Page 50 of Under the Mistletoe
There was a pawing at her door, and she walked over and opened it. It was only Cal, and he bounded into the room and jumped on the bed. She shut the door and eyed the pup. “You want to tell me if your owner is Victor Holt?”
Cal just rolled to his back, waiting for a belly rub.
“All right, sweet boy.” She buried her fingers in his thick fur.
Is Cal short for something?
Yup.
She eyed the pup again. “Calavar?”
The dog jumped at his name and nosed under her hand.
“Right.” Then she sank onto the bed next to him.
Oh, shoot.She had made a complete fool of herself when she’d foundThe Defenderon Thanksgiving Day—in front of him, in front ofhis family.
Then there were the fan pages, the message boards, all of it. He’d let her go on and on and never said a word. Was all this about feeding his ego?
No way. The hunger, the need, the longing on his face last night when he’d asked her if she had known at Christmas if it would have made a difference. He couldn’t fake that.
His going pale when she’d suggested he was the editor made sense now. And so did the incomplete thought he’d left her with…There are things about me you should know before—Well, he wasn’t a spy. But he did have a whole other life.
She was pretty sure he’d been about to tell her before his parents arrived. But he hadn’t, and now the secret still hung out there. Only now she had a secret too, because she couldn’t very well walk out there in front of his family and admit she knew.
He’d promised that they’d talk after the event, and she’d have to wait for that. But he’d better admit it soon, because she was bad at keeping secrets from people she cared about.
* * *
The plan had been simple enough when he woke up. He’d talk to Devin about Victor Holt over breakfast, they would finally get that kiss, and then he’d ask her on their first official date before helping her at the stocking party. But all that had blown up when his parents texted that they were on their way.
By the time Devin emerged from her room, it had been almost time to leave. And he didn’t know if she was nervous about the event or the thought of the unfinished kiss, but she had talked nonstop about nothing in particular from his parents’ door until they arrived at the tree farm. She hadn’t stopped long enough for him to say what he was dying to say.
And once he’d got everything set up at the Sugar Shack, Devin had turned panicked eyes on him after finding out Cole was going to be a no-show. So he’d done the only thing he could think of—agreed to help in any way he could. He really should have thought that through first.
In the mirror, he took in the big red suit with fur-trimmed cuffs and a brass buckle. At least the fabric was quality and not like the inside of a cheap Halloween costume. It was sort of like wearing velvet sweats with a pillow around his stomach. Now, the beard was another matter. He adjusted it again, trying to reduce the itch on his face. Nope.
The door opened, and Devin walked in with her handy clipboard clutched to her chest. The silver charm bracelet that hung from her wrist sported the new stocking charm. He’d given two boxes—the stocking and the Santa hat—to Hannah when he’d first arrived. If he’d known he’d be playing jolly ol’ St. Nick today, he would’ve told her to give Devin that one first. But she’d get it sometime this week. He’d decided it was best to ask Hannah to leave them on her porch. The last thing he needed was another chance to be caught by her roommate’s pooch.
Devin glanced at him, then back at her clipboard. The girl was still strung tighter than a new guitar. She finally met his eyes in the mirror and bit back a smile, her blue eyes shining. “Thank you for doing this. Cole was supposed to be Santa, but with the snow, he had to help clear a few trees that came down in the night that were blocking people’s driveways.”
“No problem.” This was it. He just needed to ask her out. “Devin, there’s something?—”
“You forgot this.” She handed Santa’s red hat to him, her gaze landing everywhere but on him.
He took it and turned it over in his hands. “Right, but there?—”
“About ready in here?” Fallon appeared in the doorway dressed as Mrs. Claus, complete with a gray wig and spectacles. “The natives are restless.”
“Yup.” Devin stepped back, leaving Fallon with Logan.
He tugged the red hat on and checked his reflection to make sure all his dark hair was tucked up under. Maybe itwastime for a haircut. He put the clear spectacles on. Time to be Santa. How bad could it be?
Two hours later, he had an answer. Bad. Sure, most of the kids were cute, but then there was the kid who had poked him in the eye. Another kid had spent the whole time trying to steal his hat. And one kid had just kept stomping on Logan’s foot as if it were a game of Whac-a-Mole. There’d been quite a bit of snot, a bit of crying, and one little girl who’d screamed like he’d been an evil clown with a knife.
And all this happened while he got to watch Greyson hovering by Devin, helping with anything she needed. She was all smiles for him, but whenever she made eye contact with Logan, her eyes darted away in panic.
But now they were down to the final few kids, and soon he could get this thing off and go find Devin and figure out why she was acting so off. Maybe she really did regret sharing so much last night.
