by Wendy Knight
Too quickly. Before he could react, she had toppled off his porch and landed shoulder first in his snow-covered bushes.
Crew swore and dove after her, grabbing her around the waist and hauling her back up to her feet. “Are you hurt?” He scanned her face, his hands moving over her arms and up her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
She brushed some broken branches off her chest and shook them out of her hair. “I’m fine. It was a soft landing, at least.”
“Okay. I know you hate my apartment, but apparently you can’t walk down the stairs on your own. Close your eyes.”
“What?” She did not close her eyes, instead raising her gaze swiftly up to meet his.
He scooped her up to his chest, cradling her carefully given her bruised ribs and who knew what other hidden injuries, and carried her through the door. “Close your eyes.”
Obediently, she closed her eyes, hands clutched around his neck. He smiled down at her while she couldn’t see him, memorizing every detail. Her long, black lashes swept against her wind-kissed cheeks, full lips pursed in concentration.
Beautiful.
She didn’t open her eyes until he settled her in the passenger seat of his truck. “Hello, old friend,” he heard her murmur as he slammed the door behind her.
HOLLY CAME WITH THEM, abandoning her car and climbing into the truck, effectively pushing Azura into the center seat so that every time Crew had to shift, his arm brushed hers, and her scent—so close—nearly consumed him. The drive was torturously long and much too short when he pulled into Aunt Leah’s driveway and parked behind Katrina’s car.
Katrina, who had sworn to kill or, at the very least, maim Azura the next time she saw her.
“I probably should have called ahead,” Crew murmured.
Azura bit her lip. “We can come back later.”
“We have seven days to find these four creatures and kiss them before you’re cursed for a year, Z. Should we review what you’ve gone through so far in the last two and a half weeks?”
Azura frantically shook her head. “No. No, we really should not.”
“Okay then. Let’s go.” Holly jumped out of the truck, pausing on the other side to help Azura down. By the time Crew got over there, Azura was on her feet and staring up at the house in what could only be described as abject terror.
Crew tipped his head, watching her curiously. “My sister already got to you, didn’t she?”
Azura nodded, her eyes still on the house.
“Was she behind the shoe incident?”
Finally, Azura looked over at him, and as always, sparks shot through his very soul. “No.”
“The stairs incident?” Crew swallowed. His sister was fiercely protective of those she loved, and as her big brother, he was her favorite.
Azura shook her head. “She didn’t hurt me.”
Physically. But he knew Katrina had the fury of a lion and the sharp tongue of an asp. She probably tore Azura to shreds emotionally. He sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It didn’t come up.” She squared her shoulders and raised her chin. “Ready?”
Holly looped an arm through Azura’s, and Crew honestly wasn’t sure if it was to offer moral support or to keep her from falling over when they least expected it. Together, they marched toward the front door, Crew following behind.
Katrina met them on the porch, in a designer pant suit and stilettos that had no business being worn during winter. “Crew, what a surprise. Azura, I didn’t expect to see you again.” She raised herself to her full height, which was not as tall as Azura but taller than Holly. Her dark eyes flashed dangerously.
“We just need to see Aunt Leah’s security footage from the party,” Crew said, stepping between his sister and Azura.
He’d piqued her interest, he could tell. She raised a dark eyebrow, arms crossed over her chest in defiance, but her eyes lit. “Why?”
“Mistletoe curse.” Holly peeked around Crew’s broad shoulders to speak to Katrina. “We need to break it.”
Katrina’s lips twitched. “You want me to let her inside?”
“She apologized, Kat,” Crew said softly. “Don’t make it worse.”
What he really wanted to do was drop to his knees and beg Kat to play nice because he hadn’t been able to get Azura out of his head in days and he finally, finally had a shot with her. But he couldn’t do that and retain any sense of dignity, so he just hit Katrina with the biggest set of puppy dog eyes he could muster.
“Fine. If she tells me why she hates Christmas.” Katrina smiled smugly.
Holly growled dangerously behind him and Crew realized that behind her sweet, elf-like demeanor, she was as protective of Azura as Kat was of Crew.
“That’s not necessary, Kat. It’s cold out here and she’s had a rough couple of days. Just let us in.”
“No,” Azura spoke softly. “It’s fine. I’ll tell her.”
Katrina blinked, obviously not expecting Azura to concede so easily, and her hands dropped to her sides.
Azura peered up at him, her eyes the color of dark moss and warm earth and everything he loved about summer in New Hampshire, and all time skidded to a halt. He was caught and had no desire to escape.
“Well, okay then. Come inside. It’s freezing out here.” Katrina backed up, ushering them past. Crew watched Azura go in, watched her eyes flit away from all things Christmas.
“What have you done now?” he hissed angrily at his sister as he pushed past her.
“What needed to be done since you’re too kind to do it,” she hissed back.
He nodded toward Azura. “She’s broken, physically, mentally, emotionally. Did you really have to add to that? And now this—she obviously doesn’t want anything to do with those memories and you’re dragging her right down that path. Awesome, Kat. I knew you could be harsh, but this is just cruel.”
Katrina turned toward Azura, her eyes widening and her mouth forming an O of surprise. She honestly hadn’t seen it through her red haze of protective anger. And now it was too late.
“So what was it?” she asked gently, more gently than Crew thought her capable in that moment. “Parents were poor, you waited for Santa and he never came?”
Azura winced despite Katrina’s attempt at gentleness and Holly glared daggers.
Crew ran a hand through his hair, rolling his head on his neck. Always full of tact, his sister. “Maybe we can tell Christmas stories while we watch party footage. We’re on a time crunch.” Without waiting for an answer, he went to find his aunt.
Leah waited for him at the top of the stairs, watching the drama unfold below. “So this is the girl causing such an uproar. She’s pretty. I’d approve if not for her crappy Christmas spirit.”
Crew paused at the railing and looked back down at Azura. “She’s a lot more than her crappy Christmas spirit,” he said softly.
Leah pursed her lips, silent for several seconds before she said, “You really like this girl.”
Crew shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away. “I’m trying hard not to.”
Trying and failing.
“Do you happen to have the video of the party? We need it to break a curse.”
His aunt nodded, accepting this with seemingly no thought to how odd that sentence was. She disappeared into her office, reappearing seconds later with a thumb drive. “Party footage. What are you looking for?”
“The four guys that tried to kiss Azura under the mistletoe. We have to hunt them down.” Crew plucked the thumb drive from her fingers, flipping it across his knuckles as he jogged back down the stairs.
Leah followed. “Hunt them down for trying to kiss her when you aren’t even dating? That seems extreme.”
“It’s the mistletoe curse, Auntie. We have to find them by Christmas so she can kiss them and break the curse.” It was amazingly difficult to say that with a straight face.
Leah paused on the landing. “So...you’re going to help this girl you’ve suddenly become infatuated with find and kiss other
guys? I’m sure that will go just swimmingly.”
Yeah. Swimmingly.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Crew plugged the thumb drive into Katrina’s laptop and started sorting through videos. “You didn’t get here until after nine,” he murmured.
Azura leaned closer to the computer, eyes straining at the black and white screen. “How do you know what time I got there?”
His hand froze on the mouse and he cleared his throat, dark eyes meeting Katrina’s scowl. “Uh—I just—it was right after—”
“It was right after he made a drink run for Aunt Leah. He had to rush because the store closed at nine. He made it just in time,” Katrina drawled.
“There—” Holly pointed to the screen. “There she is. Dang, girl. You looked good that night. How come I haven’t borrowed that jacket yet?”
Azura smiled distractedly. She definitely looked better than she did now, that was for sure. No black eye, no split lip, no candy cane rash and fear of everything that moved—or didn’t move, actually—she even made it more than four steps without running into or dropping or falling on anything. “For one, because it would drown you. And two, because all you wear is elf clothing. There is no red, no green, and not a single snowflake on that jacket.”
Holly sighed dejectedly. “Being small sucks.”
“Unless you’re an elf. Then it’s perfect.” Azura patted her head while she kept her gaze firmly on the laptop in front of her. Crew approached, all tall dark and handsome. “Enter Sir Galahad,” she murmured without thinking.
“Aww, we have pet names already. Look at that.” Crew grinned, winking at her.
“Funny boy.” As if someone like Crew Bacall could be interested in the hot mess that she was. Maybe before, but definitely not now. Especially after her epic tantrum. He was just a white knight riding in to battle the forces of evil, and in her case, bad luck. He hadn’t been so flirty before. Clearly, this was his attempt to show her that he’d forgiven her.
It was not good for her no-falling-until-she-had-a-secure-future plan
“Okay, there we are splitting up to search for clues,” Crew said.
“You’re just missing your ascot. And I’m missing a very large dog. Sad,” Azura teased... sort of. She’d always wanted a very large dog.
Crew’s smile grew and he chuckled under his breath.
Katrina leaned back against the couch cushions, adjusting her black rimmed glasses. The girl looked like a cover model, all red lipstick and designer clothes. Her hair could have come from a shampoo commercial. “You owe us a story, I do believe.”
Right. A story. Azura swallowed hard.
She hated this part.
The part where she explained why she hated Christmas and then everyone thought she was crazy.
Because she’d always gotten everything she’d ever wanted.
“It’s okay—” Crew started, but Azura shook her head. Silently, Holly took her hand, squeezing hard. Of everyone, Holly was the only one who hadn’t laughed in her face.
“I was an only child. We lived in a pretty wealthy neighborhood and we had a big house and drove luxury cars and every Christmas I got everything all the neighbor kids got, no matter how expensive.”
Katrina leaned forward, eyebrows drawn together. “You were rich and spoiled and you had the audacity to—”
“Shh,” Holly hissed. “Wait for the twist.”
“We weren’t rich. That was the problem. Our house was falling apart because my parents couldn’t afford to keep up with the repairs. Our cars were all super old and broke down all the time, but all that mattered was that we looked as wealthy as everyone else. To keep up with the neighbors, my parents would forgo paying the mortgage and every year we got more and more behind. In the months following Christmas, we would live on Ramen and bread while my parents attempted to get caught up. But it didn’t matter. We would go to every party, every Santa sighting, follow every Christmas tradition, participate in every gift exchange, but because we were broke, it always—always—ended with screaming and fighting. Christmas made them crazy.” She took a breath, staring at her hands. Crew was making notes on the laptop but said nothing. “So I got everything I wanted except peace. It was like The Grinch. All that mattered were things and appearances. One year, I had strep and a 103 degree fever, but the neighbor down the street was hosting a huge party and we had to look like the perfect family. So I went. I threw up. My parents were horrified, and I was—” screamed at “—reprimanded the entire way home. But always where no one could hear. I ended up in the hospital. My parents couldn’t pay the medical bills on top of everything else and we were already so behind on our mortgage that the bank foreclosed on the house right before Christmas. They put a sign up, but my mom was so humiliated, she tore it down and in a rage, she set the Christmas tree on fire.”
Crew sucked in a breath next to her and Holly’s grip on Azura’s hand tightened.
“We got it under control before the fire department got there, but it was the beginning of the end. The week before Christmas, my dad lost his job and he left soon after that. I came to the first university that gave me a scholarship, just to get out of there.”
Visions of her mom screaming as she watched the tree burn, yelling about how ungrateful they were, flooded Azura’s mind until it was all she could see. Smoke filled the house, but her mom wouldn’t leave because she wanted to watch Christmas burn. The memories were...not Azura’s favorites.
She finally looked up from her hands. Katrina’s fist pressed against her mouth and her eyes were wide against her pale face.
Crew still watched the laptop. “And the magazine was what she compared herself to every year. That’s why you hate us so bad.”
Azura looked away.
“Oh my gosh,” Katrina murmured. “You poor thing.”
“I don’t hate you. I could never. I was embarrassed and irrational and didn’t want to do anything else humiliating and I panicked. The logical answer at the time was run and hide. I see now that doing so was even more humiliating than had I just stayed. I think. I mean, I don’t even know anymore. I could have caused a minor explosion or something after. Maybe I was saving you. Did you ever think of that?” She bit the inside of her cheek to stop the rambling, hoping she had lightened the mood.
Crew finally looked away from the computer. “I’m sorry. If I had known, I would never—”
Nope, mood not lightened.
Azura laughed bitterly. “You definitely have nothing to be sorry for. I acted like a spoiled child.”
“To be fair,” Holly said, “She was hurt, scared, and exhausted. And she does have a tendency to push people away when they’re nice. Or not nice. She just really likes to push people away. Especially at Christmas. The trick is to dig your claws in and not let go.” She smiled brightly.
“Noted,” Crew murmured, holding Azura’s gaze.
Her heart flipped in her chest and she reminded herself again that she had blown that chance. Not that she wanted a rich football player anyway. Or anyone, for that matter.
Stable career first. Stability. That was all that mattered.
Crew turned back to the laptop, pulling it closer so it rested against his knees. “We’ve got four guys here. I know two of them. Kat, Carter Silva is from our home town.”
Katrina nodded. “He comes to Auntie Leah’s party every year.”
“Abe Becker is in my Statistics class. I have his email address.” Crew tapped the mouse. “We worked on a project together. But the other two, I don’t know. Aunt Leah, do you know them?”
He clicked through two screens, pointing out the men in question. Azura remembered the last one, he’d been in the way when they’d been trying to escape, and Crew had stepped in. But she hadn’t gotten his name. The other one, she barely remembered speaking to. She’d been too busy trying to find Holly.
“That’s Evan Walton. I have his number!” Holly squealed before Leah could respond. “He hit on me while I was dancing with the lamp.�
� She shrugged sheepishly. “I’ll text him right now.”
“And say what, exactly?” Azura asked. Her voice squeaked in panic. “That you have a friend who desperately needs to kiss him? That won’t be weird at all.”
“He hit on you and tried to kiss your friend? Sounds like a winner.” Crew frowned.
Azura sat back, trying to read what Holly typed out on her phone with her rapid little elf fingers. “We can’t all be Galahads, Crew.”
Crew beamed proudly. “No. No we cannot, Butterfly.”
“Stop calling me—”
“But who is that other guy? I don’t know him. Does anyone else?” Katrina interrupted, leaning forward to squint at the screen.
Holly shook her head. Crew, too. “Never seen him. Auntie Leah?”
Leah came in from where she’d disappeared to the kitchen, carrying something green and leafy in her hand.
Mistletoe.
“Get back!” Azura yelled, hurdling over the coffee table and laptop and crashing over the top of the armchair on the other side. “It’s mistletoe!”
Four sets of eyes stared back at her as she struggled to her knees to peer over the chair. “It’s mistletoe,” she said again, weakly.
“And completely harmless unless you refuse to kiss someone under it,” Holly said slowly.
Crew held out his hand. “Can I get me some of that?”
Azura rolled her eyes.
Leah handed it to Holly instead, smirking at Crew all the while. “I thought maybe to break the curse, you’d have to kiss them under mistletoe again. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Oooh good. That’s good.” Holly tucked it into her purse, laughing when Crew half-heartedly tried to snatch it away. “Now we just have to find that last guy. Leah, do you know him?”
Leah studied the screen. “No. He must have come with someone else. Watch him for a while and see who he leaves with.”
TWENTY minutes later, mystery man left alone. Crew scrolled back to the beginning, pausing to find him intermittently throughout, but he was always on his own, hitting on whatever girl was closest.