by Emma Lark
Tangled Up In Tinsel
Holiday Heat Series
Book Two
By Emma Lark
Copyright © 2019 Emma Lark.
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
First published, 2019.
www.authoremmalark.com
Chapter One
Blaire
“Alright, everyone stand back,” Gary says holding the plug high above his head. “This is it! Let the Christmas season begin!”
Gary shoves the plug into the outlet and…
Nothing.
Everyone in the department store muffles their snickering as my goofy manager Gary tries to plug the lights in again.
“What in the world?” he says to the tangled mess of cords. “Why isn’t this working?”
Kari leans in next to my ear and whispers, “It never works. He does this every year—he plugs a million too many lights into that outlet and blows a fuse. Then Santa and his little elves have to wait an hour for the maintenance guy to come and fix it.”
“Oh, really?” I whisper back, spritzing glass cleaner on a paper towel. The jewelry in the display case sparkles back at me as I wipe the glass clean.
“Yeah,” she says, counting the cash in her register. “Except that’s the best part—he has to call the maintenance guy. And let me tell you—that’s one maintenance guy I’d like to have fixing my parts. He’s so freaking sexy I have wanted to cut the lights myself just so he’ll have to walk by me and bend over.”
I give a soft giggle as our co-worker Amber sashays behind the makeup counter across the aisle, pulling her blond hair atop her head into a messy bun.
“Not a bad shag either,” she says loudly with a wink.
Kari turns to me and rolls her eyes. She told me yesterday during training, “We don’t like Amber. Amber is a bitch.”
I started this job last week after I drove down from school. I’m on my last year at Aspen State College about an hour away from Ashland. I have a job at a coffee shop on campus, but my camera broke a couple of weeks ago, so I’m in desperate need of extra money to fix it before second semester starts. When I came home to Ashland for the winter break, I lucked out with this job at Blakely’s Department Store, and I’m hoping the commission will be enough to get my camera fixed.
“Oooh, look--cute guy, cute customer, I got him, he’s mine,” Kari jabs me in the side with her elbow as she spots a gorgeous guy with wavy brown hair walking through the front doors. As he walks over toward our counter, she scoots in front of me and I can’t help but laugh. Then she turns to him, fluttering her eyes. “Hi there. Welcome to Blakely’s can I help you with—”
From out of nowhere, Amber has slid in front of the jewelry counter practically shoving her waist into his body.
“Hi, I’m Amber,” she says, her blue eyes boring up and down his body. “Can I help you with something?”
“Oh, hi,” he says, taking a small step backwards as to not completely fall on top of her. Although, I don’t think she would mind.
“This isn’t even your section, Amber. You’re makeup counter,” Kari says through gritted teeth.
“Shut up, troll,” Amber spits back at Kari and then turns back to the customer. “I will be happy to help you…with anything.”
“Okay,” he says with a pause. “My name is Daniel—I’m picking up an engagement ring.”
“Oh,” Amber frowns at the word “engagement” before turning to walk back behind the counter. She pulls out the file folder and searches for his name. After finding his information, she yanks the keys from Kari’s hand and unlocks the black box in the drawer of the center island. “Here we go,” she says pulling out a sparkling emerald cut centered on a white gold band.
“Wow,” the words come spilling from my mouth. “That’s a gorgeous—”
“What a very lucky girl,” Amber interrupts and steps in front of me, touching the man’s arm. She pulls the ring from the box and attempts to place it on her ring finger. “Shall I try it on for you so you can see how it looks?”
“Oh, um, okay I guess,” he says pulling his arm from her hand.
Amber tries to push the ring down further, but when it gets stuck, she lets out a dramatic grunt. The man eyes my hand and says, “Actually, it looks like it may fit on her fingers. Can she try it on please?”
Amber yanks the ring from her finger and slams it into the palm of my hand.
“Ugh, whatever,” she says in a huff and storms back over to the makeup counter. “Who chooses an emerald for an engagement ring anyway?”
I look down at the ring and gingerly slide it onto my ring finger. Then, I turn to him and softly say, “I think it’s beautiful. What’s her name?”
“Thank you,” he says. “Allie. Her name is Allie. When I first saw her, the first thing I noticed were her eyes—they sparkle like emeralds, so…”
“Aw, I love that,” I say.
I finish ringing him up and wish him luck on the proposal as he’s walking toward the front door. I watch him as he passes by the perfume counter and that’s when I see...
Stepping out from behind a giant reindeer display, “the maintenance guy” comes sauntering down the row of display counters, his boots clomping along the marbled floor. He’s wearing a dark blue work shirt with the sleeves rolled up over his prominent biceps, and his pants sagging just below his hips. He tucks a strand of his dark blonde hair behind his ear. His hair falls just at his sharp jawline causing my eyes to trace the hollows of his cheekbones up to his piercing blue eyes. And then it hits me: I know those eyes.
“Mmm, mmm, mmm,” Kari announces behind me when she notices him making his way over to Gary in Santaland. “I told you. That is one fine-ass male specimen.”
And before he turns, my eyes fall to the embroidered nametag stitched just above his right pec: Logan.
Chapter Two
Logan
“Yeah, I see you, you fucking idiot,” I mutter under my breath at the man standing in a pile of tangled Christmas lights. I don’t really understand how Gary was given the title of manager of this godforsaken department store—the dude can barely spell his name. I’ve worked here for a couple years now, and every December, I tell him not to, but he does it anyway: plugs about fourteen strands of Christmas lights into the same outlet. How many times can you blow a fuse until you finally realize that the “long-haired punk” was right?
“Logan,” Gary spits out at me and then shoves the tangled mess into my hands. “Why is this not working? Get it fixed, pronto, and then go get a haircut.”
“Yes, sir,” I mumble out and then give him the one-finger salute when he turns his back to me. After I untangle the cords and unplug every strand, I stand up to walk back to the electrical closet to reset the system. Passing by the display counters, I suddenly feel a tight grip on my ass and I spin around.
“Hey, Logan,” Amber removes her hand from my ass and drags a finger across my chest. “You’re looking sexy all tangled up in those twinkly lights. Don’t you just love this time of year?”
“Uh, not really,” I say and remove her hand from my chest. This girl has been hanging all over me for months and won't take a hint. If I wanted to sleep with her and never call her again, I could, but I stopped doing that to girls years ago. I wish she'd just let me do my job and leave me alone.
“What are you doing tonight? There’s a party at my friend—”
“Yeah, no thanks,” I say. When I spin back around, I hear Kari’s loud-ass voice chirping away behind the jewelry counter. At first, I think she’s talking to herself, but then I notice
a girl squatting down behind the glass arranging a pair of earrings in the display. Her long brown waves cover her face, and it isn’t until she stands up and sweeps her hair behind her shoulder that I realize it’s:
“Care Blaire?” the words come shooting from my mouth before I even realize I’m saying them.
The girl looks over at me and briefly smiles before that smile quickly turns to a scowl.
“Oh, god,” she says. “Please don’t call me that, Logan.”
Kari looks at me and then back at Blaire.
“Woah, woah, woah,” she says. “You two know each other?”
“Unfortunately,” Blaire mumbles before turning her back and walking to the other side of the counter.
I can’t help but smirk—she’s still as cutting as always. And just as beautiful, if not more. Blaire and her mom lived down the street from me growing up. I’m a couple of years older than her, but up until my senior year of high school, we were pretty close. When we were little, she always carried around a ratty old Care Bear and I gave her hell about it even after she traded that Care Bear in for a skateboard. In middle school, she was a tomboy and never afraid to get dirty—I always liked that about her. And because of that, I guess I always looked at her as one of the guys. That is, until the summer after my senior year when she turned sixteen, and I quickly realized she was no longer just one of the guys.
One night that summer, we were watching an Aspen State baseball game from the back of my pickup. Two of our other friends took off, leaving just the two of us alone. The sun had set and the temperature dropped. I remember looking over at her with her arms wrapped around herself, the curves of her breasts spilling out from her white tank top and a prominent line marked where the sun kissed her skin just outside the strap of her bikini top. My eyes traced that line up to her neck and then to her lips—so pink from the heat earlier that day. I took my flannel off and draped it over her shoulders. She smiled and thanked me, staring at me just a bit longer than usual. A lock of her hair fell from her loose braid, so I reached up and tucked it behind her ear. Then it hit me—I had to kiss her. With my hand still behind her ear, I walked it to the back of her neck and pulled her into me. When she pressed her soft lips into mine, a feeling that I’ve never felt before surged through my body. I’d been with plenty of girls before, but never had I felt like that before. Once I started kissing her, I never wanted to stop. She pressed harder into me, wrapping her legs around my waist. Before I knew it, I was on my back, my hands roving all over her body as it pressed into me. Her skin was so soft, and I just wanted to rip her clothes off and kiss every inch of her soft skin.
But, I didn’t. We kissed for what seemed like hours, and then as it got closer to midnight, I drove her home. And that was it. The next day, she refused to talk to me. She wouldn’t return my calls, she wouldn’t come to the door; she just ended all communication with me and to this day, I have no idea what happened. By the end of the summer, I moved off to go to college, and I never heard from her again. Even after I quit school and moved back home, I never had the nerve to look her up again. But now…
I can’t believe she’s standing five feet away from me. And just like no time has gone by, she’s avoiding me again.
I walk over to her on the other side of the counter and place my palms on the glass, demanding her attention.
“Um, hi?” I say, tilting my head in her direction.
She continues to squat on the ground, adjusting jewelry boxes inside the display case, and replies coldly, “Hello.”
“Are you really not going to speak to me? I mean, I can’t believe you’re here, right in front of me. I haven’t seen you in like five or six years.”
“Well, believe it,” she says with snap and stands to her feet. She brushes the hair back behind her shoulders and gives me a cutting look. Her eyes meet mine for just a second revealing some kind of an emotion I can’t quite figure out. Sadness?
“Blaire,” I say to her, forcing those eyes back in my direction. “Please, you don’t know how long I’ve waited for this, to see you again—”
“Alright, Romeo,” Gary interrupts as he walks up carrying something in his hands. “Leave the new girl alone and get back to work. My lights still aren’t working.” He then shoves a pile of clothes into Blaire’s arms and says to her, “The elf girl quit. Here, put this on. Didn’t you say you know how to work a camera?”
“Um, what?” Blaire holds up the very small skirt and top. “An elf? No, no, no. I’m not wearing this outfit. I took this job—the job working behind the jewelry counter. The job with the commission. I need this job. I didn’t sign up to be some dumb elf dealing with screaming children all day. Can’t someone else do it?”
Blaire looks over at Kari who shrugs and mouths, “I’m sorry.”
“No,” Gary says bluntly as he starts to walk away. “You do it or you can find a job somewhere else. There’s plenty of other pretty college girls just like you who would take this job in a heartbeat.”
Blaire’s face drops and before I can think of something more to say, she is walking away from me…again.
Chapter Three
Blaire
Before I even realize it, I’m walking away from him. It’s like instinct. I see him and a part of me screams out to get away from him as quickly as I can. He’s dangerous. He does something inside of me that sparks like a wildfire. The wave of shock from seeing him again is still resonating throughout my entire body. It’s like no time has passed—he still makes my entire body want to explode. I can't believe he works here...here, in the same place that I do. I try to fight back those voices in my head saying, "maybe it's meant to be, Blaire...maybe you were supposed to find him again...kiss him again."
No. Stop.
◆◆◆
I’ve been in love with Logan since before I can remember.
But…so has every girl that has ever come within a foot of him. I mean, it’s hard not to. He is that bad boy that haunts every girl’s best nightmare—sexy, elusive, and will chew you up and spit you out. And that’s exactly why I have to stay away from him. He would never love me the way I love him. He can have any girl he wants—and he does. Lord only knows how many girls he slept with in high school, let alone since graduating. And I was almost added to that list. The list of girls he would sleep with and then throw to the curb.
One night, the summer before my junior year, something that I had been dreaming of finally happened: he kissed me. This wasn’t just some kiss between two teenagers. It was the most explosive, passionate moment of my life. I can still feel his breath on my neck, his hard body grinding into me. I wanted to rip his jeans off and let him take me right there in the back of that pickup truck. But, he didn’t. We didn’t. He stopped it from happening. I don’t know if it was because I was a virgin or he just suddenly found me unattractive or what. But, whatever it was, he stopped kissing me and drove me home. At the time, I actually found it sweet. It seemed like he was just being respectful and wanted to wait. He gave me one last kiss after walking me to my doorstep and said he would call the next day.
The next morning, I couldn’t wait to see him again. And just as I was picking up the phone to call him, my friend Rachel called me first. I started off by telling her all about the night before and how excited I was that I felt like I was in love. But, within minutes of talking to her, my heart was shattered. She interrupted me and said she hated to be the one to tell me this, but she wanted me to know before I got too excited about Logan. Then, she told me her brother came home late the night before from some party. He was pissed because he was trying to hook up with this senior girl all night long. She said a little after midnight, the girl went outside to meet a friend and never came back. He heard from his friend Brian that she had left with another guy. That other guy? Rachel said that the other guy was Logan.
I couldn't believe it...but, well, I did believe it because I had watched him do it to dozens of girls before me. I just never thought he would do it to me, but...h
e did. I was crushed. That’s when I knew that I had to forget about him. No matter what, I made a promise to myself that I would never let myself fall for him again. After he went away to college, that promise was easy to fulfill. But now, he’s suddenly back in my life, and I don’t know how I’m going to stay away.
◆◆◆
It’s been two days now, and I’ve successfully managed to avoid Logan. What I haven’t been able to avoid, however, is this stupid elf costume. Taking photos of screaming children wiggling out of Santa’s lap is not exactly how I envisioned my first professional photography job, but, I guess I’ll take what I can get because I really need the money.
“Hey sexy, I think it’s your turn to sit on someone’s lap,” a gruff voice bellows out behind me.
Oh great. Not this asshole again.
This creep was here yesterday and apparently, he is back again. He’s probably fifteen years older than me and looks like a walking mugshot. I turn around to face him, and know I need to be more vocal today with this idiot if I want him to leave.
“Sir,” I say, raising my voice. “This is for children, so unless you have a child, I’m going to have to ask you to—”
“This is for children?” he says and attempts to reach out and touch my skirt. I swing my hand out and grab his arm, twisting the skin.
“If you don’t get the hell out of my line, I will take this pocketknife I have in my boot and chop off your—” I threaten him under my breath before Gary walks over and interrupts.
“Blaire!” Gary shouts out at me, and I release the man’s arm. “Sir, I am so sorry for this. Please excuse her behavior. Come with me, I will get you a discount card for your trouble.”
Gary leads the man away from me after shooting me a warning look.
Another hour drags by when I finally look at my watch and realize it’s almost six. Thank god. I can’t wait to get out of here and take these damn boots off. I’ve been here since seven this morning and my feet are killing me. I take the last kid’s picture with Santa and start to put away the camera when Kari walks over to me.