Page 23 of Merry & Wild

“No, you’re not.”

I raise an eyebrow at her. “My hill, my rules. I’m carrying you, Joy. Now, loop your arm around my neck.”

“It’s too slick,” she argues. “And it won’t do us any good if we both slide all the way to the bottom.”

“I won’t slide.”

“Are you always this stubborn?”

“When it comes to someone I care about? You bet your beautiful ass. Now, do as you’re told and hold on to me.”

She narrows her eyes, but resigns herself and loops her arm around my neck. I easily lift her and manage to carry her up the hill to the side of the truck.

“I apologize for parking so close to the edge,” I say as I open the door and set her safely inside the truck. “I know better than that.”

“Thank you.” She reaches out and cups my face in her snowy mitten. “It wasn’t your fault.”

I lean in to quickly kiss her, then hurry around to the driver’s side so I can get her home and check out that ankle.

“About what I said before,” she begins.

“You didn’t make me uncomfortable,” I interrupt. “In fact, it was the opposite. I hope you’ll be spending a lot of time out here with me, so to hear that you’re comfortable here is a relief. I was just surprised, that’s all.”

“Oh. Well, good.” She closes her eyes tightly as I maneuver us down the hill backward and get us turned around, headed back toward the cabin. Then she opens her eyes and begins to pour the hot chocolate.

“What are your plans for Christmas?”

Her face registers surprise, and then she chuckles. “I almost forgot that Christmas is in just a few days. Well, I usually spend it with my mom, so I’m sure that’s what I’ll do. We have dinner and exchange gifts. Don’t you spend it with your family?”

“Yeah. Mom makes a big spread, and we invite the ranch hands to join us. The ones who don’t have family here, anyway.”

“That’s nice,” she says with a smile. “I bet they appreciate that. Oh, I love this song.”

Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” plays through the speakers, and Joy begins to sing along.

“You know,” she says, breaking off from the song. “I just realized that you don’t have a Christmas tree in the cabin.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Let’s get one.”

I glance over at her. “Like, right now?”

“Yes, right now. You have plenty of trees on this property. You need one.”

“I don’t have any decorations.”

“Do you have popcorn?”

“Yes.”

“Then you have decorations. Come on, it’ll be fun.”

It turns out, there isn’t much I wouldn’t do for this woman.

“You’re in luck,” I tell her as I start to scan the area for a tree small enough. “I happen to have a saw in the truck.”

“You’re handy,” she says with a grin and sips her hot chocolate while she rolls her foot around, obviously checking out her ankle. “And you might make the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had in my life.”

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