“We’re all set,” he replied.
Natasha took her place and pretended to hammer wheels on a train. This was dumb because no one ever hammered wheels on trains, but it was the prop assigned, and she would use it.
Her dad would be so proud.
As they filmed a frantic head elf, Natasha’s mind drifted back to the cookie party at the Nicholas’s. She hadn’t been to a multigenerational party in ages. The sense of family and community was strong enough to get inside her head. She’d been so sure of her goals and dreams when her ex-boyfriend from holidays past dumped her flat on her behind that she’d never looked back. There was no reason to. Her future was bright, and she was free from entanglements and obligations.
Perhaps she’d run from them too fast… or too far. Being with Jack’s family was like being with her own—only better because Jack was an excellent kisser.
Downright amazing, in fact.
Send in the trumpets and the choir because that man could kiss.
She was taken aback when he’d told her that her angry kiss didn’t count and they weren’t done, that she didn’t respond right away. But once she gave herself over to the experience of being—what had he called it?properlykissed—she was lost.
His scruff on her hand and then her cheek was like ambrosia.
They say you fell head over heels. That wasn’t true for her. She fell headthroughheels—as in she melted from the top down. It was good that he’d lifted her up because she would have tumbled down the stairs because her knees were so weak.
Not even the ex had gotten that kind of response from her before.
How had she gone her whole life and never been kissed into oblivion? It was a darn shame; that’s what it was.
And then he had to go and ruin everything by letting Ashley kiss him—again. She’d even seen him shift back, so he was under the mistletoe.
Fool her once; shame on him. Fool her twice…
Shame on her; she almost didn’t care. If Jack walked up to her and kissed her again, she’d let him. He kissed that well.
No wonder the women around here threw themselves at his feet.
“Hey!”
The sound of Drake yelling startled Natasha out of her thoughts.
“We’re filming here!” Jennifer yelled at him as he charged through the set.
His feet kicked up snow, and his legs churned. “Get him!”
“For heaven’s sake! Cut!” Miguel threw his hands up in frustration.
Natasha was on her feet, racing after Drake.
Jack pulled up alongside her a second later. “Where are we going?” he asked, a smile on his face.
She pointed ahead. Already the cold had bled through her thin costume, and her teeth chattered. Talking while gulping in frozen air was impossible. Jack looked toward the parking lot. She did the same, gasping in horror.
Seth, one of the crew, had Sparkle on a lead rope and was taking her toward his truck.
Jack put on a burst of speed and closed the distance between him and Drake. Wow—he could fly.
“Let her go!” Jack yelled.
Seth glanced over his shoulder to see two burley Wranglers bearing down on him. He tossed Sparkle’s lead rope aside and tried to climb into a prop truck. Drake stopped to grab the reindeer, and Jack ran right into Seth, using the staff member’s body to absorb the impact against the truck. Both men grunted. When Jack stepped back, he had Seth by the collar of his coat. “Call the Sheriff.”
Natasha caught up to them, gasping for air. She wrapped her arms around her for warmth. “What’s going on?” She pointed the question at Seth.
Miguel skidded to a stop. “That’s what I’d like to know. Who do you think you are running through our set?”
