Читать книгу Christmas Kisses Collection - Джанис Мейнард, Louise Allen - Страница 19

LANCE WALKED MCKENZIE to her front door, and stood on her porch yet again. This time he didn’t debate with himself about whether or not he was going to kiss her.

He was going to.

What he wasn’t going to do was go inside her place.

Not that he didn’t want to.

He did.

Not that he didn’t think there was a big part of her that wanted him to.

He did.

But she was so torn about them being together that he’d like her to be 100 percent on board when they made that step.

Why she was so torn, he wasn’t sure. Neither of them were virgins. Neither of them had long-term expectations of the relationship. Just that his every gut instinct told him to take his time if that’s what it took.

Took for what?

That’s what he couldn’t figure out.

He just knew McKenzie was different, that for the first time in a long time he really liked a woman.

Maybe for the first time since Shelby.

Guilt slammed him, just as it always did when he thought of her. What right did he have to like another woman? He didn’t deserve that right. Not really. He took a deep breath and willed his mind not to go there. Not right now, although maybe he deserved to be reminded of it right now and every other living, breathing moment. Instead, he stared down into the pretty green eyes of the woman looking up at him with a thousand silent questions.

“Well?” she asked. “Are we back to my having to ask for your next move? Seriously, I gave you more credit than this.”

He swallowed the lump forming in his throat. “If that were the case, what move would you ask me to make?”

McKenzie let out an exaggerated sigh. “Just kiss me and get it over with.”

He tweaked his finger across her pert, upturned nose. “For that, I should just go home.”

She crossed her arms. “Fine. Go home.”

“See if you care?”

Her brows made a V. “What?”

“I was finishing your rant for you.”

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “Go home, Lance. Have your shower. Cold. Hot. Lukewarm. Whatever.”

Despite his earlier thoughts, he couldn’t hold in his laughter at her indignation. “I intend to, but not before I kiss you good-night.”

“Okay.”

Okay? He smiled at her response, at the fact that she closed her eyes and waited for his mouth to cover hers, though her arms were still defensively crossed.

She was amazingly beautiful with her hat pulled down over her ears and her scarf around her neck. The temperature was only in the upper fifties, so it wasn’t that cold. Just cold enough to need an outside layer.

And to cause a shiver to run down Lance’s spine.

It had probably been the cold and not the anticipation of kissing McKenzie that had caused his body to quiver.

Maybe.

“Well?” She peeped at him through one eye. “Sun’s going to be coming up if you don’t get a move on. Time’s a-wasting.”

She closed her eye again and waited.

Smiling, he leaned down, saw her chin tilt toward him in anticipation, but rather than cover her lips he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Her eyes popped open and met his, but she didn’t say anything.

Her lips parted in invitation, but he still didn’t take them. He kissed the corner of each eye, her cheekbones, the exposed section of her neck just above her scarf. He kissed the corners of her mouth.

She moaned, placed her gloved hands on his cheeks and stared up at him. She didn’t speak, though, just stood on tiptoe while pulling him toward her, taking what she wanted.

Him.

She covered his mouth with hers and the porch shifted beneath Lance’s feet. They threatened to kick up and take off on a happy flight.

Unlike their previous kisses, where he’d initiated the contact, this time it was her mouth taking the lead. Her lips demanding more. Her hands pulling him closer and closer. Her body pressing up against his.

Her wanting more, expressing that want through her body and actions.

Lance moaned. Or growled. Or made some type of strange noise deep in his throat.

Whatever the sound was, McKenzie pulled back and giggled. “What was that?”

“A mating call?”

“That was supposed to make me want to rip off your clothes and mate?”

His lips twitched. “You’re telling me it didn’t?”

Smiling, she shook her head. “Better go home and practice that one, big boy.”

“Guess I’d better.” He rubbed his thumb across her cheek. “Thank you for tonight, McKenzie.”

“You paid for dinner and dessert. Everything was delicious. I’m the one who should be thanking you, again.”

“You were delicious.”

She laughed. “Must have been leftover frozen yogurt.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

She met his gaze and her smile faded a little. “Tell me this isn’t a bad idea.”

“‘This’?”

She gnawed on her lower lip. “I don’t do long-term relationships, Lance. You know that. We’ve talked about that. This isn’t going to end with lots of feel-good moments.”

“I do know that and am fine with it. I’m not looking for marriage either, McKenzie. Far from it.”

“Then we both understand that this isn’t going anywhere between us. Not anywhere permanent or long lasting.”

“We’re clear.” Lance wasn’t such a fool that he didn’t recognize that he’d only kissed her and yet he wanted McKenzie more than he recalled wanting any woman, ever.

Even Shelby.

Then again, he’d been a kid when he and Shelby had been together, barely a man. Old enough to enter into adulthood with her only to lose her before either of them had experienced the real world. Typically, when he dated, Shelby didn’t play on his mind so much. Typically, when he dated, he didn’t feel as involved as he already felt with McKenzie.

“I’ll see you in the morning?” she asked, staring up at him curiously.

“Without a doubt.”

Her smile returned. “I’m glad.”

With that, she planted one last, quick kiss on his mouth then went into her house, leaving him on her front porch staring at her closed front door and wondering what the hell he was getting himself into and if he should run while he still could.

McKenzie ran as fast as she could, but her feet weren’t cooperating. Each time she tried to lift her running shoe–clad foot, it was as if it weighed a ton and she didn’t have the strength to do more than lean in the direction she wanted to go. She stared off into the distance. Nothing. There was nothing there. Just gray-black nothingness.

Yet, desperately, she attempted to move her feet in that direction.

Fear pumped her blood through her body.

She had to run.

Had to.

Yet, try as she might, nothing was happening.

Run, McKenzie, run before…

Before what?

She wasn’t sure. There was nothing to run to. Was she running from something?

She turned, was shocked to see Lance standing behind her.

Again, she tried to move her feet, but nothing happened. Desperation pumped through her. She had to get away from him. Fast.

She glanced down at her running shoes and frowned. Gone were her running shoes and in their place were concrete blocks where her shoes and feet should be.

What was going on?

She glanced over her shoulder and saw that Lance was casually strolling toward her. He was taking his time, not in any rush, not even breaking a sweat, but he was steadily closing the gap between them.

Grinning in that carefree way he had, he blew her a kiss and panic filled her.

People were all around, watching them, gawking, pointing and staring.

Run, McKenzie, run.

It’s what she did.

What she always did.

But she’d never had concrete blocks for feet before.

Which really didn’t make sense. How could her feet be concrete blocks?

Somewhere in the depths of her fuzzy mind she realized she was dreaming.

Unable to run?

People everywhere staring at her?

That wasn’t a dream.

That was a nightmare.

Even if it was Lance who was closing in on her and he seemed quite happy with his pursuit and inevitable capture of her.

“The radiologist just called me with the report on Edith’s CT and D-dimer.” McKenzie stood in Lance’s office doorway, taking him in at his desk. His brown hair was ruffled and when his gaze met hers, his eyes were as bright as the bluest sky.

“She has a pulmonary embolism?” Lance asked.

“He called you, too?”

“No, I just figured that was the case after listening to her last night and the things you said.”

“That doesn’t explain the blood she spat up. She shouldn’t have spat up blood with a clot in her lungs. That doesn’t make sense.”

“You’re right. Makes me wonder what else is going on. Did they get the sputum culture sent off?”

“Yes, with her first morning cough-up. Her pulmonologist is supposed to see her this morning. Her cardiologist, too.”

“That’s good.”

Suddenly, McKenzie felt uncomfortable standing in Lance’s doorway. What had she been thinking when she’d sought him out to tell him of Edith’s test results?

Obviously, she hadn’t been thinking.

She could have texted him Edith’s results.

She’d just given in to the immediate desire to tell him, to see him, to share her anxiety over the woman’s diagnosis. She really liked Edith and had witnessed Lance’s affection for her, too.

“Um, well, I thought you’d want to know. I’ll let you get back to work,” she said, taking a step backward and feeling more and more awkward by the moment.

“Thank you, McKenzie.”

Awkward.

“You’re welcome.” She turned, determined to get out of Dodge as quickly as possible.

“McKenzie?”

Heart pounding in her throat, she slowly turned back toward him. “Yes?”

His gaze met hers and he asked, “Dinner tonight if I don’t see you before then?”

Relief washed over her.

“If you do see me before, what then? Do I not get dinner? Just dessert or something?”

He grinned. “You do keep me on my toes.”

Since he was sitting down, she didn’t comment, just waited on him to elaborate.

“Regardless of when we next see each other, I’d like to take you to dinner tonight, McKenzie. As you well know, I’m also good for dessert.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she answered, wondering why she felt so relieved that he’d asked, that they had plans to see each other after work hours. He’d been asking her for weeks and she’d been saying no. Now that she was willing to say yes, had she thought he wasn’t going to ask?

“Great.” His smile was bigger now, his dimples deeper. “We can discuss what we’re going to wear for the Christmas parade. I’m thinking you should be a sexy elf.”

“A sexy elf, hmm?” she mused, trying to visualize what he was picturing in his mind. He’d make a much sexier Santa’s helper than she would. Maybe he should do the sexy-elf thing. “I haven’t agreed to be in the Christmas parade,” she reminded him.

“It’ll be fun. The mayor’s float is based on a children’s story about a grumpy fellow who hates Christmas until a little girl shows him the true meaning of the holidays. It’s a perfect float theme.”

“I get to do weird things to my hair and wear ear and nose extensions that make me look elfish for real?” she asked with false brightness.

“You do. Don’t forget the bright clothes.”

She narrowed her gaze suspiciously. “And you’re going to do the same?”

“I’m not sure about doing weird things to my hair.” He ran his fingers through his short brown locks. “But I can get into the colorful Christmas spirit if that makes you happy.”

This should be good. Seeing him in his float clothes would be worth having to come up with a costume of her own. After all, she had a secret weapon: Cecilia, who rocked makeup and costumes.

“Well, then. Sign me up for some Christmas float happiness.”

Cecilia really was like a Christmas float costume secret weapon. A fairy godmother.

She walked around McKenzie, her lips twisted and her brow furrowed in deep thought.

“We can use heavy-duty bendable hair wires to wrap your hair around to make some fancy loops.” Cecelia studied McKenzie’s hair. “That and lots of hair spray should do the trick.”

“What about for an outfit?”

“K-I-S-S.”

“What?”

“Keep It Simple, Stupid. Not that you’re stupid,” Cecilia quickly added. “Just don’t worry about trying to overdo anything. You’ve got less than a week to put something together. The mayor may not be expecting you to be dressed up.”

“Lance says we are expected to dress up.”

Cecilia’s eyes lit with excitement, as if she’d been patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity to ask but had gotten distracted at the prospect of having her way with McKenzie’s hair and costume makeup. “How is the good doctor?”

“Good. Very good.”

Cecilia’s eyes widened. “Really?”

McKenzie looked heavenward, which in this case was the glittery ceiling of Bev’s Beauty Boutique. “I’ve kissed the man. That’s it. But, yes, he was very good at that.”

Cecilia let out a disappointed sight. “Just kissing?”

Her lips against Lance’s could never be called “just kissing,” but she wasn’t going to point that out to Cecilia.

“What did you think I meant when I said he was very good?”

“You know exactly what I thought, what I was hoping for. What’s holding you back?”

McKenzie shrugged. “We’ve barely been on three dates, and that’s if you count the community Christmas show, which truly shouldn’t even count but since he kissed me for the first time that night, I will.” Why was she sounding so breathy and letting her sentences run together? “You think I should have already invited him between my sheets?”

“If I had someone that sexy looking at me the way that man looks at you, I’d have invited him between my sheets long ago.”

McKenzie shrugged again. “There’s no rush.”

“No rush?” Shaking her head, Cecilia frowned. “I’m concerned.”

“About me? Why?”

“For some reason you are totally throwing up walls between you and this guy. For the life of me I can’t figure out why.”

McKenzie glanced around the salon. There was a total of five workstations. On the other side of the salon, Bev was rolling a petite blue-haired lady’s hair into tight little clips, but the other two stylists had gone to lunch, as had the manicurist. No one was paying the slightest attention to Cecilia and McKenzie’s conversation. Thank goodness.

“How many times do I have to say it? I work with him. A relationship between us is complicated.”

Cecilia wasn’t buying it. “Only as complicated as the two of you make it.”

McKenzie sank into her friend’s salon chair and spun around to stare at the reflection of herself in the mirror. “I am creating problems where there aren’t any, aren’t I?”

“Looks that way to me. My question is why. I know you don’t fall into bed with every guy you date and certainly not after just a couple of dates, but you’ve never had chemistry with anyone the way you do with Lance. I could practically feel the electricity zapping between you that night at the Christmas show,” she pointed out. “You’ve never been one to create unnecessary drama. So, as your best friend, that leaves me asking myself, and you, why are you doing it now?”

True. She hadn’t. Then again, she never dated anyone very long. Not that three dates classified as dating Lance for a long time. She’d certainly never dated anyone like Lance. Not even close. He was…different. Not just that he worked with her, but something more that was hard to define and a little nerve-racking to contemplate.

“You really like him, don’t you?”

At her best friend’s question, McKenzie’s gaze met Cecilia’s in the mirror. “What’s not to like?”

Cecilia grinned. “What? No argument? Uh-oh. This one has you hooked. You may decide you want to keep him around.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Then what? Eventually, he’d be ready to move on and if she were more vested in an actual relationship, she’d be hurt. Being with someone so charismatic and tempting was probably foolish to begin with.

She toyed with a strand of hair still loose from its rubber band. “So, on Saturday morning you’re going to make me look like Christmas morning and then transform me into a beautiful goddess for the hospital Christmas party that evening?”

“Sure. Just call me Fairy Godmother.” Cecilia’s eyes widened again. “Does that mean you’re going to go to the hospital Christmas party with Lance?”

McKenzie nodded. She’d just decided that for definite, despite his having mentioned it to her several times. Even if she did insist on them going separately, what would be the point other than that stubbornness he’d mentioned?

Lance stared at the cute brunette sitting on a secured chair on the back of a transfer truck flatbed that had been converted into a magical winter wonderland straight out of a children’s storybook.

As was McKenzie with her intricate twisted-up hair with its battery-powered blinking multicolored minilights that were quite attention gathering for someone who’d once said she didn’t want anyone staring at her, her elaborate makeup done to include a perky little nose and ear tips, and a red velvet dress fringed with white fur, white stockings and knee-high black boots that had sparkly bows added to them.

She fit in with the others on the float as if she’d been a planned part rather than a last-minute addition by the mayor. Lance liked her costume best, but admitted he was biased. The mayor and his wife stood on a built-up area of the float. They waved at the townspeople as the float made its way along the parade route.

“Tell me this isn’t the highlight of your year.”

“Okay. This isn’t the highlight of my year,” she said, but she was smiling and waving and tossing candy to the kids they passed. “Thank you for bringing candy. How did you know?”

“My favorite part of a Christmas parade was scrambling to get candy.”

“Oh.”

Something in her voice made him curious to know more, to understand the sadness he heard in that softly spoken word.

“Didn’t your parents let you pick up candy thrown by strangers?” He kept his voice light, teasing. “On second thought, I should talk to my parents about letting me do that.”

“Well, when there are big signs announcing who is on each float, it’s not really like taking candy from strangers,” she conceded. “But to answer your question, no, my parents didn’t. This is my first ever Christmas parade.”

“What?”

She’d grown up in Coopersville. The Christmas parade was an annual event and one of the highlights of the community as far as he was concerned. How could she possibly have never gone to one before?

“You heard me, elf boy.”

He smiled at her teasing.

“How is it that you haven’t ever gone to a Christmas parade before when I know you grew up here and the parade has been around for more decades than you have?”

She shrugged a fur-covered shoulder. “I just haven’t. It’s not a big deal.”

But it was. He heard it in her voice.

“Did your parents not celebrate the holidays?” Not everyone did. With his own mother loving Christmas as much as he did, he could barely imagine someone not celebrating it, but he knew those odd souls were out there.

“They did,” McKenzie assured him. “Just in their own unique ways.”

Unique ways? His curiosity was piqued, but McKenzie’s joy was rapidly fading so he didn’t dig.

“Which didn’t include parades or candy gathering?”

“Exactly.”

“Fair enough.”

“You know, I’ve seen half a dozen people we work with in the crowds,” she pointed out. “There’s Jenny Westman who works in Accounting, over there with her kids.”

She smiled, waved, and tossed a handful of candy in the kids’ general direction.

“I see her.” He tossed a handful of individually wrapped bubble gums to the kids, too, smiling as they scrambled around to grab up the goodies. “Jenny has cute kids.”

“How can you tell with the way she has them all bundled up?” McKenzie teased, still smiling. “I’m not sure I would have recognized them if she wasn’t standing next to them.”

“You have a point. I think she just recognized us. She’s waving with one hand and pointing us out to her husband with the other.”

Still holding her smiling, waving pose, McKenzie nodded.

“I imagine everyone is going to be talking about us being together on this float.”

“We’ve had dinner together every night this week. Everyone is already talking about us.”

“You’re probably right.”

“And the ones who aren’t will be after tonight’s office Christmas party.”

“Why? What’s happening tonight?”

“You’re going as my date. Remember?”

“I remember. I just thought you meant something more.”

“More than you going as my date? McKenzie, a date with me is something more.”

“Ha-ha, keep telling yourself that,” she warned, but she was smiling and not just in her waving-at-the-crowds way of smiling. Her gaze cut to him and her smile dazzled more than any jewel.

“You look great, by the way,” he said.

“Thanks. I owe it all to Cecilia. She worked hard putting this together and got to my house at seven this morning to do my hair and makeup. She came up with the lights and promised me that my hair, the real and the fake she brought with her to make it look so poufy and elaborate, wouldn’t catch fire. I admit I was a bit worried when she told me she was stringing lights through my hair.”

“Like I said, you look amazing and are sure to help the mayor win best float. Cecilia’s good.”

“Yep. Works at Bev’s Beauty Boutique. Just in case you ever need a cut and style or string of Christmas lights dangled above your head on twisted-up fake hair.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He reached over and took her gloved hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “I’m glad you agreed to do this.”

She didn’t look at him, but admitted, “Me, too.”

When they reached the final point of the parade, the driver parked the eighteen-wheel truck that had pulled the float. Lance jumped down and held his hand out to assist McKenzie. The mayor and his wife soon joined them. He’d just been discharged from the hospital the day before and probably shouldn’t have been out in the parade, but the man had insisted on participating.

“Thank you both for being my honored guests,” he praised them in a hoarse, weakened voice. He shook Lance’s hand.

“It was our pleasure,” Lance assured the man he’d checked on several times throughout his hospital stay despite the fact that he wasn’t a patient of their clinic. He genuinely liked the mayor and had voted for him in the last election.

The mayor turned to McKenzie. “Thank you for saving my life, young lady. There’d have been no Christmas cheer this year in my household if not for you.”

McKenzie’s cheeks brightened to nearly the same color as her plush red dress. “You’re welcome, but Dr. Spencer did just as much to save your life as I did. He’s the one who did the Heimlich maneuver and your chest compressions.”

“You were the one who revived me. Dr. Spencer has told me on more than one occasion that your actions are directly responsible for my still being here.”

McKenzie glanced at him in question and Lance winked.

“If there’s ever anything we can do.” This came from the mayor’s wife. “Just let us know. We are forever indebted to you both. You’re our Christmas angels.”

“We’re good, but thank you,” Lance and McKenzie both assured them.

“Amazing costume,” the mayor’s wife praised McKenzie further.

They talked for a few more minutes to those who’d been on the mayor’s float, then walked toward the square where the rest of the parade was still passing.

“If it’s okay, I’d like to swing by to see Cecelia at the shop.”

“No problem,” he assured her. “I need to thank her for making you look so irresistibly cute.”

McKenzie grimaced. “Cute is not how a woman wants to be described.”

“Well, you already had beautiful, sexy, desirable, intelligent, brilliant, gorgeous, breathtaking—”

“You can stop anytime,” she interrupted, laughing.

“Amazing, lickable—”

“Did you just say lickable?” she interrupted again.

He paused, frowned at her. “Lickable? Surely not.”

“Surely so.”

“I said likable. Not lickable.”

“You said lickable.”

He did his best to keep a straight face. “You’d think with those elongated ears you’d have better hearing.”

She touched one of her pointy ears. “You’d think.”

“So maybe I’ll just thank her for your costume that’s lit up my day so far.”

McKenzie reached up and touched her hair. “That would be accurate, at least.”

“All the other was, too.” Before she could argue, he grabbed her hand and held it as they resumed walking toward Bev’s Beauty Boutique.

The wind was a little chilly, but overall the weather was a fairly mild December day in mid-Georgia.

“Oh, goodness, look at you two,” Bev gushed in her gravelly voice when McKenzie and Lance walked up to the shop. Lance had met her at a charity function a time or two over the years he’d been in Coopersville. A likable woman even if he did always have to take a step back because of her smoky breath.

Bev and a couple other women were outside the shop, watching the remainder of the parade pass.

“Cecilia, you outdid yourself, girl! McKenzie, you look amazing.” Bev, a woman who’d smoked her way to looking older than she was, ran her gaze over Lance’s trousers, jacket, and big Christmas bow tie. He’d borrowed some fake ears and a nose tip from the community center costume room from a play they’d put on several years before. “I’m pretty sure you’re hotter than Georgia asphalt in mid-July.”

McKenzie laughed out loud at the woman’s assessment of him. Lance just smiled and thanked her for her hoarse compliment.

“You do look amazing,” Cecelia praised her friend. “Even if I do say so myself.” She pulled out her cell phone. “I want a picture.”

“You took photos this morning,” McKenzie reminded as her friend held her cell phone out in front of her.

“Yeah, but that was just you,” Cecilia pointed out. “I want pictures of you two together, too. Y’all are the cutest Christmas couple ever.”

Reluctantly, McKenzie posed for her friend, then seemed to loosen up a little when she pulled Lance over to where she stood. “Come on, elf boy. You heard her. She wants pictures of us both. If I have to do this, so do you.”

Lance wasn’t reluctant at all. He wrapped his arm around McKenzie and smiled for the camera while Cecilia took their first photos together.

Their first. Did that mean he thought there would be other occasions for them to be photographed together? Did that imply that he wanted those memories with her captured forever?

“Do something other than smile,” Cecilia ordered, looking at them from above her held-out phone.

Lance turned to McKenzie to follow her lead. Her gaze met his, and she shrugged, then broke off a sprig of mistletoe from the salon’s door decoration. She held up the greenery, then pulled him to her, did a classic one-leg-kicked-up pose, and planted a kiss right on his cheek with her eyes toward her friend.

No doubt Cecilia’s phone camera flash caught his surprise.

He quickly recovered and got into the spirit of things by pointing at the mistletoe McKenzie held and giving an Oh, yeah thumbs-up, then posed for several goofy shots and laughed harder than he probably should have at their antics.

All the women and a few spectators laughed and applauded them. A few kids wanted to pose for photos with them, especially McKenzie.

“Is your hair real?” a little girl asked, staring at the twisted-up loops of hair and string of minilights.

“Part of it is real, but I don’t normally wear it this way. Just on special days.”

“Like on Christmas parade days?” the child asked.

“Exactly.”

When they’d finished visiting with her friends, McKenzie hugged Cecilia and thanked her again.

“Don’t forget to forward me those pictures,” she requested with one last hug.

“I may be calling on you to help with some of our charity events. We’re always needing help with costumes and you’re good,” Lance praised.

Cecilia beamed. “Thank you.”

The parade ended and the crowd began to disperse. Customers came to the shop to have their ritual Saturday morning hair appointments and the stylists went back into the salon.

“Now what?” McKenzie asked, turning to face him. Her cheeks glowed with happiness and she looked as if she was having the time of her life.

“Anything you want.”

She laughed. “If only I could think of something evil and diabolical.”

He took her gloved hand into his. “I’m not worried.”

“You should be.”

She tried to look evil and diabolical, but only managed to look cute. He lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to her fuzzy glove.

“You wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“I definitely would,” she contradicted. “I don’t like flies.”

“Okay, Miss Evil and Diabolical Fly-Killer, let’s go grab some hot chocolate and see what the Christmas booths have for sale that we can snag.”

“Sounds wonderful.”