Chapter 2
Tex
Both of the women were beautiful.
But the one that didn’t talk was the only one I could focus on.
The second I saw her standing in line waiting for her sleigh ride, it was like something lodged in my chest. And now it wouldn’t shake loose.
I wanted to know her.
I wanted to taste her.
I wanted to explore her.
For a man who’d given up on love, it was an alien response, completely foreign and unfamiliar.
The woman who had introduced herself as Astrid laughed, ignoring my rudeness.
She said, “You’re a lick of trouble, aren’t you, cowboy?
Normally, Chloe talks more. Maybe she’s so taken by your impeccable manners that you’ve stunned her into silence.
So I’m just filling the void. Do you need to look at the trail? I wouldn’t want us to crash.”
Even though I was just filling in, I knew this patch of woods intimately. I could tell you where every bend in the trail was, where to slow down, and when you could let the horse run at a full gallop… not that I’d taken any of these tourists on that kind of sleigh ride.
I glanced at the one called Chloe again, my heart tightening in my chest as we made eye contact. Then, I reluctantly turned around in my seat again to face forward.
Her friend Astrid had a point. I shouldn’t crash the sleigh because I was too busy looking at a pretty woman.
Chloe’s eyes had seemed to see straight into my soul. I couldn’t concentrate with that look on her face. The one that seemed to say, ‘I know you’.
Focusing back on the forest trail, I tried to make sense of the feelings inside me.
Twenty minutes ago I’d been in the blackest of black moods. I’d been annoyed at having to run the sleigh business today, and simultaneously angry at myself for feeling annoyed. But underneath all that, there was an undercurrent of worry.
The business belonged to my uncle Rod. And it wasn’t his fault that he’d landed in the hospital. So I felt petty and childish for feeling so pissed off about having to dress like Santa while he was laid up fighting for his life.
And now I felt guilty for thinking about a pretty woman while he was recovering from emergency heart surgery.
I knew what the truth of the whole thing was.
I was terrified.
My uncle Rod was a huge part of my life. He’d filled in as my second dad when my real dad had left for the oil fields each year. Rod had practically raised me, and I was closer to him than anyone in my life.
I didn’t want to lose him.
I realized that while I’d been thinking about Rod, the chatty one had still been running her mouth. I’d managed to tune her out. But the other one… Chloe, she still hadn’t said a word.
What were her mysteries?
Why was she out here on the mountain?
And how long was she staying?
Maybe thinking about the mystery woman in the back of the sleigh wasn’t such a bad thing after all. She might take my mind off Rod and everything he was going through.
Too soon we rounded the final bend in the trail. Sally, the old horse, slowed to a crawl, then a stop. She’d done this route so many times that it was autopilot for her.
Although she was worried about Rod, too. When I picked her up from the stable she’d whinnied at me, then looked at the barn door waiting for Rod to arrive.
Rod never missed a shift. He was the resident Red Oak Mountain Santa Claus. And his shoes were too big to fill.
I blinked rapidly and brought my mind back to the present.
It was time for the women to leave.
Most importantly, Chloe was going to leave.
Astrid kept talking, her words filtering through to my brain as I looked at Chloe, catching her with my gaze.
Chloe’s cheeks flushed the barest blush of pink while Astrid said, “I’d book it again only because you’re a very hot Santa. But you need to work on your customer service. Smile for us. Just once. I want to see your dazzling smile. Then we’ll get out of the sleigh.”
Without taking my eyes off Chloe, I responded, “I’m not in a smiling mood.”
Astrid pointed at Chloe. “It would mean sooo much to her if you would. Just one quick smile. My friend Chloe recently got out of a bad relationship, and she needs to know that there are good men left in the world. Show her that there are good men. One little smile. It’s all she needs.”
Chloe’s light blush deepened, red splashes of color on her cheeks. And she finally spoke. “Astrid, leave the poor guy alone. He’s obviously not the talking type.”
Then she started to rise.
The only woman who had caught my eye in years was leaving.
And I wasn’t going to do a damn thing about it.
I was already kicking myself, but it didn’t change the situation. I was an old dog, and I didn’t have any new tricks hidden in me.
Just because I felt a spark of connection with a complete stranger didn’t mean anything. I was probably just enamored with her tits.
But I knew that wasn’t true, even while I tried to convince myself that it was.
They both got out of the sleigh, and the next group came forward.
I watched her depart as the new arrivals started yammering at me.
“Should we get on?”
“Are there seatbelts? Is this safe?”
“Mom, I want to get on the ride now!!!”
“Can I pet the horse?”
But I couldn’t focus on any of that.
I should run after her. Get her phone number. Maybe even just say hi.
But my ass was glued to the seat of the sleigh, a heavy weight holding me back.
When Chloe was twenty feet away, she looked back one more time. Her eyes were dark mysteries, and I sensed something between us. Another flash of heat, but underneath that, a knowingness. The way Chloe looked at me, it was as though she understood me without even a word passing between us.
I licked my lips, trying to shout, trying to get up, trying to keep her from leaving.
But no words came out. No sound at all.
And I sat there until she dipped out of view in the parking lot.
I’d probably never see her again.
That sat on my chest like a heavy weight. Now that she was gone, I felt even worse than before I’d ever seen her. She hadn’t been a good distraction after all.
Stop thinking about her.
I needed to get my head on straight.
“Get in. There’s no seat belt. We don’t go fast. Come on, Sally, let’s do another round through the woods,” I told the new group, while I tried to work Chloe out of my system.
Whoever she was, she was just a pipe dream.
It was best to focus on the real world in front of me, where uncles get old and sick, and horses, too.
A year from now, both Rod and Sally had better be around or I’d have to kick their asses straight to Missouri and back.