Page 9 of Getting Wrapped Up

He was going to have to ask Joe about those boots. Joe Spencer was wearing boots? To do what? Muck out the stalls in his barn?

Levi chuckled to himself, but as he turned to exit the room, he glanced out the window. This one faced east and, sure enough, there was a barn in the distance.

For a second, Levi wondered what he’d gotten into.

Changing your life around before the ghosts get to you.

It was an analogy. He didn’t really think ghosts were coming to bring him a message about changing his life. He did, however, fully expect to have a stocking full of coal on Christmas morning.

Half an hour later, he walked into the Come Again bar in tiny Sapphire Falls, Nebraska, and thought maybe the Ghost of Christmas Present wasn’t such a bad guy.

The built blonde in the red dress sitting at the bar was exquisite.

It had beenclear within three seconds of stepping into the Come Again that Kate was overdressed. But a night out at the pubs in her neighborhood meant fitted red dresses, a sexy twist to her hair and full make up.

At the Come Again, the dress code was clearly denim, cotton and more denim.

Kate pressed her lips together and rubbed as she lifted her glass of wine, trying to blot some of her lipstick off. None of the other women were wearing anything more than cherry lip balm.

She sipped and then set her glass down with surprisingly steady hands. It wasn’t nerves about the date. Phoebe had set it up, and Kate knew Phoebe. This was about Kate having a nice Christmas. The guy would be great. Funny, sweet, interested in helping her have a nice time. Her antsy feelings were about being the center of attention in a room full of strangers. She could hardly miss the blatant stares from all of the other patrons. Everyone was watching her with such open curiosity she almost laughed. She had no trouble being alone. Even drinking alone. But she felt compelled to engage them all in conversation for some reason. Even stranger was the realization that she would have nothing in common with any of these people.

What was she going to talk to herdateabout? He was a Sapphire Falls boy born and raised. What was his name again? Oh God, she couldn’t even remember his name. It was some country-boy name. Trent? Trey? Tate? She wrinkled her nose. Tate was a countryclubboy’s name. She pulled her phone from her purse and opened her text messages.

“Tucker Bennett.”

Tucker. That was definitely a country-boy’s name. Kate smiled. Not having anything in common with him could only be a good thing. She wanted to get away from her life for a while.

Phoebe had also included,“Dark hair, blue eyes, killer smile.”

Kate had texted back asking what he’d be wearing. Phoebe’s answer had made her laugh.

“One thousand percent sure he’ll be wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt.”

That was clearly a good bet, Kate thought, sipping her wine and covertly checking the room out. Every guy in the room was in blue jeans and the split between cotton T-shirts and cotton plaid shirts was about fifty-fifty.

There was a pool game going in the corner, music that she didn’t recognize other than to know it was country played from the jukebox and couples were moving around the dance floor in a coordinated pattern. She knew that was a two-step. She did watch movies and TV after all.

“Christmas just became my favorite holiday.”

Kate felt goose bumps dance down her spine at the rich, deep voice behind her. She swallowed her mouthful of wine and then turned slowly on the stool. She wanted to savor this moment. This was the first step toward her perfect, magical Christmas.

Tucker Bennett was gorgeous.

That was Kate’s first thought. Phoebe had said cute. She’d said he was a nice guy. She had mentioned the killer smile and blue eyes, but she had failed to warn Kate that she wouldn’t be able to breathe when she actually met Tucker’s gaze directly.

Holy jingle bells. This was gonna be good.

“Hi,” she said, trying to decide if she sounded sexy breathless or crazy breathless.

Obviously, Phoebe had told him she would be his date for the Christmas formal and Tucker would know she was from out of town, especially considering he probably knew every single person in Sapphire Falls and their grandmother. But she couldn’t be all gaga and pathetic. She wanted a movie-worthy Christmas, but she couldn’t fall all over Tucker. He’d signed on to be her date, not the savior of everything Christmas thus far in her life.

She needed to get a grip.

“Joe is a really, really good guy,” Tucker said.

She smiled. That sounded positive. And she couldn’t disagree. Tucker was probably a friend of Joe’s, and Phoebe had probably gotten Joe to talk him into this. Kate wondered briefly what Phoebe had told Joe and what Joe had shared with Tucker.

But it didn’t matter. He was here now and he was…magnificent.

---