Page 31 of Highland Hearts Holiday Bookshop

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting all that. So it’s more than just liking birds.”

“Aye. Also, I do think they’re pretty cool. But not enough to drag me out of bed and into the icy winter. I think it’s the gaming aspect that drives me to do that. I want to up my rank.”

“Makes perfect sense to me.” Rosie nodded. “Fine. I will begrudgingly accept your kind gesture so long as you accept mine.”

“Which is what?”

“I won’t be charging you for your books for the next six months.”

“Och, come on, Rosie. You need to make money too.”

“Nope, you’ll not convince me otherwise. Take it or leave it.”

Looked like I was going to be reading on my Kindle more often to save her from giving away too many free books. Giving up, I nodded.

“That’s fine then. Now, show me this bad boy.”

“It’s pretty self-explanatory. I didn’t password protect it because I figured you’d want to set one, so we can do that now.” Crouching by the table, I fired up the computer and ran my hands over the keyboard until the settings screen popped up. “Here, enter your password.”

I turned away, closing my eyes so she’d know I wouldn’t look, and then silently berated myself for doing so. She pressed close to me, all warmth and heat and lush curves, and I wanted to lean into her softness. I wanted to peel those silly purple overalls off her body and see if the shirt was as sheer as I thought it was when the corduroy material wasn’t covering her breasts. It made me ache, her being fully covered, yet teasing with glimpses of something more.

“All done.” I realized that Rosie had repeated herself and I turned, finding her face close to mine.

Our eyes caught.

The moment hung suspended, the music dimming in the background, and I ached to lean forward for just a small taste. Her lips begged to be kissed and I, to my absolute surprise, wanted to be the man to do it.

The bells at the door rang and we sprang apart.

“Well now, what do we have here?” Esther barked from the door and my face flushed as I bent to dig in my backpack for the charger.

“Just delivering a working computer,” I said, taking far longer than I needed to pull out the charger that was neatly packed on the side of my bag.

“Isn’tthatnice?” Esther singsonged, and I rolled my eyes.So it begins.

“Ladies, to what do I owe this pleasure?” Rosie asked, deflecting the attention. Putting the charger next to the computer, I rose and turned.

Meredith, Cherise, Shannon, and Esther stood clustered by the doorway, each carrying a box or a bag, exceptfor Esther. Esther had a whiteboard in her hand. The women were already chattering among themselves, ignoring us, as they hung up coats and carried the boxes and bags over to the table.

They all wore Christmas jumpers.

Pursing my lips, I checked my smart watch. We had two days until December, so not technically Christmas month yet, but that didn’t seem to stop these ladies.

Meredith’s shirt had two bottles of gin tied together with a big Christmas bow and it readGin-gle Bells.

Shannon’s had a cartoon drawing of a Christmas cookie withOut here looking like a snack.

My favorites were Cherise’s and Esther’s.

Cherise’s had a puffin holding mistletoe withMerry Puffin Christmas.

Esther’s had two puffins dancing with a Christmas tree in the middle and it read,Puffin around the Christmas tree.

“Love the jumpers,” I said.

“We didn’t want wee Tattie to feel like we didn’t support him.” Esther sniffed in Meredith’s direction.

“What? You didn’t tell me it was another puffin day. Plus, you were hogging the cricut machine.”

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