Chapter 1 #3
Pulling up to the front of the house, Melanie sighed.
She was anxious to go and explore the space and silently prayed she wasn’t going to open the door to some sort of nightmare.
Climbing from the car, the first thing she did was stretch.
Looking around the property from where she stood, the only thing that was obvious to her was that she had no neighbors—she couldn’t even see another house!
Pulling the key from her pocket, she closed the car door and carefully walked up the two steps to the front porch. Stopping at the front door, she bounced on her feet and noticed that the floor was in pretty good shape—no creaking and a lot of the wood looked reasonably new.
Not a bad start, she thought and opened the front door.
Stopping dead in her tracks, she could only stare.
It was dark and dusty and there was a smell that made her want to gag.
Not that she was surprised, but it did cause her to spring into action.
With a hand over her mouth, she quickly made her way around the house opening windows.
Next, she went out to her car and grabbed the box of cleaning supplies out of the trunk.
Melanie knew a certain amount of cleaning would be involved, but she hadn’t expected quite so much.
For the next three hours, she scrubbed and dusted and vacuumed and mopped.
It didn’t matter that it was thirty degrees outside, and currently pushing that temperature inside thanks to the open windows; she was sweating.
Once she was satisfied with the way things looked, she walked outside, grabbed the box of linens and went about making the bed.
Next came the groceries and finally her own personal belongings.
It was dark outside and every inch of Melanie’s body hurt.
Slowly she made her way back around the house to close the windows and jacked up the heat.
Luckily the fireplace was gas, clearly a recent update.
She flipped the switch and sighed with relief when it roared to life and the blower immediately began pushing out heat as well.
Guzzling down a bottle of water, she looked around with a sense of satisfaction. The house was small, maybe only a thousand square feet, but it had potential. Grabbing a banana from her cooler, she peeled and ate it while contemplating her next move.
“Shower,” she finally said. “A nice hot shower or maybe a bath.” The latter sounded far more appealing.
Locking the front door, Melanie walked to the newly-cleaned bathroom and started the bathwater.
It was a fairly decent-sized tub and for that she was grateful.
“Bath salts,” she murmured and padded to the master bedroom to search through her toiletry bag.
Within minutes, the bathroom was steamy and fragrant and Melanie could feel the tension starting to leave her body. Her cell phone rang and she cursed when she realized she had forgotten to call her father when she’d arrived.
“Hey, Dad!” she said quickly. “Sorry!”
He chuckled. “Are you all right?”
“I am. The house was a mess, and once I got inside and looked around, I couldn’t help but start cleaning. I guess I lost track of time.”
“Have you eaten dinner yet?” he asked expectantly.
“A banana.”
“Mel…” he whined. “You have to start taking better care of yourself.”
“I will. I know. Actually, I’m just getting ready to take a nice hot bath to relax. I promise I’ll eat as soon as I’m done.”
He sighed wearily. “Okay. Be sure that you do. Call me tomorrow.”
“I will, Dad. Thanks.”
She hung up and turned the water off. Looking around, Melanie grabbed some fresh towels from one of her boxes and set them on the vanity before stripping down and gingerly climbing into the steamy water. A groan of pure appreciation escaped her lips as soon as she was fully submerged.
“This almost makes up for all the grime,” she sighed and rested her head back, closing her eyes. “Heavenly.”
For a few minutes, Melanie let her mind be blank and simply relaxed.
The hot water and the salts were doing wonders for her tired body and it was glorious.
Then, unable to help herself, her mind went back into work mode.
A running list of supplies she was going to need was first and she cursed not having a pad and pen handy to start writing things down.
Next came the necessities of going into town and maybe meeting her neighbors.
And then there was the book.
The groan that came out this time had nothing to do with relaxation and everything to do with dread.
“Damn Christmas story. Why can’t I write what I want to write?
” It was something she’d been asking her editor for months and the only response she got was how all of the other in-house authors were contributing to building their holiday line, and she would be no exception. “Stupid rule.”
And then something came to her.
Melanie sat up straight in the tub and only mildly minded the water that sloshed over the side of the tub.
“All I need to do is write a story that takes place around Christmas. It doesn’t have to necessarily be about Christmas!
” Her heart began to beat frantically. “I’ve been focusing on the wrong thing!
” Relief swamped her and she forced herself to relax again.
Sinking back into the water, she closed her eyes and let her mind wander to all of the possibilities that had suddenly opened up.
“A romance at Christmas time,” she said quietly. “Major emphasis on romance, minor on Christmas. Technically, I’m meeting my obligations.” She smiled. “Hmm…a heroine alone—maybe stranded—in a winter storm and a sexy hero who storms in and rescues her.”
Melanie purred. “Yeah. That could definitely work.” Sinking further down into the water, an image of the hero came to mind.
Tall. That was a given. Muscular, but not overly so.
Maybe lean would be a better way to describe him.
And dark hair. She was a sucker for the dark hair.
“Sex on a stick,” she said quietly, enjoying the image that was playing in her mind.
The bathroom door swung open and Melanie’s eyes flew open as she screamed. The man standing in the doorway seemed to have stepped almost entirely from her imagination. If she wasn’t so freaking scared at the moment, she would appreciate it.
“I wouldn’t count on sex on a stick or anyplace else if I were you. You’re trespassing and you’re under arrest.”