Holiday Sparks Read Online Free PDF

door and jerked it open.
    “Hey, wait.”
    She swung around, a lock of hair falling into her face before she blew it away. He grinned at her and plucked a scarf off his coat rack. “It’s freezing out there.” He wound the simple navy fleece around her neck.
    Her eyes widened before she muttered a thank you as she stomped down the stairs. He watched her go. Superior ass didn’t even cover it.
    Ben swiped his hand over his jaw. He was well past scruffy and headed for beard. The tattoos and the rough face probably wouldn’t go over well. He climbed the stairs two at a time and started planning as he quickly shaved and showered. He scrubbed a towel over his hair and body, swiping it over the fogged up mirror. His hair was too shaggy. It was all right when he was beardy, but now he looked like a boy band reject.
    “Stupid baby face,” he muttered, splashing aftershave on with a hiss. With a grunt, he slapped the towel over the bar and went into his bedroom to pick over his clothes. After five minutes of staring, he grabbed his usual jeans. He was not dressing up for this woman or her store. For fuck’s sake, it was bad enough that he’d shaved.
    He dragged a long-sleeved thermal down from his armoire, then tucked it back in. No way was he covering up his tats too. It was going to be hot as hell in the store. He pulled on a black t-shirt and snaked his skull belt through his loops. He wasn’t changing for any damn woman, let alone one that worked for corporate America.
    He gathered the soundboard he’d soldered together. He’d been working on an in-house treatment like his outside setup. It was modified to play a softer version of the songs, and could be synchronized with other lights in the house. From the banisters to the mantel to the tree, it could all be set up to play songs in a series or as few as one an hour. Perfecting the kit had taken years.
    He was going to give it a test drive in his house, but the department store would be a better plan. With a little ingenuity he could show it off and maybe sell a few kits by next year. He stacked his soldering tools into his soft-sided duffel and tucked in the board and his small Alienware computer. On the way, he stopped at a home store and bought bulk lights. Unsure whether she needed more than that, he tossed a few animatronic deer in the basket along with beach ball-sized ornaments.
    If there was one thing Ben knew, it was color. He’d gone to school for graphics but had fallen in love with the tattoo gun halfway through his sophomore year. He’d altered his degree to hone his talents in illustration and color theory. And decorating an arm was no different than decorating a tree. It was all about the right colors. He grabbed balls in varying tones of gold and red. The purples and blues were too close to the shade of a spruce’s green needles. The warm colors would make for a better pop.
    A few more oversized ornaments and he moved on to the fat retro lights. He liked the blend of new and old. The red and gold would make for a great traditional palette that would work well for a department store.
    A few hundred dollars in the hole and he was back in his truck. Blackstone’s was close to the big box stores on the strip. He pulled in and parked around the back of the store. A beefy guy hopped off a forklift and tipped his sweaty ball cap back. “Can I help ya?”
    “I’m looking for Darcy Tucker.”
    He looked from Ben to the truck and back. “For?”
    “Christmas display.”
    “Oh yeah. She mentioned to be on the lookout for you. Need help with the supplies?”
    “If you have a pallet jack and a big bin I should be able to back up the truck and we can do it in one go.”
    The guy looked as if he could bench-press him with a truck to spare, but when he grinned, his face transformed and he looked like a happy puppy. “Can do. I’m Petey.”
    “I’m Ben.”
    “Pleased to meet ya.” Petey scratched his head and replaced his hat. “You’re going to save