“You know him?” Johnny asked.

She pondered the question as she took in the tall man—made even taller by the knit hat he wore with a giant, fuzzy ball on top. The homemade nature of it softened his otherwise rugged appearance.

“No. I don’t recognize him.”

He looked up from his open wallet and caught her eyes for a split second—a millisecond—before he cracked a smile and cast his glance to the floor. A small blush tinted his cheeks, the only skin visible given the perfectly groomed beard that covered his face and the layers he wore.

Sure, it was late November in West Virginia, but a heatwave this week meant temperatures were hovering near sixty degrees by the afternoon. Not exactly the weather for thick flannel, voluminous puffer vests, or knit caps—all of which he wore. It looked like an L.L. Bean catalog had thrown up on him, and he should have been standing next to a few pine trees on a rugged mountainside, not hanging out in a coffeehouse.

But wherever he’d gotten the get-up would do well to hire him as a model. The way the vest showcased what she knew—even from far away—were toned arms. The way those jeans hugged a very solid set of legs—whew! That warm coffee mug in her hands was really heating her up. She looked down at it.

It was empty.

“I’m just gonna go get a refill. I could use an extra jolt.”

Johnny bit his lip as his shoulders shook. “You could use something up there, and it ain’t a jolt.”

“Alright, Johnny.” Pointing her finger at him made her feel more authoritative, which was good because she wanted to get this point across. “I’ll speak your language here. Let’s compare my love life to the career of an aging veteran pitcher in the majors, shall we? I’d had a long, comfortable career. Made it all the way to the World Series only to give up a walk-off home-run in game seven. Game over. I was tired. Done. So, I retired. And I’m perfectly content sitting on the bench, because I’m not looking to get back in the game.”

“But what if someone made you an offer you couldn’t refuse?”

“You, of all people, should understand, Johnny.”

“I don’t. You retired. I was cut from the team.” He grimaced. “But this isn’t about me. This is about you. And I don’t think you’re as happy sitting on the bench as you pretend to be. If you were, how come you went that long looking at that guy without blinking, huh? Got any eye drops on you? You might need ’em.”

She sighed. “I’m gonna go get that refill now.”

“Can’t a guy be worried about his friend’s eye health?”

She walked to the front of the store, a little disappointed Mr. Wilderness had vanished. Maybe he’d needed to step outside because he was having a heatstroke. Maybe he’d melted into a puddle. With that amount of fabric on the body, the possibilities were endless. But what did she care where he was? Okay, he was nice-looking. No other reason. But he was gone now. Or maybe he’d never been. Perhaps he was a wool-clad mirage. Except Johnny had seen him too.

“Order up for Johnny Mathis,” a snickering Quinn said from behind the counter.

Huh?Celebrities rarely came to a small town like Wheeling.

Josie’s eyes searched the coffeehouse, too busy looking for the legendary Christmas crooner and not at all looking where she was going. Until it was too late.

* * *

“Oof!”Josie crashed into something—puffy? Pillowy? Now wasn’t the time for specifics. Why didn’t she feel the hard, unforgiving tile floor against her face? And why was she still upright? When she looked up, she had her answer.

“Hey, there. You okay?” Mr. Great Outdoors asked.

“Uh, yeah.” She tried to peel herself off the hunky stranger, but she once again lost her balance, making yet another soft landing into his cushy vest. If she had to crash into someone—not once, but twice—it was pretty good luck it was a man wearing clothing that felt like the padded mats pole vaulters fell into. She guessed. Not that she’d ever actually pole vaulted before. That required a level of coordination she didn’t possess. Obviously, given her current predicament.

“Looks like they have their tinsel in a tangle here.” His warm breath tickled her neck, and goosebumps broke out in a happy little jig on her skin.

She looked down at her feet, the garland defying the laws of physics, making like a shimmery set of handcuffs around both of her ankles. “I think it’s garland.”

Yeah. That’s what’s important right now.

“Then… they have their garland in a gather?”

A laugh bubbled out of her so quickly, she couldn’t stop the snort to end all snorts that accompanied it. Because, of course, it did.

And then the multi-layered man started laughing too. She’d been laughed at enough times in her life to know he was laughingather and notwithher.

Why was she wasting time analyzing that when she could have been spending it studying details like the soft crinkles by his eyes when he laughed? And the varying shades of dark blond to light brown in his beard. The way each breath he took tickled her cheeks, which she’d bet good money were as red as the flannel shirt he wore. She blinked and looked away. For her eye health, of course. That, and because she’d felt herself leaning in. Like she couldn’t have gotten any closer to this man.