Page 8 of Rebel Without a Claus
I start moving toward the porch, Eve following at my heels like an eager puppy. “So? What do you say? I can design some flower displays for your farmer’s market. And… I can help you wrangle the reindeer, and collect… um… eggs from the chicken coup.”
A laugh tears from my throat at the thought of Eve in flannel collecting the eggs from Cluck Norris and the other hens in the coup. “You want to collect eggs? Hoist hay into the pens? Wrangle the reindeer every morning with me?”
“Yes,” she gives a resolute nod. “Yes, I do.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Eve, do you have any idea how much work it is to wrangleonereindeer, let alone eight?”
Not to mention, two weeks of work as one of my farmhands will not make her anywhere near the debt she’d need to pay off. I’m not exactly sure what she thinks my farmhands make, but it ain’t that.
She tilts her head, all innocence. “How hard can it be?”
I exhale sharply. “Fine. You think it’s easy?” I stomp back to the trailer hitched to my truck and yank the lock. “You can watch Blitzen for the day.”
Her eyes light up. “Really? At no cost?”
“Not a damn penny. The first one’s free.”
She looks me up and down skeptically as the realization this is too good to be true washes over her. “And if I can care for Blitzen for a couple hours today, then you’ll rent me the eight reindeer for the cost of two?”
“As long as you work for the next two weeks on the farm with me,sure.” I smirk.Yeah. Let’s see how much Christmas spirit you have left after a couple hours with Blitzen.She wasn’t going to last twenty minutes, let alone two hours.
Luckily, I brought two pens with me today, just in case. I yank one out of the trailer and get to work setting it up in the front yard of the inn. It only takes me about ten minutes before I’m hauling out a cube of hay for her, too.
“I’ll need you to pick her up before my story time at the library,” she instructs.
“And what time is that?”
“Three p.m.”
“Sounds doable.” I whistle sharply as Blitzen trots out of the trailer. She’s the biggest troublemaker of the bunch, always looking for a way to wreak havoc. If Eve thinks reindeer are just oversized puppies, she’s in for a rude awakening.
“Here,” I say, handing over the lead. “Good luck.”
Eve takes the rope with glee. “Aw, she’s so cute.”
I shake my head and mutter, “You say that now.”
Before she can argue further, Blitzen takes off, a blur of fur and antlers barreling past me, hooves skidding on the icy driveway. And Eve flies behind her, still holding onto her lead for dear life as she’s dragged across the lawn.
My most mischievous reindeer is hopping proudly across the inn’s front yard like she owns the place.
“Oh no,” I realize.What have I done?“Eve! Let go of the harness!”
Eve gasps. “I–I can’t lose her!” But before she can even finish her sentence, Blitzen whips her head around and Eve loses her hold on the rope.
“Oh my god,” I mutter, taking off after them.
Blitzen dodges left, then right, clearly enjoying the game of chase. Eve, being Eve, isn’t giving up either and chases myreindeer without a second thought. Her boots slip on the icy ground, and before I can warn her?—
“Whoa—”
She flails, arms windmilling, and I know exactly how this ends.
Acting on instinct, I lunge forward and grab her just before she can face-plant into a snowdrift. For the second time in two days, I’ve got an armful of Eve Winters.
And annoyingly, I don’t hate how warm and soft she is in my arms.
For a moment, we don’t move. She blinks up at me, lips parted slightly, breath coming out in little puffs of cold air. My hands are on her waist, hers gripping my jacket. And suddenly, it’s not just the cold making my skin prickle.
