The Christmas He Loved Her (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake 2)

His strong jaw was at odds with the generous mouth, and his cheekbones looked as if they’d been carved from granite. A high forehead, a thick, messy crop of dirty-blond hair, and striking eyes finished off a face that could grace the cover of any men’s magazine.

Who the hell was he?

“Are you headed somewhere?”

The tone of his voice struck a chord inside her. And she would think later—much later—that it was the alcohol talking, because surely it couldn’t have been anything else.

“That depends,” she heard herself say.

What the hell am I doing?

“On what?” He grinned, his smile devastating.

“On you.”

The stranger’s grin faded, his eyes glittering with something darker. Something hotter. Something a hell of a lot more interesting than anything inside the Coach House.

“Get in,” he said.

Lily paused for one second. Hell, she paused for two, because she really wasn’t going to listen to him, was she?

“What are you afraid of?” he said dangerously. “I don’t bite.”

“Promise?”

He didn’t answer. Instead he moved over and made space, and before Lily could even process what she was doing, she slid inside.

Lily, the woman who didn’t like to be touched.

Lily, the woman who would never get into a taxi with a man who looked and sounded like this one.

And yet she did. She settled into the warmth of the taxi.

And they disappeared into the swirling snow.

***

Back inside, Jake would have followed Lily, but Raine tugged on his hand and he finally glanced away.

“Is she going to be all right?”

“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully.

Just then, the melodic strains of BlackRock’s last number one hit, “Never Say Good-bye,” rang out.

“Where’s my wife?” Cain bellowed. “I need her up here now, or I’m gonna end up kissing one of these guys when the clock strikes midnight.”

Maggie giggled and slid out, leaving just Jake and Raine.

Jake gently ran his fingers across the back of her neck, loving the way she shivered beneath him. “Come on.”

The two of them joined a large crowd on the dance floor, and as Cain sang his love song to his wife, Jake held Raine against his body, their bodies moving slowly, in perfect sync with each other.

Sure, he’d caught a few looks, a few whispered words behind hands. Crystal Lake was a small town, and there was bound to be gossip. But he didn’t give a rat’s ass. He had everything he wanted and more than he deserved.

And as the gentle strains of Cain’s guitar fed the soulful lyrics to the song, he and Raine found the perfect rhythm. The perfect dance.

“I could stay like this all night,” she whispered into his neck, her breath hot, her hands locked around his waist.