Page 19 of The Best Little Christmas Shop
Cal’s laugh was deep and warm and I could feel it in his chest as he wrapped an arm around me, the other gripping the metal banister.
‘Let go. I promise I won’t drop you. Xander and Giselle would never forgive me, not to mention my son.’
‘Ummm …’
‘Trust me.’
I turned my head as much as I could to try and see him. He leant forward and met my eyes.
‘Let go.’
Squinching my eyes closed, I did. Cal pulled me back up and lifted me a couple of steps up so that we were both standing on the coir mat that lay outside my front door.Cal was big and the mat was small so it was kind of a squeeze. A little bit of my brain sent out an alarm that this should bother me. Another bit smacked the alarm with a hammer and the noise stopped.
‘Thanks.’
‘You’re welcome. You need to get some salt or grit on these. That could have been nasty.’
‘As opposed to just incredibly mortifying,’ I mumbled as I fished around in my pocket for mykey.
‘I wouldn’t go as far as saying “incredibly” …’
I tilted my head up to face him in the half-light of a waning moon. He was smiling and doing that thing that made the world disappear.
‘I would,’ I replied, plunging the key into the lock, and giving it a turn. Risking a look back up, I saw that the smile was still there.
‘You sure you’re OK?’
‘Perfectly.’
‘Parfait?’
‘Oh crap. You heardthat too.’
‘I’m hearing a lot this evening.’
I rubbed a hand over my face. ‘Like I said, that thing before was out of context.’
‘I’d love to know what it was like in context then.’
‘I don’t remember.’
Cal laughed, deep, warm, and worryingly sexy. ‘That’s such a cop-out answer.’
I shrugged.
He quirked a brow at me. ‘And so’s that.’
‘It’s my speciality.’
‘Is it now? I shall have to rememberthat.’
‘Actually, if you could just forget the whole evening, that’d work better for me.’
‘But not me.’
I let out a sigh.
‘Go on, get in before we both freeze.’ Cal squinted against the shimmering moonlight. ‘It’s actually turning to snow now. And for God’s sake, be careful going down those steps tomorrow.’
I gave him a mock salute and he rolled his eyes at me. But even in the low light,I could see the humour in them.
‘Night, Lexi.’
‘Goodnight, Cal.’
I waited until he got back in the car and had turned over the engine, then gave a quick wave. He flashed the lights twice, swung the Landy in a circle, and began pulling back onto the main road through the village.
I closed the door, peeled off my outer layers, and flopped backwards onto the bed.
Oh dear. As I had stated earlier,the very last thing I needed in my life was more complication. But I knew for certain now that there was a real possibility I was in danger of developing a quite mahoosive crush on Cal Martin, and that really wouldn’t do.
