Of course, he was here at the lot. She glanced past him to see if he was alone. And he was. He wore a pair of faded jeans that looked like they’d been made to fit him, clinging to his muscular thighs, and on his feet were his signature pair of Kelly boots. He had on a shearling jacket zipped up against the cold and when he exhaled she saw his breath in the air.
“I thought getting a tree might cheer me up,” she said. “Fine. I wasn’t sick just embarrassed. But it’s not every night I outbid everyone in Whiskey River for my boss, and then sleep with him and creep out of his house while he’s sleeping…so to be fair I’m truly not feeling my best.”
She saw his lips twitch. Glad she could be a source of amusement for him. God knew she wasn’t cracking herself up lately. But she could see the humor.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “I was sure you’d be somewhere.”
“Obviously,” he said, dryly. “You suggested I go and get a tree this week and since the office was empty I thought I’d do it today.”
Of course, there was logic to it. If she hadn’t been running from him then she would have remembered that this was the day she’d said they’d come out here together. But she had been hiding from herself and her own embarrassment from running away from him. In her mind she was bold and daring but in reality it seemed she wasn’t.
“Did you bring your truck?” she asked, hoping he’d just go with it and not make her talk about her behavior, but then she thought about how everyone in town treated him. “I’m sorry.”
“For?”
“Running away. It wasn’t you,” she said. “Actually it was you. You are this great guy who makes me feel like I’m one in a million not a part of the crowd and I am not used to that. So I just left instead of facing it.”
She walked over to him and put her hand on the side of his face. “I don’t want you to think that my leaving had anything to do with your past in Whiskey River; it’s just that when things get real my way of feeling safe is to hide in a corner and try to figure out my emotions.”
He nodded and took her hand from his face and she felt like it was a rejection and didn’t blame him in the least. She deserved that.
“Why?” he asked. “You say it’s not about me, but you know my past. Is it that you’re afraid to get involved with Danny Calloway’s son?”
She shook her head. Her heart aching for him, but at the same time she really hated the way she was. “I could tell you but it might sound like an excuse. All I can say is that whenever I’ve gotten close to someone I had to move on. I stayed in Whiskey River by myself, my parents left and I have Savannah and Rachel and they are good friends but a part of me can see how they both have their families and I use them as my surrogate one. I was afraid because I like you and didn’t want to screw things up, but then I did it anyway.”
“Okay. Thank you for explaining. For the record, I hate that you left me that way. It pisses me off but I get it. Why did you ask about my truck?”
“Would you mind transporting my tree back as well?” she asked.
“Not at all. It’s the least I can do after all I’ve put you through,” he said.
“Don’t mention it,” she said. “And I mean any of it. Let’s just pick out some trees and go back to our homes. Where I will try to recover from my food poisoning in peace.”
“You know you’re the only one in town with this phantom sickness and we all pretty much ate the same thing,” he said.
“It’s my story and I’m sticking to it,” she said.
He lifted his hand shoulder level. “I’m smart enough not to argue with a lady.”
She just shook her head and pulled her gloves from her pocket as she closed the door on her VW and hit the lock button. She could hear Logan behind her walking at her pace and staying just back there.
If she hadn’t alienated Rachel and been too embarrassed she would have texted Savannah this morning to tell them what she’d done. But this wasn’t her. She didn’t make dumb mistakes. She was the smart one.
Well she knew Savannah would argue that. But in her mind, she prided herself on being the one in their threesome who didn’t make these kinds of silly decisions. Except sleeping with Logan didn’t feel silly.
She got a hot pulse of desire straight through her just by thinking his name. One night was definitely not enough to get him out of her system. And she could blame it on the magic of the holidays or that lavender-induced dream but she knew she still wanted him.
“You know what I’m wondering?”
She glanced over her shoulder and noticed how good he looked with his collar up against the chill. “What?”
“Why you had to creep out of my bed?” he asked. “Did you think I wouldn’t remember you’d been there?”
She shook her head. She couldn’t explain to him without sounding even more ridiculous.
“Of course not.”
“I’m not going to let this go, babes. I’m just not.”
She stopped and then turned to fully face him, putting her hands on her hips. “I left because if I’d stayed I was afraid that I would spend the rest of the day in bed with you.”
She saw him start to arch that one eyebrow at her and she wanted to kick him because he looked so arrogant. So sure of himself and, frankly, he had every right to be.
He was better than she’d imagined any man could be as a lover.
So she just stalked her way to the Christmas tree lot before she said something else that would land her back in his bed.
*
Logan had been lingering in the office on Monday waiting to see if Avery was going to show up since he knew that going to her house wasn’t a good idea if she were under the weather. He had no idea how to take care of anyone who was sick with something like a stomach virus, but he’d heard a woman’s voice. He could only assume it was in his head reminding him that he needed a tree. Avery must have one of those room scent things that smelled of lavender because that smell lingered at times.
Anyway, he’d decided to come and pick out a tree because he’d thought it might make Avery see him as a real guy and not a Hollywood celebrity. And it had sort of worked. Here she was. Walking ahead of him with a determined stride that he knew she thought made her look all businesslike but there was no way those jeans that hugged her long legs weren’t going to remind him of how they’d felt wrapped around his hips.
The red wool coat she wore ended at her hips. She had on a red knit cap that made her blonde hair seem even more ethereal than usual. The scent of the pine trees was strong as they got to the entrance—not a hint of lavender, which was reassuring.
Avery turned left and walked a few feet between the six-foot-to-nine-foot tree section and stopped. She tipped her head back and stood there.
He moved closer, noticing she had her eyes closed and was breathing deeply.
She opened her eyes and their gazes met and she flushed. “This is when Christmas starts for me.”
Her tone was a tad defensive and he realized despite how she’d said she liked to keep busy during the holiday she really loved the season. That defensiveness gave her away.
He had never really had a good memory attached to Christmas. Sure as his wealth increased he gave more to charities at the holidays and was invited to celebrity events but they’d always felt hollow. Not at all like the simple pleasure of Avery standing there breathing in the scent of the towering pine trees.
He took her hand and she sort of glared at him for a moment. “I’ve never done this. Do it with me?”
She chewed her lower lip between her teeth, which only served to draw his attention to how full her lips were. And he remembered how they’d felt under his last night when he’d kissed her. He groaned.
She raised both of her eyebrows and then frowned. “I’m trying to do your arrogant one eyebrow thing, but I can’t.”
“Arrogant?” he asked. He’d never thought of it as arrogant. He usually did it when he wasn’t sure what to say to someone.
“Yup. Okay,”
she said, sliding her gloved hand through his and then taking his other hand. “Tip your head back and close your eyes and then just breathe.”
He watched as she did exactly that. Her lips parted so she could exhale and she breathed in with a deep yoga-type breath and he just watched her. She wasn’t someone he could just explain away. He wasn’t as casual about her as he wanted to be. And he wasn’t sure why. A smarter man than he would drop her hands, run back to his car and hightail it back to the West Coast.
He was a Calloway for Christ’s sake. Every relationship he engaged in ended up broken or damaged.
“How’d you like that?” she asked opening her eyes. “Now I’m ready to find the perfect tree. And you know since I lied about being sick, when we get home I’m going to make you my world-famous hot cocoa.”
He stared at her. He wanted to be the man who could smile and just enjoy this, but what if the same sickness was inside of him that had dwelled in his dad? What if that demon came out now when he finally had a woman he wanted for more than sex?
But the temptation to actually be with her, to enjoy these simple pleasures was too much. “I’m going to let you.”
“Good. So you need at least three trees,” she said, keeping her hand in his and leading him down the aisle.
“I do?”
“Yes. You want one in the family room, which will be for your casual Texas-themed tree. One for your formal living room, which the decorator has themed to modern Christmas to go with your décor. And then I was thinking one in the game room,” she said. “I think when you hold your party on the 23rd we should use all three of those rooms.”
“Works for me,” he said. “But what about the kitchen and all my bed and bathrooms? I don’t want to leave them out.”
She shook her head. “I can tell you are mocking me, but I have a team coming in on Wednesday to take care of that. Your entire house will be ready for the holidays by Friday.”
He didn’t know what to say to that.
“When will your brothers be coming to town?” she asked.
“They will be here on the 22nd,” he said. Finn spent most of his time in Manhattan and Sully was on the road until then. “Don’t decorate their rooms.”
“Why not? Maybe it would be a nice surprise for them,” she said.
“I don’t know. We aren’t like your family, Ave. Christmas pretty much sucked for us growing up. The best adult Christmas we have had was last year at Atlantis in the Bahamas.”
“Maybe they are ready for a change,” she said.
“Maybe,” he admitted.
They walked and she took photos with her phone of the trees she thought would look good. “I need to find my tree too, but first…I’m sorry for the way I left. I am not very good at letting people close.”
“It’s okay. Usually I’m the one who ghosts after a night together,” he admitted.
“Why is that? I mean I know why I left,” she said. “But you seem like the kind of guy who’d be more comfortable with it.”
“Because I’m a guy? Or because I’m a celebrity?” he asked not sure where she was going. He was worried about the emotions she elicited in him and she was accusing him of being some sort of Casanova.
“Well…I mean you were just in Vegas with Sunny Hemmings and then here with me,” she said, raising both her eyebrows again. “Ugh. Why can’t I do that? It would be so much cooler than me looking like I’ve been scared.”
He wanted to laugh but she had sort of insulted him and he wasn’t going to let her off the hook that easily.
“Probably because you are being so judgey,” he said.
“Judgey? You’re the one who said you usually ghost,” she reminded him.
She had a point but he wasn’t going to let her divert him. He wanted to know the real Avery. The one who had flirted with him, used her kisses to entice him and then crept from his bed before he woke up. That’s the one he wanted to understand.
“Yes. Judgey. You don’t know what it’s like to have a woman come on to you because you’re famous and she thinks you’ll make a good story to tell her friends,” he said.
“I don’t but then women don’t usually find me attractive,” she said with a sassy wink as she turned to walk around the corner.
Whatever had been bothering her Saturday night and even this morning when she’d made the decision to call in at work was gone. And she was back to being her feisty self and he realized how much that turned him on. She peeked back at him from the corner of the aisle.
“Should I not have texted the picture I took of you in bed to TMZ?” she asked.
Brat.
He took two long steps toward her. Heard her squeal as he caught her around the waist and tossed her over his shoulder.
“Logan!”
“Avery! You can only poke the bear for so long before he’s going to charge,” he said.
“Are you a bear?” she asked. He felt her arms go around his waist and she hugged him for a second before putting her hand on the small of his back and twisting around. He couldn’t really see her but he liked carrying her. He had woken up wanting to make love to her again on Sunday but she’d been gone. He hadn’t liked that at all.
“Miss? Are you okay?” asked one of the young men who worked at the tree lot.
“She’s fine,” Logan said, turning to face the kid.
“Wow, you’re Logan Calloway,” the kid said.
“I am.” He shifted Avery off his shoulder and onto her feet next to him.
“Can I get a photo?” the kid asked.
“Sure,” Logan said.
Avery snickered and then smacked him on the ass as she moved down the aisle of trees. “You better werk.”
Everything about her just made him want her more. She’d shaken off her blues in a way that he’d never seen anyone else do. He had no idea how she’d done it but he knew he wanted that in his life. She drew him like sunshine on a cold December’s day. He loved the mercurial way she changed; she kept him on his toes and made him realize that it was okay to let different emotions show. Something he’d long struggled with.
She sashayed away looking at the trees and singing Jingle Bells under her breath and he posed for a selfie with the kid and then talked for a few minutes about the action movie franchise that had made his career before pointing out the trees Avery had indicated he should buy and asking the kid to bring them to the register.
“Thanks, man. I can’t believe I got to meet you,” Joey said.
“Well you did. Shouldn’t you be in school?” Logan asked since it was just after noon and early for a high school student to be out.
“Nah,” he said. “I dropped out. My pops took off and mom needed some help making ends meet.”
“I know how that is,” Logan said. He’d almost dropped out but school had been the only thing to keep him sane. “I’m a partner in a new winery venture and we’re looking for kids to come and work the land and learn about the vines and how to grow the grapes. Would you be interested in something like that?”
“Would I have to go back to school?” Joey asked.
“You would but we would pay you to train in the afternoons,” Logan said. He’d handle that part himself.
“I’d have to talk to Mom but I think that sounds good. I don’t know how to sign back up for school.”
“Avery can help you with that,” Logan said, taking out his wallet and handing the kid his card for the Whiskey River office. “Call me so we can set up an appointment for your day off. Also, I’m having a Christmas party on the 23rd and I’d love it if you and your family came.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” Logan said. “Really.”
“Thank you,” Joey said. “Mom hated that I quit school but I didn’t want us to be homeless when I could help out.”
Logan sensed that Joey was a good kid. He knew what it was like to have to choose between education and protecting his family. “Sounds to me like you were doing the best you could with the hand you were
dealt.”
“Yeah,” Joey said. “I’ll get those trees for you.”
“Thanks,” Logan said. “I’m going to have one more as well. So find me when you’re done with those three.”
Joey nodded and walked away and Logan stood there for a moment; then he felt Avery’s hand on his forearm and looked over at her.
“That was nice,” she said.
He shrugged. He owed Whiskey River a debt that he didn’t think he’d ever be able to repay. While he’d never experienced it, the town had accepted Finn and his Aunt Jane. Finn said that things had changed after their father’s death for him. And that he had no longer felt ostracized by the town. Logan always had and he tried to balance the image Finn had of Whiskey River with his own. Sully thought he was messed up in the head to even try but then again Sully preferred having a chip on his shoulder about Whiskey River. “I just do what I can.”
“I know,” she said, going up on tiptoe and brushing her lips over his. “That’s what I like about you.”
She walked away and he followed her. She liked him. Not the famous, A-list part but this part. The man he wasn’t sure he could be proud of. The Whiskey River son who’d always felt less than. She made him wish he could feel comfortable enough to stay in town instead of always running back to the West Coast.
He knew he walked a little taller as he followed her and he tried not to dwell on the fact that her praise had made him feel better than all the five-star reviews his movie roles had garnered.
Chapter Eleven
Logan carried the tree into Avery’s house after having had it fitted with a tree stand at the lot. She had followed him in her own car back to her home. Her house was neat and clean, much like Avery. Everything looked perfectly placed. It smelled of cinnamon and vanilla and now the heady scent of pine as he carried the tree through her foyer and followed her directions to go left.
He’d never been in this house before so he was curious about it, but admitted that he only cared because it was Avery’s house.
“Okay, now let me get in front of you,” she said, brushing by him. “Just go forward and put it down. Now.”
Once Upon a Texas Christmas Page 10
