Have Yourself a Naughty Little Santa Read Online Free PDF Page A

and poking her. “Any pain?” he asked, looking directly into her eyes. They were only separated by a few inches. Despite the fact that it was freezing cold and their breaths mingled in a frosty surge and retreat, she felt no pain. Indeed, she felt…tingly.
    Kim hurried to assure him that she felt no pain by briskly shaking her head. It felt like a bowling ball was crashing against her temples from the inside, and she gasped.
    “Not so fast, take your time, princess.”
    He smiled and moved his hand up from her knee to her thigh, once again gently poking and prying. “Hurt?”
    Kim swallowed hard. This time, she slowly shook her head. He deftly moved his hand to her left ankle and repeated his motions. No pain…just warm tinglies…
    “Can you wiggle your fingers?”
    She did.
    “Slowly stretch out your right arm. Good, now your left.”
    Once her limbs were cleared, he said, “Take a big, deep breath.” She did and smiled. No pain.
    He nodded and gently touched her forehead. Kim winced. “Ow.”
    “You’ve got a nice egg cooking there. We need to get you out of this car and to a doctor.”
    Kim shook her head and winced at the sharp stabs of pain, but she soldiered through it. No way was she getting sidetracked. She’d lost precious time as it was. “No, I’m fine. I need to get to Evergreen.” And what the hell was he doing here? Of all the places on earth to meet him again.
    He grinned. If a thousand suns had just risen, she couldn’t have felt more warmed. God, he was good looking. He was one of those very few men—hell, people—who just attracted the opposite sex. Had she been able to bottle his deep, earthy sensuality, she would have been able to retire years ago. Her spine stiffened. It was guys like this that got her into trouble. Guys like this who walked out of her life just as quickly as they walked in. And he was no different. She might have left the bed first, but he’d left the hotel.
    He reached across her and unstrapped the seat belt. “This saved your life.”
    As he helped her out of the SUV, whose grill was planted in a snowbank, all of the surrounding sounds, scents, and sights suddenly came to light. The deep, throaty sound of a diesel engine, the bright glare of the snow, the warm, spicy smell of the man helping her out of the disabled vehicle. She ignored it and squinted up at a man pacing on the shoulder, while several other men stood staring down at them.
    Kim continued to look up the steep embankment and swallowed hard. How the hell was she supposed to climb that?
    In answer, a thick yellow rope was tossed down to them. Prince Charming made a quick harness out of it and fit it over his shoulders and around his chest, then turned to her. “I want you to get up on my back, like a papoose, and hold on. Can you do that?”
    Her eyes widened and she looked from his broad back, up the embankment, then back to him. His deep, dark, chocolate-colored eyes held calm confidence in them. She nodded. She’d climbed the rock wall at the gym plenty of times. Hell, she could haul him up!
    “My bags?”
    “Someone will get them. C’mon.”
    He knelt down. Kim reached around his neck and hopped onto his back, the way she had seen other little girls on the playground do with their daddies. He hiked her legs around his waist and held on to them with his left hand, while holding the rope with his right. He called up to the gathered throng of men, and before she knew it, her rescuer started to slowly walk up the embankment with a little help from his friends.
    By the time Kim got to the top of the embankment she was embarrassed to her core. She felt extremely uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the half dozen men who were staring at her as if she were some kind of freak.
    One guy winced, another squinted and looked hard at her forehead, and several others shook their heads, as if she were the biggest idiot ever to drive in the snow. And if she hadn’t had so much pride, she would have to agree.