It was mine.
And that was terrifying.
Chapter 14
Chris
“Shut up,” Avery snapped, her hands flying to her hips.
I held my breath to keep from laughing. Avery descended the staircase in a big, red velvet dress… and I mean big. It was at least two sizes too large, and she looked like she was swimming in it. On her head, a gray wig and small, fake gold circular spectacles clung to the bridge of her nose.
She picked up a plush reindeer and threw it at my head. “I mean it! Stop laughing! Your mom usually wears this costume!”
I circled around Avery, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. “Well…” She looked like a child playing dress up in her mother’s clothing. No one was going to believe her as Mrs. Claus. “Here.” I lunged for a pillow sitting on the loveseat near the dressing rooms. “Try stuffing this into the dress.”
With a sigh, she shoved the pillow under the dress and groaned, spinning to look in the mirror. “Now I just look pregnant!”
I grabbed another pillow. “Maybe if you stuff this one around your ass, it’ll balance out?”
She fell back dramatically onto the couch. “It’s hopeless. The kids are going to have to settle for a knocked-up Mrs. Claus for today’s story time… and store-bought cookies.”
I cringed. The Mrs. Claus thing wasn’t my fault, but the cookies definitely were. We were late getting to work this morning because of, well… let’s just say the shower got really interesting this morning. And Avery didn’t have time to bake a fresh batch of cookies. Ed was going to be pissed.
I grabbed her hand and tugged her to sit upright. “Relax. Story time will be great. And they’re going to love the cookies. Kids don’t know the difference between homemade and store bought.”
“Ed will,” she said, rolling her eyes.
I kissed the tip of her nose. “Let me handle Ed.”
“You know what would help this?” She blinked innocently at me… too innocently. I narrowed my gaze at her. She was up to something.
“What?”
“If you dressed up at Santa, too. Then there would be no question that I was Mrs. Claus.”
I snorted and shook my head. “Oh, hell no. I’m not wearing that costume any more than I have to.”
“Well, you’ll be dressing up tomorrow. What’s one more day for a couple hours?”
I shook my head. “Not happening.” I grinned and folded my arms.
Her face shifted, her lips tilting into an exaggerated frown. “Aw, come on.”
She wasn’t looking at me, but stood abruptly, tugging the wig off her head and stared at the Christmas tree in the center of the room.
I was tempted to reach out and tuck a messy piece of hair behind her ear. I ached to feel her skin beneath my touch again, to brush my lips against hers. God, she was beautiful. She was everything I never thought I’d want… and yet, I did. Desperately. To be fair, I didn’t think I’d want anyone after Helena. I thought I was done with relationships. But Avery had wriggled into my heart.
A cold nose bumped my leg and I smiled, scratching Kringle beneath his chin before bringing my gaze back to Avery.
“You’re staring,” she said simply, still not turning to look at me. Like somehow she had sensed my gaze.
“Am I?”
“Yes. Don’t be weird.”
I laughed. “How am I being weird?” I was more insulted by the question than I cared to admit. I prided myself on keeping cool in the most intense situations. I’d negotiated multi-million dollar deals and had had lunch with the Duchess of York. I was not weird.
“You insisted on buying the coffee and pastries this morning…”
“We were heading to work. It was a write off.” That was probably pushing it a little. Breakfast in the morning before work wasn’t exactly a write off unless we talked business… which we did. For about two minutes.
“And you wore the red sweater I picked out for you without grumbling…”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s my red sweater. Why would I pack something I didn’t like or didn’t want to wear?”
“Well… you keep staring at me. Like I said.”
I leaned in and brushed her hair off her neck, lowering my lips to brush along the curve of her shoulder. “I keep staring at you because you’re beautiful.” I glided my mouth lower to her jaw and pressed a kiss there. “And sexy.”
Outside the window, snow started falling. Big, fluffy flakes floated like movie snow down to the ground. “You know… we have a little over an hour before the store opens—”
She pressed her palm into my chest and pushed me away from her. “I’m not having sex with you dressed like this. And if a pregnant-looking Mrs. Claus is what turns you on, then I have serious concerns.”
My face screwed into a frown. “God, no, that’s not what I was going to say.” My mother wore that dress, for God’s sake. “I was going to suggest that we go ice skating.” I pointed out the window to the pond in the center of town that had frozen over and been converted to a skating rink for the winter. “Since there won’t be time for an official date, just the two of us before the board meeting, maybe we can have a mini-date now.”
“With me dressed like this?”
I shrugged. “Why not? It’ll be plenty warm.” I touched the velvet fabric, lifting the bell of her skirt and letting it fall heavily against her legs.
“It’s not the warmth I’m worried about. It’s the kids that will see Mrs. Claus ice skating with the very handsome, very eligible Christmas Shop owner.” Her brows arched suggestively.
“Are you implying that Mrs. Claus would cheat on Santa? Blasphemy.”
“I’m implying that skeptical children might stop believing in Santa if they see us out together like this. But…”
Oh, God. No. My stomach dropped. “Don’t say it…”
She ignored me and continued talking. “We could go skating like this if you dressed up as Santa.”
“Or you could take off the costume.”
“This thing has a million layers and took me forever to put on.” She tucked her hair into the wig and glanced quickly in the mirror to adjust it. “Come on… it’ll be fun.”
I groaned. “Fine. On one condition. We are never, ever, ever having sex in these costumes.”
She scrunched her nose in disgust. “Ugh, deal.”
I pointed at her, poking her nose with my index finger. “Don’t you ugh, deal me. You love all things Christmas. How do I know this wasn’t your plan all along… seduce me and get me to dress up as your number one fetish… Santa.”
“That’s pretty twisted… even for you,” she teased. Then, she pushed onto her toes and pressed a kiss to my lips.
Chapter 15
Avery
“How in God’s name did I let you talk me into this?” Chris muttered as we glided along the ice, hand in hand. People from the town gathered in a circle around us, taking pictures and laughing as kids skated alongside us.