Page 250 of A Merry Mountain Christmas

Her eyes lit up and she dealt them both five cards. “I can agree to those terms, and since we’re not betting, we only get one chance to draw new cards.”

“Sounds good to me.” He picked up his cards, relieved when he saw he had a pair of fives, along with an ace of hearts, a ten of spades, and a three of clubs. He kept the fives and dumped the rest and drew three more. They were junk cards, but at least he had a pair. He glanced over at Maisie, who only exchanged one card.

“Okay,” she said. “Show me what you got.”

He lowered his hand. “A pair of fives.”

Grinning, she laid out her cards—three eights, a ten of diamonds, and a king of hearts. “Like I said, show me what you’ve got.”

He held his hands out to the sides. “I think the rules say you get to do the honors.”

She shifted her legs, closing the gap between them, and leaned over. Placing a hand on his chest, she slowly lowered her hands down to his waist. She lifted the bottom of his shirt, tugging it up and over his head.

He resisted the urge to help, mesmerized by the sight of her. When he’d driven to Dottie’s tonight, he’d never dreamed he’d end up sitting on Maisie O’Shea’s bed, letting her undress him. Life had long stunned him with its ability to dole out unpleasant surprises, and it was a nice change of pace to realize it could go the other way too.

Pulling the shirt free from his arms, she tossed it to the floor, then placed her hands on his shoulders, running them slowly down his arms.

“Why, Jack Durand. It should be illegal to hide these arms under sleeves.”

He laughed. “I’d hate to distract the employees at the brewery. Imagine what Lurch might do if he were blinded by my biceps. Peeing in the kettles was child’s play.”

Something he was only able to joke about now because they’d used that incident—vandalism? assault by piss?—to relaunch the brewery with all new beers. Everyone agreed it had been a genius relaunch, and only a few people knew the story behind it.

“Lurch doesn’t work there anymore,” she teased. “You really should keep up with the employee roster.” She sat back down and scooped up the cards, then shuffled. “I think it’s your turn to deal.”

He took the cards from her, letting his fingers linger on hers. He really,reallywanted to see what she was wearing under that dress. Did her bra match her panties?

He shifted to relieve his growing bulge, then shuffled and dealt. This time he had a jack and a queen of diamonds, plus a king of hearts and a two and a six. Maisie glanced up from her cards and looked at him, her gaze dipping to his chest and then lower. Her eyes lifted back to his and she smirked. “A girl can appreciate the view.”

“She can touch too.” He liked that she thought he was worth watching, worth noticing. He hadn’t had a girlfriend in over a year, and he’d lost the last one because she’d gotten sick of competing for his attention. “Any woman in your life will always be second,” she’d said, and since contradicting her would have been a lie, he’d let her leave. There’d been a few casual entanglements since, too short to be called relationships, but somehow they had only made him feel more alone. Being alone was something he understood, though, something he could accept. For now. Iris was almost out of high school. Out of his mother’s clutches. Once she was free, he could relax, perhaps have a life…

He’d decided to jumpstart the process when his grandfather left the brewery to him and his half-siblings. It had seemed like his chance to make something of himself, but then his mother had gone off the deep end—again—and he’d been forced to sue her for guardianship. And now Iris was about to move to Asheville, something Adalia was on board with, thank God, which meant there’d be no time or room for a girlfriend. He’d spend the nine months before she went off to college trying to make up for leaving her with their mother and thinking itwouldn’tcome to this.

But watching Maisie now, realizing how absolutely perfect she was…filled him with a deep sense of loss. He may not haveslept with her yet, but he already knew how hard it would be to leave in the morning…if she let him stay that long. God, he hoped she let him stay that long. He wanted every last minute he could get.

Suddenly, he didn’t want to play this game anymore. He wanted her.

He reached over and took the cards out of her hand and tossed them down on the bed.

“Hey!” she protested. “I was about to take off your pants.”

He cupped the side of her face, his fingers sinking into her red curls. “You don’t need a deck of cards to get my clothes off, Maisie.”

Her breath hitched and turned shallow.

“But we’ve got a major issue we need to deal with before they come off.”

“What’s that?” she asked, sounding like she was trying to be playful, but her voice was slightly strained.

“I only have one condom, and I plan to have you multiple times before I leave in the morning.” He grinned. “Do you think you can order condoms on Instacart?”

She stared at him in disbelief for a moment. Then laughter spilled out of her, a rich, warm sound that stirred something deep down in his chest.

“Because if we can’t,” he said, “—and trust me, I’m willing to pay the extra fee for a small order—I’m going to have to go buy some.”

“Don’t worry,” she said, grinning. “I’ve got you covered. Literally.”

He laughed. God, she was perfect, but he’d spent his whole life waiting, and he didn’t want another minute to tick by without seeing all of her. He pulled her to her knees, then rested his hands on her upper thighs and slowly slid them up and over her hips, dragging up the hem of her dress.

---