Page 5 of A Little Merry

When we finally took a step back, and I dropped back down off my toes, I couldn’t help but stare up at him.

And if I wasn’t mistaken, there was a little staring going on with him as well.

I didn’t know what just happened, but whatever it was, I felt all warm and fuzzy on the inside, and I hadn’t had one sip of Noelle’s hot cocoa yet.

“So, like yeah, thanks for turning down the music,” Lucas said, as he stepped away, like he was heading back to his apartment next door. I only knew that because I finally noticed the open door at the end of the short hallway. There were two apartments on this floor and two more above me.

“Anytime,” I said, and as soon as the word left my mouth, I knew it was stupid. “I mean, I’ll remember to keep it down at night… if I play Christmas music at night… which I know I will, but I’ll remember to keep it down.”

“Thanks,” he mumbled, then turned and headed down the hall, giving me the perfect view of his incredible back and oh-my-God… that ass!

He walked into his apartment and shut the door, but not before he turned and tossed me one last grin.

This time, I swear, my toes curled.

I shut my door, thinking I would never be able to sleep again knowing that such a perfect man lived right next door to me… and that poor, lonely, misguided man found Christmas music annoying. I would have to change that.

“So, tell me more about Lucas Snow,” I told Noelle once I headed into my kitchen for some mugs. “Why does hedislike Christmas so much? That smile tells me he would love everything Christmas if he would just step back and embrace it. Where did he take a wrong turn? Do you know?”

Noelle had a way about her that told me she knew everything about Lucas and probably everybody else in this town.

“Are you willing to stay up all night, or should I give you the condensed version?”

I wanted to hear everything.

“I’ll make some coffee to add to our hot cocoa,” I told her and went about making a pot.

“Buckle up, darling,” she began in that squeaky high voice of hers. “Because not only am I going to tell you everything I know about Lucas, but your two neighbors above us are Connor Frost and Ethan Wreath, two of the grumpiest, Grinchiest, downright anti-Christmas men I know. Thing is, all three of them have the biggest hearts I’ve ever had the privilege to witness. And this Christmas, I think it’s our duty as lovers of everything Christmas, to change their minds, but we won’t mention our plan to anyone. It will be our secret.”

We clinked cocoa cups, and our pact was sealed.

CONSCIOUSNESS SIFTED BACK into my head with a jolt, and if it weren’t for the fact that I woke up hunched over my wooden kitchen table, with a half-full mug of cold cocoa next to me, I’d believe everything that happened last night was merely a dream.

Including the weird stuff in the town square. Just weird.

Then there was the shooting pain in my neck and shoulders from sleeping on the table, and the Christmas blanket that fell to the floor when I tried to sit up, something Noelle must have thrown over me.

“Noelle? Oh my God! Did I fall asleep while she was talking?”

I couldn’t remember. I needed to get dressed like right now, get some coffee in me, and apologize to her, like many times over.

Oh wait… I had no idea where she lived. I mean she’d said she lived in this building but where? I knew of four apartments, mine being one of them, but I had no idea where the fifth apartment was located.

I decided my mind wasn’t clear enough to reason that out… not without mass quantities of coffee.

After a quick shower, which made my shoulders, back, and head feel so much better, I got dressed in the cutest Christmas red sweater I could find, along with jeans and my red boots.

I headed straight downstairs for my first cup of coffee. I didn’t have to do any brewing myself. This morning-after required strong, already-made, industrial-strength caffeine.

And Laughing Goat provided the exact brew.

I raced down the stairs, pushed open the door, stepped outside into the lovely snowy world, noticed all the people milling around in the town square, took the five or six steps to the next door, a glass one this time, swung it open, and stepped in line for my morning jolt.

Normally, Tracy, a twenty-something young woman stood behind the counter along with a late-teens young man. However, on this glorious morning, a grumpy guy more my age took the orders. The closer I came to him, the more I realized just how handsome he was, despite his disposition: black hair poked out of a baseball hat sporting the Laughing Goat’s logo, deep brown, mysterious, dark eyes behind black, horn-rimmed glasses, perfectly crafted lips, which only gave his look more intrigue, and he wore a snug gray-flannel, checked shirt, that told me there was a lot of hard body going on under there.

“Hi… this is a jumbo coffee morning. I need coffee in an I.V,” I told him, seriously meaning it.

He hadn’t really looked at me until I was able to get my sentence out, and I stood there smiling at him, while another customer came up behind me. I glanced back to see a totally hot guy wearing a gray coat and white scarf, and I wondered if I’d somehow landed in some kind of adorable guy heaven. Between Lucas last night, and these two this morning, I didn’t know how a girl could function. Yes, I’d wished for an adorable guy to fall in love with, but I thought that guy might be Lucas… the guy I kissed last night.

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