A Witch For Mr. Bell (Witches of Christmas Grove #7)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

“I really wish you’d hire someone else to fix those Christmas lights,” Marilyn said as she stopped her truck next to the large fir tree that was right at the entrance to Felicity’s property.

The acreage was home to her apple orchard, Apples and Spice and Everything Nice, a specialty store, and a cozy cabin that she rented out to tourists.

One of the strands of lights had suddenly stopped working, and someone needed to climb up the ladder to fix it.

Felicity Hill frowned at her office manager, who’d been her late grandmother’s best friend, and said, “You know as well as I do that we can’t afford that. We’re barely making enough to keep this place running as it is.”

“I’d rather take a pay cut than see you climbing a ladder, Felicity Rose. Especially in this weather.”

“You did not just middle name me,” Felicity said with a smile at her favorite person in the world.

“You’re darn right I did,” she said, her piercing green eyes boring a hole in Felicity’s head. “And I’ll do it again and again and again when you’re being stubborn.”

“I’m not being stubborn,” Felicity insisted. “I’m being frugal. There’s a difference. And what are you talking about with the weather? It’s cold, but that’s all. It’ll take me like five minutes to fix those lights.”

“Fine. Then I’m waiting here until you’re done,” Marilyn said.

“You can’t,” Felicity said with a sigh. “You have just enough time to get to the bank before they close.” She hopped out and held the truck door open as she added, “Go make that deposit so the checks to our vendors don’t bounce. I promise to be careful.”

Marilyn scowled. “If I find you buried in the snow in the morning, I’m going to whip your hide. Understand?”

Felicity raised her hand and saluted her friend. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Sass. You have too much of it.”

“Just the right amount.” Felicity shut the door, hauled the ladder out of the truck bed, and then waved as Marilyn took off.

Felicity set up the ladder next to the tree, checked to be sure it was secure, and then clasped her hands together and blew on her frozen fingers.

Why did the string of Christmas lights that went out have to be on the tallest tree on her property?

The tree that was the first one all her customers saw when they drove into the entrance of Apples and Spice and Everything Nice.

Marilyn was right. She should have hired Randy the handyman.

But then she’d have to put something else off, like getting the HVAC serviced.

She sighed to herself. There was barely enough money to pay her two shop workers this season, let alone anyone else.

If she wanted the lights to work on the large fir tree, it was up to her to fix them.

The rumble of a truck sounded behind her, and when she turned, she spotted a familiar Ford F150 turning into her lane. A tiny smile tugged at her lips when the truck came to an idle next to her. “Well, hello there, Jackson Bell. You’re a little late, aren’t you?”

“It’s been a busy day,” he said, his gaze scanning her body like a wolf eyeing his next prey.

“Stop it,” she said with a smirk.

“Stop what?” His easy smile reached his beautiful dark eyes. Damn he was gorgeous. It was too bad he was the commitment type. Because otherwise, she’d be all in on that hot fling they’d started and stopped a month ago.

“Undressing me with your eyes,” she said. “Go on up to the store. Your crates of apples are on the porch.”

“What about you? Do you need a ride up the hill?” he asked.

“No, thanks. I’m good.” She waved him off. “Go before you’re late for work. I’d hate for the patrons of Sleighed to have to wait for their burrata sandwiches and truffle fries.”

“No one will have to wait,” he said. “Everything is already prepped.” Jackson was the cook at her bestie’s pub, and honestly, his food was some of her favorite in all of Christmas Grove.

“Okay, Mr. Prepared. Go get your apples, and maybe I’ll come by the pub for some apple pie later.”

“I’m counting on it.” He winked and then took off up the hill.

Felicity waited until the truck was out of sight before she turned to the ladder and sighed.

After checking to be sure it was stable, Felicity climbed up carefully, one rung at a time.

She was careful not to look down, as that was a surefire way to cause her to get dizzy.

The last thing on her to-do list was to pass out and fall to her death.

Just because she wasn’t a fan of Christmas, that didn’t mean she wanted to check out altogether.

She did love her little farm and her friends.

And the town of Christmas Grove. It was just that the month of December hadn’t always been kind to her, and every year when Christmas rolled around, she was reminded of a past she’d sooner forget.

Still, her customers loved Christmas, so it was up to her to fix the twinkling lights.

“Okay, lights. Work with me here,” she said as she tested each bulb, pulling them out and trying a new one.

It wasn’t until she got down to the second to last one that her new bulb did the trick.

As soon as she shoved it into the socket, the lights lit and started twinkling in the gray light.

She grinned, pleased with a job well done, and then started to climb back down.

Just as she reached the bottom rung and was about to hop off the ladder, Felicity heard the rumble of Jackson’s truck coming down the hill. She briefly wondered what had taken him so long to grab his apples, but then suddenly a Jeep turned onto her road, barreling straight at the truck.

Felicity’s life flashed before her eyes as Jackson swerved toward her.

The sound of a shrill horn filled the air as the truck hit the snow bank just to her left, causing the ladder to topple over.

She crashed into a mound of fresh powdery snow and let out an oomph as the wind was knocked out of her.

Blinking up at the rapidly darkening sky, Felicity took stock of her body.

Her frozen toes still worked, and the ice-cold sting of the snow on her back indicated that she wasn’t in fact paralyzed by the fall.

If wiping out in a pile of snow wasn’t bad enough, she suddenly realized she’d done it right in front of Jackson Bell.

Great.

The door of the truck slammed and was quickly followed by Jackson peering over her. “Felicity? Are you okay?”

“I think so,” she said as snow started to fall from the rapidly darkening sky. “How’s your truck?”

He glanced at his vehicle before ignoring the question and reaching down to take her hand in his. “Let me help you up.”

She tightened her grip and dug in her heels as he hauled her to her feet.

Loose snow flew from her clothes, and when the wind picked up, her entire body shivered.

Her soaking wet sweater clung to her skin, making her teeth chatter.

She had no choice but to pull it off, leaving her in only a white tank top and her wet jeans.

“Nice top.” He stared right at her chest and then looked up at her with the wolfish grin again.

Felicity glanced down at herself and realized she looked like she was a contestant in a wet T-shirt contest. She quickly clasped her arms over her chest, remembering too late that she’d opted to go braless after the underwire broke through and started poking her in the chest. “Sweet baby Rudolph,” she muttered. “Could this day get any worse?”

“Funny, I was just thinking it was getting better,” he teased and then pulled his own sweater off and handed it to her. “Take this until we can find you something else to wear.”

He was wearing a skintight T-shirt that didn’t leave anything to the imagination, and her gaze landed on that well-defined chest that had haunted her dreams ever since she’d succumbed to his charms and spent the night with him a month ago.

“Felicity? Need help putting that on?” Jackson asked, his smile widening.

“No,” she said, snapping out of her lust haze as she tugged on the sweater. “Thank you. That was very kind. But now you must be freezing.”

“I’ll survive until I get into the truck. Come on. Let’s put that ladder in the back and I’ll drive you up to the store.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Felicity said. “Marilyn and I can get it in the morning.”

He glanced over to where the ladder had fallen. “Do you really think you two will be able to find it after it snows all night?”

She followed his gaze and grimaced. The snow had started to come down at a steady pace. It would be buried in no time. “You have a point. Okay. Let’s get it in the back of the truck.”

Jackson walked over to the ladder, hauled it out of the snow, and threw it in the back of his truck before she even managed to walk the few feet to the vehicle.

“Impressive,” she said, wondering exactly how many hours the man spent in the gym each day. His muscles were rippling through the T-shirt, making her face flush with heat despite the cold.

He chuckled softly and opened the passenger door for her. “Come on. Let’s get you somewhere warm.”

She gladly climbed into the passenger seat, grateful he was there to help. Once he was back in the driver’s seat, she asked, “Did you see where that Jeep went?”

“Up the hill.” He put the truck in gear and thankfully was able to back out of the snowbank without any trouble.

“What are they still doing up there?” she asked out loud. “The store is closed. Unless they are the short-term-rental guests.” She groaned, realizing that was probably the case. “Hopefully they didn’t run over anything else.”

“They were probably just distracted, trying to make sure they were in the right place,” Jackson said, being far too charitable.

“Or they are entitled a-holes who don’t care about anyone else. They didn’t even stop to be sure we were both okay,” she said, wondering if she should ask them to leave rather than let them stay in her cabin. They could have gotten her killed with their reckless driving.

“Always possible,” Jackson said as he parked the truck next to the black Jeep that was idling in front of the store.

Felicity jumped out and ran over to the Jeep, ready to give the driver a piece of her mind.

A man who looked to be in his early fifties climbed out of the Jeep, and before she could say anything, he held out a manila envelope. “Felicity Hill?”

“Yes, I’m Felicity, and you are?” she asked as she took the envelope.

“You’ve been served.” He got back in his Jeep and took off down the hill.

Felicity stared at the envelope, shellshocked. “Served? For what?”

“You’re going to have to open it to find out,” Jackson said.

She jerked her head up, realizing that he was standing in front of her, freezing in his T-shirt. “Here,” she said, pulling his sweater off and handing it to him. “Go on. I’m sure this is nothing. You need to get to work.”

Jackson frowned. “Are you sure? I could—”

“I’m sure,” she said quickly, the cold seeping into her bones. “I’m just going to go inside, get a hot cup of coffee, and then deal with this after my fingers defrost. I’ll come by Sleighed after I stop by my house and get changed.”

“If you’re sure,” he said, obviously hesitating.

She pasted on a smile. “I’m sure. Go on. I’ll see you later.”

Jackson waited a beat but then nodded. “Tonight. I’m counting on it.”

Felicity pulled out her keys, unlocked the store that she’d locked up before Marilyn took her down the hill, and then walked in, grateful for the warmth.

She walked into the office, tossed the envelope onto her desk, and then peeled her T-shirt off before pulling on a cozy hoodie.

She immediately felt better, despite her still-wet jeans.

After grabbing a cup of coffee, she pulled the paperwork from the envelope.

Loan overdue was stamped on the top of the first page.

“What loan?” she asked no one as she scanned the document.

There was a modest amount listed as the original loan with a date from over fifty years ago.

It was a simple agreement that the loan would be paid off by Dec 31, 2025.

Below that was an enormous amount of interest, making the eye-popping amount due completely unattainable.

The second page was a signed contract with what looked to be her grandmother’s signature.

She squinted at the bubbly cursive and frowned.

Her grandmother’s signature was messier than that, wasn’t it?

Felicity scoffed, assuming it was some sort of scam. She wasn’t an idiot and certainly wouldn’t be falling for something so blatant. She shoved the paper back into the envelope and made a mental note to call her lawyer about it in the morning before she tossed it out.

A loud knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts. She grabbed her cup of coffee and went to the door, assuming it was her short-term renters, and grateful she’d be able to go home soon.

But instead of the couple she was expecting, Jackson stood on the porch, his hands shoved in his pockets.

The snow was really coming down now, and she decided she should get on the road soon if she didn’t want to get snowed in.

“Hey,” she said as she opened the door for him. “Did you forget something?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “The road just before the bridge is closed due to a fallen tree, so I can’t get out.”

“We can’t get over the bridge?” she asked, shocked. “You’re sure?”

He chuckled softly. “Would I be here if I wasn’t? You’re not going to make me spend the night in my truck, are you?”

“No, of course not.” She opened the door, inviting him in. And as she closed it again, she turned and asked, “Night? You think it’s going to be closed until morning?”

“At least. The storm is here. No one is clearing trees until the snow stops,” he said.

Her phone buzzed with a message. It was from her short-term renters. The highway was closed due to snow. They weren’t coming.

She looked up at Jackson. “Looks like we just lucked out.”

“How’s that?”

“The cabin just opened up,” she said.

“You’re inviting me to spend the night with you in the cabin?” he asked, seemingly surprised.

“I guess you could stay in the office if you want, but I’m going where there’s a fireplace and groceries stocked. Your choice.”

“The cabin it is,” he said, following her toward the door.

Felicity grabbed the keys to the cabin, swallowed hard, and wondered exactly how she was going to keep her hands off the incredibly irresistible Jackson Bell.