Page 15 of Second Chance Christmas

He belted out a laugh at the wide-eyed look on her face.

A devious smile replaced the surprised look and the sweet kitten sitting beside him turned wicked. “Sure, go right ahead and blame it on me. You’re the one that said you wanted to do something nice for my eighteenth birthday. If I recall, you didn’t complain.”

Her smile broadened and he liked the way it lit her eyes and flushed her cheeks a pretty pink.

He took in the way she drew her lip between her teeth and had a hard time holding his gaze, but he felt the second she realized the effect she had on him.

“Aspen,” she whispered in a raw, hungry voice.

Fuck.

He needed to stop and get his head straight, but Son-of-a-bitch. Was he crazy? Lose his mind somewhere between hearing Ivy Sunday would be back in his town and waking up this morning? This is the last thing he needed right now, but his dick didn’t care. It tried to pound a way outside his pants just to get to her.

He reached for her and tipped her chin up. “One of the best nights of my life, Ivy Sunday.”

She grinned. “Mine too. So is this a truce.”

“You make it hard to blackmail you so yeah, kitten, truce.”

“We were definitely a little on the wild side and definitely stupid.” She sat back, a victorious smile curving her lips.

Hell, if he didn’t like that smile. He was tempted to pull off on one of the many backroads right now and giving them both some new memories.

Deciding they both needed to focus, he cleared his throat and turned down a gravel road.

“We’re here.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Out of the corner of her eye she caught him shaking his head, his eyes narrowing.

Uh-oh. If she knew one thing about Aspen it was the expression that took over his face and scrunched up the corners of his eyes as he mulled over an idea.

No way had he accepted defeat so gallantly. She would be wise to keep her eyes and ears peeled for whatever he came up with to get what he wanted.

It would take several Christmas wishes and a few shooting stars to get her to sit opposite him and a candlelight dinner. She knew her limits. Good wine, soothing atmosphere and those dreamy eyes would have her hooked and she couldn’t afford that now, probably ever where Aspen Kennedy was involved.

She’d be in his bed and the walk of shame the next morning didn’t fit into her perfectly planned schedule.

He made her forget all good sense and that was how she got into this mess to begin with. In fact, the lady at the end of this driveway would probably agree with her if it ever came up.

Ayoung lady should always put herself first, then the boys.Her wise anecdotes, once a pain to hear in school, came back to her now. She should have writtenthosedown instead of all her school notes.

Through tiny breaks in the trees, splashes of yellow and red broke through the naked branches, but she couldn’t quite get the full view. Ivy squinted then shot up as Aspen pulled the truck around one last bend.

“You said she lived in a yellow bus.” Ivy leaned forward and wiped at the frosty windshield with the back of her glove.

Aspen, evidently the resident expert on everything that made a man easy on the eyes, smiled, a spark of pride in his eyes. “Ah... yes. I might have left out a few details.”

She had the image of green benches, cracked old paint and clunky kerosene heaters.

Not the palace on wheels she saw now.

Ivytsked. That was just like him. Kennedy men were as stubborn as mules. No different from the Winters, come to think of it. It was why their families got along so well.

Ivy scooted to the end of her seat.

“Well, what do you know?” Her jaw fell slack as Aspen rolled to a smooth stop. Yep. That was a yellow bus, all right, but not like anything she’d ever seen.

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