Page 8 of Miss Merry and Mr. Bright
I can’t help but smile at him and he stares at me like I’m a nut. I’ve seen that look for half my life. Ever since I lost my parents and wound up all alone in the world, nobody seems to understand me.
“What do you want now?”
I ignore the clipped tone and grin. “We need to set the tree up and throw the lights on it. Have you ever lain underneath a tree and listened to Christmas music with the tree lights on and all the other lights off?”
He shakes his dark head and I laugh. “I can’t believe that. I loved to do that every Christmas. My mom and I did it and it was one of our favorite things. We’d just talk about everything going on.”
“Why aren’t you with your parents, Merry? Surely they miss spending the holidays with you.”
My eyes skitter away from him and I wring my hands together. “I lost them right after I turned eighteen. I don’t have any more family. My parents were both only children.”
He hisses through his teeth and then sighs, “I’m sorry, Merry. That must be hard. I don’t understand how you can love the holidays as much as you do then. I lost my parents at theholidays and the last thing I want is to dig into all those damn memories.”
“You shouldn’t block out everything happy that you can remember. Those little things will help you make it through some rough days.”
I should know.
“I don’t know. I’ve got a lot of work to do. I should get some more stuff done tonight.”
I pad over to him and reach out to touch his arm gently. “Please? I’d love to really make this place feel good. For you.”
And sadly, maybe a little bit for me.
It’s been a long time since I had company at the holidays. I could become used to having somewhere to call my own.
His pale eyes meet mine and I try to keep my face blank. But then he sighs. “Fine. I’ll do this. But then tomorrow I need to work.”
My smile stretches so wide that it’s like that green guy from the movies.
“Yay! You won’t regret it.”
“Fat chance of that,” he mutters.
But we go to work and throw tinsel at the tree after we get it set up and then he wrenches the lights out of my hands and deftly wraps them around the fake tree.
Breaking into the new boxes of ornaments I study the space critically and take forever to place the first ornament. I glance over as he huffs and then he takes a handful of ornaments and haphazardly slips them onto the green branches. Over and over we cross and move around each other, our hands touching here and there, until my heart is pounding and my whole body feels like a live wire sparking in the dark.
After a good hour, we step back as one and I grin at him, holding my hand up for a high-five. He rolls his eyes and ignores my hand. “Looks good, grumpy.”
“Looks okay, angel.”
“Let’s eat and then we’ll get this all cleaned up and turn on the music. I can’t wait to see what it looks like.” It feels like forever since I hung out underneath a tree.
I can’t wait.
I pull out a huge picnic that I prepared and set it down on a red and green buffalo plaid blanket. His dark brow lifts and I chuckle.
“Let’s eat.”
5
NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING…EXCEPT A CHIHUAHUA IN A CHRISTMAS SWEATER!
JASPER BRIGHT
The lights are so muted and soft that it feels like I’m in some kind of winter wonderland of Christmas. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas plays in the background and Merry’s soft shoulder is right up against mine.
My whole body is tingling like it’s on fire and she’s gently snoring beside me. I’m so turned on that I can’t even think straight and she’s snoozing through it all.
