LITMIR.BIZ

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      “I’m not stupid,” she said. “We have just met so I’ll take the hotel.”

      He smiled. “Perfectly understandable. Would a picnic dinner by one of the fire pits work for your comfort level?”

      “Yes,” she said, taking out her phone.

      “What are you doing?”

      “Texting my friend, who is the general manager of this lodge, to get the scoop on you,” she said.

      He reached over and put his hand on top of hers. “I’ll give you the full rundown while we are eating. You did say you were ready for an adventure...”

      She nodded again but it seemed more for herself than for him. “I guess you’re taking just as big a risk. After all, you know I’m armed and dangerous.”

      She held up her cell phone and he chuckled.

      “Yes, you are,” he said. She fascinated him; there was no denying it. The more he got to know her the more he wanted to be around her. There was something about her smile and her body... Hell, there was no denying he wanted her. This was Christmas, after all, so why shouldn’t he make it the best one possible?

       2

      WILL LEFT HER to go and make plans for their dinner, and asked her to be on the back patio in thirty minutes. She stood alone in the bar with her gin and tonic, thinking about life. She was excellent in a business situation. Give her an event for groups from fifty to a thousand to plan and she was in her element, but put her one-on-one with a guy—a smoking-hot guy—and she froze.

      “You look like you are contemplating something serious,” Elizabeth Anders said as she slid onto the bar stool that Will had just vacated.

      “I am,” she said.

      “Why?” Her best friend had a more relaxed aura now that she was engaged to their college chum Bradley. The two of them had been friends forever, and over Thanksgiving had finally given into the steaming sexual tension that the rest of the world had always seen between them. Now they were madly in love and planning their life together.

      She hitched in a breath. “Well, you know how I’m supposed to be giving myself Christmas this year?”

      “You know I do,” Elizabeth said, signaling the bartender and ordering herself a Drambuie.

      “You’re off the clock?”

      “I am. Bradley and I are going for a moonlight snowshoeing walk as soon as he gets here.”

      “That’s nice. I’m so happy for you.” And she was. Truly. But she was also jealous. She wanted that kind of romance in her life.

      Usually she was too busy with work to think about that kind of thing, but Will was making all those fantasies she’d tucked away for someday seem like a possibility.

      “I got the idea from that photo you’d posted on Pinterest of the couple walking in the snow.”

      “No fair stealing my romantic fantasies.” Penny pouted.

      “I thought one of us should take advantage of it. Plus you are better at romance than I am.” Elizabeth’s blue-green eyes sparkled. “Bradley loved the idea.” She smiled at her friend and then reached over and hugged her. Normally Elizabeth was all business so she struggled to make small talk and be social outside the corporate world but lately she’d been trying to change.

      “I met a guy this afternoon,” she said, picking up where she’d left off.

      “You did? That’s great! Where did you meet him? Why isn’t he here?”

      “I kind of tossed my phone out of the cabin and almost hit him in the head.”

      “Nice. I guess that’s why he’s not here,” Elizabeth said with a grin.

      “You’d think, but no. He said I’m interesting. We’re having dinner in thirty minutes. A picnic on the patio by one of the fire rings.”

      “You are? Who is he?”

      “Will Spalding. He’s staying in the cabin next to mine. Do you know anything else about him?”

      Elizabeth withdrew for a second but Penny didn’t mind. She knew her friend was using her razor-sharp mind to search for details about Will. “Last Christmas he stayed at the Caribbean resort that Lars owns. He always books in for two weeks at the holidays, and he’s due to check out on New Year’s Eve.” She grinned at her friend. “I can pull up some info about him if you want? I know he asked for a Christmas tree to be delivered on the twenty-first and that’s about it.”

      “That’s okay. He’s going to give me the scoop when we have dinner,” Penny said.

      Elizabeth gave her an incredulous look. “Yeah, sure he is. He’s probably going to tell you whatever he thinks you want to hear.”

      “I’m pretty sure my bullshit meter is more than ready to weed out his lies,” Penny said. “He’s my holiday fantasy. And unless he is a complete troll at dinner, I think I’ve found my distraction.”

      “Really?”

      “Uh-huh.”

      “Then why did you look so serious before?” Elizabeth prodded.

      “It sucks having a best friend who calls you on the BS.”

      Elizabeth laughed. “Yes, it does. So what’s up?”

      “I like him, Lizzie. He’s funny and charming, and I think he could be a lot of fun. But given what just happened with Butch, I’m afraid to just let myself relax and enjoy it, you know?”

      “I do know. But I also know that you aren’t going to let him slip away. If you want him for Christmas, then make him yours,” she said.

      “My own Christmas hottie?”

      “Definitely.”

      “Should I be jealous?” Bradley asked, coming up behind Elizabeth.

      “No,” Elizabeth said. “You’re my hottie.”

      “And you’re mine,” he said, bending to give his fiancée a kiss.

      “And that’s my cue to go,” Penny said, downing the rest of her drink. She was happy for them and everything, but she might have misjudged coming here with them so happy and in love. It made her wistful. Made her wish she had some kind of radar that would help her steer clear of losers. “Have fun on your walk.”

      “We will,” Bradley said with a wink. “Where are you heading off to?”

      “Dinner with a tall, dark stranger...” Penny replied.

      “Go, Penny!” Elizabeth said, holding her hand up for a high five.

      She gave her one, walking out of the bar. She wanted to believe that this was simply dinner and nothing more. Will Spalding didn’t have to be anything other than who he was. She needed fun and uncomplicated. A Christmas gift to herself before she had to make some serious decisions about her future.

      * * *

      WILL HAD NO problems ordering the dinner he wanted for himself and Penny. The concierge was more than happy to secure a fire pit for them away from the families roasting marshmallows and singing carols.

      Christmas lingered in his mind like a festering wound. Probably because it was the one time of the year that it really hit home that his family was gone and he was alone. He tended to wallow in it, starting around Thanksgiving. One year before he’d finally gotten sober, he’d spent the entire month of December drunk.

      “Is that all, Mr. Spalding?”

      “I’d like to do something after we eat. Any suggestions?”

      “We have a horse-drawn

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