Let me tell you: if I thought he was hot before, I was wrong, because he was evenmorehandsome when he smiled. I found myself staring at him, lips parted in appreciation.He’s waiting for an answer. What had he said? I needed to say something in return! Quick!
“Hi!” I blurted.
And his smile grew. “Are you picking out a tree?” he chuckled, stepping from around his and adjusting his glasses. “It’s my first time.”
“First time picking out a tree?” Oh good, look at me, managing a conversation like an adult. “A Christmas tree?”
“Yes.” He looked away from me to survey the tree offerings, but he turned his body toward me as if he wantedto include me in his study. “I’ve never bothered to bring a treeinsidemy house before.”
Oh, maybe he was one of thesenew orcsmy sister’s fiancé had helped bring to Eastshore. This guy didn’tlooklike he was some backwoods weirdo though. Fitted jeans, neatly trimmed hair, and a polo shirt which stretched over impressive muscles—wait, who wore short sleeves on December 10th? Wasn’t he freezing?
When he glanced back at me, I realized he was waiting for an answer, so I blurted, “Oh, I do it all the time. I mean, at Christmas. Of course I mean at Christmas.” I was blushing, wasn’t I? Damn. “Mom and I put up all the artificial trees last week, but she put me in charge of picking out the real one for the living room—I need a big one.”
Instead of scaring him off with my blathering—Ethan would have admonished me toplay it coolwhenever I got too bubbly about something—this mystery orc nodded along, then tipped his head back toward the tree he’d been studying. “This one is pretty large.”
“Yes, it is!” I exhaled gratefully. “It hidyou, and you’re pretty large. I mean…” When he raised a brow, I blushed harder as I flopped my hands about in helpless gestures. “You’re big. Of course you’re big, you’re an orc. I just mean, your muscles seem bigger than usual. Do you work out?” I finished weakly.
And he chuckled again, his dark eyes crinkling behind his glasses. “I try to when I’m not stuck behind my computer. Do you want help with this tree?”
Hestillwasn’t scared off by my social awkwardness? Hm.
Feeling myself relaxing just slightly at the realization, I stepped closer to the tree. “You can’t just grab any tree, you have to check it out.”
“For…bugs? Birds’ nests?” As I inspected the tree, he tried to do the same, bending and peering into its depths. “Squirrels? Is it squirrels?”
I’d never heard of a bird’s nest in a Christmas tree. Wherewashe from? “You have to make sure it’s symmetrical and there are no weird bald spots.”
“Bald spots? On a tree?”
“You know, empty bits.” At this point, he was opposite the tree from me. “Unless you’re going to put it in the corner?” I stuck my head around the bushy boughs—ostensibly to be polite while speaking to him, but really just because I liked looking at him. “Are you going to put it in a corner?”
He seemed more amused than anything. “I don’t know yet. Is that important?”
Feeling somewhat emboldened by my newfound rank as Christmas tree expert, I straightened self-assuredly. “If it’s going into the corner, you can get one with bald spots and just hide them. It’s common sense.”
“Yes,” he murmured, his gaze sliding over my features as his lips twitched. “That makes sense.”
“And besides…”
I trailed off asThe Carol of the Bellsfinished up on the speaker system and the opening bars of the next song began. My eyes widened in horror.
“Besides?” the orc prompted.
Last Christmas…I gave you my heart…
It was the opening lines to Wham’s “Last Christmas”, and I couldn’t change the channel.
“Oh no!” I clapped my hands over my ears and squeezed my eyes shut. “I’ve gone ten days without being Whammed!”
I couldfeelhim step closer, hear his concern when his tone turned serious. “What’s wrong? How can I help?”
“You can’t!” I wailed, knowing I’d lost Whammagedon already.
This year, to save me from tears, I’ll give it to someone special!
“No,” I moaned, and tried to whirl away, as if that might hide me from the stupid song.
Unfortunately, my clumsy ass forgot to open my eyes, and thus I slammed right into a Christmas tree. The one we’d been examining. The one he was standing behind.
