Christmas In Silver Bell Falls Read Online Free PDF Page A

happened!” she cried.
    “Like fifteen minutes ago.  Sheesh.  Do you always hold grudges?” he asked innocently.
    Melanie couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing.  This guy was clearly a little off his rocker but she was starving and nothing she had with her was going to be as good as the pizza—even though it was a frozen one.  Dropping her arms and deciding to stop being defensive, she looked at him and smiled.  “I can see there’s no winning with you so I’ll tell you what…go do what you have to do, I’ll make the pizza and we’ll start over when you get back.  Deal?”
    His smile grew as his deep brown eyes met hers and Melanie felt like every heroine she’d ever written about—her knees went a little weak and her tummy fluttered. 
    “Deal.”
    As soon as he was out the door, Melanie turned the oven on to get things going.  In a way, she was grateful for Josiah’s offer of dinner.  All she had with her were some cans of soup, granola bars and fruit. 
    Pizza was infinitely better.
    As she waited for the oven to preheat, she let herself go over the events of the last thirty minutes.  She honestly thought she was going to have a heart attack when Josiah had burst into the bathroom on her.  Here she was in a town she didn’t know and all by herself—and let’s not forget the whole naked-in-the-tub thing—and she was certain she was a goner.  Shock was quickly overridden by anger when she realized who he was and what he thought!  But looking back, she could now see why he did what he did and was kind of thankful that she now had someone looking out for her while she was here.
    Plus, the bonus to it all is that she didn’t have to look for a buyer for the place.  All she had to do was get through the damn three months her grandmother had insisted on and then she would be rid of it.  Hell, they could probably start drawing up the papers now!  Making a mental note to call her grandmother’s lawyer tomorrow, Melanie went and began to unwrap the pizza.
    ****
    The hot water stung for a second before Josiah let himself relax in the small shower.  As much as he liked his current home, he couldn’t wait to build something more traditional in size and have a shower big enough for him to stretch out.
    And possibly have someone to share it with.
    Melanie’s face instantly came to mind.  Well, not just her face but the image of her in the bathtub.  Yeah, that wasn’t going to go away any time soon.  She was beautiful and if he wasn’t careful, he was going to find himself spending the night flirting with her rather than just trying to get to know her.
    It was too soon to start thinking of her as anything but his new neighbor, but damn if he could forget everything he had already seen.
    Quickly washing up, he wondered about her relationship with her grandmother.  There was clearly a backstory there—and not a good one.  He couldn’t imagine the woman he had known for so many years doing anything that would make people dislike her, but apparently something had happened to cause a rift between the two of them.   He could only hope Melanie would share the story with him.
    Turning off the water, he stepped out, dried off and got dressed.  In the kitchen, he scooped up some paper plates and napkins along with a couple of cans of soda.  Normally he preferred beer with his pizza, but he didn’t want to assume Melanie did too. 
    Checking the clock he saw twenty minutes had gone by so he made fast work of getting his boots on, grabbing his jacket and heading out the door.  It took less than a minute to reach her front door.  Rather than letting himself in, he knocked and waited for Melanie to answer.
    “So you are familiar with the concept,” she teased when she opened the door and Josiah knew exactly what she meant.  Crazy how they seemed in sync like that already.
    “I figured I’d try something new this time,” he said with a lopsided grin.  When she stepped aside, he walked in