When I looked in the mirror, I realized I was still wearing the damn Santa hat. I’d lost my real hat somewhere and dug this one out until I could make it to the Ozark Outfitters to buy a new one.
“What a fucking dork. And you thought she was staring because you’re a mountain stud.” I muttered to my reflection.
Not only had I been half-naked in front of the woman. I’d been wearing a goddamn Santa hat, too.
That made me start laughing, and I tugged it off my head and dropped it on my dresser.
I’m surprised she hadn’t run off after seeing me half-naked in a Santa hat. What a thing to walk up on.
Maybe that’s why she tried to leave earlier.
Looking in the mirror, I saw a hint of the man I used to be staring back, an easy grin on my lips, the haunted shadows missing from my eyes.
That soured my mood in an instant, and the smile dropped from my face.
It didn’t feel right being happy when my friends were underground.
But at the same time, I was determined to host this mysterious woman who’d apparently driven halfway across the country to meet me. And I didn’t want to drag her mood down along with mine.
So maybe it was okay to feel alittlehappy today. I could go back to my normal miserable state again tomorrow.
What are the chances that she’s going to fuck me?
It was a bold thought to have about a stranger. But I felt something brewing between us. And there was a damn good chance it would end the way I wanted it to, with my cock stuffed up inside her while she sangFa-La-La-LaandJingle Bell Rock.
Now that I felt half-civilized, I was ready to join Robin Merryweather in my kitchen for a cup of tea.
As I left my bedroom, my pulse still pounding in my chest, I could already feel my cock rising again.
Damn. It’s like I’m sixteen years old or something.
I’d gone from a celibate mountain grump to a horny teenager in a matter of minutes.
“Bathroom’s down the hall,” I rumbled as I joined her in the kitchen.
“Thanks! I’ll be right out.”
Then I watched her cute butt swish away. She had these hips that were just made for a man’s hands. Or at leastmyhands.
She was like a peppermint kiss dropped in a cup of hot cocoa. Sweet as fuck and too good not to drink down to the last drop.
After busying myself in the kitchen, I fed Comet breakfast, and the little one, too, because she was prancing around begging. Then I sat down at the table and waited for the kettle to whistle.
The two dogs were playing at my feet. It looked like Comet had made a new friend.
It still didn’t make sense that Robin would have driven all this way over a letter from three years ago that hadn’t even been addressed to her.
But I had to admit that something inside me was beginning to stir. A feeling of hope or excitement. Somethingnewand unexpected was happening.
It was then that I realized I hadn’t been excited about anything in years. Not sincethatday.
The excitement felt good. I hadn’t even realized I was missing that in my life. I’d thought I was too old for it, the way some dogs will outgrow their toys as they age.
Robin was causing seismic shifts inside me, and we’d hardly spoken a word.
When she came back out of the bathroom, she hung her coat on my rack without any preamble and plopped down on thekitchen chair across from me like she belonged here. Like she’d alwaysbeenhere.
With the widest grin I’d ever seen, she said, “Hi.”
