LITMIR.BIZ

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      As if he hadn’t just dropped the bombshell that threatened to destroy the entire evening, Rory said, “You can go down and pay if you want.”

      She nodded, and, holding Finley’s hand, she raced down to the cashier. She paid for the tree and directed Finley to the SUV, where Rory and the farm employee were tying her blue spruce to her vehicle’s roof.

      As they got inside the vehicle and headed home, Shannon and Rory were quiet. But Finley chatted up a storm.

      “So how do we get the tree in the house?”

      Rory said, “We’ll park as close as we can to the porch, then I’ll hoist it on my shoulder and hope for the best.”

      Finley giggled. Shannon almost laughed, too. She could picture him wobbling a bit with an entire tree on his shoulder.

      “And then what do we do with it?”

      He looked over at Shannon. “I’m guessing Shannon has a tree stand.”

      “What’s a tree stand?”

      Shannon took this one. “That’s the thing that holds up the tree. Since it doesn’t have roots anymore, it needs help standing.”

      Finley nodded sagely. “Oh.” Then she grinned. “Do we get hot cocoa after that?”

      “As much as you want.”

      Rory peeked over at Shannon. “But not so much that she’s too wired to go to sleep tonight.”

      An unexpected longing shot an arrow straight to her heart. She wanted them to stay the night. She wanted to put the tree up in the living room, make hot cocoa and decorate the tree with them. Not just Finley, but Rory, too. She’d liked his stories of happy Christmas Eves and Christmases. She liked that his mom couldn’t cook any better than she could. She liked that he didn’t mind telling stories of his past. She liked that he didn’t mind leaving her with his child, doing the heavy lifting of the tree… Who was she kidding? She also liked that he was good-looking, funny, smart—and that he liked her.

      She turned to look out the window. He liked her. Her heart swelled with happiness, even as her stomach plummeted. He could like her until the cows came home, but that didn’t change the fact that they wouldn’t ever be together.

      Pulling into her driveway, Rory said, “I think the easiest way to get the tree off the SUV is for me to stand on one side, while you stand on the other. You untie your side of the ropes first. I’ll do mine second. Then I’ll ease the tree off on my side.”

      “Sounds like a plan.”

      Finley leaned forward. “Yeah. Sounds like a plant.”

      Rory laughed. “She said plan. It sounds like a plan.”

      “But a tree is a plant!”

      Shannon slanted him a look. “She’s got you there.”

      They got out of the SUV laughing. Rory stood on the driver’s side, while Shannon stayed on the passenger’s side.

      “Okay,” he called. “You untie the ropes on your end.”

      As quickly as she could, Shannon undid the ropes currently holding the tree to her side of the SUV.

      “Okay!”

      “Okay!” Rory called back. “Now, I’ll untie mine.”

      The branches of the blue spruce shimmied a bit as he dealt with the ropes. Then suddenly it shivered a little harder, then began to downright shake. Before Shannon knew what was happening, it rolled toward her, and then tumbled off the roof.

      Finley screamed and raced up the porch. Shannon squealed and jumped out of the way, but the tree brushed her as it plopped into the snow.

      Rory came running over. In a move that appeared as instinctive as breathing, he grabbed her and pulled her to him. “Oh, my God! Are you all right?”

      Even through his jacket she could feel his heart thundering in his chest. Feel his labored, frightened breathing.

      “It just brushed me.” She tried to say the words easily, but they came out slow and shaky. It had been so long since a man had cared about her so much that he hugged her without thinking, so long since she’d been pressed up against a man’s chest, cocooned in a safe embrace. Loved.

      She squeezed her eyes shut. There it was. The thing that scared her about him. He was tumbling head over heels in love with her, as quickly as she was falling for him. She’d spent days denying it. Then another two days avoiding it, thinking it would go away. But it wasn’t going away.

      They were falling in love.

       CHAPTER NINE

      RORY PULLED THE TREE UP and hoisted it over his shoulder the way he’d told Finley he would.

      Shannon watched him. Her heart in her throat with fear that he might hurt himself, then awe at the sheer power and strength of him. He might work in an office all day, but he was still a man’s man. Still strong. Masculine. Handsome.

      Oh, Lord, she had it bad.

      And the worst part was, he knew.

      Thanking God for the built-in chaperone of Finley, she scrambled up the stairs behind him. She could hear Finley’s little voice saying, “Okay, turn left, Daddy.” She squealed. “Duck down! Duck down! You’re going to hit the doorway!”

      Shannon quickened her pace.

      Rory dropped the tree to the living-room floor with a gentle thump. He grinned at her. “You women. Afraid of a little bit of dirty work.”

      Shannon glanced down at the pine needles around her feet. “A little bit of dirty work? I’ll be vacuuming for days to get these needles up.”

      Rory laughed. “Where’s your tree stand?”

      “It’s by the window.”

      He made short order of getting the tree in the stand. After removing her boots and coat, Finley stood on the club chair nearby giving orders. “It’s leaning to the left.”

      He moved it.

      “Now it’s leaning to the right.”

      They were so cute, and it was so wonderful to have them in her house, that her heart filled with love. Real love. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had fallen in love with them. Especially Rory. Finley would grow up and move on. But she could see herself growing old with Rory.

      And that was wrong. Really wrong. So she ducked out of the living room for a minute or two of private time in the kitchen.

      Busying herself with making cocoa for Finley, she chided herself. “So you’re falling in love. Big deal. He’s gorgeous. He’s good with his daughter. And—” She sucked in a breath. “He likes you, too. Is it any wonder you’re being drawn in?”

      The kitchen door swung open. Rory walked in. “Are you talking to yourself?”

      Her blood froze in her veins. This was a consequence of living alone for the past few months. She did talk to herself. Out loud.

      Hoping he hadn’t heard what she’d said, only the mumbling of her talking, she brushed it off. “Old habit.” Turning from the stove to face him, she said, “Not a big deal.”

      Then she looked into his eyes, saw the attraction she’d been denying and avoiding, and her pulse skittered. What she wouldn’t give to be able to accept this. To run with it. Step into his arms and look into his eyes and just blatantly flirt with him.

      As if reading her mind, he walked over, caught her elbows and brought her to him. “Thanks for tonight. Finley had a great time and I did, too.”

      His entire

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