“And we’re down an elf. You’ll have to fill in.” With that, she marched down the steps and toward poor Miguel, who was trying to back a food truck into a corner spot.
Natasha stared after her. “How come I feel like she towers over me when she’s at the bottom of the stairs?” she asked absently, realizing that Jack was still standing there looking at her. She immediately composed herself and stuck out her hand. “We haven’t officially met. My name is Natasha Newberry. And you must be Jack Nicholas.” She chuckled nervously, hoping the seventeen times she’d looked up, his picture specifically didn’t show on her face. “Sounds like a Christmas name if there ever was one.”
Jack’s face stretched into a glorious smile that could melt an ice sculpture. This man was a specimen if ever she’d seen one. Even in his large coat, she could make out his muscular frame.
“I don’t believe I’d ever had a bigger compliment.” He took her hand in his, and an awareness of him sprang to life in every cell of her body. The experience was so startling she dropped his hand as if it were a hot pan of Christmas cookies just out of the oven.
“I guess you guys really like Christmas around here. You know, with the reindeer and all.”
His forehead wrinkled. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, you know. Santa and reindeer and Christmas.” She swirled her hands around. “I just thought they always go together, and since you do reindeer….” The more she talked, the more confused he looked, so she decided to stop talking. Besides, when you had to explain a joke, it wasn’t funny anymore. She dropped her gaze to her new boots.
“I was just messing with you. We’re all about Christmas.” Jack’s deep laughter rumbled from somewhere inside his chest like an avalanche coming her way.
So this Jack had a little nip to him. One she hadn’t seen in any of their phone conversations. She could handle that. It was time to get down to business and stop letting his sincere blue eyes distract her. “According to my newly acquired task list, I need to meet your veterinarian and make sure that he or she connects with the animal rights representative from the production house.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. She lives just down the street.” He pointed to one of the darling country houses along the driveway that caught her attention. This one was white, and the one next to it was a robin’s egg blue. They both had large porches, like the one under her feet, with porch swings and holiday decorations.
“Anything else?” he asked, bringing her out of her daydream of owning just such a house, the fireplace burning all winter long.
She looked at the other items and then scanned the area. Not far off was an indoor barn, and a few steps from that was an indoor arena. The barn would be perfect for the shoot. “Only to scout that building as a possible location for our barn shot.”
Jack’s friendly demeanor changed to completely serious in a twitch of the nose. “That barn is off limits. Today. Tomorrow. And forever. No one is allowed in there–ever!”
“So we can’t go in there?” she asked sarcastically. “Because I get the feeling you don’t want people inside that barn. But I’m just checking.”
He shook his head and seemed to grow three sizes as he stuck out his chest and rolled his shoulders back. Dang! He was hot when he was fired up. His blue eyes frosted with seriousness. “No.”
She held up a hand in surrender. “I was joking. Sheesh.”
He deflated—a little.
“Are there any other barns in the area?”
He looked up as he pondered her question. The intelligence that came through as he was thinking was downright bewitching. As much as she enjoyed a man with a magnificent physique, she had always been more attracted to guys with brains. Okay, to be honest, it was probably a 55/45 mix of brain and beauty–so what if she wanted it all?
Jack seemed to have 100% of the intelligence and 100% of the good looks, which meant he was 1000 times more dangerous than any other man.
“There are at least three that might work,” he replied. “I can take you tomorrow to look at them.”
“Before noon?” she pressed. She didn’t want Jennifer asking her for that location in their afternoon meeting, and she did not have it. This was her first day on the job, and she intended to make it count.
He nodded.
“Let’s take the side-by-side down to meet Faith.” He trotted down the steps and climbed in the machine. “Come on!”
Nat smiled to herself. She hadn’t been able to ride in one since leaving home, and she missed the fun. She climbed in and did up her seat belt while Jack started the engine. He took it slow, the heavy tread on the tires easily finding grip in the snow that had caused her car to fishtail up the lane. She was already dreading the ride back into town as her knuckles were still white.
Even though she wanted to tell him to go faster, to rev it up, she held her comments to herself. She was supposed to be a professional, not a teenager on a joyride.
They pulled into the house. Jack probably parked on the front lawn, but with this much snow, it didn’t matter.
“So you’re pretty close to your vet?” Something in the way he had said Faith’s name made her think he was familiar with her. Which made her also wonder if there was a relationship there… Not that she cared who he dated for any reason other than the fact that she told love stories for a living. According to Jennifer, she destroyed love and then rebuilt it but put-tay-toe/puh-ta-toe.
“You could say we’re close.” His eyes sparkled as he bounded up the steps and knocked on the door. He didn’t walk in, which meant he wasn’t too familiar with his place.
The door sprang open, and a beautiful brunette stood in the doorway wearing cargo pants and a black turtleneck. On her hip was an adorable baby boy. The baby blinked against the cold air. When he saw Jack, he threw himself at him, squealing for joy.
