Page 7 of The Christmas List

I can be around Wyatt without those old feelings getting in the way.

We’re doing this for Lucy, and that’s the only reason that he agreed to the competition in the first place. I also couldn’t tell her no, not when she looked at me with those puppy dog eyes.

I turn the car off and grab my purse from the passenger seat, then reach for the door handle before I second-guess this entire thing and lose the little courage I’ve gathered.

Once I step out onto the thick, fluffy snow, I hear the front door of the cabin open, and then I see Lucy run out, wearing a pair of reindeer slippers and matching pale pink pajamas with Wyatt close on her heels, an exasperated expression shadowing his handsome face.

I bite back a grin.

I think it’s entirely perfect that Wyatt ended up with a sweet, darling girl who constantly keeps him on his toes.

“Lucy, get back in here. It’s freezing out,” Wyatt calls, and Lucy skids to a stop on the front porch, huffing an annoyed sigh.

“Daddy, it’s just righthere! I have my shoes on,” she retorts, a hand on her hip.

I wouldn’t necessarily consider slippers as shoes, but I’m not getting between these two. Plus, it’sentirelytoo much fun to witness this little bundle of energy sassing her dad.

Wyatt’s brow lifts, and he jerks his head back toward the house wordlessly.

Another dramatic, drawn-out sigh, and she lifts a hand in a quick wave to me, giving me a toothless grin. “Hi, Miss Josie! Bye, Miss Josie!”

She slips past her dad and disappears back inside the cabin, and I can’t help but laugh.

Wyatt drags his large palm down his face and laughs too, shaking his head. “That girl. I swear, she’s gonna give me gray hair one of these days.”

I shrug with a grin. “Seems about right. If I remember correctly, you were the same way, Wyatt Owens. Your grams and papa had their hands full.”

His smile widens, and a flurry of butterflies erupts in my stomach.

My heart still battles with this version of Wyatt. Older and more mature than the boy I once knew, time only making him impossibly more attractive.

Carefully, I walk up the snow-covered stairs to the cabin. Even with my boots that are made for the weather, the boards are slick and wet beneath the soles.

A large palm appears in front of me, and I lift my gaze to meet Wyatt’s stormy amber eyes.

I hesitate, mostly in some small act of self-preservation because I don’t trust myself when it comes to this man.

“Take my hand, Josie girl,” he murmurs, the gravelly tone of his voice washing over me, causing goose bumps to erupt on my skin, even beneath my thick sweater and coat. That’s the power Wyatt has over me—a simple handful of words can cause such a visceral reaction.

I think I may have underestimated how difficult it would be working together in such close proximity.

After a rough swallow, I slowly slide my hand in his. It’s warm, rough, and calloused, familiar in a way that makes my heart ache. He leads me up the porch, and once the threat of me falling is gone, he drops my hand and sweeps his arm out, gesturing me inside.

“Wow,” I say as I step over the threshold, my gaze flicking over the inside of the cabin. “It looks amazing, Wyatt.”

He chuckles from behind me,muchcloser than I realized, and I whip to face him. His shoulder dips as he reaches to help me out of my thick coat. “Been a while since we were last in here, huh?”

His face splits in a cocky smile, the unmistakable flare of heat flickering in his whiskey-colored eyes.

Realization rushes me when I think back to that time, my cheeks burning at the memory.

Oh God.

Flashes of that night flit through my head, the crackling fire… the soft wool blanket, and the deliciously wicked things he did with his tongue, wringing pleasure from my body until I was limp in his arms. The guest cabin on his family’s ranch was always a place we snuck away to when we didn’t want to be found.

Suddenly, his thumb brushes along my bottom lip, unlodging it from between my teeth.

“One of the best nights of my life,” he murmurs as he gently finishes slipping my coat off my shoulders and hanging it behind him on the rack.

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