LITMIR.BIZ

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of July.

      Needing some air, he broke away from where he was sitting on the side of the bed and went out the front door, no destination in mind, just needing to get out. Standing out on Warren’s front walk, he relaxed his breathing, chasing the stress from his mind as he started working through a series of stretches. The sun dipped and the lights on the houses around him clicked on.

      As he leaned over, his eye landed on the single unlit spot on the street. Joy’s house. The windows were dark, the car gone, not a creature was stirring in that lonely little house. He’d heard her car leave that morning—before the sun had come up, even though they’d been awake most of the night before. Where could she be now? Working late? Out with friends? Volunteering at the shelter she obviously loved so much? Avoiding him?

      Why did he like Joy Clarke so much, exactly? He barely knew her.

      Didn’t matter; he couldn’t keep his mind off her.

      Straightening, he looked at the dark facade of her home again and contemplated her dislike of Christmas. She’d said she didn’t like it—that the lights annoyed her—but maybe she needed someone to share it all with? He’d asked her to hook up with him, essentially, and she’d shied away. Maybe there was another way to reach her.

      Jumping in his car, he made a quick trip to the local home-improvement warehouse. Since he’d been working on Warren’s house, the staff recognized him. Several eager young female clerks helped him pick out decorations, and encouraged him when he told them his plan. As he drove home, the more he thought about it, the more determined he became.

      Back at Warren’s, he grabbed his ladder, brought it over to Joy’s yard and got started. He’d have to work fast, as she could be home any second. The more he had done, the harder it would be for her to tell him to undo it. He smiled devilishly to himself.

      An hour later, when he was up on the roof and nearly finished, he heard a car’s motor and looked down, watching Joy pull into her driveway, stop, then drive forward the rest of the way.

      He swung down over the edge back to the ladder and heard her car door slam.

      “What the hell are you doing?”

      He was prepared for her temper and turned around calmly, greeting her politely.

      “Evening, Joy. Putting up some lights—you’re the only house on the block without a single light on,” he answered, nonplussed. “It’s not a lot—a bit around the edge of the roof and corners—you won’t even be able to see them from inside.”

      She glowered. “I don’t want to see them at all—you have no right to have your way with my house!”

      He couldn’t help but grin at her phrasing—her house wasn’t the only thing he wanted to have his way with.

      “Stop smiling at me like that! I’m serious!” she said between clenched teeth.

      “I know you are. I’ll make you a deal. You help me finish putting up these lights, and we’ll turn them on, and if you still don’t like it, I’ll take them down. Though I’ve been working on them for quite a while, so it may have to wait until tomorrow,” he said with a sigh.

      “It’s been a long day, Rafe….”

      “All the more reason for you to do something fun at the end of it. With me,” he said, bending to hand her a coil of wire and lights. “Hold these and feed them up to me as I clip them, okay? This is the last bunch.”

      She sputtered for a moment, but he hopped back up the ladder, not giving her a chance to object. Sure enough, she walked to the edge and fed him the lights as he neatly clipped them into place.

      “Did you end up working late?” he inquired casually, filling the silence between them.

      “No. I went by the shelter.”

      “Hmm,” was all he said, earning another curious look.

      “What’s that supposed to mean?”

      “I thought maybe you were trying to wait me out and come home late, so I might get the hint that you’re not interested.”

      “It didn’t work, apparently.”

      He looked down, catching her eye unabashedly. “That’s because I know it’s not true. Just like I know you’re not going to hate these lights, even though you’re going to want to.”

      “You’re pretty cocky for a guy I just met.” The comment was dry, but not angry, so he figured he was making progress.

      “I have a good sense of people. I had to in my line of work.”

      “You’re wrong about the lights—you’re going to end up taking them all down again.”

      He gave himself a mental high five as he realized she hadn’t denied her interest in him.

      “Could be. Maybe you need to look at having these lights up here from a different perspective,” he offered, hanging the final string and making his way back to the ground.

      “How so?”

      “Plug that in over there, and we’ll see.”

      She shook her head but did go to the corner of the house to plug in the cord. Immediately, her house was outlined in soft white and red lights.

      “I liked the red and white—like peppermint,” he said, standing back to admire his work.

      “I guess. What did you mean, a different perspective?” she asked finally.

      “Well, I wanted to do this for you. However, even if you don’t enjoy Christmas decorations so much, there’s a neighborhood of people here who will. The kids, especially. I used to walk the streets back home and look at all the lights when I was a kid.” He was quiet for a moment, letting his words sink in. Joy obviously had a sense of social purpose or she wouldn’t volunteer at the shelter. He figured all he had to do was appeal to that part of her.

      “Now, when they walk by your house, it will lift their spirits. It makes you part of the neighborhood, part of the community. When Bessie looks out her front window, she’ll see your lights the same way you see hers. It’ll make her smile, and you know, she needs that. The holidays are difficult for people who’ve lost loved ones.”

      He could tell from her quiet contemplation of the lights that he’d made her reconsider. Joy obviously cared about others—maybe more than she cared about herself.

      “If you think I can’t see how you’re being so clever with manipulating me, think again,” she said tartly. “I guess they’re pretty. It’s not too much.”

      “So they can stay up?”

      “Yeah, I suppose.”

      Cheerful about his victory, he grabbed her and kissed her, not allowing her time to put up her defenses. Instead, much to his surprise, she put her hands around the back of his neck, tentatively at first, and then with more commitment as she opened her lips and let him explore further.

      Delighted to comply, he tasted her thoroughly, rubbing his tongue along the contours of hers, teasing every satin inch of her mouth. He eased his arms around her, taking in the graceful sway of her lower back, the curves below, and kept himself busy memorizing every nuance of her mouth.

      She sighed against his lips, kissed him back gently, but mostly allowed him to find his way around her, and he didn’t mind that one bit. Though when he drew back and gazed at her face, taking in flushed cheeks and her lowered eyelids, he couldn’t help but wonder what had changed.

      “I guess you really liked the lights more than you thought you would,” he said teasingly and saw a hint of a smile at the edge of her well-kissed lips.

      “I think I like you a little more than I thought I would,” she confessed, surprising him.

      Not wanting to let the fires die out, he dipped down, nuzzling the warm skin of her neck. She shivered

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