The 6'1" Grinch (5 page)

“Y
OU DO KNOW
I'm planning to have my way with you, don't you?”

Noel decided he must be dreaming.

His real estate agent was behaving very unprofessionally. The look in her eyes was one of planned seduction. She twirled one of her sexy curls with her forefinger as she flirted with him. She had changed into a provocative outfit. The baby T-shirt clung to her soft breasts. He knew they'd bounce when she walked, because he'd seen them do just that. His agent, it seemed, didn't have the need or desire to wear a bra. The beige cotton drawstring pants were tied loosely, so they rode low to reveal a cute-as-a-button navel.

A navel he wanted to explore with his tongue.

“I'd be much obliged if you did just that,” he heard himself say.

“Do you want to touch me?” she asked, remaining just out of range.

“Desperately.” He reached for her, but she evaded his grasp.

“First the rules,” she explained.

“Rules?”

“Uh-huh. I can touch you, but you can't touch me.”

He thought a moment. It wasn't the best deal, but it was better than no touching at all. He lifted his hands in surrender. “Okay, you're the boss. I'm your playground.”

“Why don't I trust you?” She studied him a moment, then ordered, “Put your hands behind your head.”

“Done,” he said, following her rules.

She knelt before him. “You're quite handsome, you know. Those clear blue eyes and dark lashes are a lethal combination.”

“You're just trying to flatter me so you'll get what you want, just like all the girls.”

“Lots of girls …”

“Legions,” he bragged to annoy her.

“But none like me.” She said it with such quiet confidence that he believed her. Believed her because when she stroked his cheeks, his eyes, his lips, her touch was gentle—a tender caress.

“No, none like you,” he breathed.

She began unbuttoning his shirt. “I can feel your warm skin through the cloth. Am I making you hot, Noel?”

“Ah, could you hurry up a little…” he pleaded, just keeping himself from thrusting.

“Oh, no. We go slow, excruciatingly slow. I plan to make you suffer to get your reward. You aren't the only one who can play games, Mr. Hawksley.”

“I think under the circumstances you should call me ‘Noel.' ”

“But you don't like your first name, do you, Noel?”

“It's not a proper name.”

“I love it. Noel and Hollie—it's like we were meant to be together.” She pushed back his shirt. “Umm, smooth warm skin and rock-hard muscle. Very impressive for a businessman, Noel. Where'd you get this washboard belly?”

“Rock climbing. I find it's good for the gut and relieves stress. The danger makes you focus on the moment.”

She lowered her head and began kissing his flushed skin, starting at his flat brown nipples and working her way over the washboard stomach he was suddenly glad he had.

He was no longer able to keep himself from thrusting ever so slightly with his hips as her sweet lips moved inexorably downward to his belt.

He wanted like hell to bury his hands in her curly waves of light brown hair, but he knew he'd break the spell if he did. His hands remained captive beneath his head as he remained captive beneath her marauding lips.

She lifted her head and stared into his eyes, her pupils huge. “Permission to proceed?” she inquired, her hand on his belt buckle.

“As you may have guessed, the word
no
has left my vocabulary. Please,” he urged.

She laughed, a throaty laugh full of girlish delight. It made him even harder, and the effect was almost painful.

She undid his belt buckle and pulled the belt from the loops of his trousers. Grinning down at him, she undid the button above the zipper of his fly. “There, more comfy?” she teased.

“Only slightly. If you could, ah, hurry the hell up.”

“I've noticed you have this problem with being impatient, Mr. Hawksley. Perhaps we should—”

‘‘Now!” he insisted.

Her answering laugh as she began easing down the zipper of his trousers was wicked with promise.

“You've been holding out on me, Noel. You've been pretending to be a grinch, and all the while you've had a present for me.” Her hand closed over the smooth, satiny length of him. “A very, very impressive present.”

“Glad you like it,” he choked out as she began moving her hand up and down, squeezing and relaxing her grip·

“I like it so much I could kiss you!” she declared. “Right here.” She punctuated her statement with a kiss to the head of his shaft, sending a delicious shock of pleasure through him.

And then a noise at the front door woke him.

Noel was disoriented at first. The dream had seemed so real.

So hot. He was still reeling from the effect. It certainly put the lie to any idea that everything between them was strictly business. He was very attracted to her, he admitted with some reluctance. And not just physically attracted. No, Hollie Winslow was reaching him on a level no one ever had.

And then he laughed, rueful that it was probably just business with Hollie. Her niceness was part of her professional image. He was more likely to buy a house from her if he liked her.

He needed to get a grip on reality.

Ah, but he wished she'd be as nice to him as she had been in his dream, he thought as the door swung open.

A
S SHE INSERTED
the key into the lock of her front door, Hollie shifted the bag on her hip, careful not to break the eggs. Her Christmas watch had told her she'd only been gone a half hour. The snowy day had kept most people at home with last-minute baking and wrapping and decorating. She'd checked out her eggs and a bottle of wine she'd gotten on impulse without having to wait in line.

When she entered the greatroom, Noel was sitting up on the sofa, stretching.

She grimaced, then hurried to the kitchen to set her small bag of groceries on the counter.

A large plastic sack of Tupperware sat there.

“Where did this come from?” she asked Noel, who'd joined her in the kitchen.

“Sarah dropped it off. She said Elena was playing at a friend's house, so she was out running errands while she had the opportunity.”

Hollie looked at Noel's face. “She didn't say anything?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah—something about calling her. She needs you to take Elena to see Santa Claus at the mall because she got a big last-minute order.”

“That's all she said?” Hollie asked, her head inside the refrigerator as she stowed the eggs and wine.

“Yeah, she mentioned you wanted to borrow the Tupperware and said to call her about Elena, that's all.”

Noel looked so sexy and sweet with sleep that Hollie couldn't resist going over to him and kissing him on the tip of his nose.

“What?” Noel said, pleased yet taken aback.

Hollie shrugged. “It's Christmas. You looked so…” Hollie's voice trailed off. What had come over her? Kissing him on the nose? And her explanation would be worse. What was she going to say? That she'd done it because he looked sexy… and sweet?

“Do you always act on your impulses?” Noel asked with a teasing glint in his eyes.

“Do you never have them?” Hollie pouted, her teeth pulling at her full bottom lip, drawing Noel's attention.

He thought about the dream Sarah had interrupted with her Tupperware delivery. He'd been worried she would notice his arousal.

“I guess this wouldn't be a good time to ask you a favor, huh?” Hollie ventured.

“I'm not taking Elena to see Santa Claus, if that's what you have in mind.”

“No, I haven't forgotten you're a grinch. What I need is for you to give me some help with the lights on my Christmas tree. There's a short somewhere and they keep going out. I thought perhaps you might be able to figure out what's wrong. I don't know which strand is shorting, and I hate to go out and buy all new lights.”

“Sure, I could check them out,” he agreed. “It seems we're not going to be busy seeing any houses this afternoon. This looks to be a half-foot-deep snowfall. I suppose you want me to shovel your driveway while I'm at it, too.”

“You'd do that?” she asked on a hopeful note. It wasn't as though she was suggesting he help build a snowman, not yet anyway.

“Why not? I might as well. That way I'll know whether this house requires a snow shovel. When it stops snowing I'll do the drive. Right now, let's have a look at the lights on your tree.” He headed for the tree in the corner of the room.

“Wait a minute. What did you mean by you'll know whether this house requires a snow shovel?”

“Didn't I mention it? I've found the house I want to buy.
This one. “

The news was as much a surprise to him as to Hollie. He hadn't known he wanted her house until he'd said it.

But once he'd said it, he knew it was true.

Hollie's house fit the fantasy of a home he'd never had. It was warm and inviting. So inviting he'd fallen asleep on her sofa. Spending time in the place had made him realize the strength of his long suppressed and denied fantasy and desire for a home.

What Hollie had made him realize was what he didn't have.

He'd realized his professional dreams, and maybe, just maybe, it was time he took a look at what his personal needs were.

He had a feeling Hollie could meet a lot of those, had certainly met one of them in his dreams!

She was sexy as all get out, but there was more to this hunger he had. He wanted a soul mate. For the first time in his life he considered that he might have found one … in Hollie.

He wanted to step into her dream. And that meant buying her house.

Meanwhile, back at the North Pole …

“I
SURE HOPE
Mrs. Claus comes back before we have to leave on Christmas Eve,” Rudolph said to Prancer. “Santa's been a grouch ever since he found out she left on her little vacation.”

Prancer danced around his stall. “I know one thing it sure would be a help if he could find the Christmas cookies Mrs. Claus hid before she left.”

“I wouldn't count on that…” Rudolph said, his nose turning red.

“Rudolph—you didn't! You didn't find Santa's cookies first and eat them?”

“Who, me?”

Prancer shook his head. “It's going to be a long sleigh ride Christmas Eve.”

N
OEL COULDN'T BELIEVE
he was standing in a long line at the mall, waiting to see Santa Claus. But here he was, being pushed and shoved by impatient, restless, jumpy kids desperate to reach Santa and whisper their dream gift list in St. Nick's ear.

Hollie had insisted that he join her and Elena in the Santa line if he wanted to continue their discussion about her selling her house. And since he was as impatient, restless and jumpy to get the opportunity to try one more time to persuade Hollie to sell, he was on his way to Santa …and, hopefully, acquiring Hollie's house.

She'd already said no to him more than once, but for some reason it was important to him to buy her house. Where he lived had never been of consequence to him before. He had moved from one temporary residence to another. First with boarding school and then with his career.

For the first time, he desperately wanted a home. And Hollie's house was it.

Noel studied Hollie and Elena. Both were clearly girlie girls.

Hollie was kneeling to fasten the sparkly tiara Elena had insisted on wearing. It had slipped sideways on the child's head. Fixing the tiara wasn't an easy task because Elena was so excited about seeing Santa she was chattering nonstop, her head moving the whole while.

“How many things can I ask Santa for?” Elena wanted to know. “Will he get mad if I ask for too many?”

“I think three would be a good number,” Hollie said dryly. “That's the number that seems standard in any magical situation. Just remember to think about your wishes very carefully while we're waiting. You don't want to waste them on something silly like wishing Midnight would quit barking at airplanes when they fly over.”

Elena giggled. “I know, she thinks she can catch than.”

Hollie tickled Elena's tummy. Elena's fashion statement for meeting Santa was her tiara, of course. And, of all things, her neon sunglasses in the dead of winter with snow on the ground. The rest of her ensemble consisted of a white T-shirt beneath jeans overalls, black-and-white soccer shoes and all her jeweled necklaces.

Noel couldn't help but smile. Elena's style was utterly charming. She would make a great model for the children's department of the store he was opening.

At least, Noel thought, it was good to see that he wasn't the only male in line waiting with the children to see Santa. All around him fathers were standing patiently, while mothers combed children's hair and straightened their clothing—over and over again as the children continued hopping around. The din from the crowd was so loud he could barely make out Aaron Neville's “Christmas Song” on the mall's sound system.

If anyone had told him he'd willingly be at a mall five days before Christmas, he would have bet a considerable sum otherwise—and lost. He expected to see hives break out on his arm at any time. Last Christmas Marcy had insisted on him shopping with her while she selected the expensive gifts she wanted from him. She hadn't returned the pricey baubles when she'd broken their engagement and had even claimed possession of some of his things.

“I know one thing I'm going to ask Santa for,” Elena said, as Noel winced in remembrance. “I'm going to ask him to bring me the Barbie in the pink dress.”

Hollie shot Noel a look that told him he was in trouble. But hell, he already knew that. He was standing in a crowded mall with a woman who was something between a ballerina and a kick boxer and a child who would grow up under her influence. “Under the influence” gained a whole new meaning when he thought of Hollie. Under her influence he'd had a dream so sexy he'd woken up embarrassed.

“I'm sure Santa will bring you your Barbie,” Noel assured Elena, to Hollie's raised eyebrow. “What else are you going to wish for?”

“I know, I want some rings like Hollie's.”

Hollie twisted the gold-and-gemstone stack rings on her ring finger of her right hand. Seeing Noel's interest, she explained, “Elena's coveted these since I bought than this past summer. I told her they don't make them in her small size, so every time she comes over she asks me if they're old yet.”

“Old?” Noel looked puzzled

“It's a scam of hers. When she spends the night she goes through my jewelry piece by piece and asks if each one is old. She gets to take anything that's old home with her. You may have noticed she's into jewelry in a big way.”

“Yeah. Some husband is going to be perpetually broke when she gets married—”

“What are you going to wish for?” Elena interrupted, looking at Noel.

“That Hollie will sell me her house.”

Elena appeared stricken. “No! You can't move away, Auntie Hollie.” The child grabbed Hollie's hand and clung to her, a tear trailing from her wide pale eyes.

“Don't worry, I'm
not
moving,” she assured the child.

“But—”

“We're going to find Noel a house he really, really likes. He was only teasing about wanting my house.”

Noel didn't want to push the matter in front of the upset child. After all, Hollie could move closer to Sarah and Elena. The child would love that. There was even room for Hollie to move in with Sarah and Elena until she found something.

He didn't have anywhere to go.

Unless you counted the impersonal hotel room he was staying in.

“And what are you going to wish for?” Noel asked Hollie.

“That a grinch doesn't spoil my Christmas,” she answered, frowning at him.

“What's a grinch, Auntie Hollie?”

“Someone who doesn't like Christmas.”

“Oh, you made that up. Everybody loves Christmas.” The child didn't even wait for confirmation of her belief. She tugged on Hollie's hand to move them up in line as a flash went off when the child in front of them had his picture taken on Santa's lap.

Noel studied the Santa as the little boy climbed down off his lap and Elena moved to take his place, and thought Santa looked a little seedy, shabby. The whole thing commercial. But Hollie didn't see it that way. She saw the magic. She made the magic.

For herself.

For Elena.

For
him
.

For the first time in his life he wondered what it would be like to have a child. Wondered with his heart, not in an abstract way. The way he might have wondered when he'd become engaged last Christmas. He'd turned thirty and it had seemed time to marry. He'd cared about the woman, but now saw he hadn't been in love.

Love was a much scarier proposition.

He hadn't been this disconcerted since the first time he'd arrived at boarding school. The school had been strict, and military. Emotions weren't encouraged; obedience was.

“Ho, ho, ho. And what do you want Santa to bring you, little girl?”

Elena smiled up at Santa. “I want a Barbie with a pink dress.”

“And what else?”

“Some rings, a bunch of little bitty ones.”

“Anything else?” Santa asked as the photographer snapped their picture.

Elena thought a minute, then was generous with her third wish. “I want you to bring a boyfriend for my mommy.”

“Oh—” Santa said, caught off guard.

Then Elena cupped her hand and whispered something in Santa's ear.

“Of course you can have a fourth wish,” Santa said magnanimously, obviously happy to be off the subject of granting the mother a boyfriend, not knowing how appropriate the wish was. “What else do you want?”

“I want you to make Auntie Hollie and him,” she said loudly, pointing to Noel, “kiss each other so Auntie Hollie won't have to move away.”

It wasn't an easier wish. Santa looked to Noel for help.

The crowd close around looked on in anticipation. The mothers looked hopeful. The fathers looked amused. The children giggled.

When Noel and Hollie remained frozen in place, a father in the crowd yelled out, “Kiss her, for Pete's sake. I've got a hockey game to get my kid to.”

Hollie wouldn't look at him. She was sure she was as red as Santa's suit. Most of all because she wanted Noel to kiss her.

Since he'd clearly worried Elena, Noel found himself doing something out of character. Overt displays of public affection weren't his style. He stepped closer to Hollie.

She took a backward step, nervous and looking about to faint.

He handled that by taking her into his arms and dipping her back in a sweeping embrace. As he gazed into her startled eyes, he lowered his mouth and kissed her for the audience and Elena. His mouth moved tenderly over hers, then probed sexily, making her blush and break the kiss, flustered.

Upon hearing the applause, he came to his senses and quickly released Hollie, who appeared completely stunned.

“Thank you, Santa,” Elena said, scampering off his lap and grinning widely.

“Are you satisfied now, you little minx?” Hollie asked, taking the child's hand.

“Uh-huh. Noel was just tricking me about buying your house, huh?”

Hollie nodded.

Well, Elena might be satisfied, but Noel decidedly was not. He still wanted the house … and more of kissing Hollie. Was it possible he was falling in love?

Or was he just tired of being alone?

He couldn't trust his feelings at this time of year. That was why he always ran away during the holidays.

“Where are we going now?” Elena asked as they left the mall.

“Noel and I are going to look at houses for him, right after I drop you off at home.”

“Can't I come with you?”

“No. Your mother says you have to clean your room if you want Santa to bring you any presents. Santa likes good little girls with clean rooms.”

“Aw right,” Elena agreed reluctantly.

As they drove Elena home, Noel realized he hadn't seen Hollie's bedroom yet.

“M
AYBE YOU'LL LIKE
this one better,” Hollie said as she parked her car and handed Noel the spec sheet to look at while they walked to the front door. So far they'd seen three houses, which he'd vetoed for what seemed to her one frivolous reason after another.

Clearly he was determined to have her house and was only humoring her by looking at others. She'd told him she'd think about selling her house. She'd lied.

Her mind was made up. She loved her house and her house loved her. They were a good match.

And she and Noel weren't, no matter how well he kissed.

She wanted to tell Noel that she couldn't help him any longer, wanted to bail out. What had started out to be a snap had grown complicated.

And now she was stuck. She had to deal with Noel. Her getting a new car was at risk. It didn't look great for a successful real estate agent to be driving around in a wreck. His commission would give her the down payment for a new car.

Her career was at risk. She had to be professional and maintain her reputation as a responsible agent. So there would be no quitting until she found Noel a house.

Her vacation was at risk. The longer it took, the less of the holidays she would be able to enjoy. And at this rate they'd still be looking for a new house for Noel in the New Year.

Her house was at risk.

All of the above could be solved by her selling him her house. But she couldn't and she wouldn't. It was hers. The only roots she had in the world. She felt safe there and happy.

Her heart was at risk.

There, she'd thought it. Of everything, that was the most worrisome. In Noel she recognized a kindred spirit. They didn't look at the world in the same way, but they had experienced loneliness in the same way. She'd determined to make her world a happy place.

He threatened that.

She didn't want to be disappointed, and as long as she was in control she knew how to prevent it.

It was only when she allowed herself to hope that someone might love her that she was vulnerable to misery.

Perhaps that was why she lived with one foot in the real world and one in the world of fantasy. The real world had a way of disappointing her.

“This looks like a place you might like,” Noel said when they went inside the story-and-a-half house decorated to within an inch of its life in cluttered country.

“We're hunting for a house for you. I have one I like.”

“You aren't even trying to find another house,” Noel complained.

“I told you—I don't want to move. Why won't you believe me and accept it? My house isn't that big. There isn't room for a big office or a pool table. This house, on the other hand, fits both those requirements. At least give it a chance.”

He walked through it with her, letting her try to sell him on its finer points, such as the study off the master bedroom, the fireplace in the hearth kitchen and the in ground pool. While he agreed that all those things were pluses, he just didn't love the house.

Not the way he loved hers.

And so they closed the door and left once more, without his making an offer.

And closed the door on her having a long weekend. She was going to have to take Noel out the next day to look at houses again.

So much for her Friday. She'd have to battle the huge crowds on the weekend to get the rest of her holiday preparations done.

She had to find Noel a house.

Someone else's house.

“S
O
E
LENA TELLS ME
Noel kissed you at the mall,” Sarah said later that evening as the two of them sat in front of the television they weren't watching. Elena was curled up asleep on the floor with Midnight. The child had drifted off watching
Pocahontas
and hadn't awoken when they'd slipped out the tape to turn on the news.

“Did she tell you it was her idea?” Hollie blew on the nails of her left hand after giving them their first coat of polish.

“She left that out. What did she do now?” Sarah was clearly delighted with her daughter's precocious ways.