He laughed easily. “‘Tis the season for wishes.” With an easy wink, he sauntered away.
She enjoyed the view way too much.
“Places!” called Will.
Nat went to the opposite side of the tree lot and positioned herself. If only life were scripted, and she knew the right moment to open her heart to someone new.
CHAPTEREIGHT
Jack ducked behind a camera guy as Chloe walked by. He’d avoided her as much as possible today except for that one time when all he’d seen was Natasha and had inadvertently waved at the two of them.
Natasha was adorable in her elf costume. The striped tights and the green velvet skirt that showed off her legs… He needed to stop thinking about her legs… but they were perfect. The matching green elf hat was so cute.
He couldn’t help himself; he’d had to talk to her.
And then he’d made that stupid comment about keeping her warm. Ugh! Why did he have to flirt with her? She was a big-city woman with a career in movies.
And he was a reindeer wrangler. He pulled off his beanie and ran his hand through his hair. He was just a country boy who loved the land and the animals. Roots so deep he couldn’t imagine running off to another part of the state, let alone California.
And yet he couldn’t get Natasha out of his mind.
He hurried to the barn to retrieve the sleigh and a reindeer. He’d picked McJingles to pull him and Natasha as they scouted barns. The females were sensitive and much too interested in his love life. McJingles was more of a bro.
He brushed down McJingle’s dark brown coat before putting on the harness. Chloe’s opinion of him shouldn’t matter, but he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d said what every woman he’d ever dated had felt. “What do you think?” he asked the reindeer, “am I boring? Is ranch life too much to ask a woman to share with me? Should I be willing to leave–for her?” Whomeverherturned out to be.
McJingles snorted:Leave? This is paradise.
Jack rubbed McJingle’s neck. “Yeah, for you guys. We’re the ones doing all the work.”
He tipped his head and then stomped a foot:Whose pulling the sleigh?
“You got me there.” Jack chuckled as he took hold of the harness and walked the reindeer and sleigh out of the barn and into the cold. “Do you think she’ll enjoy a sleigh ride?” His feet crunched the snow, and the sleigh whooshed along behind them.
McJingles huffed:Who wouldn’t?
The image of him and Natasha curled up in a sleigh under the full moon came to mind. He shook it off quickly. Chloe didn’t.
“Maybe my life is too ordinary. Women like excitement.”
Like flying reindeer aren’t exciting.
“It’s not like I can tell her about that. Not on the first date, anyway.”
McJingles stopped:Oh, so this is a date?
Jack tugged on the lead to get him walking again. They were almost to the house, and he’d texted Natasha, telling her to meet him at the front stairs. “No. It’s not a date.”
“Who are you talking to?” asked a sweet little voice.
Jack spun to see a small girl with her blonde hair in perfect ringlets standing in the middle of the road. She wore a red coat that hung to her knees and a pair of matching plaid pants. A pair of gloves and a berate matched the white turtleneck peaking out the top of the coat. She was the best-dressed child he’d ever seen.
She blinked.
Were those fake eyelashes?
McJingles nudged him, and he hurried to cover his silence. “I’m talking to the reindeer.” He smiled, and she smiled back. “This is McJingles.” One of his favorite things was introducing a child to a reindeer. The animals were wonderful, careful, and fun, with the kids doing silly things to get them to laugh. And the children fell in love so quickly it was endearing. “What’s your name?”
“Raelynn.” She folded her arms. “Reindeer can’t talk,” she said with all the authority of a schoolmarm.
