Page 206 of Screwged for Christmas

“Actually, I have an idea.” Damon’s expression went serious as he shifted Ivy’s way to lean a hip on the bar. She echoed his movement as if drawn to his raw masculine allure.

“Stay with me.” His pupils dilated and the crease of his jaw ticked. Everything about him was a complete contradiction to what came out of his mouth.

Like he wanted her there, but at the same time didn’t trust himself being alone with her.

Stay with him? Should she? Hell no. Unease tightened her shoulders. Them under one roof, possibly in the same room as him? That would be like dangling honey in front of a starving bear. And everyone knew what happened to the honey.

Licked, eaten and wholly consumed.

When she didn’t say anything he continued. “I have the empty apartment your sister ditched when she hooked up with my brother and Riley. You can stay there and in exchange, you can help me out here in your spare time.”

He pushed off the bar, grabbed a set of keys and placed them in her hand gently. “It’s yours. Come and go as you please. Door’s around the corner outside.”

She wrapped her fingers around the cold metal. “I’ll only be in town through Christmas day. Are you sure?”

“As I can be.” He placed both palms down on the bar, causing the muscles in his arms to bulge against the confines of his shirt. “I can’t handle this crowd all by myself. And tonight was only the first of many holiday parties.”

Him not handle a crowd? He could probably wrangle an entire bar full of half drunk people with one hand tied behind his back. But she took the white flag he offered and ran with it.

Ivy slid her eyes over to her sister, who stood there with a silly grin on her face and way too much cheer for two in the morning. “Works for me, too.”

“Oookay then,” she agreed, hesitantly. “Thank you.” No one had ever offered her anything for free and she wouldn’t start now. “Afternoon or evening work okay?”

“Yep. Whenever works for me.” His lips parted in a wide grin like he’d won the lottery. Damn him. He made it hard to look away.

“Ready?” Holden came to the door, and after kissing her cheek goodbye, Zahara joined him. “Damon has the number for the house and you have my cell. I’ll be by tomorrow to pick you up.”

She bit her inner lip and nodded. Tomorrow it was then. She’d tell her sister the news and play it by ear afterward. Damon may not get his helping hand for the holidays, after all.

“Yes, now go. Rest before your husbands blame me for keeping you up past your bedtime.”

“Oh, they do that enough on their own.”

Ivy chuckled. “Too much information, woman, now go. Sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With her sister gone she turned to Damon, who hadn’t moved from his spot at the bar.

His mesmerizing eyes examined her as she’d done to him earlier that day while he sported a loincloth. He unhooked his arms and made his way around the bar.

“Let me show you to your new home.” He led her to the door and killed the lights on the way out. “Tomorrow is going to be a very long day.”

Calm darkness fell over their spot on the sidewalk. Slowly her eyes adjusted as the soft glow from the street lights rushed in to fill the shadows.

To the right of the bar entrance was a metal door, and she moved to the side to allow Damon access. Instead, he turned her by the shoulders and pointed to the sky.

Ribbons of emerald and sapphire with slashes of red and yellow cut through the night sky. At some point the snowfall had stopped and the clouds had cleared. Diamonds scattered across the midnight blue richer than crushed velvet. She mentally gave a check beside a bucket list wish.

“The Northern Lights are our reward for braving the harsh weather this far north dumps on us.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“It’s like magic,” he said softly and it hit her. He was the worst idea she ever thought about tackling head-on without a care for the consequences. God, she sounded like a moron even in her own head. Three days gave her plenty of time to fuck up like she did every other thing in her life. Throw a package of temptation like him at her and how could anyone expect her not to rip open the pretty paper to find out what was underneath?

She cleared her throat. “Magic doesn’t exist.”

She knew it as a fact.

CHAPTER 4

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