Rumor Has It (The Last Best Place For Love #6)

Cassidy

The brisk air bit at my cheeks as I stared up at the roofline of Once Upon A Bookseller. Hanging the Christmas lights from there wouldn’t be the problem. A stepladder and a few extension plugs, and I’d be golden.

No, the problem would be getting the Santa on top of the roof, and somehow figuring out how to stabilize him at the peak.

But as my Daddy always said, the problem wasn’t going to fix itself.

So, I got to work. I pulled the ladder out of the back of my shop, dragged the life-sized Santa out of storage, knocking over a few books as I pulled the extremely heavy decoration through the shop, and finally, opened the double doors and pushed him onto the sidewalk.

I was already sweating and ready to call it quits, but no Christmas decoration had ever defeated me before, and I’d be damned if today would be the day I was bested by plastic.

Even if it was extremely heavy.

Taking a moment to breathe, I stared up at the peak of the roof once again, trying to come up with a plan.

If I wrapped some lights around the base, I might be able to tie the lights around the metal thingies on the top of the roof.

That would help stabilize Santa and keep him from falling off the roof and crushing my customers.

“Decorating already?” Wayne asked, taking a sip of his coffee from The Daily Grind.

“It’s November. I’m actually about two weeks behind.”

“Decorating isn’t supposed to start until after Thanksgiving,” he argued.

“Yes, but if I waited until then, I’d be swamping myself with the Christmas rush. Not to mention, the temperature will have dropped again, turning this bitter wind into an unbearable cold that would render me incapable of setting up decorations.”

He stared at me, not at all moved by my speech.

“It’s sacrilegious to set up for Christmas before Thanksgiving.”

“Well, tell Mayor Cameron that,” I smirked. “I convinced her that it would be nicer for the maintenance crew to be able to set up before they risk losing their fingers. And she agreed.”

I could almost see the steam pouring out of Wayne’s ears as he shifted in his deputy’s uniform. I took a moment to appreciate how good he looked, even if it was brown.

All the Cross brothers were extremely good-looking, especially the one who moved away ten years ago. Levi was the epitome of the bad boy, and this small town just wasn’t big enough for him. But Remi and Wayne loved it here too much, and both of them went into law enforcement.

Of course, if you asked Remi, he’d tell you that a lifelong battle of his brother copying him was the only reason Wayne decided to follow in his footsteps. He insisted that Wayne was just there to annoy him.

Not that it mattered to any of the women around town. We all thought the Cross brothers were something of an enigma. A very sexy package wrapped in an enigma. With all those muscles and front page Sexiest Man Alive faces, not a single one of them would end up alone.

And if they did, it would be because they were all a bunch of mama’s boys.

“You know, it’s people like you who ruin the spirit of Christmas by decorating too early,” he snapped, pulling me out of my internal musings.

“I’m not ruining the spirit of Christmas. I’m extending it. The longer I get to celebrate, the better I feel.”

“And you make the rest of us grouchy,” he snapped. “There’s a season. You’re skipping right over Thanksgiving and jumping straight into Christmas!”

“There’s still the Thanksgiving Day parade!” I argued. “Plenty of people turn out for it, and no one has ever gotten pissed when other shops put up a few Christmas decorations.”

“A few. Only a few. Not a Santa on a roof! How are you even going to get it up there?”

“With my wits and charm,” I smiled, turning my back on him. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have decorating to do.”

He marched away, grumbling to himself about people destroying Christmas, but I didn’t pay any attention to him.

Aside from watching his cute backside as he marched down the street.

Resting the ladder against the roof, I wrapped the rope around Santa’s neck, feeling slightly bad about how it looked. Thank goodness it was a school day, and no kids would see me strangling Santa.

Grabbing a string of lights, I slung it over my arm and around my shoulder, then grabbed a length of the rope and made my ascent.

I didn’t have any problems with heights.

My daddy had me helping him around the house when I was just five years old.

I learned to use a level first, and worked my way up to an electric drill by the time I was six.

This was a piece of cake for me.

Though I’d never actually had to haul a massive Santa onto a roof, I was positive that with enough grit, I could accomplish the task.

Once I found my footing on the roof, I wrapped the rope around the arm of my jacket and started heaving.

Sweat beaded on my forehead as I struggled to get the damn decoration on the roof, but I just kept telling myself that it was once a year, and as soon as I had him in place, the rest was a piece of cake.

With every minute that passed, I had more and more gawkers, pointing at me and whispering with the other townsfolk. Yes, I was making a spectacle, but I wasn’t worried about that at the moment. I was too busy making sure I didn’t lose my footing and fall off the roof.

“Cassidy!” Mrs. Abernathy called out. “What in the hell are you doing up there?”

I grunted, pulling one last time before I shifted my stance. “Putting up Santa!”

“Are you sure that’s safe? Shouldn’t you have a man doing that?”

I huffed out a laugh. Mrs. Abernathy came from the age when men were necessary to do everything for a woman. At least, she looked that old. Me? I was born to take care of myself.

“I don’t need a man to do this!”

“Are you sure, hunny? Because it doesn’t look like you’ve got this!”

Gritting my teeth, I ignored her comment and pulled Santa up the rest of the way, straddling the peak of the roof so I didn’t topple over one side or the other.

As soon as Santa was upright, I started scooting him along the steepled edge, cursing when he started leaning too far toward the back of the shop.

“I have a book to return!” Mrs. Abernathy yelled. “You said there would be more smut in this one!”

“There is, Mrs. Abernathy!”

“Well, I was doggone halfway through, and still didn’t read nothin’ dirty!”

Santa wobbled, nearly shoving me off balance, but I steadied him, deciding to leave the rope around his neck until I was positive I’d secured him.

“Don’t you have anything dirtier for me to read?”

“I’m a little busy, Mrs. Abernathy!”

“It’s business hours, young lady. When you say you’re going to be open, you darn well better be open!”

“I am open!” I snapped. “But as you can see, I can’t come down and help you out at the moment!”

“Well, where would I find something really dirty? I don’t mean whips and chains. That’s a little weird for me. Just something really dirty. You know, I read something about this man who licked a woman’s assh—”

“I got it!” I called out, cutting her off before she could become too descriptive. The woman had always been a prude, chastising anyone who dared to kiss in public. She stumbled upon one dirty book, and that was it. Now, I couldn’t go anywhere without her openly discussing what she was reading.

“It didn’t seem right, but I guess that’s what couples are doing nowadays. In my time, we didn’t even undress while we were gettin’ busy. Course, we didn’t have men built the same way some of these fellas are nowadays.”

“Back wall of the shop. All the way to the right wall!” I called out, just hoping she would stop talking about sex in front of the quickly gathering crowd.

“Thanks! I’ll see if I can find something, and I’ll let you know when I’m ready to check out!”

“Sure thing, Mrs. Abernathy!”

Now that she was finally gone, I could concentrate on getting Santa properly attached to the roof.

I leaned Santa up against the metal pipe sticking out of the roof, then one step at a time, wrapped the rope around him and the pipe.

By the time I stepped back, still holding out my hands in case he toppled over, he was secure.

Well, as secure as I could make him.

All he needed now was some lights. I pulled the string off my shoulder and started wrapping the lights around Santa, then walked them along the top of the peak to the other end of the shop.

I was just about done and ready to guide the string of lights down to the roofline when I heard something that had me blush on the spot and stumble over my own feet.

“Cassidy, does he tie her to the bed in this one and whip her, or is that in another book?”

I stood too suddenly, caught off guard by the question, and my feet tangled in the lights. My balance quickly went by the wayside until I was hobbling and grasping at air for purchase.

I held the string of lights as if they would save me as I teetered over. And as a scream rippled up my throat, I knew Santa wasn’t going to make it through this experience.

I tumbled back, my feet flying out from under me. Landing on my back, I started tumbling down the roof until I was airborne with only the string of lights to grip onto.

Squeezing my eyes closed, I prayed for a quick death as my entire life flashed before my eyes, but I came to a sudden jerk and all the blood rushed to my head as I dangled upside down.

And just inches from my face were the most startling blue eyes I’d ever seen.

Slowly, he cocked his head to the side, examining my rosy cheeks before settling on my eyes.

“I meant to do that.”