Page 36 of All I Want For Christmas

Her nose instantly froze, her shoulders hunched in revolt, and her jeans decided at that moment to slide down, allowing her midriff to be pummeled by wet fat flakes.

At least her companion was looking at her in sympathy. “Come sit in my car while we call somebody.”

By the time they hiked the twenty feet to his car and Blue slid into the passenger seat, her mouth was stuck open as little gasps of horror escaped. Her entire body felt like someone had repeatedly stabbed her with a million sharp pins. Her companion had turned his car off in the interim so it wasn’t really any warmer than it was outside, but at least there was no wind and no snow smacking her in the face and torturing herfeet. She stomped her shoes to remove the excess snow7and tried not to whimper.

He cranked on the car and the heat and looked at her. “Is that the only jacket you have?”

She nodded.

“Shoes?”

“This is it unless I want to change into flip-flops. I’m going on a cruise. I didn’t want a bunch of winter stuff with me.” Blue touched her nose. It was still there, despite her not being able to feel it.

“Here.” He leaned into the backseat and rifled through a bag. He emerged with two wool socks. “Put these on.”

They were like water in the desert, dangling in front of Blue, as tantalizing as a winning lottery ticket. But it seemed really weird to take socks from a stranger. “Don’t you need these?”

“They’re just socks. I can get more.” He gave her a look of amusement. “Just put them on. You look like a Popsicle. But a cute one.”

That made a certain body part unthaw slightly. ‘Thanks.” As she kicked her ballet flats off and bent her knee so she could drag on one of the thick socks, she added, “I’m Blue, by the way.”

“What?” He looked at her, his expression one of confusion. “Don’t worry, you’ll warm up. I don’t think you’re at risk for hypothermia yet.”

Blue laughed. “No. I mean, I’m Blue. That’s my name.” She abandoned the sock for a minute and stuck out her hand to him. “Blue Mariposa Farrow. Pleased to meet you.”

Understanding hit Christian and he felt like a first-class idiot. “Oh, shit, sorry. I’m Christian Dawes. Nice to meet you too, though I wouldn’t have minded better circumstances.”

“No kidding. And don’t worry about not catching my name. I’m well aware it’s unusual. My mom was going for unique and lovely territory, but she just landed in people just asking ‘what?’ to me over and over.”

Blue went back to struggling with his sock, and as Christian watched her long and elegant fingers, and took in that wide smile below her high cheekbones, he thought that the name actually suited her. She had black hair with blunt bangs, the sides angling down past her chin. Her eyes had dark shadow on them and her fingernails were painted a deep blue. There was something very edgy yet playful about her appearance and her expressions. He’d only spent ten minutes with her and he could already see that she emoted with exaggerated facial expressions. She did the eyebrow arch, the head tilt, and a whole variety of movements with her lips.

Lips that he wouldn’t mind being on his.

“It’s definitely a unique name, but it’s actually very pretty. Mariposa is butterfly in Spanish, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Blue finished with the socks and sighed. “Ah, that feels good. And if you think Blue Butterfly is a pretty name for a grown woman you’re smoking something and I don’t mean a Marlboro. It’s a corny name. But I’m used to being Blue.” She did a fake drumroll on her knees and grinned. “Ba dum dum.”

Christian laughed. “Well, I guess my parents went for the obvious. My sisters’ names are Mary and Elizabeth. I think if they could have gotten away with naming me Jesus they would have.”

“See, my mom would have just gone for it. So be grateful.”

He was perfectly content sitting in his warm car staring at her, but Blue pulled her cell phone out of her purse.

“I better call someone if I hope to ever get out of here.”

Right. Her wrecked car. Christian picked his phone up out of the cup holder, figuring he should call his family and warn themof the delay. Except he had no bars on his cell phone. He tried to call his mom anyway but it didn’t do anything. “Is your phone working?”

Blue was frowning at her own cell phone and holding it up in the air. “No. Damn, this could be a problem.”

“It must be the hill messing things up.” They had slid to a stop nestled in a curve where the highway had been carved out of a steep hill. Given the curve and the incline, it was no wonder Blue had lost control in the piled-up snow. Christian rolled down his window and stuck his phone out, hoping miraculously it would start working. It didn’t.

“Where are we? Are we close to an exit? I guess I’ll have to walk.”

Christian dropped his phone back down and hit the button to put his window back up. Then he shot the woman next to him an incredulous look. “Are you crazy? You can’t walk in this. And if you think for one minute that I would let you walk in this, then you have another thing coming. It’s probably two miles to the next exit and you’re half- naked.”

“I’m not half-naked!” Her face scrunched up.

Okay, maybe that had been melodramatic but he was appalled at the thought of her walking in a blizzard with a velvet jacket without gloves and those stupid girl shoes that exposed the tops of her feet. Sexy, yes, practical, no.

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