Be Mine for Christmas (2 page)

“Look,” Ellie said, “it’s a temp job. Hardly what I’d like to be doing. But it works. And as far as Mr. Neams is concerned, so far he’s been a perfect gentleman.”

Reece grumbled to himself, “Yeah, he always starts out that way.”

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing.”

“Besides, I’ve been around and can handle myself. I’m pretty good on my feet.”

With that, she lost her footing on the icy lumps of snow and tumbled sideways. The coffee went flying as her arms windmilled. He reached out, grabbed Ellie, and they both went down.

Reece landed on his back with Ellie on top of him. He congratulated himself on keeping most of her body off the cold, hard and snowy ground. He sure didn’t mind the method. Having her soft, warm curves in his arms was like an early Christmas present.

With her face only inches from his, Reece inhaled the scent of mint on her breath and a sweet floral from her straight auburn hair that fell almost to her shoulders. Their eyes met, and for the briefest moment he could swear he saw desire in her gaze.

Then it was gone and she said, “Thanks for the pillow catch. You can loosen the vice grip you’ve got on me now, if you don’t mind.”

Trouble was, Reece did mind. He fought against the urge to hold her tighter and run his tongue across the smooth skin at the base of her throat. But he let go, and Ellie sprang to her feet with the spryness of, well, an elf. Funny he hadn’t noticed before how petite she was.

“Sorry about your coffee,” Reece said as he stood.

She dusted the snow from her dress. “Wasn’t your fault.”

“I’ll pick you up a new one and bring it over.”

“Forget about it. I’ll be fine.”

“But I won’t be.” Reece turned for the mini-market. “Black with three sugars, right?”

She sighed and nodded. “Thanks.”

Reece walked back to the store and found the cashier emptying some fresh ground into the machine.

“Making a new batch,” the man said. “Be ready in a few minutes.”

But between his diddling around in the storage room and waiting on two people buying lottery tickets, almost fifteen minutes passed before Reece was able to pay for his coffee.

He rushed out. Didn’t want Ellie thinking he’d just gone off and forgotten about her. Reece had a feeling her opinion of most men wasn’t too high, and for some reason he needed to convince her he was different.

He stepped through the door of the appliance store, the banner overhead reading: “Uncle Larry’s Christmas Bargain Blowout.” A jazzy Muzak version of
Sleigh Ride
greeted him over the speaker system.

Along with the voice of Larry Neams: “Ho, ho, ho! This way, folks. Allow my magical elves to lead you through our wonderland of exciting electronics and household appliances. Every item on sale!”

Reece spotted Ellie passing out candy canes in front of a display of tablet computers. He stood nearby, waiting as she talked with a soccer mom and her little girl. The girl asked for some extra candy to give to her sister and brother.

Ellie handed her four more candy canes. “Two for each of them,” she said, sounding as sweet as the candy itself.

When the customers moved on, Reece was about to approach her, but Larry appeared at Ellie’s shoulder. Standing way too close. Reece couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he could just imagine.

He swiftly joined them. “Don’t get any ideas, Larry.”

Neams glanced up. “Reece Madsen?”

“I know what you’re up to.” Reece gave a quick nod toward Ellie, who looked dumbfounded.

Larry shook his head. “This is about the candy canes.”

“Yeah, right. And I can guess whose candy cane you’re talking about. You and I both know what you got in mind. Well, not with this lady you don’t.”

“Is Ellie your—”

“Yeah, she is,” Reece said, cutting him off. “So keep your mitts off her if you know what’s good for you.”

Ellie pointed her finger at Reece. “Now you wait a second.”

“No,
you
wait a second. I’m handling this.” Reece faced Larry. “Sheila Gainer and Nancy Lewis? Two single moms just trying earn a buck? Think I didn’t hear what happened at The Kitti Kat Den? How you—”

“That’s it,” Larry said, waving his arms. “We’re done. Get out. Both of you.”

“Both of us?” Ellie said. “But I…”

“You’re fired. You’ll get a check in the mail for your morning hours.”

“Mr. Neams, I had nothing to do with this,” Ellie said.

“You’re with him.”

“We met at the convenience store and—”

“Sounds very romantic. But I’m not interested.” He began walking away.

“Wait,” she said. “Won’t you at least listen to me?”

Larry tossed his reply over his shoulder. “Leave now, or I’ll call the police and have you thrown out.”

“We better go.” Reece took her elbow.

Ellie snatched her arm away from him. “He was only telling me not to give out more than one candy cane per customer.”

Reece paled. She marched ahead. He trailed her.

She stopped at an employee closet, grabbed her purse and jacket, then whirled on him. “Don’t you even talk to me.” Then she stomped out the door.

He tossed the coffee into a trash bin and chased after her. “I’m sorry, Ellie. I acted like—”

“A meddling idiot who cost me my job.”

“But I thought…”

No, the truth was he hadn’t been thinking at all. Not of reality anyway. Not thinking of how Ellie would view his jealously protective and possessive behavior. And if he told her it had to do with a car accident he been in five years ago she’d just label him a psycho.

That was why he’d never told anyone about those agonizing minutes before the ambulance came, that time when he was sure he was dying. The pain had been so bad he’d just wished for the end to come fast. Then she appeared like a dream, insisting he fight to stay alive, telling him to hold on and not give up.

How he could have seen Ellie Dean’s face when he’d never met her before had Reece completely baffled. But it also had him convinced their meeting yesterday was no accident.

Watching her now as she unlocked the door of an aging burgundy Mazda, he fought against the urge to run after her. To explain everything.

Would she believe him?

“Ellie?”

She glanced back at him and said, “I guess Brandon won’t be getting those gifts I hoped to buy him after all.”

**

Ellie slid into the driver’s seat, worrying. Hopefully, Larry meant what he said about paying her the thirty bucks for the hours she’d put in today. Her budget fell farther into the red every month she went without work, and with Christmas coming she needed every dollar.

“Ellie, wait!”

A part of her wanted to ignore him and drive off, but Reece was a sight to behold loping across the parking lot toward her with his athletic grace and blue-eyed angel face. Yeah, okay, so he was eye candy. But that wouldn’t get her job back.

Reece slowed as he reached her car. He held the driver’s side door open and leaned in toward her. “You said it was only a holiday gig, right?”

“Right, but I still needed the work badly.”

Steam came out of his sexy mouth as his words hit the cold air. “I can hire you for the holidays. In our gift shop at the tree farm. Tuesday through Sunday until Christmas eve.”

Once again he was offering charity and it grated on her. “Thanks, but it’s not your responsibility to give me a job when you don’t really need anybody.”

She expected him to say he owed it to her for making her lose hers, but instead he said, “You’re wrong. I was going to hire someone anyway. My mom usually runs the shop, but her health is bad this year. I’d rather she take it easy. So if you don’t do it I’ll be looking for somebody else. Are you interested?”

“I, um…” Conflicting thoughts flew around in her head. Residual anger at Reece warred with her relief at being handed a job. Add to that her trepidation at the idea of seeing him every day. Her instant attraction to him unsettled her. Whenever he got too close her imagination started going places it shouldn’t. Places that could only lead her into once again getting hooked on a pretty boy who would leave her flat.

“I’ll pay you double whatever Larry was giving you.”

She gave him a sly grin. “What if I said he was paying me something exorbitant?”

Reece snorted. “Told you, I know the guy.”

“And you owe him an apology.”

He gave her a sheepish look. “Guess I really put my foot in it this time. I’ll send him a wreath since he’d probably have me arrested if I got near his store.”

Ellie softened. Even though Reece’s actions had been dead wrong, she couldn’t deny she was touched by his protective feelings toward her. But she didn’t dare drop her guard. “I don’t get why you should care about how my boss treats me or whether I have a job or not. I’m a stranger to you.”

He seemed tongue-tied, as if there were something important he wanted to say but couldn’t. And for a moment this powerfully built hunk looked so vulnerable it melted her heart. She’d been wondering if he was an obnoxious egotist who thought he had a right to barge in on the life of any woman who tweaked his fancy. But the sincerity and depth in his sea blue eyes told her that wasn’t the case.

“Yeah,” he finally said, “I know I get carried away sometimes. Sorry for crowding you. And for making a mess of things. Stop by the farm if you want the job at the Christmas shop.” Reece turned and started walking away.

Whether it was knowing it could take days to find another offer, or the sinking disappointment that came over her thinking she might never see this man again, Ellie called out, “I do, Reece. I do want to work at the shop.”

He turned to her with an achingly handsome smile. “How about I buy you lunch and we’ll go over the details?”

“In this elf outfit? I look ridiculous.”

“That’s not the word I’d use.” His eyes seemed to devour her, sending a rush of heat to her cheeks. And a few other places. She had to admit she didn’t mind at all that Reece Madsen was attracted to her.

He opened the Mazda’s door wider. “We’ll come back for your car.”

They walked to a silver van parked in front of the convenience store. The inside smelled of evergreen and a moist flower-in-soil fragrance. When she climbed into the front passenger seat she saw why. A sea of poinsettias filled the back area with a few wreathes scattered in between. 

Reece groaned. “I forgot I had all these plants in here. I can deliver the wreathes later, but the poinsettias will freeze. We’ll have to stop at the farm.”

When they reached Madsen’s Christmas tree farm, Ellie helped him carry the poinsettias into the gift shop. She automatically began arranging them in front of a shelf of chubby Santa figurines and wooden Nutcracker princes in black boots and bright blue jackets.

Since the farm was closed to customers today, Ellie was alone in the shop and took a minute to look around. She liked the open, airy feel of the building with its high-beamed ceiling and walls of clean, bright knotted white pine. It must have once been a barn, but now it had a tile floor. Red and green of course.

Bursts of color busied the eye from all directions of the room. Lights twinkled on potted mini-trees. Shelves lining the walls were chock full of shiny holiday ornaments, Christmas plates, toy soldiers, and toy trains. If ever Hollywood needed a location for Santa’s workshop, this was the place.

Ellie had always loved Christmas decorations. Being surrounded by every kind imaginable now made her smile. By the time she and Reece brought in all of the poinsettias, she realized she was enjoying herself. So much so that when he was ready to go she said, “Why don’t we just stay here?”

Reece ordered a pizza delivered and made a pot of coffee. Pointing to a large self-serve canister in a corner, he said, “I like to have free coffee and hot chocolate or cider available for customers when the farm is open for business. That would be one of the things you’d do here in the shop.”

He showed her the supply room and the record books where they logged in the orders and gave her a rundown on their cash register system.

When the pizza arrived, he poured two mugs of coffee and set a couple chairs next to the warming cast iron stove that stood against a bricked section of wall. Ellie could hardly believe how at home she felt.

Except for the sensation of Reece’s gaze on her.

“Who renovated this barn?” she asked. “It’s amazing.”

“Me and my brother.”

“Did you grow up on this farm?”

“No, but my family’s been in this area since the nineteenth century. Norwegian shipbuilders. Later turned to building houses. My dad and brother still run a construction company.” He set down his mug. “I can tell you’re not a NoFo girl.”

NoFo was the local term for the North Fork, the top branch of the V that extended into the Atlantic Ocean at the eastern end of New York’s Long Island. A strip of land filled with farming and fishing communities.

“No,” Ellie said. “I grew up in Illinois. Came to Manhattan to study art.”

“No wonder you did such a great job designing the flower display. How’d you end up out here?”

“A wine tasting party at one of the vineyards.”

“You moved here because of the vino?”

“Hardly,” she said, pretzelling her lips. “I was charmed by all the little farms and fishing villages. Don’t get me wrong. The South Fork’s beautiful. It’s just that.  . .”

“You don’t have sixty five million right now for a mansion on Further Lane.”

She laughed. “I was going to say I thought this would be a great place to raise Brandon.”

“He’s a neat kid.” Reece noticed she’d finished eating. “Great pizza, too, huh? Time for another round.” He rose from his chair.

Ellie waved him off. “I’m good.”

“Give me a break. Don’t make me knock down the whole thing alone. And please don’t tell me after one measly slice that you’re watching your figure. Because I’ve been looking at it, too, and it’s perfect.”

His upfront compliment caught her off guard, but she liked hearing him say it. A lot. Reece’s impulsive style, while it may have gotten him into hot water earlier, managed to tickle her. She found his exuberance endearing in a kind of innocent, boyish way.