Swept Away for Christmas

by M. J. Fredrick

  “They’d never go for that.”

  Luke took a deep breath, racking his brain for a way to make this work. And he realized it wasn’t just because of Avery. Ever since he’d gotten the idea for the outdoor diner, it had continued to take deeper root. His own excitement about the project had grown. What if...?

  “How do you think they’d feel about a business partner?”

  “What?”

  “We go into the addition together, share the profits.”

  Avery just stared at him. “Why are you trying so hard to make a go of this?”

  He leaned his hip against the rusty car body. “I told you I like my job, and I do. But most of it is the same type of thing over and over. So when the opportunity for something really different like this comes up, I tend not to want to let it go.”

  Kind of like he didn’t want to let her go.

  He thought she would decline again, but then a smile started spreading across her face. Then she crossed the distance between them. As she lifted onto her toes next to him, Luke’s heart started beating so wildly that he’d lay money down that Jamie could hear it.

  The moment Avery’s lips touched his cheek, he fell the rest of the way in love with her.

  “You’re a good man, Luke Taylor.”

  Before she could step away, he turned his face toward hers. She froze, her gaze connected with his.

  Luke glanced at her lips, and he heard the little catch in her breath. Now or never. He pulled her closer, and when he didn’t feel any resistance he lowered his lips to hers.

  She didn’t taste anything like he’d imagined. She tasted better, like apple and sea air and...perfection.

  * * *

  Her body was on fire, beginning with where her lips touched Luke’s and radiating outward. He placed his hand at the base of her back and pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. Avery knew she should pull away, but she couldn’t. Didn’t want to. Since the moment he’d walked through the door of the Pelic-Inn, before she’d even realized who he was, she’d been imagining this moment. For this little space in time, she told herself not to think, just feel.

  And he felt wonderful, an intoxicating mixture of hard muscles, tender caresses and obvious yearning. She ran her hands up his back, loving the way his muscles moved as he wrapped his arms more fully around her.

  “Did you find what...oh, sorry.”

  Avery jerked away from Luke at the sound of Jamie’s voice. She glanced at Jamie before she thought and wished she hadn’t. The guy was wearing a smile a mile wide.

  “Can’t say I’ve ever had customers make out in the salvage yard before.”

  “Zip it, Jamie.”

  Jamie just chuckled. “In fact, I can think of a million better places to kiss a pretty girl.”

  Luke cleared his throat and put a steady hand against her waist. Avery wanted nothing more than to throttle Jamie, but the truth was he’d probably done her and Luke a favor. She didn’t know when, but she’d be leaving Starfish Shores after Christmas, as soon as she got a job. She might end up hundreds, even thousands of miles away. She told herself to ignore the pang in her middle at that thought, that this was just how it had to be if she wanted to make a living.

  “How much for five of these old cars?” Luke asked.

  “Oh, I’ll give you a deal just for bringing a little excitement to my day.”

  Avery’s cheeks heated, but still she nearly laughed at the look of barely contained frustration on Luke’s face.

  Goodness, he was a handsome man. Tall, lean, and sexy as hell. She had to get away from him, stay away from him, or she was going to give in to the desire that was swirling through her. He was a good guy, and she didn’t want to hurt him. From what he’d told her, he’d been hurt enough in his life.

  “I’ll just wait in the truck,” she said.

  Luke nodded and began haggling with Jamie.

  As she walked back through the city of forgotten cars, she admitted to herself that it wasn’t just Luke she was afraid of hurting. If she let herself get any closer, allowed herself to feel any more deeply for him than she already did, her heart was going to be in danger as well.

  * * *

  Unable to stay in the house any longer, Avery grabbed her jacket and headed toward the beach for a walk. It’d been three days since she and Luke had kissed at the junkyard, three days since she’d made sure they weren’t alone together again. Not when she went to the motel to check on the progress of the soda fountain area, not when Luke came over to talk to her grandparents about going into business with them on the outdoor diner, and certainly not when she had to fight the urge to follow him home at the end of the day and finish what they’d started.

  Instead, she helped her grandparents with some tasks around the house they’d been putting off, things she suspected they just couldn’t do anymore like changing the burned-out light bulbs in the recessed lighting above the bookcases. And she applied for every job that even remotely resembled what she’d done before.

  She should go back to the house and continue her search, but right now what she needed more was fresh air and to not be trapped by four walls. She raised her face into the wind and closed her eyes, breathing the salty sea air deep into her lungs.

  “Nothing like the smell of the ocean, is there?”

  Avery looked over to see her grandmother had made her way down to the surf, too.

  “The job search still not going well?”

  “No.”

  “You’ll find something, dear. That doesn’t mean I would be opposed to having you around more.”

  “I’d like that, too. I’ve applied for some things that are closer than Atlanta, so cross your fingers.”

  “But you’re also applying farther away.”

  It wasn’t a question, but Avery nodded all the same. “It’s harder to find a job in my field now.”

  “Maybe it’s time for a career change.”

  “I’m not qualified to do anything else.”

  “I don’t think that’s true.” Alice gestured toward the motel. “Look at what you designed for us, what you and Luke came up with for the diner. You two work well together.”

  “It’s just a one-time thing.”

  “Really?”

  Avery knew her grandmother wasn’t referring to the renovation anymore. “He’s a nice guy. It wouldn’t be right to get involved and then leave.”

  “But you want to. Get involved, that is.”

  Avery thought about denying it, but she knew her grandmother would see through the lie as easily as she could a glass of water. “He’s changed so much, and yet part of him is the same.”

  “He figured out the man he was supposed to be. Sometimes it just takes a while, and you find your true self where you least expect it.”

  Something inside Avery wondered if maybe her grandmother was right. Could she make a change, go in a totally new direction? She had to admit her interest was piqued. And if Luke could be part of that new life, well, that would just be the cherry on top.

  Alice patted Avery’s arm and headed back inside. But Avery stayed put, watching the white caps on the waves as they rolled in. The muted daylight behind the low-hanging clouds was fading before she finally came to a decision. She’d continue her job search until Christmas. If she didn’t have a new position by then, she’d give a career change, Starfish Shores and Luke Taylor a try.

  She smiled and raised her hands to her lips, remembering the hot kisses she’d shared with Luke a few days before. Truth was part of her hoped she woke up Christmas morning unemployed.

  * * *

  Luke bit down on a curse. That was the third time today that he’d hit his finger with the hammer. At this rate, by the end of the day he wouldn’t be able to work. Of course, it would help if he stopped thinking about kissing Avery at the back of the salvage yard and how she’d done her best to avoid him ever since. And he needed to stop feeling like that awkward boy he’d once been. At least this time he’d taken a chance instead of wa
lking away. And even if he never held her again, it had been worth it.

  Yeah, right. Kissing her had only made him want her more. He couldn’t even escape her in his dreams. More than once he’d awakened in a state of arousal thanks to dreams of making love to Avery, running his hands through her long, dark red hair, kissing her with all the pent-up desire inside him.

  His phone buzzed on his hip, drawing him out of his careening thoughts. But as soon as he saw Avery’s number on the display, he went right back to thinking about all the naughty things he wanted to do with her.

  “Hey,” he said in answer.

  “Um, Luke,” Avery said, sounding shaken.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m okay, but I was just in a wreck, and I don’t want to call Grandma or Grandpa and scare them.”

  His heart started beating double time. “Where are you?”

  “At the traffic light in front of Darby Plaza,” she said, naming an area at the edge of town filled with various types of shops.

  “I’ll be right there.”

  He broke the speed limit and raced through a yellow light, but he was there in less than five minutes. He pulled into the parking lot and noticed Avery standing with her arms wrapped around her as her crunched car was loaded onto the back of a wrecker. He parked and ran to her.

  When she saw him, Avery let him pull her into his arms.

  “Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

  “No, I’m fine. Just shaken.”

  “What happened?”

  She pointed toward a man standing on the opposite side of the street beside a damaged SUV. “He ran the red light and hit me as I was pulling out.”

  Luke’s muscles tensed. It was a good thing the man was already talking to a cop. Otherwise, Luke would have been hard pressed not to beat the living daylights out of him. He glanced at Avery’s car and his stomach dropped. If she’d been a couple feet farther out in the road, the guy would have hit her right in the driver’s side door. She could have been seriously injured or worse.

  He held Avery close and planted a kiss on top of her head.

  “Come on, let me get you out of here.”

  She bent over and started to pick up two large shopping bags.

  “I’ll get those.” He hooked the handles with his right hand and wrapped his left arm around her shoulders. Once he tossed the bags into the truck and had her secured with her seatbelt, he rubbed her cheek with his thumb. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  She nodded. “I just don’t want to go home yet, not till I calm down a bit. I don’t want to worry Grandma and Grandpa.”

  “You should at least call them soon, before they hear about this from someone else.” News traveled fast in a town the size of Starfish Shores. And considering the fact they’d lost their daughter and son-in-law in a wreck, Avery’s accident would likely scare them half to death.

  He didn’t even consider taking her anywhere else but his house. There he could get her something to drink, allow her the time to calm down that she needed. As he drove the short distance to his house, he kept glancing across at Avery, assuring himself that she was indeed okay.

  When he pulled into the gravel parking spot in front of his house, he shut off the engine and hurried around to her side of the truck.

  “I just realized I didn’t even know where you live,” she said as she slipped out of the truck. “I like your house.”

  Her praise of his home caused pride to swell within him. “I built it myself. Bought the lot after the owners of the previous place lost their home during Hurricane Stella.” He glanced at his house, trying to see it through her eyes. It was significantly smaller than a lot of the houses that sat along the Intracoastal Waterway, but he didn’t need a big, sprawling house.

  “Come on in. I’ll make you some hot chocolate.” When they got to the door, he paused. “Stay here for a minute. I need to make sure Tiny doesn’t jump on you.”

  “Tiny?”

  “My dog.”

  “I like dogs.”

  “Tiny’s what you might call extra affectionate.” He unlocked the door and immediately heard the click of Tiny’s toenails on the floor racing toward him. Luke stepped inside and allowed the Great Dane to give him his normal greeting. “Come on, get down boy.”

  He held Tiny by the collar. “You can come in now.”

  When Avery stepped inside, her eyes widened. “That’s Tiny?”

  “Yeah. Would you believe he was the runt of the litter? The owners didn’t think he would live.”

  Avery kneeled in front of Tiny, which made the dog wiggle with excitement. “I guess you showed them, huh?”

  Tiny responded with a big lick up the side of her face.

  Luke tugged back on Tiny’s collar. “Boy, stop that.”

  Avery just laughed. “It’s okay. He’s a good boy.” She scratched Tiny between the ears and rubbed her nose against the dog’s. Tiny wiggled so much that he seemed to be dancing.

  “I think my dog just fell in love with you.”

  Avery shrugged. “Well, I’ve had worse boyfriends.”

  When she wobbled a little as she stood, he grabbed her arm to steady her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Yeah. I just think I’ll sit down and call Grandma and Grandpa like you said.”

  As she went to make her phone call, Luke headed to the kitchen to prepare the hot chocolate. By the time he was finished and she’d sufficiently calmed her grandparents, he carried two mugs into the living room only to find Tiny lying on the couch beside Avery, his head in her lap.

  “Well, I was going to sit there, but I guess I’ve been usurped.” He handed her the mug of hot chocolate.

  “Thanks. I’m sorry about all this. I’m feeling a little silly now.”

  “No, you did the right thing. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  She looked around the room then pointed toward his miniature lighted Christmas tree on the bar separating the kitchen from the living area. “I think you got the sizes of your dog and Christmas tree confused.”

  As if he understood, Tiny made a “huh” sound and lifted his head to look at her.

  Avery ran her hand down the back of his head. “Although you are perfect just the way you are.”

  “Keep sweet talking my dog and I’m going to get jealous.”

  She met his gaze. “So you want me to sweet talk you?”

  “I wouldn’t be opposed.”

  “Luke,” she said.

  He held up a hand then sat on the couch arm beside her, cupping her face with his hand. “You think too much.”

  “Maybe you don’t think enough. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t.”

  “I have no idea where I’ll be in a month.”

  He ran his thumb across her lips. “A month’s a long time.”

  Long enough to make her want to stay in Starfish Shores? He was going to do his damnedest to sway her that way. And then he set his mug of hot chocolate aside and captured her mouth with his own. The little moan that came from her told him that he was maybe one step closer to showing Avery that Starfish Shores was a good choice. That he was a good choice.

  * * *

  Avery somehow managed to slide her untouched mug of hot chocolate onto the coffee table without breaking the kiss. After seeing her life flash before her eyes in the moment before the SUV hit her, she was in the mood to grab on to everything she wanted and not let go. And right now she wanted nothing more than to touch Luke Taylor, to have him touch her back.

  “This doesn’t mean I’m staying,” she said against his lips between kisses.

  “I know.” He kissed her long and deep, setting her nerve endings on fire.

  In the next moment, he’d pulled her to her feet and then off of them and up into his arms. Man, he was strong. She wasn’t much for the He-Man thing, but there was something about how he’d literally swept her off her feet that definitely turned her on.

  He carried her into his
bedroom, her heart speeding up with each step he took. This was the point of no return, but she wanted this more than she’d wanted anything in a long time.

  Luke placed her gently on his bed and smoothed her hair back from her face. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I will be if you stop asking that question.”

  He smiled. “What should I do instead?”

  “If you have to ask that question, maybe I should just go home.” She started to sit up, teasing him.

  Luke pushed her back onto the bed, following as he captured her mouth with his.

  Avery’s head spun, but it had nothing to do with the wreck and everything to do with Luke’s talented lips and the fact his hands were finding their way underneath her shirt. Not willing to let him have all the fun, she pulled his T-shirt free of his jeans and shoved it up his torso until he grabbed the hem and pulled it over his head.

  Her breath caught. There it was again, that magnificent chest of his. She felt as if Christmas had come early and she’d been a very good girl. She ran her hand up his rock hard stomach and over his right pectoral, and her body went steaming hot all over.

  “You have no idea what your touch does to me,” he said against her lips.

  Feeling daring, she slid her fingertips below the waist of his jeans. “I think I have a pretty good idea.”

  With a groan, Luke rid her of her shirt and bra, baring her to him. When he pulled her close, flesh against flesh, he kissed her so deeply that it was a good thing she was lying down or she would have most certainly collapsed.

  “You feel so good,” she whispered next to his ear as he kissed his way down her neck.

  “So do you,” he said right before capturing her breast in his mouth.

  Oh, oh. Avery lifted her body toward him without thinking, the need to have him consume her more fully taking over all of her brain function.

  He looked up at her and asked, “What do you want me to do?”

  That question, the bright look in his eyes, the way he held her — she really was in love with him.

  “Make love to me,” she said.