Page 10 of Mistletoe Love Match
“Fix it,” Calliope demanded.
Alec: She’s riding WITH me. Of course she’s not riding me. I’m not a
His mind went blank. He glanced at the rec center and spied the outdoor Christmas display with a sleigh and . . .
“Reindeer!” he exclaimed. He hammered out the word, then hit send.
He reread his sent text.
Shit.
Alec: She’s riding WITH me. Of course she’s not riding me. I’m not a reindeer.
Calliope frowned as she stared at his ridiculous reply. “Stop the bloody reindeer games and tell him we spoke to Ralph and Louise and we need answers.”
“Sorry about the reindeer flub. I’m concerned about Callista and Anders, too, andreindeerwas the first thing that popped into my head,” he muttered as he typed a new message.
Alec: We need to talk about
He got out the partial text, but before he could finish and hit send, another message from Anders populated.
Anders: A man should be pulling up with a delivery. It was supposed to be ready a few days ago, but it wasn’t. The owner said he’d deliver it to you so you can give it to me.
Alec: What the hell is going on? What kind of delivery? And by the way, Louise and Ralph said—
A text popped up, and Anders cut him off again.
Anders: I’ve got to go. I’m trying to catch Raz when nobody’s around, which is proving harder than I’d thought. Drive safely. The snow is really coming down. And no matter what, don’t open what’s about to be delivered. It’s a surprise. See you soon. I’ll let everyone know Calliope’s riding up with you.
Alec turned to Calliope just as a sedan sailed into the parking lot. The man driving the car waved and pulled into the spot next to them.
“That’s got to be the bloke. Roll down your window,” Calliope instructed.
“You must be Alec. Merry Christmas Eve!” a stout, bright-eyed man with large ears sing-songed as he got out of his car and adjusted a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. Wearing a fuzzy green sweater and Santa-red pants, the guy looked like he’d been cast as one of Kris Kringle’s elves.
“Anders . . . my brother . . . delivery,” Alec got out like a Neanderthal. Between his texting debacle and this mystery gift delivery, he’d been thrown for one hell of a loop.
The elfish man’s face lit up. “Please tell your brother we’re sorry it took a few extra days, but we needed a little extra time in the workshop.” The guy handed him a red gift bag with a mistletoe sprig printed in the center and four words emblazoned below it. “Enjoy the magic of the season. Anything can happen on Christmas Eve,” the man said before returning to his car.
Why the hell was everyone talking about Christmas magic?
“Oh no,” Calliope breathed as she stared at the bag.
He followed her gaze. Oh no was right.
Despite being delivered by a man who could easily play the part of Santa’s head elf, this present hadn’t originated in the North Pole. Whatever was in this bag had come from a place calledThe Crystal Creek Jeweler.
ChapterThree
Calliope Cress
In the glow of the Jeep’s vanity light, Calliope stared at the sparkly thing, then shut her eyes. She mouthed the first few lines of “Frosty the Snowman.” She didn’t sing the whole song, because in her current state of absolute rage, she couldn’t recall what came after the ‘two eyes made out of coal’ part. Harnessing her furious energy, she wished away the object, then opened her eyes.
“Bollocks!” she mumbled and glared at the diamond ring.
Yep, that’s what was in the red mistletoe bag.
And it wasn’t any old ring.
