Page 8 of Unruly Kris

“Find anything good?” He asked, opening the door for her, and shepherding them outside into the early winter dusk.

“No, the whole endeavor was a bust.” Cath couldn't keep the disappointment out of her voice. “I’m having coffee with Vera the day after tomorrow, we’ll have to figure out something else.”

She opened the Subaru’s door, slid in, automatically throwing her seat belt on, and leaned back in the seat, rubbing a hand over her face. When she opened them again, Kris was in the passenger seat, watching her with alert blue eyes.

“I need to call Vera and fill her in.” She fished her phone out of her purse and was about to dial when Kris reached out and covered her wrist for a moment stopping her. He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a yellow slip of paper, passing it to her silently.

Cath gave him a look and took the paper, opening it to find the bill of sale for the Allis Chalmers WD45. She dropped her head to hide the smile trying to break free and shook a finger at him, trying to sound annoyed. “Looking for the men’s room my ass, I told you no!”

“Actually, what you said was I couldn’t over bid your budget,” Kris shrugged his shoulder unapologetically. “You said nothing about finding the buyer and using my charms to convince him to sell it to me. His price was reasonable, I paid what he paid at the auction and all it took extra was a couple of photos, and a Merry Christmas message for his son.”

“You’re supposed to use your Hollywood superpowers for good,” she reminded him as she tucked the bill of sale in the visor. By all rights, she should have been livid with him for disrespecting her wishes. It seemed impossible to stay mad at him however, when he was being genuine about wanting to help. She was actually very touched that he went to bat so hard for a wreck of a tractor for Danny. It showed how much he had grown as a person since she had first met him a few years ago.

“And this isn’t good?” He gave her a comically wounded look.

“It’s better than good, it’s great.You have no idea how happy this will make Danny this Christmas.” She admitted, leaning over and kissing him repeatedly in excitement. “But Iwilltalk with Vera, and wewillsplit the cost three ways, understood?”

“If that’s what you want.” He acquiesced, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and dropping a kiss on the end of her nose.

“And don’t you dare start pulling shit like that on a regular basis,” she warned as she started the car. “This is a one-time thing.”

“Of course.” He raised a hand in supplication and leaned over to turn on the radio.

“I mean it.” Cath tried to sound stern as she began navigating them out of the parking lot and onto the road. “I’ll kick your ass next time.”

Out of the corner of her eye she watched as he pulled out the full spectrum of his charm, looking at her from under his lashes with intense blue eyes. He quirked a smile, reaching out and flitting his fingers softly along her shoulder and the crook of her neck. He left his hand there, caressing the skin as he tried to act as nonchalant. Cath felt a rush of heat radiate from her core and spark up and down her spine at his touch. Trying to focus on the road, she swatted his fingers playfully. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?” He feigned ignorance, pretending to see something out the window

“You’re so lucky you’re cute,” she grumbled with an admittedly contented sigh.

“You think I’m lucky one?” Kris took out his phone and began to make a list of ingredients. “Just wait until you taste the Beef Bourguignon I'm making you for dinner tonight.”

“All right you're on.” Cath felt her stomach growl and realized that she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast that morning. Suddenly the idea of a home cooked meal and a night in trimming the tree seemed like heaven. She reached over, keeping her eyes on the road, and squeezed his hand. “Let’s go home.”

8

With a belly full of Beef Bourguignon and a glass of red wine in her hand, Cath stood back and eyed the placement of the wide green Christmas tree now anchored in the corner of her living room. Aside from the Christmas tree stand she normally put out, she also pulled out her tool kit and anchored it to the wall with a tether just in case. She looked over to where Kris was seated on the floor. “Does this look stable to you, what do you think?”

“I think I need help.” She turned to see Kris managed to fully wrap himself in the Christmas lights she had given him to untangle. “One arm, red wine and twinkle lights don’t mix apparently.”

“I highly disagree.” Cath tried to smother a giggle with her hand as she looked down at him. He had strings of lights wound around his legs, uninjured arm, shoulders and across his chest loosely. His free hand was folding three different stands apart to test and see if they worked and tangling all of them hopelessly. Cath had to admit, she was slightly impressed. When she packed these lights away previously, they had been neatly corded and clipped together by color. He managed to make a thorough mess of it in less than ten minutes. “How did you manage to do this to yourself in the brief time my back was turned?”

“I have no clue, maybe getting the dude with one good hand to do this was a bad idea,” Kris said in a dismayed tone, trying to pull his arm free. “Or maybe I'm just no good at this stuff.”

“At decorating for Christmas?” Cath squatted down beside him and tried to assess the situation, sorting through the strands to untangle them. “That’s not possible sweetie.”

“I rarely ever got to do this as a kid,” he admitted sheepishly. “And as an adult if I've ever thrown Christmas parties at my place, I've paid decorators to bling out trees for me.”

“You can pay people to do that for you?” Cath couldn’t hide the surprise in her voice.

“I live in Hollywood; you can pay people to do anything for the right amount of money,” he reminded her sarcastically.

Cath began to try and pull the strands apart, giving up after she realized she was only making it worse. After a moment she sat back on her haunches and studied the disaster. “Well, I think there’s only one way to fix this.”

“What? Kitchen shears?” He made a disgusted face, trying to shake his leg free and made a cutting motion with his free hand.

Cath shook her head, and took up the cords in her hands, feeling along until she found the various plug-in prongs and then before he could move, she leaned past him and quickly plugged them in. The lights wound around him lit up like a marquee as he gave her a deadpan look. The dam she normally kept anchored in place over her emotions broke, and her body shook with suppressed laughter. “There, now you're lit up like the Hollywood star you are.”

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