Page 50 of Once Upon a Christmas Beauty

“You’re incorrigible.”

If Alex wasn’t going to spend the day worrying about the coming snow, neither would she. Turned out, the back row was a lovely place to find lip service. With the pending bad weather, shoppers were sparce during the rest of her shift…which meant not only did Mia and Alex have ample time to restock books but to also peruse the back row’s selections.

Repeatedly.

It was like being a teenager all over again, sneaking around, bending the rules she once lived by. From the moment Alex had come to town, he’d managed to lure her outside her comfort zone. With him, her doldrum days had become full of fun, excitement, and romance.

She never wanted it to end.

This next commitment, however, would definitely put their budding relationship to the test. It would require mental agility, along with physical dexterity and stamina. Few men had ever chanced it. In fact, if Alex didn’t run screaming from town by dinnertime, Mia would call it a win.

“Where did you say we were headed next?” Alex asked as they climbed into her vehicle behind the bookstore.

“Barbara Thompson’s house.” She studied him for a moment, trying to commit her handsome passenger to memory before the town had a chance to scare him off. “It’s time to meet the rest of The Sisters.”

*

Alex had toldhimself for years that he would do anything to win Mia back. Walk over hot coals, fight in a bar brawl, maybe even rob a bank. But never in a million years would he have guessed winning her back would involve cursing blue hairs, frosting battles, and sprinkle explosions.

Oh, and Christmas edibles.

“Dammit, Nan, will you put your gummies away already?” Margaret Harper scolded. “I need someone to put green and red sugar sprinkles on these spritz before they go into the oven.”

Her sister Nancy offered Alex a wink as she tucked her Santa-shaped edibles collection back into the pocket of her tie-dyed apron. “If you change your mind, honey, you know where to find me.”

“I sure do.”

Alex’s mind wandered briefly to Tom. He’d bet he would be up for some edibles right about now, after that last text he’d gotten from his friend. The pain was increasing, and Tom had conceded to allowing his pain medication to increase as well. It made his brain foggier, but he hated watching his family see him suffer.

God, cancer sucked.

Nan’s voice broke through his thoughts. “And then Charlene looked to Helen, who was talking with Mabel—”

“She wasn’t!” said Barb.

“She was!”

Alex bit back a groan. So. Many. Stories!

He threw an imploring look to Mia, hoping she’d take pity on him and come up with the perfect excuse to get them out of here. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could do at the moment, as both her hands were covered in chocolate and powdered sugar. But instead of seeming overwhelmed or put out by all the noise and drama, she was absolutely glowing.

Sure, that could have been from the heat—Lord knew it had to be about eighty-six degrees in here with the double oven going and all these bodies pounding out cookies. What were there, seven people in this tiny kitchen? But the smile on her face and laughter crinkling the corners of her eyes suggested it was more than that.

Mia was happy, and the sight made him happy, too.

“Less staring and more rolling, Tree Mangler,” Margaret said with a wink.

Yes, word had gotten out about the mishap with Mia’s artificial tree. And that Alex had stayed over at her place several times now. He’d barely walked in the door before they’d started rapid-fire questions about everything from his intentions with Mia to his preferred condom manufacturer. And they expected answers to each and every one.

Eventually, Mia told them all to cut it out, and to their credit, they did. Still, being the only guy in a room full of chatty Cathys left him feeling a little awkward, especially when topics like lingerie sales and mammograms came up. It seemed no topic was sacred when The Sisters were around.

Alex resumed his current task of rolling out thin logs of red- and white-colored cookie dough. Somehow, these were going to be snipped and twisted into candy cane shapes and then sprinkled with crushed peppermint. It was a far more complicated task than just adding frosting to sugar cookies, one he’d been assigned after Mia had bragged on his cooking skills.

Cooking, he had patience for. Baking? Not so much.

When Mia had said they were coming here to bake cookies, he thought she meant the little store-bought tubes of sugar cookies that they’d ice and then be on their way. But oh no, not the ladies of Bourbon Falls. Instead, they were making at least a dozen different kinds of cookies, andeverythingfrom scratch.

At this rate, they’d be here until midnight.

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