Page 71 of All I Want For Christmas

Because Savannah Lee was everything he’d tried before, and that had blown up in his face.

And then some.

Savannah made Kelsey look like a sweet small-town girl who could identify four types of Louisiana native birds just by their calls.

Incidentally, Kelsey couldnotdo that. And she’d laugh her city-girl ass off if he even suggested such a thing.

But Savannah Lee was…somuch more his type than Kelsey had been.

Kelsey had been sweet and had liked him.

Savannah wasn’t and didn’t.

Kelsey had thought thatmaybeshe could settle down in a small town. She’d thought she’d get used to everyone knowing everything about her and that there were no businesses in Autre open twenty-four hours a day.

She’d been wrong, but she’d at least thought it for a little while.

He was certain Savannah thought Autre was quaint andmaybecharming forshortperiods of time. He knew Savannah found the quirkiness of small-town living entertaining, and the bayou interesting the same way she found going to stage plays entertaining and walking through a museum interesting.

Fine, even enjoyable for a few hours, but definitely not an all-day-every-day-of-her-life choice.

All of that made her an even bigger challenge and so much more fun to poke.

So, if he did get close enough to her to…um…poke her, he’d have to be sure he was ready for her to poke back.

And he wouldnotmake the mistake he’d made with Kelsey.

He wouldnottry to keep Savannah Lee.

“You’re putting her in the cabin right next to yours? Overnight? Tell me you cut a hole in the window screens, or you planted a recording of spooky swamp noises somewhere that will play at midnight, or you left a book about the Rougarou right on her pillow,” Zander said.

“I…uh…” And that was when Theo realized he was fucked.

Because he hadn’t done any of those things.

He’d cleaned the cabin, put fresh towels in the bathroom, and bought French roast coffee pods for the single-serve coffee pot along with sugar-free hazelnut creamer.

And he’d fucking done that because he knew how she liked her coffee. Because he’d been paying attention.

He sighed. Dammit. He was pampering the city girl that he needed tonotpoke. But he also needed to not pamper her. He didn’t want her to like it here. He needed to run her off quickly before he started liking her too much.

But he couldn’t bring himself to be an outright ass to her.

He was in trouble.

“Do you need to be here?” Theo asked as he leaned back against his truck, facing Zander. He was trying for nonchalance.

He wasn’t sure he was pulling it off.

Zander knew him well. Too well sometimes. Zander had a twin brother and a number of cousins he was very close to, but for some reason, Zander had decided a long time ago that he needed another friend, and that Theo would be that friend.

The first day of kindergarten, Zander had asked Theo if he wanted to play tag at recess, then asked if he wanted to goswimming after school and then if Theo could stay for cookies at his grandma’s place.

Theo had, of course, said yes. Who turned down swimming and cookies? Even if the swimming was in the bayou and they’d eaten the cookies on stools at a bar.

He hadn’t realized at the time that Zander’s “grandma’s place” was her bar and restaurant across the street from her house. But he’d now, at age 28, eaten more cookies—and other things—at Ellie’s than he had at his own grandmother’s place.

After swimming and cookies, Theo had helped Zander and his older brother Fletcher, beat Zander’s twin Zeke, his cousins Mitch and Owen in a game of football.

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