Page 7 of Christmas Captive

“So,” I lean forward and pinch my lips together, “what are you thinking for the eclipse party?”

He drags in a deep breath and continues to push the swing back and forth slowly. “Well, it’s Christmas Eve, so I’m thinking we have Santa show up on his sleigh and give rides through the pine forest.”

“Won’t Santa be busy on Christmas Eve? That doesn’t make any sense.” I grin. “What about Mrs. Claus? She could give rides through the forest. Or… maybe one of his elves?”

“Santa makes time on Christmas Eve for Evergreen Family Tree Farm. Everyone knows that.” He narrows his brows playfully. “We could have a hot cocoa stand and sugar cookies.”

“Oh, we could do a Christmas ho-ho-ho down in the barn during the eclipse. How fun would that be? We could ask Mullet if he knows any local bands that would be willing to perform.”

“You’ve already made friends with the local bartender?”

“Yeah,” I laugh. “It’s where I’ve been hanging out most nights. He’s retired now, but he still stops in quite a bit. They have some great bands down there on Fridays. You ever swing by?”

“Not in ages. That place is a meat market.”

“What?” I raise my tone in sarcasm as I say, “No, it’s not.”

“Really? You make a lot of girlfriends out there or is it mostly dudes that want to make conversation?”

I screen back to the time I’ve spent at the bar. “Honestly, no one really talks to me at all except for Mullet, and he talks a lot about his kids and grandkids. It’s nice. His story with his wife reminds me of some fairytale. He’s so protective of her.”

“He’s a good guy,” Kade nods and stares down at the pine boards on the front porch, “and his wife is pretty great too. The band idea is good. I have a guy that can cater some barbeque, and I think we’ll be set if—”

Headlights interrupt Kade’s sentence, and the tires from a small Toyota Corolla pop as it rolls up the driveway. It’s a dark night, and the shine is so bright that we cover our eyes to avoid blindness, or at least I do. I’m sure Kade is staring straight into the light unblinking. He seems like he’d have that kind of intensity.

I glance down and see he has his hand rested on the pistol that’s attached to his hip. I hadn’t noticed he was packing until now.

My clit erupts in a heaping thrum of neediness that I seemingly can’t control.

Great timing for that, and why is a gun turning me on? I hate guns. I think they should all be eradicated from existence. Yet, here I am, totally hard over this guy’s rough hand on a pistol.

“You have a lot of enemies?” I look up at him and grin, trying to make light of this clearly tense situation. He’s like a guard dog with the way he goes on alert.

“No, but I don’t usually see guests this time of night.”

The closer the lights get, the more blinding the brightness becomes.

“Why don’t you head inside. I’ll see what’s going on.”

I’m from San Diego. In San Diego, when someone pulls into your driveway, you wait for them to come to the door, and then you decide whether you want to ignore them, but it’s his house and I do as I’m told, swinging open the porch door.

I’m almost inside when the car stops, and I realize the Corolla is the rental Wyatt’s been driving.

My stomach sinks. He wouldn’t do something crazy like show up here, would he?

Clearly, he would.

The car door opens, and a boot hits the ground. It’s him.What the hell?

Kade glances toward me, then back at Wyatt. “This is private property.”

“And you havemyproperty, so…” Wyatt glances toward me. “What are you doing here? We need to talk.”

I chew the inside of my cheek as my chest tightens. “Not now, Wyatt. You need to go.”

“I’m not going without you, Jovie. What’s this guy telling you? He doesn’t know us.”

A flush creeps across my cheeks and I swallow hard as my neck and ears turn impossibly hot despite the frigid air.How is this happening? Why is this happening?

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