Page 15 of The Christmas List

Even Lucy, who I’m pretty sure has absolutely no idea who Dolly Parton even is, is impressed.

She blinks up at the snowman, her toothless grin spread wide. Wyatt squats down beside her and loops his arm over her small shoulder. “Now, that’s a snowwoman, bug.”

“Daddy! It’s Snowlene!” She giggles.

“Oh yes, sorry, sorry.”

I laugh before pulling my lip between my teeth. Wyatt rises to his feet and directs his attention to picking up the leftover supplies, and I drop my gaze to my feet when it lands on the tight globes of his butt in those stupid Wranglers.

Instead, I watch Lucy as she makes little snowballs and places them all around Snowlene, and that’s when I decide that I’m going to make a snowball of my own.

One that I’m aiming straight for Wyatt’sstupidWrangler butt.

I bend, scooping up a big handful of snow and quietly packing it into a tight ball. “Hey, Wyatt?”

He turns, his gold-flecked eyes widening when they drop to the snowball in my hand and then back to the shit-eating grin on my face.

“Josie Pearce, you know better than to start a war you have no intention of finishing.” My brow arches, and he shakes his head, holding up his hands as if I’m a feral animal that he’s attempting to corral into a cage. Mmmm. This is going to be satisfying, I have no doubt. “Don’t you throw that at me, Josie.”

Oh, I’m throwing it.

He’sthe one that should know better.

I raise my hand, biting back my smirk as he winces. “Josie.” His tone is full of warning. When that doesn’t work, he says, “Now, hon?—”

Smack.

The snowball hits him directly in the center of his forehead, coating almost his entire face, pieces clinging to his beard and dusting along the front of his flannel. His mouth hangs open as if he can’t actually believe I threw it at him.

“Daddy, Miss Josie got youin the face!” Lucy cackles, nearly collapsing to the ground from how hard she’s laughing. “Do it again!”

Wyatt wants to laugh. I know he does.

His hands are on his hips, and he’s staring at me intently.

“Whoops. Sorry, my hand slipped. I’m clum?—”

He barrels toward me, cutting me off as he bends at the waist and hoists me over his broad shoulders.

I squeak in surprise, which is barely heard over the sound of Lucy’s delighted laughter. “Wyatt, oh my God, put me down! You big… brute!”

He starts jogging around the field as if I weigh absolutely nothing. My fingers twist into the flannel material at his back, desperately trying to ignore the feel of his hard muscles and heated skin.

God, the man has always run hot.

“What are you doing?”

I try to lift my head to look around, but my hair is falling around my face, and I’m freaking upside down. All I can see is Lucy trailing behind us, laughing hysterically, her cheeks rosy and pink from the cold.

Wyatt’s palm is dangerously close to my butt, trailing high on the back of my thigh as he holds me in place steadily.

“I swear to God, Wy—” The words die on my tongue as the world spins, and I land flat on my ass in the soft, fluffy snow in front of him, his large body caging me in while he hovers over me.

This ass just …tossedme into the snow!

A murderous look passes over my face, and that only seems to make him grin harder. “Whoops, sorry, honey, Islipped. You know… clumsy and all that.” He tosses me a cocky wink.

I grip a handful of fluffy snow in my palm and bring it to his face, rubbing it over every inch that I can get to before he laughs low and deep, the sound causing heat to pool in my belly. His fingers circle my wrist, pulling my hand away as he stares down at me, eyes burning into me.

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