After dropping off the latest haul of arts-and-crafts supplies at the rec center, I slide back behind the wheel. The heater hums, filling the cab with a cozy warmth, and out of the corner of my eye, I catch Jaylynn buckling in. There’s a soft, relaxed glow to her, like the edges of her smile are still humming from earlier… activities.
Her phone pings, and she checks the message before setting it on the center console. Must not have been an emergency as she still has that happiness about her.
“What’s your favorite Christmas movie?” I ask, stealing a quick glance at her before merging onto the road that winds toward the tree lot on the edge of town. I’m not imagining it—she looks content. Loose-limbed. Sated. All the sex must be doing her good. I grin. Hell, it’s been doing me good too.
“Christmas Vacation,” she says without hesitation, and I can’t help the smile that tugs at my mouth.
“Looks like we have something else in common.”
She shifts in her seat, the faintest sparkle in her eyes. “I like the Grinch too. After your Santa encounter, and I saw you at the inn, I figured you were basically the Christmas Grinch home to ruin Snowberry.”
“You don’t think that anymore.”
“The Grinch is stingy.” Her hand slides across the seat, warm and deliberate, settling on my thigh. Boing. Instant arousal. The kind that shoots through me so fast I have to readjust my grip on the steering wheel. “But you,” she adds in a lower, playful tone, “Are anything but stingy.”
A big laugh bursts out of me, half to cover the way my pulse just spiked. “It’s the holiday season. I feel generous.”
“Oh, yes. Very generous.” She chuckles, and I refocus on the road, though I can’t help the occasional sidelong glance.
“Something about driving out here reminds me of that movie,” I tell her. “Clark and his family going to cut their own tree.”
“Well, we’re not cutting one down,” she says, brushing her thumb over my leg. “We’re going to the lot. And didn’t Clark punch that plastic Santa?”
“My favorite part,” I admit.
“Like I had any doubt.”
She settles back into her seat, her profile bathed in the pale winter light filtering through the windshield. Snow begins to swirl lazily from the gray sky, softening the edges of the world around us.
“Family dinner tonight, huh?” I ask.
She nods, still smiling.
“Do you think they’re really going to buy this?” I slide my hand over hers, still resting on my lap, and give it a squeeze.
“I think anyone within twenty miles can feel the tension radiating off us.”
“We don’t have to fake that part,” I murmur.
The snow thickens, dusting the road in white, and I ease my foot off the gas. “What do you want for Christmas? Other than getting your career back on track.”
She tips her head, thinking. “Honestly? I’ve been so busy I haven’t given it much thought.”
“You have time now.”
“Okay, let me try. One, I already have a hot guy in my bed…” Her grin tilts mischievous. “Two, that hot guy already put my high school humiliation in his place.”
“Not done with that either,” I say, my voice lower now, a promise hidden beneath the words.
She chuckles. “Noted.”
The sound fades and silence fills the cab. I steal a glance at her, expecting the same playful glint in her eyes, but it’s gone. Her gaze is distant, her smile nowhere to be found. Something about the stillness in her expression makes my chest tighten. She’s not here with me—she’s somewhere else, somewhere in the past. I can guess where. And I hate the thought of her alone with whatever shadows her Christmas memories hold.
“I’d like to make new Christmas memories,” I say, my voice quieter than I intend.
Her eyes shift to mine. “Yeah?”
I nod. “We always had a quiet Christmas when I was growing up.”