“For the windows,” he snapped.
“Nope. I did the roof. That’s enough for one day.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t want him to hurt himself,” Cassidy snarked.
Snatching the lights out of his hand, I glowered at the woman, rethinking my earlier opinion on her beauty. “It’s doubtful I would hurt myself hanging lights.”
“Yeah? And why is that?”
“Well, first of all, I have logic on my side.”
Her eyebrows shot up in the air at my comment. “Are you saying women don’t have logic?”
“Did you ever see that movieAs Good As It Gets?”
Clearly, she had based on the way her nostrils flared wide.
“If you say that line, I will nut punch you so hard.”
“Already been done today. What’s one more time?”
I said it with all the confidence in the world that I could handle it, but a thick sweat broke out along the back of my neck as I thought of her knee coming anywhere near my groin.
Instead, she took the lights out of my hand and smiled. “Thank you for putting the lights on the roof, but I can handle the rest from here.”
Somehow, I wasn’t entirely sure about that, but I decided against arguing with her. I had more important things to do anyway. Not that I could think of anything at the moment, but surely, there had to be something better to do with my time than argue with a woman who made me hard and angry at the same time.
“Have fun putting up your lights.”
“Always,” she smiled brightly.
“Can you help me find a good dirty book now, Cassidy?” Mrs. Abernathy asked.
I nearly laughed when Cassidy glanced back at me, her face bright red from the old woman’s question.
“Of course. Let’s see what we can find you.”
3
CASSIDY
Flipping the switch,the Christmas tree in my window lit up, brightening the whole shop. It was still early in the morning, which meant every inch of this corner was twinkling with multicolored lights. It was gorgeous. I still had to add some garland and ornaments, but there was so much to do this morning that it would have to wait until things slowed down.
I limped over to my newest arrival of books and slid the box cutter through the tape, my whole heart lighting up when I saw the brand new covers. It was always like Christmas around here, even if I didn’t get to keep every title that entered my shop.
A knock on the door drew my attention away from the books, and as I hobbled across the store, I beamed at what waited for me on the other side.
Fresh java.
I really needed my fix this morning. Not because I couldn’t function without coffee, but because it was so delicious and sounded so good on this cold morning.
Flipping the lock, I beamed at Alyssa. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“Move! It’s freezing out here,” she shivered, hustling inside.
Hurrying over to the counter, she started removing layer after layer, setting them all on top of my paperwork instead of on the coat rack neatly situated next to the door.
“You know, I have a place for that.”