Сьюзен Мэллери - Yours for Christmas

He couldn’t figure out what it was about her that got to him. She was tall and he liked tall, but it wasn’t like that was so unusual in and of itself. The long, wavy red hair was sexy, but survivable. He wanted to say it was her big green eyes. There was an innocence there, a trust, and that appealed to him.

Okay, fine. He would admit it. He was just as mentally simple as every other man on the planet. Sex was important and when he saw Bailey Voss all he could think about was getting her naked and having his way with her. He was pretty sure that three or four hundred times would do the trick.

Under any other circumstances, he would ask her out, wow her with his charm, get her into bed and get over her. Or fall crazy in love with her. He was open to either. Only that wasn’t going to happen. Not ever. She was a single mom and he didn’t date single moms. Not now, not in the future. Because single moms came with kids and while a guy could get over falling for a woman, kids ripped out your heart and took it with them when they left. There was no recovering from that.

He braced himself for the inevitable feeling of being all feet and no brain, then cleared his throat. Bailey looked up and smiled.

That was all it took. One sweet smile and he was a goner. He’d played in the NFL—shouldn’t he be better than this?

“Hi, Kenny,” she said. “You’re right on time.”

“I figured if I wasn’t, she’d unleash the dragons.”

Bailey’s smile turned into a little laugh. One of those soft, sweet sounds that made a man think about how he should have matching towels and maybe get something monogrammed. He’d read once that men might have conquered the West, but women had civilized it. Truer words, he thought glumly.

“The mayor said to bring you right in,” Bailey told him.

She rose and stepped out from behind the desk.

She was wearing a dress. Some gray tweedy fabric that probably had a name or was the latest style. He didn’t care about the color or the style. What he liked was how the dress followed the generous lines of her body. The style emphasized her breasts and her hips. She wore boots with sensible flat heels and still came up past his shoulder.

She moved closer and suddenly he could smell some girlie shampoo or soap. It made him think of Bailey in the shower, which was dangerous and fun at the same time.

She moved toward the closed double doors and he followed. She came to an unexpected stop and he nearly plowed into her. Before he could move back, she turned to face him.

Her green eyes were big and her lashes were long. Her full lips had some kind of gloss on them and he briefly wondered if it had a flavor. Because every now and then when he kissed a woman he got a twofer. A sweet, sexy mouth and a hint of piña colada. It was nice. Women were nice and Bailey was the nicest of them—

He grabbed his self-control with both hands and deliberately took a step toward safety. Early in his career a coach had told him that he had one job on the field. To catch the football and run it to the end zone. Nothing else mattered. The advice had served him well.

When it came to Bailey, he only had to remember one thing. She wasn’t for him. If he kept that in mind, he would be fine.

“I should have asked,” she said. “Did you want some coffee? We have a pot going.”

“I’m good.”

Something flashed in her eyes and her smile broadened. He wanted to ask what she was thinking, but before he could, she’d opened the door to the mayor’s office and led the way inside.

The space was large with a huge desk and big windows. There were three flags behind the mayor’s desk. The U.S. Flag, the California state flag and one that he guessed was the seal of Fool’s Gold.

Mayor Marsha was in her sixties with white hair. She wore suits or dresses and pearls. On the surface she wasn’t the least bit intimidating, but he’d seen grown men bow to her bidding and be unable to explain why.

Today she had on a red dress. She smiled welcomingly when he followed Bailey to her desk, then rose and shook his hand.

“Mr. Scott, thank you so much for seeing me.”

Uh-huh, like he believed he’d had a choice. “Kenny, please.”

She motioned for him to sit. Bailey took the chair next to his and Mayor Marsha settled back in her seat.

The older woman studied him for a moment before nodding. As if she’d just made a decision. Kenny briefly wondered how big a pain in his butt that decision was going to be.

“As you know,” she began, “we have various service projects for our FWM groves.”

“Sure.”

Fool’s Gold had its own version of scouting. Future Warriors of the Máa-zib. The Máa-zib tribe was the former indigenous tribe of the area. They had been a matriarchal society, so the FWM was for girls from age six to maybe ten. They progressed from Acorns in year one to Sprouts and so on until their final year when they were Mighty Oaks. The girls were in “groves” and there was a Grove Keeper.

Taryn, one of his business partners, was a co-leader of a grove with her husband, Angel. Chloe, Bailey’s daughter, was in their grove. Kenny had helped her and one of her friends learn knots this past spring.

“You know the Sprouts?” the mayor asked.

“Taryn’s grove? Sure.” He looked at Bailey, but she seemed as puzzled as he was.

“Is there a problem with the Sprouts?” she asked her boss. “Chloe hasn’t said anything.”

“All is well,” the mayor assured her. “However, there is a slight logistical problem. Each grove has a service project for the year. The Sprouts want to have a toy drive for the holidays. An admirable and ambitious project to be sure. But with Taryn and Angel traveling for the next month, they have no leader.”

“Taryn’s not traveling,” Kenny said. She would have said something to him and his partners. He’d just seen her yesterday at their staff meeting.

“She and Angel are going to Fiji for a month,” Mayor Marsha told him. “So the Sprouts will need someone to temporarily take over the grove. I immediately thought of you two.”

Kenny felt the walls closing in. No way. Not him. He couldn’t be responsible for a bunch of little girls. Even if he had the time, which he probably did, he didn’t want to get involved that way. It was too close. Too personal. Plus the mayor had said him and Bailey. He couldn’t work with her. Not up close. She was too sexy and desirable.

“I’d love to,” Bailey said quickly. She smiled at Kenny, then turned back to the mayor. “It’s a great idea. This is only Chloe’s second Christmas without her father. Last year was so hard on her. I was worried how she would handle the holidays. I think focusing on collecting toys for needy children will help her see the joy in the season.”

Kenny swore silently. Totally tempting and nice to boot. Wasn’t that his luck? How was he supposed to say no now? He would look like a jerk. Plus, he liked Chloe. He didn’t want her sad over Christmas. He believed in self-preservation but not in being a jerk.

“Excellent.” The mayor handed them each a folder. “Here are the approved collection sites. The girls will each need to decorate a bin and then the bins will need to be emptied regularly. The toy drive will start the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That gives you time to organize the decorating and placing of the bins. The toys will be delivered to Sacramento on the nineteenth of December. They’ll be distributed that weekend.”

She gave a few more instructions, then thanked them both for agreeing to help. It was only when Kenny found himself outside the office that he realized he’d never agreed at all. Not that he was going to mention that now.

He sat in the visitor’s chair at Bailey’s desk and opened his folder. The neatly printed sheets detailed everything that had to be done.