Seventeen | Jasmin
Seventeen
Jasmin
I sang Christmas carols at the top of my lungs the entire way from the ranch to Sugarplum Falls and didn’t even mind that we were going fifteen miles an hour the majority of the time. While the guys were able to clear the roads, there were still layers of ice that we had to be careful of.
Bert led the way with his snowplow, deviating every now and then to clear more of the road when he could. Sam and Aiden were piled in his truck with him, which left Brody following in his truck behind me. He had the tree secured, which I was incredibly grateful for. But not as grateful as I was to be by myself and away from him for a bit.
Brody had his good moments—though they were few and far between. I didn’t know how I was going to spend another day cooped up with Mr. Grumpy Ass. He didn’t even have a single Christmas decoration up in his house, and when I asked him about it this morning, he seemed confused as to why I would think he would decorate. Hello, it’s Christmas!
We needed a break from each other—that was for sure. I still hadn’t solved the reindeer crisis, but at least I had the tree fiasco taken care of. I had already spoken with Andi, who had rallied a team together at the last minute to meet at the mall and help us get it decorated. She had her staff handing out the giving tree cards for those who wanted to fill them out. Anyone could take their tag and hang it on the tree when they wanted to, as long as it was up a few days before Frosty Fest so people had a chance to shop.
I grinned when Sugarplum Falls finally came into view and debated on heading directly to Sugarplum Lattes. I could get in and out before anyone would miss me and could really use a latte right now. As if reading my mind, Bert pulled to the side of me and rolled down his window. I rolled mine down and frowned when I saw Sam lean forward.
“We closed early so I could have everyone help out with decorating the tree.”
My face fell with disappointment as I nodded my head and rolled the window back up. I got back in line behind them and followed them to the mall, parking in my assigned space.
I left the guys to get the tree situated after they assured me for the hundredth time that they didn’t need my help. I went to my office, set my stuff down, and checked the handful of notes that had been left on my desk. It was all stuff I was aware of, thankfully, and no new fires had started while I was gone.
By the time I finished, the tree was already inside, and a handful of people were helping to set it up. Thankfully, this was relatively easy, given how many years we’d been doing it. Everyone knew what needed to be done.
“It’s beautiful,” Andi said, standing beside me as we watched them get it secured.
“It is, isn’t it?”
“So much bigger than I thought it would be.” She tilted her head back to take it all in.
“Yeah, the original one I was trying to get was twelve feet. Brody let me pick which one I wanted from the ranch, and this one just called to me. I think the guys said it’s almost fourteen feet. It’s going to be a pain in the ass to try to decorate the top, but I think we can figure it out.”
“Hey, Jasmin?” Cody said nervously, looking at me with a scrunched face.
“What’s up, Cody?” I asked, giving him as much of my attention as I could as I watched the guys step back from the tree. I think everyone was afraid it might be too big and too heavy for the base we had, but thankfully, it didn’t sway or move an inch once they let go.
“I have some bad news.”
I turned to face him, my heart already sinking from the look on his face. Nothing good came from the look of devastation on a teenager’s face.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
I felt Brody’s presence but ignored it as I waited for Cody to spit it out.
“Ummm. You know the sign that we use every year for Santa and Mrs. Claus?”
“Yeah...”
“Well... It umm... It broke.”
“What?!” I exclaimed, my hand flying to my chest. “What do you mean it broke ? How bad is it? Can we fix it?”
“I don’t think so. I’m sorry. The new kid was getting the boxes of decorations down in the storage room, and he didn’t see it up there. It fell to the floor and shattered. We cleaned up the glass and tried to save the strand of lights, but those broke too.”
I slowly inhaled, closing my eyes as I processed the news.
“I’m so sorry. We didn’t mean for it to happen. He had no idea it was up there, and I should have thought to tell him about it beforehand.”
“It’s okay, Cody. Accidents happen. Thank you for telling me. I’ll figure something out.”
He lowered his head and nodded as he walked away.
“What kind of sign?” Brody asked, still standing right beside me.
I opened one eye and glared at him. We weren’t stuck together at the ranch anymore, so he didn’t need to be in my space.
“It’s a light-up sign that says Santa and Mrs. Claus. One of the Frosty Fest founders made it, and we’ve used it every year since the festival began. We always set up a bench beside the giving tree and then hang the sign above the bench. Santa and Mrs. Claus sit there to hand out the presents that were collected to those who participated.”
“I know it sucks, but we can still set up the bench without the sign,” Aiden offered, lifting his brows sympathetically at me.
“I mean, I guess we’ll have to,” I said with a heavy sigh, rubbing a finger against my temple.
“Woah, what’s wrong?” Sam asked, joining us and looking around as he handed me a cup of coffee.
My eyes widened when I saw my name on the side.
“The Claus sign broke,” Andi explained, taking the other cup from him that had her name on it.
“You brought me coffee?” I asked in disbelief.
“Well, technically, I had Jeremy make you coffee. He brought the orders over after he closed up, so they should still be hot.”
“Thank you, that’s so sweet. You have no idea how badly I’ve been craving a gingerbread latte,” I replied with a soft laugh.
“Trust me. I know. I told Jeremy not to forget the extra whipped cream as well.”
I glanced up to find Brody standing there with his arms folded over his chest and brows furrowed.
“You know her drink order?” he asked Sam, a new level of assertiveness laced in his deep voice.
“I do.” Sam nodded, lifting a cup to his lips as Jeremy came over, carrying two more to-go trays filled with drinks. “I know everyone’s orders. It’s my gift.”
They stared each other down and I couldn’t help but wonder who might win if they ended up in a brawl. I initially thought Sam could kick Brody’s ass, but seeing them next to each other, I wasn’t so sure. Both were about the same height and build, but Brody had defined muscles in places I hadn’t noticed on Sam.
“Interesting,” Brody muttered, looking away before Sam pulled a cup from the tray and handed it to him.
“Salted caramel cold brew. I know you said you don’t care for sweet drinks, but I noticed the way your face changed when you had a sip, so I thought it was a safe bet.”
“You remembered what I ordered?” Brody questioned in disbelief. “I went there once while you were working. Some other guy helped me the other time I went in.”
“I’m always there and know what’s happening. Trust me, I know what you ordered.”
“Well, thank you.” Brody lifted his drink and took a sip.
“Alright, now that we all have caffeine, thanks to Sam and Sugarplum Lattes, let’s get this tree decorated,” I announced, lifting my cup in the air as we all cheered Sam and his crew for the drinks.
Everyone scattered about, knowing who would handle what. The guys worked on getting the ladders to begin stringing the lights around the monstrous beast of a tree while the rest of us began sorting through the different bins of ornaments.
“What’s the theme this year?” Andi asked, holding up a red glittery round ornament in one hand and a white snowflake in the other.
“I think, since we’ve had such a wild winter already, we go with Cold as Ice . All white decorations which will go well with the white lights. I can work on getting some white lanterns that we can float throughout the mall to help pull things together as well.”
“Sounds perfect. I’ll get everyone started on picking white decorations, and then we’ll put the rest back in storage.”
I smiled at Andi, loving how helpful she was.
I pulled out my phone and made a few notes to look for more white decorations to pull everything together. As I tucked it back into my pocket, I looked up to find Brody headed my way.
“Hey, do you have some extension cords?” he asked.
It felt odd to see him stick around and help out when he could have easily said see ya after getting the tree unloaded. He had made it clear that he had no intentions of making friends, so why was he still here?
“Yeah, they’re in my office. I’ll go grab them.”
I turned and headed there, only to find him falling in step beside me.
“You can wait here, and I’ll bring them to you,” I snapped, hating how much he was getting under my skin again.
“That’s alright. I don’t mind coming with you.”
“Maybe I mind.”
He just smirked and kept walking as if my words meant nothing to him.
I opened the door, not bothering to make sure it stayed open for him as I stepped inside. It wasn’t a huge office, and this time of year, it felt even smaller with all of the stuff I had crammed in here for the Frosty Fest. I shoved a few boxes out of the way and opened the closet door to grab the extension cords.
“Here you go,” I said, shoving a handful at him. “Whatever you don’t need, you can just leave them on the floor, and I’ll put them away later.”
“What’s the deal with you and Sam?” he blurted out, catching me by surprise.
“Excuse me?” My brows pulled tightly together.
“You and Sam. What’s the deal.”
“How is that any of your business?”
“It’s not. But I’m still asking.”
“Yeah, and I’m refusing to answer.” I planted my hands on my hips and glared at him.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” I threw my hands in the air, confused yet again.
“Put your hands on your hips and glare at me.”
My eyes narrowed so far that I could barely see out of the slits as I placed my hands back on my hips and stepped toward him.
“I will do whatever the hell I want, and nothing you say or do is going to stop me. Do you underst—”
Before I could get my words out, Brody’s arm locked behind my waist, pulling me flush against his chest as his lips lowered to mine. The kiss wasn’t gentle but filled with hunger as his mouth desperately fought to claim mine.
I immediately tried to pull away, but then his hand slipped down to my ass and gripped it so hard that I froze as his other hand firmly held the back of my neck, keeping me in place. My lips parted, accepting him in as my fingers quickly began tugging at strands of his hair while I tried to get more of him.
Just as things were really heating up, he stepped away and broke the kiss. His hazel eyes frantically searched for something on my face while I attempted to catch my breath. That was by far the hottest kiss I’d ever had.
“I’m going to ask one more time,” he said sternly, rubbing his fingers across his jawline. “What’s the deal with you and Sam?”
“Nothing,” I immediately answered. “Sam is a really good friend. Nothing more than that.”
“Are you sure? He knew your drink order.”
“Sam knows everyone’s drink order,” I countered breathlessly. “You could go out and quiz him right now and he would be able to tell you every single person’s order.”
He nodded as if this information satisfied him, then grabbed the extension cords he’d thrown on the chair and left.
What in the world just happened? Was Brody seriously jealous of Sam?