Page 26 of The Christmas Tree Farm

Me, too.

Kira forced her smile to stay put even as her insides clenched in panic.

‘Now,’ Mayor Kelly clapped his hands. ‘Chanukah is still a few days away but we have our menorah ready to go, so look for those lights to go on soon and don’t forget to come out for our winter concert on the solstice!’

If the concert was being performed by the school band, Kira wouldn’t be going anywhere near that, but she just kept on smiling until finally the local choir from some church or another took over the stage to lead the singalong. At which point Kira hightailed it out of there like her faux fur was on fire.

She may have warmed up to the local nice guy, but there was no way in hell she was participating in a singalong.

She raced down the stairs on the side of the stage and ran headfirst into something solid and warm. Something that said ‘Oof!’ when she hit it. Something that smelled like peppermint and Stroopwafels.

Kira’s body was flush with Bennett’s and for a split second she didn’t want to pull away. She wanted to burrow further into his warmth. She wanted him to wrap his arms around her and keep her there.

She jerked back and out of his grip. ‘Sorry.’

‘Hey, where are you running off to?’ Bennett asked.

‘Uh … I have to get home.’

Bennett’s face fell. ‘Oh, already?’

This Christmas music had obviously broken her brain because she wanted to stay. All of a sudden, shewantedto stay at this absurd display of Christmas cheer. WithBennett. That was when Kira realized that this nice guy, this Mr. Fix-It, Clark Kent, was far more dangerous than any of her fresh-out-of-prison boyfriends.

‘Yep, I made my announcement, so that’s it. No reason to stay.’

‘That’s too bad. I thought we could go see Santa.’

‘Santa?’ He couldn’t be serious.

‘Yeah,’ he said with a laugh. ‘He’s set up over there. I thought you could talk to him about spending some time at the farm.’

‘You’re just trying to get out of doing the job.’ Damn it, she was smiling again. And this was actually another good idea.

Bennett stepped closer, a little smirk on his face. ‘Hey, if you have a Santa kink, I’d be happy to…’

‘A Santa kink!’ She put her hand on his chest to push him away, but her hand forgot to push and instead just stayed there, flat against him, soaking in his heat. ‘Is that even a thing?’

He chuckled and it rumbled through her fingertips. ‘You’d be surprised. I’ve been doing some interesting reading lately.’

‘I don’t even want to know what that means.’

‘There’s this local book club…’

‘Nope, no need to explain your strange habits and sexual perversions.’ She grinned and that damn hand was still there, pressed into him and he was so solid and warm in his cream-colored sweater. And now she’d said, ‘sexual perversions’ out loud and her mind was happily galloping down all sorts of perverse paths. She definitely didn’t have a Santa kink but she wouldn’t mind if Bennett put her over his knee and…

‘So … do you want to go talk to him?’

Kira’s face flushed hot. Right. Santa. Regular, not kinky, Santa.

She pulled her hand off the nice man’s chest.

‘Yeah, uh … yes. That’s a good idea, actually.’ She started to stride away toward the little gingerbread house on the other side of the square and Bennett fell into step beside her. ‘You don’t have to come with me.’

‘Oh, I have a few things to ask for anyway,’ he said, flashing her that smile. Despite her best efforts, she was starting to hate it less.

‘And what are you asking for?’

Bennett glanced toward the sky as they walked. ‘Snow.’