Nothing, sweetheart. Let’s play.”
Thank god he was here alone with them. If any of his sisters were here to witness his pain he’d never have lived it down.
“So you have this doll and it can be friends with mine,” Chloe told him.
Blake crossed his legs and smiled, doing his best to be a good playmate. It wasn’t every day he was told what to do by a six-year old, but today he didn’t mind one bit.
“Like this?” he asked, making her walk along the carpet.
“Yeah,” Chloe said, playing with the other doll’s hair. “Do you like my mom?”
Blake made a choking noise that he had absolutely no control over. “Huh?” he grunted like he hadn’t heard her.
“You kind of look at her all funny, like you like her. Like adults look at each other in the movies sometimes.”
If Blake had ever had reason to blush in his entire life, it would have been right then. Figured out by a kid who he hadn’t even known was taking much notice of him.
“You’re mom is very, well, very beautiful,” he managed, trying to come up with the right words.
“Yeah, I know.” She said it so matter of fact that it made him smile.