Page 14 of Getting Wrapped Up

She nodded. “And that was a lot to pay for hot chocolate.”

“I have a feeling this will be the best hot chocolate of my life.”

Her eyes widened at that. “Have you had a lot of hot chocolate over the years?”

And just like that it was clear they weren’t talking about hot chocolate. He grinned. “Probably more than my share.”

She gave a little snort like that didn’t surprise her. Levi had been told before that he gave off a womanizing vibe. Whatever that meant. He didn’t know any other way to be. None of the men in his family knew any other way to be. They loved women and women loved them, and Levi hadn’t been raised to see that as anything other than awesome.

They walked toward the middle of the square. Around the gazebo, there were several benches and a surprising number of them were occupied. There were actually a number of people in the square. Families with kids at the gingerbread house and petting the reindeer. Couples walking hand in hand or cuddling on the benches, cups of various hot drinks in hand. Clearly, the people in Sapphire Falls were used to the brisk temperatures.

Or maybe it was that he was from Vegas and his hide was too thin for the cold air. By this time next year he’d be adjusted, he thought with a grin. He took in the scene before him and a deep breath of what he could only describe as Christmassy air. It was, admittedly, a cozy scene, and Levi was suddenly a fan of colder weather. What a great reason to get a pretty girl in his arms.

The square was brightly lit. The four huge trees were completely decked out from tip to trunk in lights and ornaments—some of which also lit up. The street lamp posts were all twisted with tinsel that sparkled and reflected the lights. Then there were the giant lighted candy canes, plastic oversized ornaments, and the gingerbread house that had lights around the eaves like any good home in a Christmassy small town.

“Want to sit?” he asked, indicating a bench that faced one of the trees. She’d wanted a tree, he’d brought her to the middle of four gigantic ones. That was how Levi did things—big, bright and better.

He frowned. He might need to squelch those urges a bit. If Phoebe was any indication of the women in Sapphire Falls, they weren’t impressed with overspending and big flashy gestures. Phoebe was down to earth. It stood to reason that a friend of hers would be the same.

They sat on the wooden bench and Levi stretched his arm along the back behind Hailey’s shoulders. She cuddled up against his side and he felt the heart he’d recently rediscovered expand.

This was nice.

This was the freaking epitome of nice.

He could get used to this.

They could sit here in the spring and look at the tulips coming up around the gazebo. They could come in the summer and watch the Ferris wheel turn. He knew there was a Ferris wheel from Joe’s photos of the summer festival that went on each June. Hell, they could ride the Ferris wheel. Levi tried to remember the last time he’d been on a carnival ride and came up blank. Had he never ridden a Ferris wheel? Was that possible?

“I should text Phoebe and let her know that we found each other.”

“Great. I’ll tell Joe too.” His brother was no doubt wondering how things were going.

“Met Hailey. I OWE YOU.”Levi grinned as he hit send. That would make Joe curious, and Levi meant it.

She sent her text and then slid closer, cupping her cocoa in both hands. Levi was hit by a combination of scents, including the chocolate from her cup, the scent of evergreen that he wouldn’t be surprised to find that they piped into the square somehow to help with the whole festive feel, and the scent of vanilla that he could have sworn came from her hair.

This was really, really…nice.

“So you must love Christmas,” he said. That was dumb. She was the mayor of a town that would put the North Pole to shame.

“Not really.” She was holding her cup close to her lips as if the steam from the tiny hole in the lid would warm her.

“No?” He was surprised. “Why not?”

She looked up at him. Underneath the red knit cap she looked young and suddenly a little sad.

Did he know her well enough to tell when she was sad?

“My mom lost her mom and dad in a bad car accident on Christmas Eve when she was seventeen. Ever since then, she hasn’t been able to celebrate Christmas without going into a deep depression. My dad wanted to protect her from that, so they always jet off to Hawaii and avoid the holidays completely.”

“They have Christmas in Hawaii,” he said, hoping that wasn’t insensitive. Admittedly, his radar for sensitive and appropriate was a bit rusty. If it had ever worked.

“They do, but it’s easy to avoid if you have a huge house on a private beach on Lanai.”

Levi processed that. Not just the tragic story, but the fact that this woman hadn’t had a Christmas growing up, that she clearly came from money with the talk of huge houses on private beaches on one of the most secluded of the Hawaiian islands, and that she’d told him all of this.

“So no Christmas trees, no Santa, nothing?” he asked.

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