Mistletoe Baby (Crescent Cove 9.50)

He stepped forward. “You felt it. I know you did. You pulled me closer.” His attention dropped to my mouth, and he reached for me.

I stepped back, my spine going rigid. “It was stupid.”

His eyebrows snapped down. “No it wasn’t. It was the best thing that has happened to me in a damn long time.”

“Then you need some new hobbies.”

“I have plenty of hobbies, thanks. More than I can keep up with. What I don’t have is your name.”

I took another step back and slammed into the handle of the door to Brewed Awakening. Flustered, I dropped my notebook, and he swooped down to pick it up before the snow soaked into the pages.

“Hey. Give that back.”

He took my arm and gently moved me aside as a trio of girls came out with their coffees cupped in their hands as they talked animatedly about some guy from a TV show. I smiled at them awkwardly. They were regulars in the café.

The shorter one of the three glanced at me and then at my hot mistake, tilting her head with interest. “Who’s your friend, Ellie?”

I resisted the urge to growl at Katie. Now he knew my name.

“Ellie, is it? It suits you.” His long, dusty fingers clutched my idea book easily. As if they were born for such things. Long fingers that had cupped my face so tenderly, though they’d been much cleaner then. Hygiene was important, dammit.

I reached for my notebook again, and he held it just out of reach. “He’s no one. Stranger danger.”

Katie’s demeanor changed in a second. All three girls advanced on him. “Is he bothering you?”

Callum held up his other hand. “No trouble. Just trying to get to know the woman I’m going marry.”

Katie’s sky blue eyes went shiny. “Marry?” She curled her fingers around her to-go cup and brought it up for a quick sip, foam teasing her top lip. “Like love at first sight?”

“Oh, for God’s sake. Keep the book and my favorite freaking scarf for all I care.” I rushed around the girls and grabbed the door handle. “I’m going to be late, and Macy will kill me.”

“Excuse me, ladies,” Callum said with that charming drip of honey voice before he followed me inside. “C’mon, I’m harmless. There was an instant connection between us. You felt it too, or you wouldn’t be so pissed at me.”

I shrugged out of my coat. Before I could get it all the way down my long-sleeved uniform shirt, he was there to help. I huffed out an annoyed breath even as his snow-tinged cedar scent slid around me. The same scent that had chased me into dreams last night. My skin prickled where his calloused fingers grazed my wrist.

He draped my coat over his arm, and I did growl this time. “I don’t have time for this.”

“I’ll hold onto it until your shift is over.” He tucked my look book into the messenger bag over his shoulder. “It’ll be safe with me. Same as you, Ellie. I promise.”

“That’s what murderers say.”

His eyebrow spiked. “You know a few murderers?”

“No, but I watch plenty of true crime shows. Ted Bundy was super charming, wasn’t he?”

“Not really. If you looked closer, his eyes were dead. Any woman with half a bit of awareness would see the same. You are far too wary to get tricked like that.”

Tell that to my last boyfriend who got me to pay for half of the things he called essentials that he was short on cash for. Like his cell phone service and that nifty iPad I got him for Christmas last year.

I narrowed my eyes. “Or you’re charming enough to tell stories like that to make a woman feel safe.”

His hand darted out to circle my wrist. His gray eyes went dark in reaction. “I feel your pulse skittering. You feel this thing between us too.”

“Could just be fear.”

“Not of me. I’m harmless, unlike my triplet brothers. They’re hell on earth.” He pulled on the lapel of his sweater. “Would a serial killer wear a cardigan?”

Probably not and no one should look so good in that stupid brown sweater, but he did. “Maybe a smart one would. You seem like a smart guy. Maybe too smart for your own good.”