One Hundred Christmas Kisses (An Aspen Cove Romance Book 6)

by Kelly Collins

  “Cannon Bishop, you’ve changed.” She raced to him and threw her arms around his waist for a big hug.

  “Holy hell, girl.” He stood back and took her in. “You grew up.”

  A tiny little redhead came to stand next to Cannon. She looked at the woman standing in front of him. “You have to be Charlie. You favor your father for sure.”

  Charlie’s hands rose to her face. “You think so?”

  “Yep, same kind eyes but a lot less wrinkles.” She offered Charlie her hand. “I’m Sage Nichols. I’m the new owner of B’s Bed and Breakfast, and I also work at your father’s clinic.” She elbowed Cannon in the side. “You already know this guy.” She looked past them to Trig. “Did you bring a roommate?”

  Charlie looked at him and blushed. “No, we’re not together.” She rolled her pretty blue eyes. “I mean, we drove the last leg of the trip together because this guy”—she pointed to him—“thought he could make it through the pass in a Mustang—convertible no less.”

  “That makes you Trig,” Cannon said. “Where’s your dog?”

  Trig opened the back door and helped Clovis to the ground. He went to the nearest tree and lifted his leg.

  “Sorry about that,” Trig said.

  Out of the front door came a big ball of fur. Trig watched the dog with three legs race to Clovis. The tri-pod animal fascinated him. The two dogs circled each other. It was as if all they needed was a sniff to know they belonged together. Too bad humans weren’t so easy.

  “That’s Otis.”

  “How’d he lose his leg?” Charlie asked.

  Sage shook her head. “I was told he got hit by a car, but I don’t really know. I adopted him.”

  “That was a big commitment to take on his long-term medical costs.”

  Sage shrugged. “He doesn’t seem to mind that he’s missing a leg. We don’t care either.”

  Right then, Trig knew he was going to enjoy this holiday. Surely the three-legged dog was a sign.

  “Let me help you with your things.” Cannon turned to Trig. “I know Bowie is dying to see you.”

  Trig went to get Clovis, who gave him a look that said leave-me-be as he trotted behind Otis.

  Sage helped Charlie with her bag while Cannon threw Trig’s duffel over his shoulder and walked inside the house. Trig and Charlie were led to the end of a hallway where they were given side-by-side rooms.

  “Thanks for the ride,” Trig said before he walked inside his space.

  “It was nice to not have to make the trip alone. I liked your company.”

  “You did?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  Cannon stepped out of Trig’s room after putting his duffel inside and stared at the two guests. “Are you sure you two aren’t together-together?”

  Charlie blushed. “Of course not.”

  “All right.” He shrugged and walked down the hallway. “Get yourselves settled.” He pointed at Trig. “I’ll tell my brother you’ll be over in a few.”

  Trig lifted his chin in acknowledgement, but his eyes never left Charlie. She was so pretty without even trying. “I’ll catch you later.” He felt a nudge against his leg. “Done playing for the night, Clovis?”

  “He could use more play and less bacon,” Charlie teased.

  “It’s carrots and long walks for him from now on.”

  She lowered to a squat and petted the dog, lifting his chin up and taking a closer look at his face. “His eye looks irritated.”

  It was hard for Trig to squat and not give away his injury. The last thing he wanted was to draw attention to his leg when he felt so normal. “He was scratching at it earlier. I’ll keep an eye on it.”

  Her look of concern vanished and was replaced with a smile. “Let me know if you need me to take a look tomorrow.”

  “Will do.” Part of him wanted to lean forward and kiss her. Not a heated passionate kiss, although that sounded pleasant enough, but a kiss that said thanks for taking a chance and stopping to pick up a stranger.

  He found himself leaning forward and pressing his lips to her cheek. “I’ll see you around.”

  Her hand came to her cheek and that’s how he left her. “Let’s go, Clovis.” He walked inside his room and shut the door.

  Fifteen minutes later he was unpacked and on his way to Bowie’s. Not knowing how Clovis would be around Bowie’s dog Bishop or his daughter Sahara, he decided to leave those introductions until tomorrow.

  “No whining tonight,” he told the dog before he closed the door. Clovis was supposed to be his support animal but Trig had realized early on that the dog needed him just as much. He seemed to have separation anxiety and would whimper if left alone too long.

  Cannon met him in the living room and they both walked to the cabin next door.

  Seeing Bowie was like going back to the day he lost his leg, but so much happier. He pulled the big man in for a hug. “Thank you, man. I don’t know what I’d have done without you.”

  In true Bowie form, he said, “Bled out.”

  They sat on the back porch as a light dusting of snow fell around them and watched the tiny fires that flicked on the frozen lake. “People are really out there fishing?”

  “Yep. It’s actually great if you don’t freeze your nuts off in the process.” He told Trig the story of the last time he, Cannon, and Dalton went ice fishing. “It was a mass exodus to warm beds and hot women.”

  A beautiful blonde walked onto the deck and placed a plate of cookies in front of them. Bowie pulled her into his lap.

  “This is my amazing wife, Katie. She owns the bakery in town.” He offered Trig a cookie.

  Trig couldn’t believe his buddy had actually settled down. Bowie said he’d never fall in love again because losing the person he’d loved was too painful. Look at him now. He was a husband and a father. Trig swallowed his envy. He couldn't be upset that the man who’d saved his life had gotten one of his own.

  “Cannon says you came up here with Charlie?”

  Trig nodded. “Yep, my Mustang is stuck in the snow at the bottom of the pass. I’ll call for a tow tomorrow.”

  “We can ask Bobby Williams to make the arrangements. He owns the gas station and car repair shop in town. He’ll know who to call.”

  Trig looked around and sighed. It felt damn good to be among friends. “I’m so happy to be here.”

  Katie rose from her husband’s lap. “I’m heading to bed. I’ve got to be up to make the muffins early.”

  Bowie stood with his wife and kissed her long and hard. “I’ll get up with the baby.”

  She laughed. “If I weren’t so tired, I’d consider that foreplay.” She looked up at Bowie and winked. “It was nice meeting you, Trig. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “I’ll be here.” He looked toward the bed and breakfast and saw a shadow on the deck and knew immediately it was Charlie. It was too tall to be Sage and didn’t have enough limbs to be one of the dogs. “What’s Charlie’s story?” he asked. Although he thought the question, it somehow made it out of his mouth aloud.

  “Hard to say,” Cannon started. “She’s been gone a long time—like ten years. Her mother died, and she couldn’t handle it so she left for college and never came back.”

  “She got family here?”

  Both the brothers said yes at the same time.

  Cannon silenced himself with a cookie and Bowie continued. “Not unlike my story, I imagine. Someone she loved died and she couldn’t live in the place that reminded her of the loss.”

  “But now she’s back?”

  Cannon swallowed. “Her dad is the local doctor. There’s more to it, but rumor has it she blamed him for her mother’s death. Like somehow he should be capable of saving everyone.”

  He sipped the beer Bowie had handed him the second he arrived. “It’s easy to blame others when life doesn’t go your way.”

  Bowie emptied his bottle and reached into the cooler for three more. “It’s easy to lie to yourself when the truth hurts so much.” They a
ll popped the caps off the new beers and toasted to friendship and truth.

  It was two hours and three additional beers later when Trig stumbled back to his room. He turned the light on and found it empty.

  “Clovis? Come here, boy.” He searched his space thoroughly and began to worry. Had he somehow gotten loose? A basset hound was no match for the wilds of the Colorado mountains. “Clovis?” he repeated in a whispered yell.

  He stopped to listen and heard the soft yelp of his dog. He followed the noise next door to Charlie’s room. He didn’t understand how his dog had gotten into her space.

  He tapped at the door lightly, hoping she was still up, but no light shone from beneath the door. He didn’t want to barge in and steal his dog back, but somehow the damn pup had ended up where he shouldn’t be. He turned the handle, expecting it to be locked but found it wasn’t.

  He managed one step inside then tripped over something and found himself on the floor.

  A light flickered on and Charlie stood in front of him dressed in nothing but pink panties and a T-shirt. God was she gorgeous. The woman was all legs until his eyes found the rounded curve of her perfect ass. He took her in from her red toenail polish to her pebbled nipples poking against the shirt.

  “Wow, you are so damn hot.”

  He expected her to ignore him. Most women did, but what he saw on Charlie’s face confused him until he followed her line of sight.

  She was staring at his left leg, which was turned at an odd angle.

  “Oh my God, you’re hurt. Don’t move. It’s broken.” She fell to her knees and reached for his leg.

  The last thing Trig wanted was sympathy. “I’m fine,” he grumbled. He reached down and twisted his prosthetic leg so it was back to facing the correct direction.

  “You’re not fine. You fell, and that’s got to hurt.”

  He was far too drunk to have a filter. “Like a son of a bitch, but that was years ago.” He hopped to his feet and limped to the door. “I just want my dog. Save your pity party for someone else.”

  She fisted her hips, which only drew his attention to her curves. “Your dog cried from the minute you left. The only way to get some sleep was to invite him into my bed.”

  Trig looked at Clovis and said “Lucky bastard” before he hobbled back to his room with Clovis following closely behind.

  Chapter Five

  She knew Trig was hurt. She’d never seen a leg twisted in such a way and not be broken. When he turned it around and it snapped back into place her stomach churned.

  Her fingers hovered over the keys of her phone. Did she dare call her father to come and look at Trig? He seemed unhappy with her concern and yet as a doctor, even though she cared for animals, she felt she had a moral obligation to make sure he was all right.

  She pressed in her father’s number and waited for him to answer.

  “Where do I need to be?” he asked.

  That was her father’s MO. He never asked why, he simply showed up.

  “Daddy? It’s Charlie, and I need you.”

  She listened as he gasped. In the background came Agatha’s voice. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s Charlie,” he whispered. “She’s in trouble.”

  Charlie could picture her father at this moment brushing his salt and pepper hair away from his eyes and searching for his glasses.

  “Daddy, I’m not in trouble, but I need you to come to B’s Bed and Breakfast. There’s a man here who’s taken a fall, and I think he’s too drunk to realize he’s broken his leg. Can you come?”

  There was a moment of silence. “B’s? You’re at B’s?”

  She heard a commotion in the background. “Yes, I came to surprise you for Christmas, but if you’re—”

  “I’m on my way.” His keys jingled in the background. “Stay there, sweetheart. Daddy will be there in a few minutes.”

  Her heart did a flip. How could she have stayed away from him for so long? While she was happy he was on his way, she was angry with herself for wasting so much precious time.

  She pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt before she went to the room next door and knocked. “Trig?”

  She knocked again and listened. If it weren’t for the low growl of Clovis, she would have thought the room was empty.

  “Trig, I’ve called my father. He’s a doctor.”

  “I don’t need a doctor. I hate doctors, hospitals. I hate it all. I’m fine.”

  She was just about to twist the handle when she heard her father’s old diesel truck pull up out front. She raced to the door so no one else was woken up and steered her father to the room at the end of the hallway. He stopped for a second and took her in.

  “I can’t believe you’re back. I’m so…so—”

  “I know, Dad, I’m so happy too. I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to figure out that I was acting like a child.”

  She looked up to her father’s aged face. What once had been smooth skin was now furrowed with deep lines of worry. His salt and pepper hair had turned marshmallow white. Creped hands pulled her in for a hug. “Let’s see to this young man you say is injured, and then we’ll get reacquainted.” His free hand ran down her arm to grip her hand. “I’m so happy you’re home, sweetheart.”

  “I am home,” she said with conviction. Maybe that had been the problem all along. She’d never been able to find herself in a place that felt like home.

  Her father tapped on the door but didn’t wait for an answer. He twisted the knob and walked inside. Charlie followed. Seconds later, Clovis bounced at the end of the bed. While he looked happy to see her, he barked at her father, which brought Sage and Cannon to the door.

  “What’s going on?” Sage asked. She went straight into nurse mode and walked inside, taking in the situation. She rushed into the adjoining bathroom to wash her hands.

  Charlie leaned against the door and took in Trig, who rose from the mattress like Titan from the sea, all bare and muscular and scarred.

  “What the hell?” he yelled.

  Charlie walked forward. She had a hard time pulling her eyes from his chest. The man was toned and torn. His body had obviously been through a lot. She remembered his duffel bag and knew he’d fought in a war.

  “I asked my father to take a look at you.”

  She pulled her eyes from the longest scar, which ran from the bottom of his ribs to what her friends would call the happy trail—the thin line of hair leading from his belly button to the treasures hidden beneath the sheet.

  “I told you I was fine.” He rearranged the bedding. “I don’t need a doctor to look at something that’s not there.”

  “Please,” she pleaded. “It would make me feel better if you just let him take a peek.”

  “Dammit, what are you, a sadist? You want to see? Isn’t it enough that I had to lose the damn thing and now I have to satisfy your morbid curiosity?” Trig gripped the quilt on the bed and tossed it aside to show that his left leg was missing below the knee.

  “Oh, shit,” Charlie said. “I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”

  Trig tilted his head in confusion. “Now you know. As you can see I’m fine. Now you all can leave.”

  “Now wait a minute, son.”

  Cannon chuckled. “That’s my cue to leave. You’re about to get schooled. Let’s go, sweetheart.” He wrapped his arm around Sage and led her back into the hallway.

  Charlie couldn’t help the smile that lifted her lips. She’d forgotten the ‘now son’ talks her father gave the boys. That phrase was only pulled out when he had a lesson to teach.

  “I’m not your son,” Trig replied.

  Her father sat on the edge of the bed. “Nope, because if you were, you’d have better manners.” He looked at his daughter. “My daughter was only concerned that you had hurt yourself. Don’t go getting your knickers twisted because she called me. That’s what daughters are supposed to do. They call their fathers.”

  Charlie didn’t miss the message in that either. It was her fat
her telling her that she should have called sooner. Like ten years sooner.

  “While I’m here, I’m going to look at that leg.” He stood and leaned over Trig to take in his injury.

  Charlie couldn’t help but want to look too. “Do you care if I help my father?”

  Trig narrowed his eyes. “By all means, take pictures and show the whole town.”

  Her father manipulated the joint and took a closer look at the scar. “Mighty fine work you got here.”

  “Compliments of Uncle Sam,” Trig replied dryly.

  “Where’s your leg?”

  Trig frowned. “In Afghanistan, I imagine.”

  Charlie was taken aback when her father cuffed him upside the head. “You know what I meant. Let me see your prosthetic leg.”

  Trig grumbled as he rubbed his red ear. “It’s over there.” He pointed to the chair in the corner.

  Her father walked to where the leg lay tucked under Trig’s folded jeans. “This is what they gave you?”

  Trig shook his head. “No, it’s the first version. I have two others that fit better. This is loose and so when I’m in the car, it doesn’t put a lot of pressure on my scar tissue.”

  Doc walked back and sat on the other side of Trig—the side closest to his amputated limb. He rubbed at the sore spot where a bruise was blooming.

  “This is going to be sore for a few days.”

  Trig sighed. “I’ve dealt with worse.”

  Charlie’s father placed his hand on Trig’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you for your service. I can’t imagine what it feels like to lose something as valuable as a limb, but don’t let it take something more valuable away. You are no less of a man than you were the day this happened.”

  She watched as Trig’s eyes grew big. “Thank you, sir.” He turned to Charlie. “Not everyone feels like you do.”

  Charlie’s father rose. “No one else matters. View yourself as whole and no one will ever call you a liar.” He picked up his bag from the floor and walked to the door. “You coming, Charlie?”

  Charlie followed her father. She turned around and looked at Trig, who had pulled Clovis into his arms. “I’ll be back to say goodnight.”