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RETURN OF THE BAD GIRL
By Codi Gary
An Excerpt from
HOLDING HOLLY
A Love and Football Novella
by Julie Brannagh
Holly Reynolds has a secret. Make that two. The first involves upholding her grandmother’s hobby of answering Dear Santa letters from dozens of local schoolchildren. The second . . . well, he just came strolling in the door.
Derrick has never met a woman he wanted to bring home to meet his family, mostly because he keeps picking the wrong ones—­until he runs into sweet, shy Holly Reynolds. Different from anyone he’s ever known, Derrick realizes she might just be everything he needs.
“DO YOU NEED anything else right now?”
“I’m good,” he said. “Then again, there’s something I forgot.”
“What do you need? Maybe I can help.”
He moved closer to her, and she tipped her head back to look up at him. He reached out to cup one of her cheeks in his big hand. “I had a great time tonight. Thanks for having pizza with me.”
“I had a nice time too. Th-­thank you for inviting me,” she stammered. There was so much more she’d like to say, but she was tongue-­tied again. He was moving closer to her, and he reached out to put his drinking glass down on the counter.
“Maybe we could try this again when we’re not in the middle of a snowstorm,” he said. “I’d like a second date.”
She started nodding like one of those bobbleheads, and forced herself to stop before he thought she was even more of a dork.
“Yes. I . . . Yes, I would too. I . . . that would be fun.”
He took another half-­step toward her. She did her best to pull in a breath.
“Normally, I would have kissed you good night at your front door, but getting us inside before we froze to death seemed like the best thing to do right then,” he said.
“Oh, yes. Absolutely. I—­”
He reached out, slid his arms around her waist, and pulled her close. “I don’t want to disrespect your grandma’s wishes,” he softly said. “She said I needed to treat you like a lady.”
Holly almost let out a groan. She loved Grandma, but they needed to have a little chat later. “Sorry,” she whispered.
He grinned at her. “I promise I’ll behave myself, unless you don’t want me to.” She couldn’t help it; she laughed. “Plus,” he continued, “she said you have to be up very early in the morning to go to work, so we’ll have to say good night.”
Maybe she didn’t need sleep. One thing’s for sure, she had no interest in stepping away from him right now. He surrounded her, and she wanted to stay in his arms. Her heart was beating double-­time, the blood was effervescent in her veins, and she summoned the nerve to move a little closer to him as she let out a happy sigh.
He kissed her cheek, and laid his scratchier one against hers. A few seconds later, she slid her arms around his neck too. “Good night, sweet Holly. Thanks for saving me from the snowstorm.”
She had to laugh a little. “I think you saved me.”
“We’ll figure out who saved who later,” he said. She felt his deep voice vibrating through her. She wished he’d kiss her again. Maybe she should kiss him.
He must have read her mind. He took her face in both of his hands. “Don’t tell your grandma,” he whispered. His breath was warm on her cheek.
“Tell her what?”
“I’m going to kiss you.”
Her head was bobbing around as she frantically nodded yes. She probably looked ridiculous, but he didn’t seem to care. Her eyelids fluttered closed as his mouth touched hers, sweet and soft. It wasn’t a long kiss, but she knew she’d never forget it. She felt the zing at his tender touch from the top of her head to her toes.