“I got carried away. It won’t happen again,” she tried to preempt him.
Micah lowered his brow, which only seemed to make him more attractive–like a brooding model with a chiseled jaw and the best cheekbones. He had bad boy written all over him, but he was a single father making his way in the world and had a teddy-bear heart.
He was a contradiction wrapped in chocolate.
Her kryptonite, for sure.
“Lizzie’s mother was sick.” He paused, and Charlotte stopped trying to scoot away from him. That wasn’t what she expected him to say. “But there wasn’t anything between us.”
“Oh?” she hadn’t thought there was. The fact that he was making this clear meant that he… Well, it could mean that he was interested in her. “It’s not my place to pry.”
“I need you to understand.”
She nodded, but kept her lips pressed tightly together.
He glanced down the hill where the girls had rolled off their sled and were making snow angels. “When she asked Lizzie who she wanted for a daddy, Lizzie said she wanted me. I-I’d grown to love her, but I never loved her mother.” He ran a hand down his face. “I guess what I want you to know is that I’m, uh, single.” His face turned dark red.
Charlotte blinked quickly. He. Was. So. Interested. She did a mental happy dance. Trying to lighten the mood–and his almost purple-faced embarrassment–she quipped, “Me too.”
Charlotte stared at him, seeing another side of the man she’d thought was ornery. He might be sullen, but he was also charitable.
And charity was the true light of Christ.
And Jesus was the reason for the season that she loved so much.
She closed the distance between them and threw her arms around Micah, holding him tight. He smelled like dryer sheets and shaving cream, and she drew a deep breath.
He turned into her, wrapping her up in his muscular arms.
Her heart raced as if she’d won a victory. Perhaps she had, because getting behind Micah’s carefully constructed walls was a monumental effort.
He chuckled, barely making a sound. She would have missed the deep laughter if she hadn’t been plastered against him to feel it happening.
She liked being near him. Liked it so much that she should stop hugging him.
“Charlotte?” he whispered, sending shivers across her skin.
“Yes?”
“There’s a mad-looking mamma headed this way,” he replied.
Charlotte jumped out of his arms and turned to face her big sister. “Fruitcake!” she cursed. She glanced at the sled, calculating how long it would take the two of them to get on and fly down the hill where heroldersister would be able to integrate her about this thing between her and Micah, that didn’t have a name.
ChapterTen
Acold brush filled the space in Micah’s arms, where Charlotte had been only seconds before. She’d jumped away from him like he’d pinched her side.
“It’s my sister,” she hissed through her clenched teeth.
“I should meet her.” He stepped toward the woman, who looked like she wanted to bite the head off a gingerbread man as she eyed him from head to toe. Perhaps the friendliness between him and Charlotte hadn’t gone unnoticed by those around them. He wasn’t trying to hit on her. He’d wanted to tell her he was interested in pursuing a relationship with her, and he’d made it all into a mess resembling a store on Black Friday afternoon.
I’m available.
What was he? The latest iPhone?
Even though Aubrey moved like a grizzly bear mother, she was Jenny’s mom, and if he wanted to set up playdates, he’d need to make her acquaintance at some point. He’d also need to make a good impression.
“No!” Charlotte’s fingers graced the back of his coat as he continued to move forward.
