A Kiss From Kringle (Novella) (Frosty's Snowmen Book 2) (3 page)

Once she’d finally spoken to him that is. Before that, she’d hidden behind a cool façade.

He liked this Leah better.

And not just because she was talking to him. No. This one opened the shutters and showed him the real woman. He wanted to know every little thing about her with an irrational need that went bone deep.

“What sort of food do you like?” he asked.

“I…um…” She shrugged. “I’ll eat pretty much anything.”

“I know this really great place down the street. Thai.” Chris grabbed her hand and started walking. “Sound good?”

“I guess so. It’s not like I can refuse.” She left her hand in his and he gave a mental fist-pump.

“Well you could. But then I might be tempted to do something about today.” He wouldn’t. She had to know that.

Her laughter flowed around them.

“Something funny?”

“Yes. You.”

“Me?”

“You’re not going to do anything about today.” Her words rang with confidence.

He smiled. “You’re right. I’m not.”

“I could walk away at any stage without any repercussions.”

“You could. But you won’t.”

“No. I won’t.”

They wandered the rest of the way in comfortable silence, Leah’s hand tightly held in his, and Chris couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so content. Even opening day of Santa’s Village hadn’t felt quite as enjoyable as walking hand-in-hand with Leah.

The early evening was warm and they weren’t the only ones out for a stroll. There were couples and families on foot as well as wheels — the two and four variety — making the most of what was left of the beautiful summer day. After the hectic first day inside the cold village, this quiet time was a welcome balm. With each step he took, his muscles released the tension that seemed a permanent part of him for the weeks leading up to and during this busy time of year.

“Tell me about Meggie.”

Leah grinned. “She’s a firecracker. Full of curiosity and boundless energy. I adore her.”

“I can tell.” He pulled her closer to avoid the skateboarder careening their way. “I take it her father isn’t in the picture.”

“No.” Her mouth pinched tight, deep grooves forming as her lips turned down.

“Sore subject?”

“The skeleton.”

“Ah.” They reached the restaurant and he held up two fingers to the waitress hurrying their way. “Inside or outside? They don’t appear to be busy yet.”

“Either.”

Chris ushered her towards a table at the back of the small interior eating area. It was tucked away in a secluded corner. “This looks out of the way.”

The waitress dropped menus on the table and disappeared.

“Well.” He frowned. “Guess we won’t order our drinks first.”

“I’m fine for now.” Leah smiled as she took a seat and picked up a menu. “You’ve been here before, right? What do you recommend?”

“Everything is excellent here. It depends on what you feel like. I’m going to have a Red Curry. Beef.”

She scanned the menu. “I’ll get the Pad Thai.”

“Want to split a Thai Fried Rice?”

“Sure. Oh, quick. Here comes the waitress. I’ll get a bottled water too.” Leah waved the server over.

Once they placed their order, Chris leaned back in his chair. “Tell me about the skeleton.”

Leah took a deep breath before speaking. “Haylee met him at uni. They dated for a year before I even met him though, but once I did I knew something wasn’t right. I tried to talk to Haylee about it, except I had nothing concrete to tell her other than I had a bad feeling about him.”

“Obviously your instincts were spot on.”

“Oh yeah.” She aimed a strained smile at the waitress delivering their drinks before continuing. “It seems the whole time he was
dating
Haylee, he was engaged to another woman. Clearly neither knew about the other until Haylee turned up pregnant. That’s when he told Haylee he was getting married and she was never more than a fuck on the side.”

“Bastard.” No wonder she was protective of her sister.

“That’s the least of his crimes.” She took a sip of water, placed the bottle carefully on the table before continuing. “He told Haylee to get rid of it. Gave her a thousand dollars to do it.”

“Jesus.” Chris hoped someone rearranged the guy’s face for him. Or removed his balls. The guy obviously wasn’t man enough to need them. “And that was three years ago?”

“Four. Haylee moved in with me. Our parents live in the country so it’s just the two of us here in Sydney, and I’ve supported her and Meggie since.”

“Haylee hasn’t worked in all that time?”

“She’s had the odd part-time job, but I’ve finally convinced her to return to uni now that Meggie is old enough for preschool.”

“She mentioned in her interview she was doing that after the holidays.”

“Yes. I’ve got another two days of teaching for the year then I’m on summer break so I can have Meggie during the day while Haylee works for you. Then she’s enrolled in a couple of refresher courses at our local community college through January and goes back to uni in late February.”

“And you’ll have Meggie until you return to work next year.” God the woman was amazing. “They’re both lucky to have you.”

“I’m lucky to have them. Haylee doesn’t sponge off me. She takes care of everything at home. Cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping.” Leah smiled. “You have no idea how blissful it is not to clean a bathroom or iron a shirt.”

“I pay someone to do those things.”

“Really?”

“Hell yes. I wouldn’t have the first clue where to start with either of them. In fact, I don’t own an iron. The local dry cleaner takes care of washing and ironing.”

“You don’t wash your own clothes?”

Chris smiled sheepishly. “I don’t own a washer either.” His mother had nagged him to buy one, but he hadn’t seen the point when he could take everything to the cleaners dirty and pick them up clean and pressed.

“We’re both spoiled then.” She grinned.

“I wouldn’t say that. We work hard and part of working hard is not doing the things we don’t want to do. And doing the things we do want to.”

“Like?”

He brushed his fingertips over the back of Leah’s hand. “Having a nice dinner with a pretty woman.”

Her cheeks flooded with colour, but she didn’t look away. Leah was too brave for that. He’d only known her a little while and already he knew she wouldn’t back down from something that made her uncomfortable.

The waitress bought their meals, shattering the moment of intimacy that gripped them. Chris pulled his hand away and picked up his fork and spoon. Leaning over he took a good sniff of his curry. “Damn, this smells good.”

“Looks good too.” Leah dug in with enthusiasm. It didn’t appear as though she were one of those women that watched everything they ate. “Oh God.” Hand covering her lips she spoke around her mouthful. “This is delicious.”

His own meal forgotten, Chris sat watching Leah.

***

Leah picked up her water and took a sip. “You’re staring.”

“I know.”

“Stop it.”

“Why?”

It seemed politeness wasn’t a priority for this man. He said he’d be totally honest with her, so she’d return the courtesy. “Because you’re making me self-conscious and, while I can cope with that, I’d prefer it if I didn’t have to.”

“But I like looking at you.”

Leah tipped her head to the side. “Surely watching me shovel food into my mouth like I haven’t eaten in a month isn’t at all pleasant.”

He smiled. “You’d be surprised.”

She laughed. “Stop it. Eat your curry before it goes cold.” She tapped the side of his plate with her chopsticks.

Chris eyed her with a thoughtful expression that made her squirm in her seat. “I’m going to fall for you.”

“W-what?” Her mouth dropped open. “You can’t…”

“I can.” He reached over and, with a fingertip, caressed her cheek, down along her jaw, sending a shiver through her. “In fact, I think I have already.”

“Are you crazy? You just met me. I
lied
to you.” Dear Lord, was the man insane?

“I see this topic upsets you.” He leaned back in his seat. “Let’s talk about something else. What age are the kids you teach?”

He couldn’t just lob that conversation bomb then change the subject. What kind of game was he playing? “I’m not sure what you’re playing at or hoping to achieve or prove or…whatever, but you can’t say something like that then drop it.”

“Sure I can.” He smiled.

“I…you…but…” Leah closed her mouth and a huff of air rushed through her nose. “This is bizarre.”

“It’s Christmas.”

“So?”

“Magic happens at Christmas.”

God. He really was insane. And yet he looked at her with eyes that said he wasn’t. And, absurdly, she wanted to believe him. “Crazy,” she muttered.

“Maybe. But it’s not an offer of marriage.” He shrugged and Leah was sure he whispered the word
yet
as he took a mouthful of food.

“What? Why would you even bring that up?”
Marriage?
They’d barely clapped eyes on each other and he was throwing out words like marriage?

“You don’t want to get married?”

“No. Well yes. Eventually. Not to you. I don’t think.” She frowned. He was confusing her. “Why are we even discussing this?”

He smiled. “It’s what you do on a first date. Get to know each other.”

“And you start with my views on marriage? Talk about diving in the deep end head first.”

“I don’t like wasting time on things that aren’t important.”

“Like what? My favourite book? Movie? Colour?” Leah shook her head.

“Okay, apparently those things are important to you. I like action movies, but I have been known to sit through a chick flick or two. I like most genre fiction, can’t stand bios, but don’t mind the occasional real-life crime novel.” He grinned.

She stared at him and wondered if he made everyone dizzy or if it was just her. “You forgot colour.”

“Oh, right. Hmm… I’m not sure I have a favourite one. Although now that I think about it, my wardrobe has a lot of blue in it.”

They both glanced at Chris’s shirt. It was a button-down in royal blue. He’d either changed or had it on beneath the thick jacket he’d worn inside Santa’s Village, because Leah hadn’t seen it earlier. But now that her attention had been drawn to it, she saw how it complemented his eyes. They weren’t quite the same shade, but together they popped. Why hadn’t she noticed that before?

“So what’s your favourite colour?”

“Blue.” The word left her mouth without conscious thought. “I mean…”

He winked at her and smiled, his mouth tilting at a cocky angle. “Blue’s a very good colour.”

She blew out a breath. “Are you always this annoying?”

“I’m annoying?” He looked at the table. “But I’m buying you dinner. And I’m not going to do anything about today. Plus I’ve fallen for you.”

Leah closed her eyes and groaned. “You’re really strange, you know that?”

“Strange good or strange bad? Under the right circumstances I’m really good at being bad.” He waggled his eyebrows.

“See? Right there. That. Who says things like that?” She couldn’t decide if he was being serious or winding her up. “Shouldn’t you try to be normal on a first date?”

“I figure it’s best to show the real me from the start. That way there’s no surprises after the wedding.” He kept a straight face and Leah thought hers probably looked like a fright-night special.

Her jaw worked. Her mouth flapped. And her brain went into meltdown. “What?” she finally managed to gasp.

Chris laughed. A deep, chest rumbling sound that skipped over Leah’s skin and shuddered down her spine.

He was getting to her. His slightly off-centre personality — the serious businessman juxtaposed with the whimsical believer of magic — had her head spinning and her heart racing.

He’d said this was a date and for the first time since they’d left the arena, Leah felt like it was the start of something much more. The tingle of anticipation — desire — of wondering if there would be a kiss at the end of the evening…

Leah covered a snicker with her hand.

She was hoping to get a kiss from Kringle.

***

Chris couldn’t stop smiling. Or drag his attention away from his dinner companion. She enthralled him. The way she spoke, the way she moved, hell, he was even intrigued by the way she blinked her eyelids.

He’d never been so wrapped up in a woman. Especially not one he’d just met.

Everything about Leah called to him. Her love for her sister and niece — the passion with which she talked about them — made him want to be on the receiving end of her affection. It also made him wonder if she’d bring the same level of intensity to bed.

How long would it be until he found out?

There was no doubt he would know. It was just a matter of when. He didn’t delude himself into thinking she’d be easy to tumble into bed. Not after what her sister had gone through. But he wasn’t afraid of hard work and the best things always took more effort. He’d try to go slowly. Woo her. Patience and persistence. He had limited supply of the first, but plenty of the second.

Their meals were finished and he needed to move them onto the next stage. “So, tomorrow.” Leah’s body jolted — stiffen.

“What about it?” She chewed the corner of her bottom lip.

“Haylee is scheduled to work.”

She picked at the label on her water bottle. “Yes.”

He understood her nervousness — her caution — and he wanted to be sure she knew he was serious about her. And she was a package deal. “Why don’t you both come in? With Meggie. I’m sure she’d love the Village.”

“She would.”

“Right. So, all of you come in. If Meggie lets you take her away from Haylee, then your sister can work her shift and you and I can take Meggie around the Village. We can have a picnic lunch in the park and get her home in time for her afternoon nap.” He paused, tried to remember how old Jack’s sisters’ kids were when they stopped. “Does she still have naps?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. We’ll take care of her while Haylee works.”

“We?”

“You and me.” The more he thought about it, the more the idea appealed to him, which was pretty amazing when he was already invested in the idea of spending the day with Leah and her niece. “We can treat her to a day of fun after being sick. Oh, wait. Is she well enough, do you think? Perhaps we should keep her at your house. What type of movies does she like? I could pick up a couple.”