Page 37 of Second Chance Christmas

“I don’t know. Maybe a quarter past…”

“I gotta go. Shit! And I’m going to miss the call. The curtains and the paint…” She kissed him smack on the lips and then turned. “I’ll call you later.”

Maybe leaving him with the impression she wanted more was wrong, but that kiss was more for her than him. Why? Because it would be the last time she ever shared the same breath as Aspen Kennedy if she could get a hold of herself, that is. She couldn’t afford a mess up right now and getting involved with her old flame was a fuck up of epic proportions. After everything she’d lost in the past couple of months, she would not lose the one job that would put her back on the planned road of success she wanted so badly. She needed this job and truth be told, she needed the money. And out of Dixen before her heartstrings felt any more unsolicited tugs or she jumped the hot fire chief in the middle of the produce section.

CHAPTER NINE

“Come on!” Ivy checked her watch as she gunned the Caddie on a yellow light. Technically that wouldn’t earn her a ticket. Right? Her phone jingled with one of those old-timey phone tunes she loved so much. Right now, though, it set her nerves on ice. She reached into her purse a second before flicking a thumb across the smooth glass.

“Hello. Ms. Winters speaking.” She schooled her rapid breathing and cleared her throat

“Ms. Winters, please hold.” Soft Christmas music carried over the phone seconds before static crackled. She pulled the phone away from her ear and looked down.

Brown-gray fur flashed across the road and she swerved. In that split second her world spun and she quickly realized she had no control over where she stopped.

The front tires lost traction first, followed by the back. The side of the road came into view, only she hadn’t turned her neck. A set of wide eyeballs and antlers flashed in front of her then the heavy beast of a car twirled like a ballerina on ice. Black ice.

Ivy’s hands flew to two and ten, the cell phone abandoned in the front seat.

Tires screeched and horns blared. Ivy wound her fingers tighter around the wheel and whispered every prayer she could remember from Sunday school that the car would be light on impact and she didn’t hit anyone else.

She barely had time to register the quickly advancing sleigh and nearby phone pole.

A plastic big, fat man in a flashy red suit closed in fast. Rudolph’s flashing red nose flew across the hood seconds before metal crunched and eight tiny reindeer flew over the hood of her car minus the blinking red nose as she came to a screeching halt with only the sound of multiple somethings peppering the hood of her car.

The force drove her head into the window and the jolt of pain rattled her teeth.

SHIT! Why did Gran insist on driving this old thing? No side airbags meant a splitting headache.

“Ma’am! Are you okay?” The voice on the other end of the phones squeaked with concern from the front seat.

“I… uh… oh.” The side of her head throbbed and she rubbed a hand over the pain that slowly ebbed off to a dull rhythmic thud.

Ivy pinched her eyes closed. “Yeah. I think so, but oh, gosh. I think I ran over Rudolph.”

She squinted. Was that a vibrating dildo on her hood?

Silence followed then a dead dial tone carried over the speaker. “Great.” If fate really existed, it seemed like it didn’t want her to have that job.

Her blurry vision zeroed in on familiar brown eyes a minute or two later. “Are you okay, Ivy Sunday? Don’t try to move.” His voice came muffled through the glass. “I’ll get you out in just a second, baby” Cold air rushed in the second Aspen pulled her door open. That’s when she noticed he must have pulled in right behind her because he left his truck running and the side door flung open.

Aspen reached across her lap and killed the engine, which kept right on purring as if nothing happened. “You know you didn’t have to take out my Santa sleigh to get my attention.”

He gently gathered her arms in his hands as he slowly checked her for any injuries. “I don’t think you have any broken bones but you shouldn’t move too fast. It was a light impact, all things considered.”

“Is that a dildo?” she managed to ask without her jaw hurting too much.

Aspen busted out a laugh. “Long story. Don’t move your neck, sweetheart. Let me check you over real quick and see if you need to go to the hospital.”

“Nah. I’m good. Just a bit of a headache. I just banged my head a little. Freaking old cars don’t exactly have all the trimmings of the newer models. Like side airbags.”

He ran his hands over every inch of her body and if he wasn’t careful, he was going to find what his touch did to her nipples.

When he paid no attention, she slowed his hands with a soft touch. “Aspen, look at me, I’m fine.” She pressed a single finger under his chin and drew his gaze to hers. “Honestly.”

He looked tense and worried but steadily in control. That was her Aspen.

He pressed his mouth into a fine line before his features relaxed as he accepted her words. “You scared me to death,” he said in a low voice. “Had I known you liked to play bumper cars with Santa sleighs I would have waited a couple of days before setting up the rig.”

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