Unwrapping Holly

“Holly?”

Her teeth chattered, the coldness seeming to reach to her bones. Or was that emotion? Either way, she couldn’t control the shaking.

“I rushed over. I—”

“Good Lord, woman,” he said, shrugging out of his coat and then pulling it around her shoulders, rescuing her even as she tried to rescue him and, damn, it felt good. “Where is your coat?”

His coat swallowed her whole, but it smelled like him—spicy, masculine, perfect. She didn’t ever want to take it off.

“I didn’t think to grab it,” she said. He still held the coat lapels, his warmth encasing her with courage. The shivers started to subside. “I heard you were in jail. It’s that guy that Jacob had issues with, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “Yes,” he said. “He was roughing up his wife again. I grabbed the guy and hung him up on a coatrack to wait for the sheriff to arrive.”

Holly shook her head, clearing the cobwebs. Surely she didn’t hear that right. “What do you mean, hung him on a coatrack?”

Cole never got the chance to answer. Sheriff Jack, who stood at least six foot three with broad, muscular shoulders, walked into the lobby and did it for him. “Stuck his belt over the notch, just like you would a coat.” He tossed some paperwork on the desk, and Cole let go of the coat.

Sheriff Jack continued, “It was priceless. The best Christmas present you could have given me.” He shook his head. “You’re lucky he didn’t press charges, though. Good thing the wife flexed some muscle and threatened the guy. You should have waited for me, and you damned well know it.”

“I was waiting for you,” Cole countered. “I just wanted to make sure he did, too.”

The sheriff chuckled, and Holly couldn’t help joining in herself. “About ten more minutes on that paperwork and we’ll get you out of here,” the sheriff said.

Holly found herself laughing and sitting down next to Cole. “I just can’t imagine what that would have looked like.”

Cole fixed his attention on her, his eyes a dark abyss, his lips a grim, hard line. Then abruptly, he pushed to his feet and grabbed her hand. A minute later, they were in a private office, with the door shut. “Holly, why are you here?” Apparently, he was done with small talk.

Holly struggled to secure the giant coat hanging heavily on her shoulders. But that weight was nothing compared to the weight of his confrontation. “I thought you needed me. I . . .”

He gave a slow, hard nod, his lips flattening. Then he reached for the door. She grabbed his arm, instant awareness between them, electricity darting up her arm.

“Cole. Please. If you walk out of this office, it will kill me. Maybe you didn’t need me, but I need you, and I won’t say that doesn’t scare me. But being without you scares me more.” Her heart sputtered and then raced wildly. “This isn’t exactly how I planned this, but . . .”

The energy in the room shifted, but still he was stiff, unyielding. “You planned this?”

“Yes,” she confessed. “Well, not this, now. Later. At your house. I was going to be waiting for you when you got home. I had a cake, and champagne, and . . . It was to celebrate. One business gone, another starting.” He didn’t so much as blink, and she started to ramble, nervous, afraid this was a mistake, a mess. “Then Abe called and I rushed over here, and all that went out the window. I mean, everything I’d planned . . . and see, I plan, Cole. It’s me. I like that you make me more spontaneous—no, I love it. I—”

He kissed her, his arm sliding around her waist, his tongue coaxing her lips apart. Holly clung to him, reached on her toes and flung her arms around his neck.

A knock sounded on the door a moment before the sheriff said, “You’re free to go, Cole.”

Holly clung to him, tilting her chin up and letting him see into her soul. “No. No, you’re not. Not this time.”

***

A FEW DAYS LATER AT Cole’s house, Holly and Cole lay naked on top of the bed, big fluffy goose-down blankets beneath them, and a fireplace crackling in the corner.

Holly had gone to the contract signing to support both her family and Cole’s. They’d all agreed that they’d keep the bed-and-breakfast a secret until the time was right, and Cole had offered her parents a permanent room at the house, in between travels. After all, it would be Holly’s home, too, as far as he was concerned, and every holiday could be spent there as if nothing had changed.