Maxine Morrey - The Best Little Christmas Shop

‘Lexi!’ Cal’s concerned call came as I heard the car door slam. ‘Are you all right?’

‘ Parfait !’ Oh God, now not only did I look an idiot, I sounded like one. What on Earth had possessed me to channel Giselle right at that moment, especially since I could guarantee this was not a situation my elegant friend would ever find herself in?

‘Stay there. I’m coming up.’

‘No! Don’t! I’m not going to be responsible for you breaking your neck,’ I said, flinging my feet around in mid-air, trying to get a purchase on the step. Unfortunately, every time I tried, it slid straight back out.

‘And I’m not going to be responsible for leaving you like that.’ The stairs reverberated through my arms as Cal’s bulk stepped onto them.

‘Jesus,’ I heard him mutter.

‘What’s the matter?’ I tried twisting around to see him.

‘Nothing. It’s just slippy. Don’t look back at me. Just hold on.’

I flung my feet again and managed to get one on the step, at least lessening the strain on my arms momentarily before it slid and joined the other. On the plus side, I was no longer a starfish.

‘Here. Hold on to me.’ Cal’s voice was now right behind me.

‘Umm … that would mean I have to let go.’ I glanced down at the bare branches of the bushes beneath me. ‘So I think I’m going to go with a no. I’m fine. I’ll just wait here until it thaws.’

Cal’s laugh was deep and warm and I could feel it in his chest as he wrapped an arm around me, the other gripping the metal banister.

‘Let go. I promise I won’t drop you. Xander and Giselle would never forgive me, not to mention my son.’

‘Ummm …’

‘Trust me.’

I turned my head as much as I could to try and see him. He leant forward and met my eyes.

‘Let go.’

Squinching my eyes closed, I did. Cal pulled me back up and lifted me a couple of steps up so that we were both standing on the coir mat that lay outside my front door. Cal was big and the mat was small so it was kind of a squeeze. A little bit of my brain sent out an alarm that this should bother me. Another bit smacked the alarm with a hammer and the noise stopped.

‘Thanks.’

‘You’re welcome. You need to get some salt or grit on these. That could have been nasty.’

‘As opposed to just incredibly mortifying,’ I mumbled as I fished around in my pocket for my key.

‘I wouldn’t go as far as saying “incredibly” …’

I tilted my head up to face him in the half-light of a waning moon. He was smiling and doing that thing that made the world disappear.

‘I would,’ I replied, plunging the key into the lock, and giving it a turn. Risking a look back up, I saw that the smile was still there.

‘You sure you’re OK?’

‘Perfectly.’

‘ Parfait ?’

‘Oh crap. You heard that too.’

‘I’m hearing a lot this evening.’

I rubbed a hand over my face. ‘Like I said, that thing before was out of context.’

‘I’d love to know what it was like in context then.’

‘I don’t remember.’

Cal laughed, deep, warm, and worryingly sexy. ‘That’s such a cop-out answer.’

I shrugged.

He quirked a brow at me. ‘And so’s that.’

‘It’s my speciality.’

‘Is it now? I shall have to remember that.’

‘Actually, if you could just forget the whole evening, that’d work better for me.’

‘But not me.’

I let out a sigh.

‘Go on, get in before we both freeze.’ Cal squinted against the shimmering moonlight. ‘It’s actually turning to snow now. And for God’s sake, be careful going down those steps tomorrow.’

I gave him a mock salute and he rolled his eyes at me. But even in the low light, I could see the humour in them.

‘Night, Lexi.’

‘Goodnight, Cal.’

I waited until he got back in the car and had turned over the engine, then gave a quick wave. He flashed the lights twice, swung the Landy in a circle, and began pulling back onto the main road through the village.

I closed the door, peeled off my outer layers, and flopped backwards onto the bed.

Oh dear. As I had stated earlier, the very last thing I needed in my life was more complication. But I knew for certain now that there was a real possibility I was in danger of developing a quite mahoosive crush on Cal Martin, and that really wouldn’t do.

Chapter Five

‘But you look so adorable, darling!’

I gave my mum a look that showed her what I thought about that statement.

‘Honestly, it might have been worth a night on a park bench in order to avoid this,’ I grumped.

Mum straightened my elf hat, topped up my rosy cheeks with her lipstick, and told me not to be so ridiculous before welcoming a group of late-night shoppers and tempting them with the taster plate of Christmas Infused Chocolate Fudge she was brandishing.

‘You know it’s tradition.’ Dan wandered up, his enormous feet encased in curly elf shoes.

‘Just because something is traditional doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good idea.’ I waved my hand around him. ‘Whoever saw a six foot three, seventeen stone elf anyway?’

‘It’s called getting into the spirit. Use your imagination, Lex. Plus, we know for a fact that it helps attract customers. Proven statistics. Assuming said elves haven’t got a face like a professional lemon sucker.’

I gave him a very fake grin.

‘Where’s your beard anyway?’

‘I may have donned the costume, hat, and shoes but I drew a line at the beard. Last time I wore it years ago I had a rash on my face for a week.’

Dan yanked his own nylon one down for a moment and took a big glug of mulled cider before letting it ping back in place.

‘So … how’s things?’ he asked.

‘Huh?’

Before he could answer, a group of late-night shoppers, already laden with bags, came upon us. Dan did a brilliant job of making them laugh and enticing them into the shop with the promise of mulled wine, cider, and nibbles. But not, of course, before they had insisted on taking around a hundred and two selfies with us, immediately posting some to Facebook, and tagging the shop’s website in the post. Excellent. Any hopes I’d had of keeping my humiliation confined to the village immediately disappeared. But, on the bright side, it was always possible nobody would recognise me.

‘So?’ Dan prodded.

‘What?’ I asked, pulling my phone from the pocket of my elf shorts and unlocking the screen.

‘I hear Cal Martin dropped you home the other night. Rumour is he had his arms around you.’

I turned to my brother. ‘Really? You’re believing gossip now? How would you even know that anyway?’

‘So, it’s not true.’

‘Well, technically it is true –’

Dan opened his mouth and I cut him off.

‘But! Only because I’d fallen through the bloody banisters and was having trouble getting upright.’

‘According to my sources there’s quite a few women around here who would like nothing better than to have trouble getting upright if Cal Martin is involved.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘It’s not like that.’

‘What is it like then?’

Another ping on my phone distracted me, which was just as well as I had no idea what it was like … or what I even wanted it to be like.

‘You can’t shut everyone out for ever, you know, Lex.’ Dan’s voice was soft now and I shook my head, not looking at him.

‘I’m not.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes.

Maybe.

I returned my concentration to my phone. ‘Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!’ I was staring at the laughing face emoticon put in the comments to the elf picture by one of my ex-colleagues at the Formula One team.