“I have to go,” she said, a fit of trembling racking her body.
“I’ll walk you home.”
He stood up, and then, much to his surprise, she smiled. “I live just a few steps from your door.”
“I’m a gentleman. I always walk my dates home and make sure they get inside safely.”
“This was a date?” she asked with another laugh, this time more genuine.
“I got a kiss from you. I’d say it’s a pretty great date,” he easily replied.
“Well, then, you are a cheapskate date. I didn’t even get a meal.”
Tanner was shocked by her words. She was able to joke after being attacked. One minute, she seemed so vulnerable, and then the next, confident and in control. Was it all an act to protect herself?
“I’ll feed you right now,” he offered. “Then I’ll feed you again…in the morning,” he added with a wicked smile.
“I’ll pass. I already got the goodnight kiss,” she said, moving toward his door. Tanner followed her into the hall and waited for her to open her door and step inside.
She turned around and looked at him for a moment, making his heart leap. Was she going to invite him in? He took a step forward.
“’Night, Tanner,” she said, closing her door a little before looking at him again. “Thank you.” Pain replaced the amusement in her eyes. She shook her head as if clearing it, and then she was gone.
Tanner stood there for several moments, just staring at her door. He should simply call this one a loss — she was far too complicated for what he was looking for. He just wanted a woman to satisfy his needs while he was stuck under house arrest at this place of doom and gloom. There was no way he wanted a relationship.
But when he closed the door to his apartment and walked over to the chair she’d been sitting in, he knew he wasn’t going to stop pursuing her. He wanted her too badly for that.
Besides, he now looked at her as a challenge, and he’d never been able to resist a challenge.
He just had to figure out what his next move was going to be.
Cleaning up, Tanner ordered takeout, then grabbed his laptop, grateful for the mobile Internet he’d managed to get. It was slow, but at least it was something. For some reason, he couldn’t force himself to work, though. There was a first for everything, he supposed.
Several hours later he found himself lying in bed wide awake, thinking of one blue-eyed woman who was stirring him in ways he didn’t want to be stirred.
No matter how much he tried convincing himself this was about the conquest, he couldn’t quite place Kyla into the neat little box he wanted to place her in.
Damn!
Chapter Six
“Well, look at what we have here!”
Tanner froze. He didn’t need to turn around to recognize that voice. Damn it!
“Mmm, what a very sexy Santa Claus you make. I heard the good news, but I had to come see it for myself.”
Jokes and guffaws at Tanner’s expense flew thick and fast.
With a thunderous expression on his face — sadly obscured by his white beard and bushy eyebrows — he glared at his brother Crew and his cousin Lucas.
“Do you guys have a reason for being here?” he snapped as he looked around to see whether any of his other relatives were nearby.
“Nope. Just had to come and see how charming you look in your Santa costume,” Crew said.
“What a peach you are, big brother,” Tanner growled, and he began walking away.
“Now, don’t be in such a hurry. We thought we’d take you out for a beer. I’m sure you could use it,” Lucas said, easily keeping up.
“Very funny, Lucas. You both know I’m under flipping house arrest. The only place I get to go now is to my wonderfully quaint apartment — that is, if I don’t get mugged on the way there,” he said as he reached the break room and began yanking the Santa suit off.
“Well, then, I guess we’ll just have to drink a couple of beers there,” Crew said.
“What if I’d rather not have the company?” He didn’t want to take a chance that he’d run into Kyla while they were around. If she came up and spoke to him, they’d get ideas. He didn’t want them getting ideas. As soon as he was done with this jail sentence, he was out of here and he wouldn’t look back.
“You have to be bored out of your mind. Of course you want the company,” Lucas said.
“I’m not going to get you two to go away, am I?”
“Not a chance,” Crew said, sitting down and relaxing on the ridiculously hard seat.
“Fine. Give me a few minutes to change and you can give me a ride back. I get sick of taking smelly cabs or the bus. The walk takes too damn long after being at this mall all day. Kyla likes the walk, though, says it relaxes her.”
Tanner wanted to bite his tongue off as soon as the words popped from his mouth. There was no hope the two of them hadn’t noticed his slip.
“Kyla?” they said in unison.
“None of your business,” Tanner replied, with a glare to let them know it was a closed subject.
“Hmm, have you managed to find some romance in the projects?” Crew asked.
“The apartments aren’t the projects, and no, I haven’t. Even if I had, I certainly wouldn’t tell you about it.”
“I think you’re protesting a little too much, cuz,” Lucas said with a big grin.
He’d met his cousins less than a year ago, not knowing of their existence until then, thanks to a very desperate doctor who’d kidnapped his father when he was a newborn. But it was as if they’d all been together their entire lives. All of them got along beautifully, and none of them had a problem with flinging crap at each other.
“How could I have met someone? I’m under house arrest,” Tanner pointed out, trying his best to sound convincing.
“You do have a point there, but, of course, you are staying in an apartment building, not an all-male prison facility. I think meeting someone is a definite possibility,” Crew pointed out.
“Fine. I did meet a woman, but it’s not what you think. She’s an elf here.” Again, if he could kick his own ass, he would.
“An elf? Oh, this just keeps getting better and better,” Lucas said with a Santa-like belly laugh.
“I think there’s an adult movie or two with Santa and his elves,” Crew managed to choke out in the midst of an explosion of guffaws.
“You’re both dumbasses,” Tanner said as he buttoned his coat, and then he slammed from the room. There was no way he was continuing that conversation. But he knew the two of them were still with him, because their laughter followed him out of the mall.
“Where are you parked?” Tanner practically growled.
“This way,” Lucas said, trying his hardest to suppress his merriment now.
Tanner was really hoping they were driving a truck. Then he could sit in the bed and ignore both of them. Or maybe he could just jump from the thing as it was going down the road. Either option sounded all right with him.
They reached the car, Tanner climbed in back, and, miracle of miracles, the two of them kept silent for the short ride back to the apartment building.
When they made it inside without running into Kyla, Tanner breathed a huge sigh of relief. If the two of them saw how unbelievably gorgeous his elfin neighbor really was, they’d be right back to harassing him, and they’d keep at it for the rest of the night.
Instead, they popped open a few beers and sat down, the joking over with as the three of them talked about the pros and cons of remodeling versus starting fresh. By the end of the conversation, Tanner was torn. He couldn’t alter his plans. That would be foolish.
However...
He wanted new, but he knew he might not get his way — damned judge! — so he needed to have a plan B. No! He wouldn’t change his mind.
If only the what-if thoughts didn’t keep running through his head.
Chapter Seven
Tanner slammed the door to his apartment. Another day at th
e mall — it felt like he’d been there a year — and he was sticky, irritated and in desperate need of a hot shower.
He hadn’t managed to see Kyla the last couple days, since she hadn’t been at the mall performing her North Pole duties. Of course that thought led to another, that there was another pole he’d love to show her, one that was definitely pointing north. Yeah, he was a pig. He shook his head, disgusted with himself.
Anyway, knocking on her door had done him no good. He was beginning to think that she’d up and moved from the building.
He couldn’t fault her if she had. The place was a dump. As soon as his punishment was over, he wasn’t setting foot in its doors again — not until he managed to get a demolition crew in and he could personally direct the first wrecking ball through its thick walls. Starting, of course, with the very apartment he was imprisoned in.
After taking as long a shower as the ridiculously small hot-water tank would allow, he stepped into the bathroom and was grateful no one was around to see all his goosebumps from the freezing-cold room. Tanner was wrapping a towel around his waist when he heard a knock on his door.
He wasn’t expecting anyone.
Beyond irritated and shivering, he stomped over and flung the door open, and then just stood there, at a loss for words. Standing before him was a large green pine tree, real needles and all. The smell of the freshly cut tree filled the air and brought back happy childhood memories that he quickly tried to squash back down.
“I didn’t know trees knew how to knock,” he said, then much to his surprise, he laughed.
Kyla’s head popped around the tree and then Tanner’s ego swelled at the way her eyes popped out as they traveled over his half-naked body.
Hmm, maybe he would get his sexy neighbor into his bed after all.
*****
Kyla’s breath was knocked from her lungs. In clothes, Tanner was magnificent. In a tank top and boxers, he was breathtaking. But wrapped in nothing but a towel, with water droplets sliding down his solid pecs, he was too good to be true. Talk about a ripped torso.
When she realized she was standing there practically drooling, she snapped her gaze back to his knowing eyes and tried to form a coherent sentence.
“I, uh, thought you might like to have a Christmas tree for your new place,” she mumbled. Her impulsive act had probably been pretty foolish.
He’d helped her the other day, and he seemed lonely. She was just trying to spread the Christmas spirit, something she hadn’t wanted to do in two years, not since she’d lost her family. Since it was the first time she’d even thought of having a tree after that horrible Christmas two years before, she’d bought one and brought it to him.
Now she was thinking it was a stupid thing to do. Tanner was too worldly and cynical to go for such a holiday tradition.
“Come on in,” he said as he took the tree from her hands and brought it inside the apartment.
One of the branches snagged the bottom of his towel; she held her breath and waited, eyes peeled. Sadly, the towel stayed in place.
When he leaned the tree against the wall and turned back to her, she jerked her gaze up and met his eyes again.
“I don’t need to stay. I just wanted to drop this off and…I’ll…uh…be going now.” Kyla stumbled as she backed toward his door.
“You can’t just drop off the tree and run. I’ll need help decorating it,” he said as he beat her to the door, blocking her exit.
“You can decorate it however you like. It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing. You helped me the other day, and I wanted to find a way to say thank you,” she finished lamely.
“I appreciate the tree, Kyla. It was really sweet. Now let me repay the kindness; I just ordered pizza, so join me and we’ll throw on a few decorations,” he repeated.
She found that she actually wanted to help him. She really wanted to keep looking at his indecently clad body.
“Well, I guess I could help,” she muttered as her eyes drifted to his chest again. It should be illegal to have a body that chiseled. The man would be lethal to half the population.
“Thanks,” he said, then walked over to his fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine. She didn’t know her wine, but it didn’t look like a cheap brand.
“Don’t you think you should get dressed first?” she croaked as she stepped up to the counter. She would never be able to stay in the apartment with him looking like this. Not without mauling him, anyway.
“I just stepped from the shower. Sorry,” he said, and he took a sip of his wine. He didn’t appear to be the least bit apologetic.
“I shouldn’t have just barged in. I’ll go ahead and wait while you dress.” Please, go dress, she thought.
With a smug smile, Tanner passed by her, far too close. The fragrance of his body wash hit her point-blank, making her inhale extra deeply. Seriously, she really wanted to run her fingers down his perfect chest. Just once, she thought, but she somehow managed to keep her hands to herself, just watching him as he disappeared into his bedroom.
The door stayed open, and it took all her willpower not to stretch her neck. The thought of knowing that he’d be standing there completely naked for a few moments was making her pant like a… She stopped that thought and turned away from the door to face his empty kitchen counters.
“I don’t have any ornaments, so what are we going to use?”
Kyla jumped when Tanner spoke right into her ear, from only a couple of inches away. She’d have been quite the happy girl if he’d decided to just slip his hands around her and pull her back against his chest.
Spinning, she moved around him, cursing her traitorous body. This stranger wasn’t going to make her lose her mind.
It may be too late, her body taunted.
“We’ll do popcorn strands,” she suggested.
Tanner looked at her with a blank look. “Popcorn?”
“Haven’t you ever made popcorn strands?” she asked, and he shook his head. “Not even in elementary school?”
“Nope,” he replied, refilling her glass.
Kyla was shocked when she discovered she’d drained the first glass of wine in no time flat.
“Well, then, you’re in for an experience. I’ll be right back. I have some items we’ll need in my apartment.”
She rushed from his place back to hers and gathered up all the supplies she’d need to make not only popcorn strands but some other homemade ornaments as well. Cheap decorating was simple if you had an ounce of knowledge and a desire to do arts and crafts. As she took a minute to control her breathing, she looked at the stuff with a bit of sadness.
Making popcorn strands for the trees outside had been a tradition in her family. Her dad loved feeding the birds and squirrels, and they’d all had so much fun threading mountains of popcorn and berries. Of course, her family had eaten as much in goodies as they’d put on the strings, and always did so while listening to Christmas music.
Kyla didn’t know what had possessed her to buy those things this morning. One minute she’d been doing a little grocery shopping, and the next she’d been checking out with popcorn and cranberries in her cart.
Maybe her mom had been there with her, and she’d put the items in her cart. The thought made Kyla’s eyes sting — but she was finished feeling sad and refused to shed more tears, deciding it was time to feel some happiness.
Coming back into Tanner’s apartment, she found him nailing a couple of boards onto the bottom of the tree, and she watched as the muscles in his shoulders rippled with the swinging of the hammer before he stood and propped the tree up on its makeshift stand.
“I didn’t take you for the kind of man who can handle a hammer and nails,” she said as she set down the tree stand she’d grabbed — too late! — and then placed her packages on the kitchen counter. Next she set up a popcorn machine, adding kernels and beginning to pop the corn. “Can you grab a big bowl?”
He moved to the cupboard and took down the bowl. “I prefer not to be categorized.
There are a lot of things I can do that would shock you.” His wink had her blood stirring.
“I just bet there are,” she said. She certainly couldn’t compete with his level of flirting.
“I’d be glad to show you,” he offered, suddenly far too close.
“Why don’t I take the lead and show you how to make popcorn strands?” She gave a nervous laugh and pushed him back, her hand nearly sizzling when it made contact with his rock-hard chest.
“I have much better ideas on what would be fun,” he said, boxing her in against the counter.
Tempted.
But her reasonable side kicked in before she could do something rash, and she brushed past him. She tore open the bag of cranberries and put them in a bowl, then grabbed the bag with string and big needles in it.
“Make yourself useful and thread a couple of needles,” she said before moving back to the counter and picking up her glass of wine. It really was good, and right now, she needed it.
Once all the popcorn was popped, the two of them moved into his living room and sat down as they began making decorations.
Kyla found herself laughing at his jokes as her stomach filled with pizza, goodies and wine. The night was turning out much more pleasant than she’d expected.
When they looked at their finished project, she was overflowing with pride. It was a childish tree filled with strings of popcorn and paper snowflakes, and it was also the most beautiful thing she’d seen in a long while.
“Thank you, Kyla. I haven’t enjoyed decorating a tree in years,” Tanner said quietly, making her head turn toward him.
He was gazing at the tree in awe, as if surprised he’d done that. She was feeling rather surprised herself.
This stranger, this man who most likely wouldn’t be in her life very long at all, was making her feel emotions that confused her. He was making her forget her sadness, if only for a moment in time.
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