Page 7 of Miss Merry and Mr. Bright
4
WINTER PICNICS AND OTHER CRAZY THINGS…
MERRY BARTHOLOMEW
Alow rumble jerks me to a stop and I glance over at the hulking man in the doorway. His eyes are drifting wildly over all the decorations and I grin at him.
“Looks great, doesn’t it?”
His sexy mouth opens and closes but no sound comes out. His big hand comes up to run through his dark hair. A streak of something gray falls out and clings to the ruffled pieces of his hair.
I inch closer and my hand comes up slowly, reaching out to pul at his hair. It’s soft and silky and my fingers sink in even deeper.
He jerks up and his blue eyes widen then narrow to icy pinpricks. “You…you…”. Nothing else comes out and I grin at him again.
I had no idea it was going to be so much fun to yank on this very controlled man’s nerves.
“It’s good, isn’t it? I’ve got a few more things to try and find and I’d like to go find a Christmas tree to put up.”
He shakes his head wildly.
“No? Why?”
“Allergic. To pine.”
“Hmmm. Well, I’ll look around and find a good fake one.”
His wide eyes come back on me and then he sighs and his broad shoulders sink. “I have one in the attic. I just haven’t used it in years.”
I clap my hands and he rolls his blue eyes. “Awesome! I’m going to head upstairs and get it and then I’ve got another surprise for you.”
“I’m not sure that I can take any more surprises,” he grumbles.
“You’ll love it!”
“I’m not sure that’s true, dammit.”
I walk away, fighting the urge to skip. He’s too much fun to mess with. Peaches yips at me and I lean down, petting her silky head and laughing. “Yeah. Trust me, your daddy needs this.”
It doesn’t take me more than twenty minutes to find the tree upstairs. I don’t know how that man managed it but even his attic is painfully organized.
“Jasper Bright is freaking scary,” I mutter to myself. No man should be this organized in an attic. He’s even got notecards up here on trunks and boxes to list it all.
I hear him downstairs and I groan as I yank at the tree. “Hello, Jasper! I could use a little help right now.”
“Really? Now you need help? I kinda thought you were holiday superwoman at this right,” he grumbles under his breath but I hear him.
He sounds grumpy and adorable and I shiver. My fingers itch to touch him when he stalks past me and drags the tree out of the room.
I never knew I had such a thing for grumpy men.
I smile wide as he glares back at me. “Can you take this downstairs? To that big parlor with the fireplace. I’m gonna set this up in there and I thought we could have a picnic under the lights.”
“It’s already past dinner time.”
“Dinner time doesn’t have to be a set time. You were working. I didn’t want to bother you but I bought a baked ham and some biscuits to make little sliders with some mustard and Swiss.”
His blue eyes stare at me but then he shakes his head and drags the tree into the room and throws the box into the corner, grunting.
