Page 7 of Scrooged All The Way

“Okay, I have to admit, I’ve thought you’re a little nuts for crushing on him. And last year, when you said you invited him to your birthday and you swore he would show, and when he didn’t… I thought…”

“That I’m crazy?” I guessed with a giggle, and she winced. “I don’t know if you knew this, Rory, but if your mouth doesn’t say it, your face usually tells me what you’re thinking,” I pointed out. She looked almost apologetic.

“I know!” she groaned. “Anyhow, he was looking right at the library. Like he couldn’t wait for something, or I guess someone to make an appearance.”

“He did?” I asked, and Rory nodded. “I mean, I wonder who he was waiting for?” My words made her laugh, and I stared at her like she had grown an extra head.

“Okay… so you were right, and I was wrong,” she admitted, and hope started to bloom brighter inside of me.

“I was?” I croaked. I was close to bursting.

“Yes. You were,” she groaned begrudgingly. “I watched when you came out, and I swear to you, and you know I wouldn’t want to feed you false hope after how sad you walked around here after your birthday last year, but… I think you’re right. The way he looked at you when he thought no one was watching?” She started to shake the collar of her shirt as if cooling herself down. “It was hot.”

“It was? I whispered, and she nodded.

“Very!” She grinned and pointed at my phone. “My suggestion? Call him, see if you can get the gig to help him paint whatever it is he needs painted, and maybe that will give you a little time to spend together? You never know what might happen.”

“Maybe.” I chewed on my lower lip. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

“Good.” She stood and hugged me before stepping back. “I gotta go to the animal shelter, I promised Valentina I would help her with a couple of things before they have to close.”

“Her car’s been giving her issues,” I filled her in, but by the way Rory stared back at me, I had a feeling she already knew.

“Don’t worry. I’ll give her a ride home.” Valentina was our other friend from our tight-knit group. She was also pregnant and quiet about who the baby daddy was. “I got her.”

“Sounds good. I’ll try and stop by after my shift tonight, take her something to eat.”

“Cool!” Rory smiled. “Call!” She winked and walked toward her bedroom.

The door shut, but I wasn’t focused on my best friend. My attention was pinned on the screen in front of me. I stared at the picture of his post. His writing was as masculine as the rest of him. I shut my eyes, and I could picture him as if he were standing right in front of me.

Maybe he had been watching me as closely as I’d been watching him?

I dared hope.

In my mind’s eye, Dasher Whittaker was all tall, dark, and handsome. With specks of gray at his temples, it only made his dark hair seem darker. Working construction for so many years had tanned his skin and made his body powerful and strong. Not from endless hours at a gym, but from working hard with his hands.

Hands I was dying to feel against my skin while he explored me like uncharted land.

“Do it, Juniper. Try again. You never know what will happen if you don’t,” I whispered to myself, then started to punch in his phone number before I could talk myself out of it.

And when he answered, I had a really good feeling about it.

3

DASH

Istill couldn’t believe Juniper was back under my roof. Almost on the three-year anniversary of the first time my eyes connected with such beauty and grace. She stared around the empty living room, completely clueless about the way she had shaken my life upside down like some kind of freaking snow globe.

“As you can see, the color’s a little dated,” I rasped, unable to string a full sentence together. I had no idea what kind of miracle had helped my sweet girl to call about my ad, but fuck me, I was fucking thankful.

“It’s not bad.” She smiled. I shoved my hands into my back pockets so as not to be tempted to toss her over my shoulder and introduce her to the master bedroom I was hoping we’d share one day.

“You haven’t decorated for Christmas,” she noted with a little sadness in her green eyes.

“No.” No. I wasn’t planning to, either. I was determined not to decorate unless it was with her under my roof.

“Are you moving?”