Page 3 of Christmas with Hope

“I’ll go get the firewood and get the fire going.”

“Let me change my clothes and I’ll help.”

My fingers touched my ice-cold zipper and pulled it down. My coat opened up revealing my black t-shirt with the words I AMSanta’s Naughty Listwritten in red.

Colton stared at my t-shirt. Or maybe he was staring at my chest. Either way, he was grinning.

“I wish I had a good excuse for why I’m wearing this,” I said, making him laugh and look me in the eyes.

“I like it,” he chuckled. “Looks like a shirt I should be wearing.”

“Are you on the naughty list, too?”

My words came out of nowhere. They also came out flirty-like. There was no hiding my attraction to Colton.

“Definitely,” he smirked. The huskiness in his voice had me wishing I could magically make his clothes disappear.

Colton and I stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. My body ached to feel his touch. His sexiness had me squeezing my thighs together to dull the throbbing ache between them.

“I must admit, Hope,” he chuckled softly.

“What’s that?”

“I’m a little disappointed that Tim and Stefanie never told me about you.”

“Oh,” I breathed. “Why’s that?”

“Just because,” he whispered. “I’ll leave you to change into some dry clothes. I’m going to go gather firewood and try to start the generator.”

“Sure you don’t want help?”

He shook his head and smiled.

“You getting warm is more important. I’ll be back shortly,” he looked hesitant but soon turned and made his way out of the cabin.

When the door closed behind him, I let out a deep breath.

Holy hell. He’s sexy.

“What do you mean, you guys aren’t coming!” I shouted into the phone, sitting up on the couch. Colton sat up in the recliner across from me with his eyes wide.

Should have left the paperweight in the truck,I groaned to myself.

After I had changed earlier, I had a nagging feeling that I needed to grab myno servicephone out of the truck. When my phone vibrated on the coffee table, it nearly gave me a heart attack. What were the odds that I finally had service?

“You can thank me later,” Stefanie said in a mischievous tone.

“Stefanie, why aren’t you guys coming?”

“Because we are giving you and Colton your Christmas gifts.”

“Which is?”

“Each other,” she replied sweetly.

I looked across from me at Colton. He was going to flip when he found out he had been set up. I doubted he would stay the entire week in the cabin. Hell, he might not even stay the rest of the day.

“Tim is going to call Colton and give him the news. I’ll call you a bit later. Or you can text me… when you are free,” she teased.

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