Chapter 8
Dear Santa, is it too late to be good?
Scout felt like she could take a full breath for the first time in hours when she heard her truck rumbling up the driveway.
Hudson was back.
She had no idea what had compelled her to let him take those two jerks away to question.
For all she knew, he could have disappeared with her truck.
Though she doubted it, considering his motor home was still here.
She’d been a little tempted to check out what was inside but wasn’t going to violate his privacy like that.
She still wasn’t sure she’d made the right decision, but Hank and Lane worked for Zack Willman and seemed to be friendly with the sheriff.
The kind of men who had lunch with him. No way was she going to trust the sheriff to follow the law and be impartial.
Not after he’d ignored her reports of vandalism out here.
Hudson parked next to her ATV, his expression unreadable as he got out and approached her. Though his gaze flicked to the stacks of bins she’d pulled from storage with curiosity.
The sun was up now so it was time to get to work, regardless of everything. But she still wanted answers since he’d been gone for so long.
“Did you kill them?” she blurted, wondering why on earth she’d asked that. But also, she knew why she’d asked it. Because he’d had that look about him when he’d driven them away. He’d been beyond angry even if he’d been locking it down tight.
Her grandpa had been like that. He’d kept things closed up, but she knew he’d handled things “his way” more than once when it came to the farm.
Hudson didn’t seem offended or even surprised as he shook his head. “Nope. But they’ve got a long walk back to Candy Cane with no shoes and no clothes.” And he sounded quite happy about that.
“You left them in the middle of nowhere?”
He shrugged. “They won’t be bothering you again. And I found out why they’ve been harassing you. The owner of Willman Ranch wants to buy part of your property.”
She blinked. “That’s it? I mean, Zack Willman offered and when I said no he was so polite about it.”
“Didn’t you say your grandfather had just died around the time him and his family moved in? Maybe he didn’t want to come off as a monster and harass you at the time?”
“So they’ve resorted to committing vandalism and property damage?
Great. Just great. It would explain why his brother was such a jerk the other day.
” She sighed, wondering what the next step should be.
“I’d actually considered selling some of my land, but now…
” She set her jaw. Screw that. “Okay you know what, we’re going to talk about them later. ”
“I think we need to talk about them now. They’re becoming a nuisance, and while Hank and Lane are going to back off—”
“You can’t be sure of that.”
“If they don’t, they know what will happen.” There was an edge to his voice.
She narrowed her gaze at him, wanted to demand what he meant.
But she was pretty sure she already knew.
And she wasn’t sure what it said about her that she didn’t much care.
“Well if that’s the case, then I have time to figure things out.
And while I do, I need to get all my Christmas decorations up for the farm.
I’m a month behind and this stuff normally takes two weeks to put up.
And if I’m being honest, I’m freaking out right now.
The big llama-stravaganza is in one week.
I’ve been posting pictures from the last couple years so people will think it’s ready to go,” she confessed.
Then she covered her face with her hands, groaned.
“People have already started registering!” She should just cancel, she knew that.
But…she didn’t want to let her grandfather down.
Hell, she didn’t want to let herself or her town down.
People loved the festival and so did her girls.
And she knew she could call in favors to some friends in town but she’d been putting it off.
She didn’t want anyone to know how badly she was struggling.
“If I could bring in a few guys today, you think we could get it all done?” Hudson asked.
She blinked in surprise. “Are they all like you?”
Now he blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Ah…strong. In shape?” Ridiculously, mouth-wateringly gorgeous? Could there actually be more of him?
He seemed to relax at her answer and nodded. “Yep. Let me make some calls.”
“Okay… Thank you so much. I’ll get started. There’s a lot to be done. If they have extra ladders, ask them to bring them.” It would make everything go even faster.
She actually couldn’t believe he was calling people in to help. It felt like Christmas had come early this year in the form of a sexy, definitely dangerous man.
***
From his ladder, Hudson watched as Scout very politely ordered Nestor to move some of the garlands and lights so they’d be more centered over what would be “Santa’s Grotto.”
She’d said she wasn’t prepared, but she’d been in contact with multiple food and drink vendors since they were scheduled to set up in a week.
She also had a local high school band scheduled to play Christmas music, and various stalls and activities.
It was just the actual physical setup she hadn’t done.
Something he was certain she hadn’t realized in her grieving. She’d been doing some things, even on autopilot.
Ignoring Patricia, who was following him around suspiciously—or maybe just curiously—he finished securing the last of the lights on the barn before climbing down to find Dante waiting for him.
“So, what’s up with you and the farmer?” Dante asked.
Hudson frowned at him. “Who wants to know?”
“Obviously me. And everyone. Seriously, you tell Lorna there’s an emergency, ask for all hands to help, and drag us up here to set up a Christmas festival…
What’s going on? You guys together?” He glanced over to where Scout was now gently petting Lucy, and the big menace was soaking up the attention. “And what’s up with the llamas?”
Patricia made a snuffling sound at Dante then shook her head, making her red and green scarf jingle as she trotted away from the two of them in disgust or annoyance. He wasn’t sure which one.
“I swear they understand me,” the other hitman whispered.
Which made Hudson snicker. “They’re smarter than I ever could have imagined.
” And he had a faint knot on the back of his head to prove it.
No one else needed to know that though. “And we’re not together.
” Even if he wanted to be. “I’m just helping her out, that’s all.
And you guys have done a good job, thank you. ”
“Good? We’re amazing.” Dante looked at what was now essentially a winter wonderland without the snow.
They had a dozen different stalls set up with various games including something called Penguin Popup, a sand-art booth, a tree-trimming station, a reindeer toss, and one that would eventually house gingerbread decorating.
There were lights and decorations absolutely everywhere and Scout was taking pictures and videos of everything.
She’d also been fine when they’d told her not to include any of their faces. Hadn’t even questioned it. She might later, but she was so excited they were getting everything done in one day that she didn’t seem to find their request odd.
Scout suddenly turned and smiled at him before waving him over. When she smiled like that, everything else seemed to disappear. Just funneled right out because all he could see was her. He might have responded to Dante, but he didn’t think so as he hurried over to her.
“Thank you so much for this,” she said, grasping onto his forearm.
He went still as she touched him, enjoying her fingers grazing his skin, her nails slightly digging into him. He imagined what they would feel like digging into his back while he was inside her. Then had to shut that thought down and lock it up. “It’s nothing,” he rasped out.
“It’s everything. I…was close to canceling.
” She looked out at everything they’d done in the last seven hours, practically glowing.
“Honestly, most of the scheduling I handled months ago, and I’ve worked with all the vendors in the past so I was basically on autopilot but…
Seriously, thank you. This brings in a decent amount of money for my farm but it’s also important to the community. ”
“Why didn’t you ask anyone from town to help you?” He’d seen enough pictures of her on her social media accounts and others that it was clear she’d carved out a big place in Candy Cane. Plenty of people would have helped her out.
“I was embarrassed to ask. Which is stupid, I know.” She lifted a shoulder, letting her hand drop, and he mourned the loss of her gentle touch. “It’s been months since he died. I guess I thought I should have it all together.” Another shrug, this one less casual, pain flickering in her eyes.
“Grief doesn’t have a timeline,” he murmured.
“No.” She gave him a soft smile. “I can’t thank you enough for this. Also, you never said how much they would cost—”
“Nothing. They did this as a favor to me.”
She blinked those blue-green eyes he wanted to drown in. “No. I can’t accept—”
“Oh, hold on.” He feigned that Nestor was calling for him and sidestepped her. “I’ll be back.”
There was no way he was taking her money. If she wanted to get naked with him later, he’d definitely take that—but not as payment.
He just wanted to keep seeing that smile on her face.