Kissing Kris Kringle Read Online Free PDF Page A

he thought he had to pull back. Holly’s eyes looked dazed as she met his.
    “What was that?” she asked, her voice so husky that it made him groan.
    “Something I’ve wanted to do forever.”
    Something he wanted to do again, but the patter of footsteps reminded them both that they weren’t alone and reluctantly he let her go. For tonight, he’d have to settle with watching her across the small dinette in her smaller kitchen.
    After dinner, they cleared the table. It all felt terribly domestic and it should have sent terror to the very depths of him. He’d always run from such cozy scenarios. But not tonight.
    “I heard about the store,” he said when Joy asked to be excused to play with Cupid. She took the puppy into the small backyard and her squeals of delight carried in.
    “No one is doing well this year,” Holly answered. “How is your business?”
    Kris’s delivery business had, up until two years ago, boasted six employees—two for each fully equipped truck he had in his small fleet. Holly knew, because his trucks had been delivering for her department store for years. But lately there’d been nothing to deliver.
    He shook his head. “Not good. Had to lay off all my drivers. It sucked, but there’s nothing I could do.”
    “Things have to pick up soon.”
    “They will. A little snow might help.”
    They worked together to clean up the kitchen. As Holly dried and put away the dishes, Kris asked, “How long has your faucet been dripping?”
    “Only since I moved in. I told Mr. Frostman, but I’m sure he’s forgotten. He’s so old and I don’t think he’d have the energy to fix it even if he remembered.”
    “Got a pair of pliers?” Kris asked.
    In the time it took for her to finish putting away the last utensil, Kris had fixed her faucet. She thanked him, the surprise and gratitude on her face making something curl tight inside him. She needed someone to do these things for her. Someone to help with all the tedious to-do lists that came with life. She needed him.
    The words hit his mind like a bomb, staggering him in the wake of their detonation.
    She needed him and, he thought, perhaps, he needed her just as much.
    Now that’s just crazy. Sure he wanted to touch her, hold her, kiss her until they were both breathless. He wanted to peel that sexy warm-up suit from her body and run his hands over every curvy inch of her.
    But need her?
    “…snow might bring some Christmas spirit too,” Holly was saying. “Don’t you think?”
    He didn’t know what he thought, but he nodded and tried to focus. Fortunately, Joy came back inside, distracting them both. He saw Holly glance at the clock and knew she probably had a hundred things to do. With more regret than he liked to acknowledge, Kris said goodnight and left.
    That night he dreamed of Santa Claus, of course. Only it didn’t feel like a dream. In it, Santa gave him some very explicit instructions and Kris awoke filled with purpose. It was too early for the Santa chair, so he quickly dressed—no trouble getting into his real clothes this time—ate and fed Cupid. Then, grabbing his tool belt, he headed for the door, Cupid trotting at his feet.
    “You know where we’re going, don’tcha, boy?”
    From Cupid’s big puppy smile, Kris gathered he did.
    Though Always Christmas department store didn’t open until ten a.m., Kris knew that Holly would be at work already and Joy at the school. He felt like a culprit as he jumped her small fence and made his way to the backdoor. As he’d seen last night, the lock didn’t work and he walked right in. He started with that, installing a new lock and hanging the keys from a hook beside it. Then he moved to the window over the sink that didn’t seal tight, letting in a draft. He worked steadily for two hours, fixing a half-dozen little things from a kitchen cupboard door that hung crooked to a baseboard that had come loose. Then he let himself and Cupid out the way he’d come in, swung by his own