Page 15 of Run, Run Rudolph (Fairy Godmothers and Other Fiascos #2)

~ Tamara ~

I supposed Haden’s sudden shakiness and stunned expression answered my question about whether or not he could see Rudolph’s blinking red nose.

The eavesdropping herd shifted above me as they peered over the edge of the stall’s half wall, eyeing each other, all of us unsure what would happen now that Rudolph had revealed his true identity.

Did Haden see Rudolph and his nose because he believed in his existence, like I did? Or was it because he’d touched him? Or was Rudolph in control of all of it, and had decided Haden should be able to see him?

The magical world was a confusing, layered mess of rules I’d never fully know or understand. I just hoped our actions tonight wouldn’t get us into trouble, or mess up the space-time-continuum of Christmas. If there was such a thing.

And…Haden was freaking out. He was frozen, staring at me, the colour draining from his face. Then, slowly, he turned his gaze back to Rudolph, not blinking. He seemed to be speechless.

This was not good. We needed him sane and distracted from this crazy reality so his brain didn’t blow a precious, injured-animal-helping valve.

Sweating, I swallowed my panic and focused on finding a diversion to snap him out of it. Anything!

What did a man like Haden enjoy?

Before I realized what I was doing, I was kissing Mr. Leads Women On.

I’d launched myself at him, causing him to lose his balance, and we tumbled backward into the loose straw.

He wasn’t resisting, but I was aware he had his choice of pretty much any single, straight female in the small town of Eagle Ridge, as well as the surrounding county.

And there was absolutely no consent or hint that being mauled by me was what he wanted. None whatsoever.

I drew back long enough to check on my victim.

His eyes met mine with wonder. “You are the weirdest, most interesting and unpredictable woman I have ever met,” he whispered.

“Merry Christmas,” I breathed, relieved he’d returned to the land of the speaking, but unsure whether what he’d said had been a compliment.

Then, before I could think about things any further, his hand slid into my hair and he guided my mouth back down to his.

Well then. Merry Christmas, indeed.

Very , merry Christmas.

I sighed involuntarily. The man was a great kisser. He’d mastered the right combination of tenderness and commanding pressure, his tongue exploring, but not pushy. There was heat between us, too, and I felt like I could get lost in this moment forever.

A hoof kicked my calf, and I leapt off of Haden, hand over my mouth as I scrambled to my feet, remembering myself. “I’m so sorry!”

In my scattered haste, I nearly tumbled over Rudolph, who was looking at me as if to say, “Don’t forget about me over here, all injured and with Christmas riding on my health.”

His dark eyes sure could lay a guilt trip on a woman.

“Sorry,” I repeated breathlessly, ashamed, and unable to find somewhere safe to look. I was unsure if I was apologizing to Rudolph, his spying reindeer friends, or the man still sprawled in the straw with rosy, kissed lips.

“I’m not,” Haden said with a lopsided grin, propping himself on one elbow in the straw.

I made a garbled choking sound, well aware that he was getting the wrong idea. Completely wrong. He led women on, and had probably kissed half the county. To him, kissing me was as meaningful as taking another animal’s temperature.

As if to remind me of his popularity, his phone let out a buzz, indicating he had a new voicemail or text or demure photo from a local bombshell with ‘accidentally’ positioned cleavage behind her supposedly ‘ailing’ pet.

Haden stood, ignoring his phone, and brushed the straw from his jacket and jeans. He glanced at Rudolph, and then at me.

“And here I thought I was going to have a very boring Christmas without you at the Powell family dinners.” The corner of his mouth tweaked upward.

I cleared my throat with force, ignoring the heat in my cheeks. This would definitely be awkward from here on out.

I pointed to the injured reindeer at our feet. “So, um, right. Sorry about that. But he’s hurt. A little bit in shock maybe?” It was likely best to leave out the fact that he was intoxicated. “Is his leg broken?”

Haden kept darting looks at me, his lips dancing as he fought a smile. He gave a small cough, frowned way too deeply to be genuine, and rested a knuckle across his top lip, allowing his hand to cover his amusement.

This was so embarrassing. He was struggling not to laugh at me for kissing him.

But he’d kissed me back. And he hadn’t gone screaming from the barn at any point during the Rudolph reveal, or my mauling.

I wasn’t sure where that left us though.

But I think I might be feeling a significant level of gratitude.

“What do we do?” I insisted, more than ready to have his attention off of me.

He was still looking at me with those shuttered eyes that revealed nothing, but saw it all.

“If we could just…” I waved a hand around, gesturing to the area of the stall where we’d kissed “…pretend that never happened?”

Haden remained silent, his brows furrowing. Hands on his hips, he took in Rudolph’s nose. He blinked long and hard a few times, as though willing his vision to stop messing with him.

“Haden?” I whispered, afraid he was drifting toward freaking out again.

“Right,” he said gruffly. “This is a big problem. Christmas and all.” He inhaled a little breath while turning to face me, one finger casually aimed at the caribou’s nose, his face paling again. “Can you…? Is that…?”

I nodded, biting my bottom lip.

Hands returning to his hips, Haden stepped back, then forward, as though undecided. Finally, he crouched in front of the deer, staring at Rudolph’s nose. “Well.”

He was quiet for a long, long time.

“Haden? What do we do?”

He nodded once, slowly. Then he moved down to Rudolph’s rear leg.

He gently ran his hands up the length of it before giving it a careful, gentle twist. Rudolph didn’t react.

He placed a palm on the bottom of Rudolph’s hoof and pushed upward, causing his knee to bend.

Rudolph’s eyes rolled back toward the vet, and he straightened his leg to shove Haden’s hand away.

That earned a tiny hint of a smile from Haden.

“I’m guessing no breakage.” He gently patted Rudolph’s flank. “He didn’t react when I put a little torsion on the bad leg. He would have if it was broken, I should think. It’s likely a deep bruise. I’d like to roll him over, and give his other side a good check, too, though.”

Rudolph carefully rolled upright with a groan, tucking his front hooves under his wide chest, then his hind legs crookedly under his body so he could shift onto his opposite side with a huff and a snort of effort.

Haden glanced at me, swallowing hard, the colour in his cheeks draining. I shook my head at Rudolph. Real subtle, dude. Show the freaked-out human you understand English.

Then again, it did make things easier. And Santa’s reindeer should know English, right?

Well, unless they truly did live in Lapland—northern Finland—like some legends suggested.

In that case, they’d speak Finnish. But then Santa would be a goat, because Joulupukki was the traditional Finnish Christmas figure.

I shook off my thoughts, noticing that Haden seemed to be focused on his own thoughts as he knelt on the other side of me, his brow furrowed in the most adorable way. His expression was so serious it made my heart hiccup.

As I crept closer, curious as to what he was discovering, I noticed his attention slip, and he gave me a sideways look. Right. Back off. Don’t be a bother like I was as a teenager. Let him do the veterinarian stuff alone.

And definitely don’t attack him again like he’s an object, and not a human being with thoughts, feelings and desires.

I was such an embarrassment. I mean, what had I been thinking?

He didn’t do relationships—not that I wanted one with him.

The town would flip their lid if we started something.

I could only imagine what they’d think if I jumped from one brother to the next.

His parents would probably act even more awkward around me, and Kade would go crazy, listing all the reasons Haden was the wrong kind of man for me.

It didn’t help that Kade was always in competition with his older brother—and always losing.

Why had I kissed Haden?

And why did he find it so stupidly amusing?

Because he wasn’t interested, and my actions had always been cute…until they’d become annoying. Little Tamara, crushing on him. Again.

Sigh.

“This side seems okay.” Haden rolled from his knees back into a crouch, his gaze drifting to the reindeer’s exposed nose. “Normally, I would suggest we wait and see, but since this is a rather time-sensitive injury, I’d like to do an x-ray.”

“Is the clinic open?” It had to be way past regular opening hours by now.

He gave me a dry frown. Right. He owned the clinic. It was open whenever he wanted it to be.

Man, his kisses had scrambled my brain a little bit. I wanted to kiss him again. You know, just to see if it unscrambled the scrambled bits.

What was I thinking? I was cracked in the head. Sure, it had been one of the best kisses I’ve ever had, and with a man I’d fantasized about as a kid. But it hadn’t been a kiss- kiss. It had been merely a distraction tactic in a high-stakes situation. That was all.

I stood, edging toward the stall’s doorway. “Well?” I prompted. “Shall we go?”

Haden chuckled, a warm, friendly sound, his attention solidly here with me and the woodland caribou. I could see the wheels turning as he worked out the logistics of secretly transporting the animal without raising any questions from our snoopy small town.

His focus was pretty sexy.