Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 181(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 181(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
“Lips,” she sighed. “You have like ones that are bee stung, all plump and pretty.” Krissy Mae reached forward and Rayla grasped her wrist, halting her before she could actually touch them with her outstretched index finger. “Point is, I haven’t been drinking until now and both Hottie McBartender and Fuck Me Santa want you.”
No animosity rang in her words, and despite all her hesitation and suspicion on things like that, all Rayla could do was shrug. Krissy Mae sounded put out and frustrated that her girls weren’t doing the job as she wanted them to be doing.
Cole, aka Hottie McBartender sauntered by and gave her a wink. Krissy Mae sighed like a girl with her first crush. And Rayla, well, she finished her drink and squeezed her legs tighter together.
It was going to be a long night.
Turned out Krissy Mae had the right of it and Rayla hadn’t a single clue why. She was well used to being overlooked and passed by when it came to members of the opposite sex, unless of course, her family could help them out in some way, she wasn’t sure what to make of the way Cole continued to send her sexy grins and not-so-subtle winks.
Even so, she enjoyed herself. Had entirely too much to drink and got up, with surprisingly little protesting to do some karaoke with Krissy Mae and a few others from work. Thankfully they weren’t Christmas songs.
Not that it would have stopped her if they were but she would like to think she may have at least attempted to put up a tiny bit of resistance.
αβ
Summer Tennessee nights weren’t for the weak. The thick muggy air surrounding them in the Great Smoky Mountains held hints of pine, moss, vegetation and of course everything coming from the small town of Hallelujah Crossing.
Ryker paused on the outskirts of town and allowed his gaze to move over the view. Christmas lights hung, multitudes of decorations had been adorned to buildings and trees alike. It was Christmas, without the snow that would be there in December.
For the most part, the town had settled in for the night. He knew most of the people he’d worked with had headed to a local hangout called June Bug to decompress for the first day of Christmas in July that the town participated in.
A well-deserved break for it had been insanely busy today. Heck, all he had to do was sit there and hold kids but even he was exhausted. Sure, there was more to it than that but compared to those who were running, wrangling, wrapping and all the other things offered, he had it easy.
His elves had kicked ass, making sure the line moved smoothly. Only a few hiccups he had no doubt were because it was day one.
Gives me hope for the next 30 days.
Luckily there was far more to do here than simply come to this well-known Christmas destination in summer. He had his plans and now that he’d met Rayla, he had a few more plans.
Behind him, branches snapped, and birds made their presence known with calls and hooting. The adventurer in him longed to go out and take a look around, enjoy the views he got here. However, his first order of business was to figure out what his brother had been doing here and where he was now.
As he meandered through town, he gave nods to people who did the same to him but hugging the shadows, not to many asked for his time. Ryker bypassed the bar even if his feet hesitated at the jolly sounds rolling out from the establishment.
Continuing along, he again slowed when he reached the rental cabin area. His place was here as well as Rayla’s. In fact, she happened to be three cabins over from his.
His shirt clung to him thanks to the clamminess of the humidity. A moment of pause before he allowed his instincts to take over. Within five minutes he stood before a door identical to the one leading to his cabin. The difference was the plaque over the door. On his, it said Holly, on hers Tinsel.
It fit. Tinsel came from a variation of an Italian word meaning spark.
There definitely was one for us. Even if she is determined to ignore it.
No way he was going to. Even now, with the physical distance between them, his cock stirred well to life. Not that it had gone down when he thought of her, but, he had been able to walk a tiny bit at least without it being rubbed against the unforgiving jean material he wore.
The sparks were there. Currently. Not past tense. It had been a live wire between them, arcing, sparking and sending lust through him in ways he’d not been expecting. Even more than just lust. The connection he’d experienced the second he’d laid eyes on her.