Christmas Carol

“What in the hell?” the man growls.

“She thinks you’re yelling at me. She’s very protective,” I explain pulling her by her collar and getting her off the car.

“Christ,” the man mutters under his breath. He pinches his nose, but most of his expression is covered by his expensive designer sunglasses.

“I… uh… will pay for the damages on your car. You can take it to Comet’s Car Wash in town. They will buff it out and send me the bill, hopefully that will fix most of the damage,” I tell him, kind of stumbling over the words, because I know he’s upset and I’m also wrestling with my dog, who really doesn’t like the guy.

“Comet’s Car Wash?” he questions.

“Well, yeah. I guess there are others around, but they do really good work.”

“Can I ask you a question?” he asks, and since he’s not screaming at me, I nod my head yes. “This town goes back to being normal after Christmas, right?”

“Normal?” I murmur.

“Yeah, like they go back to regular names Comet’s Car Wash is probably what? Carl? Or Jiffy? And surely the theater in town isn’t—”

“Uh…the names stay the same. That’s the great thing about Mistletoe, we’re pretty much Christmas year around. It’s very laid back.”

“Jesus Fucking—”

“Could you not curse in front of Abominable?” I ask him, cutting off what I’m sure is going to be a barrage of colorful words.

He turns to look at me and I’m pretty sure I gasp when he takes off his sunglasses and the most beautiful blue eyes I’ve ever seen in my life stare back at me. I mean, I live in Montana. We have the most beautiful blue skies you could imagine. Those skies and my sister are the sole reasons I moved here. But they can’t even hold a candle to the beauty that is reflected back at me in those eyes. They manage to heat my entire body and heck even my nipples seem to tingle.

They’re that potent.

Now, don’t think I’m some sex-addicted addict who has gone way too long without a fix. That’s not it at all. I can go so long without sex it would blow the average mind. It blows mine.

“Are you afraid the dog will start cussing you out?

“What?” I seem to lose track of the conversation. I can’t stop staring into those ocean blue eyes that are looking down at me full of disbelief but are sexy at the same time.

He smiles at me and that’s when I feel more than a little self-conscious. It’s a sexy smile that makes his eyes sparkle. It makes me feel like he’s picturing me completely naked and I feel my entire body flush with heat.

“Why don’t you want me cussing in front of your dog, Bebé?”

He’s tall, at least four inches taller than me and since I’m five-nine, that’s something I don’t get a lot of. He’s broad too. He’s wearing a white t-shirt that is stretched across his muscles, with worn jeans that are faded and wrinkled in ways that carefully hug his muscles and make you wonder if he looks just as good without them.

Okay, so I am starting to sound like I am in heat.

I can’t explain it. There’s something about this guy that zaps my brain cells and ignites my long dormant libido.

“It makes her nervous,” I murmur, moistening my lips and wishing I had a bottle of water because suddenly my mouth is horribly dry.

“She doesn’t look nervous,” he says, and mysteriously all signs of his bad humor appear to have vanished.

“She doesn’t?” I ask, feeling stupid, but even though I know I am acting insane, I can’t stop myself.

“Nope.”

“Why not?” I ask, wondering if his eyes are really tractor beams and I’m just stuck in them.

“Look down, Bebé,” he says, his voice dropping down into a sexy as hell whisper.

“Excuse me?” I breathe. I think it was better for my mind that he was grouchy and laying down on his horn.

“Look down,” he repeats, his smile deepening.

I manage to unlock my gaze from his—it wasn’t easy. Then, slowly look down. Abominable has gone down so her belly is flat against the asphalt. Her paws have basically wrapped around the guy’s foot and ankle and she’s gnawing on the man’s pants leg, growling.

I scrunch up my face, feeling horrible. Abominable isn’t trying too hard. If she was she would have ripped the pants by now. She’s being annoying and keeping her big body between me and the guy.

“Oh gosh. I’m sorry. She’s confused.”

“Confused?” he asks.

I take a step away from him, because clearly that delicious cologne he’s wearing is doing strange things to me. Once there’s a little more space between us, Abominable bounds back up and presses against my body. I pet her reassuringly, while scratching her ears, trying to calm her.

“She was afraid you might be a threat to me. Yelling and cursing make her nervous, but we were close, and I wasn’t scared so she didn’t know whether to bite or—”