Page 2 of Once Upon a Christmas
“It’s nothing.” He pushed her hand away. Her touch did something to him and he wasn’t sure he liked it. “I’ll be fine.”
“Holly?” Gabriel stepped next to him. “What’s going on?”
She glanced at Gabriel. Her lips tilted upward into the most brilliant smile Nicholas had ever seen in his life. It was like a sucker punch right in the center of his chest. The part that already stung from the burn her coffee had given him. What was it about her that made him feel things he had never felt in his entire life? He still didn’t want those emotions rolling through him and he wanted to put some distance between them.
She walked around Nicholas and hugged Gabriel. Holly stepped back and almost ran into Nicholas again. He reached out and steadied her before she lost her balance. She looked back at him and said, “I’m sorry. I promise I’m not usually this clumsy.”
“It’s fine,” he replied gruffly.
Holly returned her attention to Gabriel. “I heard about your injury.” She waved her hands in an excited manner. “Well we saw it happen. It’s all the sports people would talk about. We don’t miss any of the Runaway’s games.” She glanced away from Gabriel and stared at the sleeve of her jacket, then started to pick at some imaginary piece of lint or perhaps a stray thread. Nicholas didn’t presume to understand what she was attempting to do. “I mean the whole family…” Holly said that as if that last statement cleared everything up. It certainly hadn’t for Nicholas.
It didn’t seem to faze Gabriel. He nodded at her and let her act befuddled. “How is Ivy?” he asked her. That piqued Nicholas’s curiosity. Who the hell was Ivy?
“Um…” Holly looked at everything but Gabriel. “She’s fine. Just fine. You don’t need to worry about her.” She pushed her hands into her pocket and then pulled out her phone. “If you’ll excuse me I have to go. Since you’re in town you should do the Cocoa Crawl. It’ll be fun.” With those words she rushed away from them and slipped into what appeared to be a flower shop. It has an equally peculiar name—Blooms of Destiny. What was with the businesses in this little backwoods town?
“Cocoa Crawl?” Nicholas lifted a brow.
“We don’t have to do it if you don’t want. We purchase a Santa cup at one of the stores and then we can get a taste of all the varieties of cocoa the shops have to offer.” Gabriel shrugged nonchalantly. “The proceeds go to the local charity that helps the needy families in the community. The Strange family has been running the charity almost since the town’s founding. It’s a tradition.”
“Strange family?” If he kept lifting his brow it would fly off his forehead forever. “Is that a euphemism or their real name?”
“I’d never make something like that up.” Gabriel slapped his shoulder lightly. “The Strange’s practically run this town. The mayor on down…” He glanced at the flower shop Holly had disappeared into. “Holly is one of them.”
“And this mysterious Ivy as well?” Nicholas couldn’t help his curiosity. His friend wasn’t often interested in the females around him unless he wanted the occasional one night stand, and even those were few and far between.
Gabriel sighed. “Yes, and I can tell you have questions. It’s Holly you’re more interested in. If you want to learn about the Strange’s then we’ll have to do the crawl. Trust me. They will all be out and participating in some fashion.” He gestured toward him. “Come on let’s go into one of the shops and buy our Santa mug. They’ll all have them.”
Nicholas resigned himself to doing as Gabriel suggested. What else did he have to do in this tiny village anyway?”
Chapter 3
Holly carried the poinsettias into Serendipity Lane and set them on the counter. Ivy must be in the backroom because she wasn’t at the front counter. They didn’t have any customers and the bell would have alerted her to Holly’s entrance. She should appear any second to see if someone needed her assistance. Holly stared at the door and nibbled on her bottom lip. Her sister wouldn’t be happy that her ex-boyfriend had returned to Kismet Bay.
Gabriel had been the love of her life but he’d abandoned her for the promise of fame and fortune. Now he was injured and might not ever be able to play football professionally again. She didn’t want to bring that up to Gabriel. It had to be a sore spot for him. She should have asked him why he’d returned and how long he planned to stay. If his friend didn’t stir something crazy inside of her she might have. She hadn’t even bothered to find out his name. That’s how insane he made her feel. Holly still couldn’t believe she’d spilled all her coffee on him. What must the man think of her?
“Oh,” Ivy said as she came to the counter. “It’s just you. Has the crawl begun?”
“Yes,” she answered. “Are those the Santa mugs?” Each store had a limited supply to sell to people that wanted to participate. The cups gave everyone access to the hot cocoa offered in each store. Everyone could drink as much cocoa as they could stand. “Why didn’t you have them out already? I thought you’d be doing that while I was away.” She should have stayed and foregone the coffee. “Here let me help you.”
“What’s going on with you?” Ivy pushed her eyebrows together. “You’re acting odd.”
“I’m fine.” She silently started working and placed the cups in neat rows on the shelf behind the counter. Most of their hot cocoa was in a large pot in the backroom, but they’d moved some to a dispenser on a nearby counter. Customers who already had their cup could come in and help themselves. Those that needed the Santa mug could come to the register and purchase it.
“You were gone for a while. What took you so long?” Ivy picked up the poinsettias and took them over to the window display. She arranged them on each side of a painting commissioned by a local artist. They often showed local work and helped the artist sell them. Serendipity Lane took a small percentage from the sale.
“I had a tiny mishap outside of Witch’s Brew.” Holly didn’t meet Ivy’s gaze. She was still rather embarrassed she spilt her coffee on the handsome man she’d run into. She’d never seen a more gorgeous male. He had hair as dark as the night sky and blue eyes that were equally as dark they almost appeared black. His scowl had only made them darken further. He wasn’t a player on the Runaways. She couldn’t help wondering how Gabriel was acquainted with him.
“Oh? That’s all you’re going to say?”
Holly was saved by the bell or rather the shop door opening as crawl participants entered. They all had their own Santa cups so she directed them where they could find Serendipity Lane’s version of the chocolate beverage. She hoped they liked it…
“What are you staring at?” a man asked her. She nearly jumped out of her skin. How the hell had they managed to sneak up on her. With all the people now coming in and out of the shop it was easy enough to do. Especially with her so lost in her own thoughts.
Holly turned to meet his gaze. “Hello, again.” Where was Gabriel? Shouldn’t he be doing the crawl with his friend? She scanned the shop looking for Ivy, but she wasn’t anywhere around. Where had she gone? If she realized Gabriel was in town she’d throw a hissy fit. She still loved him. Holly didn’t believe for a second that she didn’t, but there was also a fine line between love and hate. Gabriel had hurt her deeply and Ivy bore those scars openly.
“I don’t think we were properly introduced.” He held out his hand. “I’m Nicholas Bell.”
“Um. It’s nice to meet you.” Why was she so tongue tied with this man? “Are you in town for long?”
