The question was, How did he get her to see that? They had a mission now. Saving Maisy’s bookstore. It would give them a chance to work together for a common goal. Maybe if they were successful, Savy would see what they could have together and give a relationship between them a real chance instead of one night, which was never ever going to be enough for him.
* * *
* * *
SAVY awoke with her head feeling fuzzy and her mouth dry. She was snuggly warm with a thick afghan over her and a pillow . . . wait. She didn’t own a pillow with a heartbeat. She opened her eyes. Gray early-morning light peeked in through the window as if trying not to disturb her. It took a moment to register the ugly Christmas sweater beneath her cheek as belonging to Quino.
She glanced down. All her clothes were on. All his clothes were on. The fire was dead. The Christmas tree lights and the television were off. The world was so quiet all she could hear were the sounds of Quino’s heartbeat and the steady inhale and exhale of his breath. She didn’t want to move. She just wanted to lie half on top of him on the sofa, where they’d clearly fallen asleep last night.
She vaguely remembered conking out during the end of the movie. Oh, man, had she been snoring? Had she been so out of it that he couldn’t wake her and send her on her way? Is that why they were curled up together like two teenagers breaking curfew? How embarrassing. Then again, it could be worse. If they’d slept together, it’d be all sorts of awkward. She’d be doing the shove the bra in a pocket and scuttle out the door walk of shame, so thank heavens she had nothing to be embarrassed about.
It came then. A memory crystalizing from the ether of her mind. She’d been looking up at him and she had—oh, God—told him he was the best she’d ever had. And she’d asked why he didn’t have any mistletoe up. Aw, man, it was the mixed-signal thing. This was what guys rightly complained about, and she had just done it. Savy always prided herself on being very clear with her wants and needs. She tried not to give anyone the wrong idea. And here she was blowing hot and cold with Quino. Argh!
This was mortifying. What was she supposed to say to him? Sorry I got plastered on eggnog. I didn’t mean anything in that truth bomb I lobbed at you. She wanted to do a facepalm. But she didn’t want to wake him. In fact, she wanted to scuttle out of here under the cold light of day and avoid him altogether. Maybe he’d had too much nog, too, and wouldn’t remember her careless words. She certainly hoped so.
She pushed herself up, painfully slowly, and moved off him. She froze once when his hand moved. He ran it across her back as if to reassure himself of her and then it fell back to his side. She slid over him, hoping he didn’t wake up, and then slowly rose to her feet, making sure he was covered by the afghan so he wouldn’t get cold. She tiptoed out of the room. With one last look at the handsome man asleep on the couch and the pretty tree they’d decorated together, she slid on her shoes, grabbed her coat and purse, and slipped from the house.
* * *
* * *
SAVY spent the morning loaded up on pain reliever for her headache and consuming copious amounts of water and caffeine. She had a crick in her neck from sleeping in a weird position on Quino’s couch, or more accurately, on Quino. And she vowed to herself that she was never going to drink eggnog again. Ever.
The other day, she had launched her latest campaign to get Destiny Swann to come to the bookstore for a signing, and by noon, she had her answer. Destiny’s assistant, Genevieve Spencer, with whom Savy felt she was now on a first-name basis, sent a pointed e-mail that while Destiny appreciated the balloon-o-gram very much, she was still not interested in a signing at the Happily Ever After Bookshop.
Savy put her head down on her desk. She needed soup. She needed some retail therapy. She needed Destiny to change her mind but it didn’t look like that was going to happen, and so she was down to cookie-decorating parties and holiday-movie gatherings and whatever else she and Quino could come up with in the next few weeks to keep the foot traffic coming through the door.
For a moment she felt less lonely for having Quino with her on this mission, but then she remembered last night and how she didn’t think she could ever face him again and she sank back into the depths of despair. There was no help for it. On this miserable Monday, retail therapy was the only thing that was going to pull her through.
Savannah put on her coat and her hat and grabbed her handbag out of her desk drawer. Maisy was working out front in the empty shop. Savy scanned the room. There were literally no customers and they’d been open for hours.
She felt the panic bubble in her belly and she called to Maisy, “I’ll be right back. Just stepping out for a bit.”
“Take your time,” Maisy called. She spread her arms wide. “I think I can manage the hordes by myself.”
Savy flashed a smile even though she felt like crying. Her job was publicity and marketing. With the store empty, the feeling of failure was a crushing weight on her chest.
The day was brisk and she opted to walk to Main Street, hoping it would clear her head. She kicked over some new ideas for the store. So what if she couldn’t get Destiny to come to the bookstore? There had to be some other authors in the area who would be willing to help promote the shop with a signing.
She paused at a psychic’s shop, wondering if she should get her fortune read. Nah, she didn’t want to get the news that the shop was going to fail and they were all doomed. She figured her aura was pretty black right now and would likely send the psychic into a full-on panic attack and she’d be smudging her shop with burning sage for days after a visit from Savy.
She continued down the street, ducking a mom with a stroller, two older ladies, and a pack of teens that she was quite certain should be in school. She could smell the faint scent of cinnamon in the air. The bakery on the corner was baking their chewy gooey cinnamon rolls and she had to stop herself from buying a couple and comfort-eating them right there on the spot.
She didn’t know what she was going to do. It felt like everything she touched was a mess. She couldn’t get her old job back. Maisy’s bookstore was on the brink of ruin. And she’d slept with a guy she clearly should have kept in the friend zone. She couldn’t seem to do anything right. How was this her life? She didn’t know. She couldn’t weigh this hot disaster against the successful career she’d once enjoyed.
Savy paused to take in the decorations on the town green. Garlands and holiday banners decorated every lamppost. It was homey and lovely. She started humming. It took her a few bars to realize she was humming a Christmas tune. What? As far as she knew, she had never sung a Christmas carol in her life. She was not a singer or a hummer. Oh, man, what was happening to her? Savy didn’t even recognize herself anymore and she had no idea what to do about it.
She glanced down the street, thinking she’d buy some gifts to send home to her family. Her father was a tie, always a tie. Her mother was perfume, always the same brand. About five years ago, she’d tried to break out and buy them something unexpected. She’d gotten her father a golf shirt and her mother a pretty bathrobe. She’d found both items in the annual pile of donations to charity that her mother had their housekeeper gather every year around New Year’s. Lesson learned.
With a sigh, she headed toward Perryman’s, the only large department store in town. She had no desire to drive all the way to Greenville just to hit the mall there. She’d just stepped through the revolving door when she saw a man out of the corner of her eye. He was wearing a denim shearling jacket and a black cowboy hat. He had on jeans and boots and he was standing by the jewelry counter.
Savy would know the backside, sideside, or frontside of that man anywhere. It was Joaquin! What the heck was he doing in Perryman’s? As if he felt the heat of her laserlike stare upon him, he looked up from the counter and their eyes met.
He raised a hand in greeting but Savy was too mortified to speak to him. She pretended she didn’t see him and made a b
ig show of looking all around at the enormous glitter-covered snowflakes that were suspended from the ceiling. Then she all but ran into the women’s department to hide.
She should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. She was dodging behind a rack of dresses when she heard him call, “Hey, Red!”
She picked up her speed. She knew she was being an immature idiot but it was too much. He was too much. She didn’t know what to say to him after last night, which weirdly had felt even more intimate than the night they’d had sex. Savy wasn’t good with intimacy. It made her feel vulnerable and she hated that.
She glanced behind her to see if she’d lost him. He wasn’t there. Phew. She turned around and sprinted into the women’s undergarment department. Surely, that would curb his enthusiasm. What man wanted to talk amidst racks of bras and undies? Confident, Savy circled a tall rack of holiday bras and slammed right into a broad chest. She glanced up. Quino. Damn it!
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were ducking me,” he said.
“I am ducking you,” she retorted.
He looked confused. “Why?”
“Because of last night,” she said.
“But nothing happened last night,” he said.
A female employee, working on sorting a rack of underwear sets, stopped what she was doing to listen to their conversation. Savy stared at her and the woman glanced away, pretending to be straightening all the straps while moving closer to them, all the better to hear.
Savy spun on her heel and approached the shelf of packaged cotton undergarments. She intentionally picked the least sexy, most boring, white cotton bundle. There. Nothing to see here. That should put him off.
Nope.
“Red, I could understand if you’d ditched me after the night we—”
“Don’t,” Savy cut him off.
“But last night, we just fell asleep,” he said. “Really, not a big deal.”
Savy clutched the package to her chest. Maybe he didn’t remember her declaration that he was the best sex she’d ever had. Maybe he’d been eggnog-impaired as well. She sent a silent hopeful prayer up into the glittery snowflakes.
“So, we’re cool?” she asked.
His grin when it came was smokin’ hot. It made Savy’s heart rate kick up into the danger zone and she felt a little dizzy.
“Well, judging by what you said last night, I’d say we’re more hot than cool,” he said. There was a teasing glint in his eyes but Savy wasn’t having it.
“Ugh,” she grunted. She could feel her face get fiery and she thumped him on the chest with the package of underwear. “So you do remember what I said.”
“Red, when a woman says you’re the best she’s ever had, you’re not likely to forget it,” he said.
“Making this whole thing”—she paused to point between them—“a bust. We can’t possibly work together now.”
“What?” he asked. “Why not?”
“Because you don’t really care about any of this,” she said. “You don’t care about the bookstore or whether I get back to New York. You’re in this for all the wrong reasons.”
He straightened up and glowered at her, pushing his hat back on his head. “And what reasons would those be?”
“Sex,” she snapped. “You’re just being helpful to see if we’ll hook up again. Well, we won’t. So, now you’re free to go. So git.”
“You could not be more wrong,” he said. “I do care about the bookstore and about you getting back to New York.”
“Well, it doesn’t even matter because I can’t save the bookstore and I can’t get my reputation back and I hate Christmas,” Savy said. She glared at a mannequin dressed up in a slinky elf costume, turned, and left.
Quino sprinted in front of her, walking backward as he faced her, slowing her progress. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow your roll there, Red.”
She scowled at him. “Stop calling me Red. And I am not one of your horses. Do not ‘whoa’ me.”
He raised his hands in the air as if she were waving a gun at him and not a package of underwear.
“Tell me what’s going on,” he said. His voice was soft, gentle, and a part of Savy suspected it was the same tone he used on his horses when they were acting up. She felt like she should be outraged and kick him, but she just didn’t have the energy.
“Stop being nice when I’m trying to be mad at you,” she said.
He smiled as if he found her adorable. It was the tipping point. Much to Savy’s mortification, she burst into tears right there in the undergarment section of Perryman’s while holding a package of white cotton underpants.
“Uh-oh,” Quino said. “Okay, I didn’t see that coming. Let’s get out of here before someone gets the wrong idea.”
He took the package of underpants and put them on the base of a display, then took her arm and steered her out of the shop. A few heads swiveled in their direction, and the security guard by the door looked at them as if he was trying to decide whether he needed to get involved or not.
Quino patted her back and said, loudly, “There, there, we’ll find your missing puppy. No worries.”
Savy’s head snapped up, but Quino pushed her into the revolving door and out onto the street.
Her tears vanished and she looked at him in confusion.
“I don’t have a puppy.” she said.
“I know. It was the first excuse I could come up with for the waterworks,” he said. He gave her side-eye. “Are you okay?”
At the concern in his voice, Savy felt her lower lip quiver. She tried to stop it, but from the way he was looking at her, she knew she failed. A strangled sob came out of her and she sighed.
“Aw, come here, Red,” he said. He took her hand and led her across the street to the town green. Given the chilly temperatures, the square was empty and he found a bench for them to share. He sat and pulled her down beside him. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
“Everything,” she said. “The night we went ice-skating, I talked to my friend Archer in New York and he hasn’t had any luck proving that my old boss made fast and loose with my work. I’ve tried so hard to do something big for the bookstore, and this morning I was soundly rejected—again. I just keep failing. I’m not used to failure. I don’t like it.”
He watched her with a sympathetic gaze and it hooked her in. She kept talking, sharing a lot more than she normally would have. It hit her then that she trusted him.
“If I could just get Destiny Swann to agree to visit the bookstore,” she said. “It would be the hugest event in the romance novel industry, and it would secure Maisy’s success and prove that I am the single greatest publicist ever—not that this is about me.”
Quino’s eyes went wide. Then he chuckled. It was a deep sound that barreled out of his chest and at any other time it would have made Savy laugh in return. But at the moment, he was laughing at her and it cut so deep and made her so mad, it took all the dignity she possessed not to slug him. Instead, she rose to her feet, planning to softly glide away. She absolutely would not flounce even though she really wanted to.
“Wait!” Quino reached out and grabbed her hand.
“No,” she said. “You can laugh at me all by yourself. You don’t need me for an audience.”
“I’m not laughing at you,” he said, still laughing.
“Really?” she asked. She waved her free hand to encompass all of him. “’Cause you look like you’re laughing to me.”
“Okay, I am laughing,” he said, still chuckling.
Savy growled low in her throat and tried to yank her hand out of his.
“But it’s not at you,” he insisted. “Rather, it’s because of the situation.”
“Because my pain is hilarious?” she asked.
“No, it’s not.”
“Whatever,” she said. “Let go. I’m leaving.”
He let her go, but leaned back on the bench, watching her as she stomped away.
“Are you sure you want to leave when you have full access to Destiny Swann’s riding coach?”
“Yes!” she snarled. She took two steps and then spun back around. “What did you say?”
“Let me introduce myself,” he said. “I am Joaquin Solis. I own the Shadow Pine Stables, and also give private lessons to Destiny Swann at her home, Windemere Manor.”
“Are you messing with me?” she asked. She could hardly breathe. “Because the hurt I will put on you if you are pranking me will be legendary.”
Quino stood up and raised his hands in the air. “I swear.”
“You know Destiny Swann?” Savy asked. Now her heart was racing for completely different reasons.
“Yeah, she’s actually become a good friend over the years,” he said.
Savy didn’t pause to think it through. She got a running start and threw herself into his arms, planting a kiss on him that would have wrecked a lesser man.
Chapter Fourteen
QUINO had his arms full of Savannah, an event he hadn’t anticipated but was happy to enjoy to the fullest. When her mouth landed on his, he felt that same surge of feeling he always felt when she was near. The feeling that she was the one. It was heady stuff and he couldn’t help it if the kiss turned into a more passionate undertaking than she’d likely been planning.
The Christmas Keeper Page 17
