Page 41 of The Blessings of Christmas
She blinked up at him. “Want to what?”
“Do a lot of things. For you. With you. If you’ll let me.” His eyes pleaded.
The cold air must be getting to her. Ryan probably was talking about shoveling her sidewalk, not the vivid, body melting dreams that had kept her sleepless since the movie in South Haven.
“Sarah?” He lowered his head, as if to kiss her.
Oh, give me a sign, Jamie.
“Mom!” Justin’s voice brought them back to reality.
“Coming.” She could barely push the word through her trembling lips.
Ryan scorched her with a glance. Snow fell from a nearby tree. “Come on. Let’s catch up.” Taking her hand, he pulledher forward. Good thing because her legs had turned to cookie dough.
They’d come to a patch of smaller trees. “These look about right, don’t you think, Nathan? Justin?” Sarah called out. The boys had wandered up ahead.
“No, not these.” Nathan glanced back and saw their hands clasped. Elbowing Justin, he gave his brother a pleased smile. She wiggled her hand from Ryan’s grasp, not that she wanted to.
They kept walking. Whatever the boys had in mind, these trees weren’t passing muster.
“You have to shake the snow off,” Ryan told the boys. “That way you have a better idea of how it will look in your house.”
Sarah chuckled as the boys got busy, grabbing limbs and shaking. Most of the snow ended up on them. As she stood there enjoying the sight, a snowball hit her right in the back. Turning, she found Ryan laughing, his smile gleaming in the sun.
“You stinker. All right. You asked for it.” Scooping up some snow, she packed it tight and aimed. Ryan didn’t know, but she was pretty good at this. The snowball exploded against one broad shoulder.
“Game on, Sarah.” Unhooking the chainsaw, Ryan reached down. Giggling, Nathan and Justin joined in the fun. Snowballs whizzed through the crisp air and some found their mark. Sarah packed hers light and lobbed them toward Nathan and Justin. But Ryan? He got the full force of her aim. The boys shrieked with laughter, cheeks rosy as they threw haphazard mounds of snow at Ryan and Sarah. The craziness lasted for a few minutes, until they were all gasping for breath.
“Snow angels,” Sarah called out, not wanting the fun to end. Falling back, she worked her arms to form wings. Nathan and Justin joined her, arms and legs flailing in the snow. But Ryan only watched, as if he were taking it all in, a big smile on hisface. But they’d come on a mission. “Back to work,” Sarah finally said.
Holding out a hand, Ryan helped her up.
“That was the most fun I’ve had in a while,” she admitted, brushing the snow from her green jacket.
“You need more fun.”
I need more of you.
But of course she couldn’t say that.
Ryan retrieved his chainsaw. “Guess we should get that tree.”
As they moved on, Ryan fell in beside her. “Your cheeks are all red.”
“I must be a mess.” She jabbed at her headband.
Ryan stopped and helped her adjust it. “You look cute.”
Sarah felt the crazy impulse to kiss him.
“Sarah,” he said, his eyes holding the kiss she wanted imprinted on her lips.
“The boys,” she whispered.
He edged away. They kept walking.
Gradually, her pulse stopped hammering in her ears. “Thanks for bringing us.” Up ahead, the boys had gone back to shaking snow from the trees.
