Page 14 of Must Love Alligators

She rolled her eyes.

It wassovery unfortunate that he had yet to kiss this woman.

He was definitely going to fix that this time.If he couldn’t use mistletoe to his advantage, he didn’t deserve to kiss her.

“I was wondering if you could help me with something,” he said.

“Well, Maddie and I were just in the middle of a conversation here.”

Of course she wouldn’t just say,Sure, Chase, whatever you want.

“Oh, hey, it’s fine,” Maddie piped up.“It’s really cool.We can talk later.If Chase needs you, then you should go with him.”

Her attention flickered to something over Chase’s shoulder, then back to him and Bailey.He could only imagine the scene outside the window.Some crazy Cajun was probably running after some kind-of-but-not-really-wild critter.

Bailey started to look in that direction, but Chase moved in front of her, taking hold of her upper arms.Her eyes went wide as she looked up at him, clearly surprised—and now adequately distracted.

He knew she wasn’t here for the otters.But would he use the otters as an excuse to take up her time and attention?Absolutely.Without a single question.

“I like your dress,” he told her.It was white with purple and blue flowers and was a light, floaty material.She wore a white sweater over the top, but it was clearly a summery dress.Not Christmasy at all.In fact, it was nice and short, showing off the toned legs that she normally hid inside baggy khaki pants.But he didn’t mind that she was out of season.At all.

She blushed.Bright pink.“Oh…thanks.”

Yeah, she’d worn it for him.Somehow that reaction confirmed that to him.

“Very pretty,” he added.

“Thank you.”

“I’d assumed that you had great legs, but I like knowing for sure.”

She swallowed and her cheeks got even brighter.“Um…”

Maddie’s phone rang.Chase glanced over to find Maddie watching him and Bailey with an amused and slightly confused expression.She reached for her phone, her eyes still on them.“Yeah?”she answered it a moment later.“They are.”She paused.“Yes, both of them.”Another pause and a frown.“Is that real thing?”She rolled her eyes.“Oh, of course.Silly me.”A pause and she looked out the window behind her.“That’s perfect.”

When she hung up, she gave Chase and Bailey a big grin.“Ellie and Leo need a favor.They’re out on dock two.”

Chase grinned back.Ellie and Leo were Owen and Josh’s grandparents.The matriarch and patriarch of the Landry family.The people who had adopted Chase this past summer and showed him that people could love you, be exasperated by you, have high expectations of you, and support you right where you were all at the same time.He hadn’t really had that before.Except from his sister, Juliet.But definitely never from strangers.Of course, people were only strangers to Leo and Ellie Landry for about ten minutes.

“We’re on it,” he told Maddie.

“We?”Bailey asked.

Chase looked at her, then on impulse grabbed her hand.“We.”

He started to lift her hand to his lips for a kiss, unable to not touch her any longer.

But they both stepped in at the same moment and he stepped on her foot.Again.

This was how it had all gone down last time.

That was the brief thought that flashed through his mind as she yelped, “Ow!”and he bit off a, “Dammit!”

He pulled his foot up as she stepped back, but he still had a hold of her hand.He let go quickly.Too quickly.She took another off-balance step backward into the table that held a small Christmas tree, decorated with alligator, turtle, and crawfish ornaments.The tree wobbled, the ornaments swung, and Chase grabbed for Bailey as she grabbed for the tree.He caught her arm—which prevented her from catching the tree, instead sending it to the floor.

As a clay crawfish skidded over the wood floor and came to rest against the front counter, Maddie lifted round eyes.

“And I was just going for her hand that time,” Chase quipped.“You should see what damage we cause when I go for her lips.”

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