Page 10 of Wrecked for the Holidays

“Yes, please. I went to a lot with a bunch of different sizes to pick from.”

“Actually, I was thinking of possibly doing something a little different. About two hours out of town is a little tree farm with a reindeer petting zoo attached. We could cut down a tree and feed the reindeer. How does that sound?”

“Yay, yay, yay, yay!” I couldn’t control myself and jumped out of my chair and did a butt-shaking happy dance, complete with spins. Instead of admonishing me or telling me to knock it off, Reed only laughed at my antics and smiled in his indulgent manner. “Picking our tree from the ground and feeding reindeer sounds so…so…Christmas-y.”

“It’s right outside Tannenberg, so we could get some lunch after we find the tree. I pulled out the ornaments my mom donated to me for my first Christmas in this house, but I’m sure we can find some more to add to it. But, if you’re not up for it, we shouldn’t do it.”

“No, no, no. I’m one hundred and thirty-two percent up for it. My hand still hurts, so maybe I won’t be much help chopping down a tree. I don’t think I would have been much help, even with a good hand. I’ll take something for it and be fine. My body’s not sore, and some walking around will be good for me.” Reed gaveme a skeptical look. “I promise. Cross my heart.” I crossed it for him so he knew I meant it.

“Okay, but if it gets too much, then you’ve got to promise me you’ll say something. There’s no point in pushing yourself harder than necessary.”

“Promise.” Reed accepted my answer with a nod and returned to his task of preparing my plate. He added apples to one empty section and syrup to the other. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, love.”

Chapter 6

Reed

“This one is perfect, Papa!”

I was certain Jakob didn’t realize he’d called me Papa, but I sure as hell wouldn’t be correcting him. He’d happily sung Christmas carols for the entire trip. I had to sit on my hand a few times to avoid reaching out and touching him while we drove. In hindsight, how exactly he ended up in my house after such a chance meeting was a little fuzzy, but here we were. And then for him to be little? What were the damn odds? I was going to buy a lottery ticket just in case.

Keeping my hands off Jakob was becoming harder and harder. He had this effortless vibe that was sexy as hell. His utter delight in small bits of happiness was like being filled with a warm light I wanted to forever keep shining.

“Are you sure? The last two werethe onesuntil you spotted a more perfect one. I just want to make sure it’s exactly what you want. Your first Christmas tree ought to be the best one ever.”

Jakob walked around the tree, crouched to look at various angles, and ran his hand along the sides. “Yep, this is the most perfectest Christmas tree.”

“Okay, this is ours then. Can you hold it with your good hand while I saw?”

Jakob nodded enthusiastically and sang cheerfully about sleighs and snow while I sawed through the tree trunk. Once on the ground, we maneuvered the tree into the wagon we’d borrowed from the check-in desk. The tree farm’s terrain was a difficult combination of dirt, rock, and ice that Jakob struggled to navigate.

“I’m sorry I’m falling all over the place. I don’t think my sneakers were madefor this.”

I looked down and realized he was wearing shoes with a soft sole intended to be bendable. Every rock he stepped on would be felt straight through to the bottom of his feet. No wonder he was struggling.

“They definitely aren’t. I should have asked about hiking shoes when I thought about coming here.”

“Oh, it wouldn’t have mattered because I don’t have any. I’ve never been hiking.”

“What? Not even around Rainier? They have some gorgeous trails.” Jakob shook his head and kicked the dirt beneath his sneakers but then struggled again when we hit a particularly rocky patch. I grabbed his uninjured hand to help steady him. Once we were past that section, I knew I should let go, but by then, I’d curved my fingers around his, and, damn, I didn’t want to release him. “Is that something that you’d like to do? Hike Rainier?”

“Yeah, it’s on my other list.”

“What list is that?”

Pink tinged Jakob’s cheeks, and I couldn’t tell if it was the cold wind or a blush. Truthfully, it was probably a combination of both. “My life to-do list. I’ve been working on it for years but haven’t gotten very far.”

“Any particular reason you haven’t or simply no time with your schooling?” Jakob’s heavy sigh weighed on my heart. He sounded so defeated and tired. Hell, I wasn’t completely sure how old he was, but whatever age he was, it was too damn young to be world-weary. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-three. I graduated from high school when I was a kid. By eighteen, I was finished with college and graduate school. I have a PhD in bio-science and work in the lab refining a program that uses nano-data mining technology for detecting medical patterns. My parents are accomplished in their own right, so I’ve never understood their obsession with ensuring I was always being pushed academically. They say my brain is a gift and it’s unfair for me to squander it, and they’ll make sure that never happens. And they’ve done it in spades.”

I moved closer to Jakob to share my heat in the chilly wind. It took every ounce of my self-control to keep my touch confined to his hand in mine. He, on the other hand, had no reservations and snuggled close to me. It felt so damn natural that I kept forgetting we’d only known each other twenty-four hours.

“Are your parents in the medical field? Or your brothers?”

“Nope. My parents are both corporate lawyers. One of my brothers works inshipping, I think, and the other works in construction. I told you they’re older, right?” He waited for my confirmation before continuing, “I remember a few fights about what they wanted to study. My parents were so mad about it. One night, I was hiding in my room when they were fighting, and our parents told them if they didn’t pick appropriate majors, they wouldn’t pay for college. Both of them moved out a couple of weeks after that. My middle brother was only nineteen.”

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