The Magic of Mistletoe

“No, you don’t. The judging went on last night.” He continued kissing her earlobe. Little goose bumps appeared on her shoulder blade and arm.

Macy sucked in her breath. “I’m serious, Duke.”

The sound in her voice was serious. Duke straightened up, but didn’t move from between her legs. “Is it the Lawrence guy?”

“Wh-what?”

She stuttered. Duke’s heart sank. It was the same stutter he’d heard once before. He looked into Macy’s dark eyes for as long as he let her, which wasn’t long before she looked and pushed him away. “That Lawrence guy. He was here pretty early in the morning.”

“He’s a friend of mine.”

“Really?” Duke regretted folding his arms across his chest the minute he said the words. But it was too late. His tone and Macy’s response had put them both in combative mode. He had to fix this. “I’m sorry, it’s just...”

“It’s just nothing,” Macy snapped.

Too late, he thought. She was already squaring her shoulders for battle. Duke raked his hands over his head. “Let’s start this morning over.”

Macy shook her head from side to side. Her lips were already flattened in anger. “No, that’s quite all right. We might as well go and finish this.”

“What is this?” Duke threw his hands up, still trying to surrender. His heart slammed against his rib cage in panic. Quickly he softened his voice. “I don’t want to fight with you, Macy, especially after last night.”

“Ohhh,” cooed a voice behind them.

Duke cursed inwardly and turned around to see Serena leaning against the door frame. Her bright face was lit up with a quizzical grin. “Good morning, Duke, Macy. I didn’t mean to interrupt, but the door was unlocked and I thought you’d want to see the results from the contest for the best decorated home.”

Glancing back and forth at him and then her boss, Serena extracted a paper from the oversize bag on her shoulder. “You’re upset.” She noticed. “Maybe you’ve already seen it.”

Now next to him, Macy shook her head. “No, not yet.”

“Macy,” Duke breathed. “We need to talk.”

“I can come back,” Serena offered.

“No.” “Yes, please.” Duke and Macy spoke at the same time. His eyes pleaded with Serena. “Will you at least give us a few minutes?”

“Don’t tell her what to do,” Macy interjected. “Serena, stay.”

Confused, Serena looked between them again. She bit her bottom lip. “Well, since Duke is topless...”

“Serena,” Macy warned.

“Fine, fine.” Serena handed Macy the paper. “How about I just go sit out on the deck for a few minutes while you two talk?”

Macy took the paper, but shook her head as she scanned over the front page.

“Can you put that down, Macy? We need to talk.”

“Why do we need to talk, Duke? I said I was busy.”

“Busy doing what?”

Her eyes narrowed on his.

She cocked her head to the side in order to reexamine him. “Oh, you think because of last night that I am supposed to bend to your will?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.” Duke paused with his brows furrowing. “What is going on here?”

“Obviously, this is going on,” Macy held up the paper for him.