Her eyes sparkled, and his breath caught. He’d thought she was beautiful before, but that was nothing compared to the moment her walls went down and he could see into her soul. Colter grabbed Felix’s entire face in a hug. Felix froze, not wanting to hurt the little boy.
“I love you!” Colter exclaimed.
Clove’s eyes misted over.
Drake’s heart made an impression of ten lords a leaping. Clove’s eyes met his, and the air crackled and popped and zinged. She turned away first. He continued to watch her, wondering if she would melt or turn back to ice.
CHAPTERTEN
Clove hugged herself in an effort to pull her thoughts and feelings back into proper alignment. One look from the reindeer thief–one charged, Christmas induced, sweet look–and she’d let her walls tumble to the ground like a poorly constructed snow fort.
Her eyes fell to the two snow angels in the snow and she snorted. Drake was no angel. He wasn’t a devil either. No devil could make a child laugh like that–though Felix was doing most of the work. Drake seemed to understand the reindeer’s nature and that it would be easy for him to interact with the child.
Was that normal for a reindeer? Or was it just reindeer who could fly that took to children like that? Felix hadn’t tried to talk to Colter–not like he communicated with her. Of course she’d had children come up to the cabin to see Felix before. She’d never allowed them so close without her right there. Maybe she should have given Felix more credit.
Ugh! It ticked her off that Drake seemed to know more about her reindeer than she did. At the same time, she had so many questions.
Was Felix an average flying reindeer?
How would he measure up against others?
Was there a way they could watch him fly? He usually disappeared above the trees and was gone. She’d never seen him stretch his figurative wings before, and she wanted to.
Where did they keep the flying reindeer? She pictured an immense field with a chain-link fence over the top and trees growing through the links. Surely they didn’t do that. It would be so suspicious.
Then there was the whole Santa thing.
She shoved those questions into the closet under the stairs of her brain where they belonged. There was no sense dragging out horrible memories when she didn’t have to.
Colter released Felix’s face and stepped back.
His mom grabbed his shoulder. “We need to get home. I’m supposed to be at work.”
Colter kicked the ground. “Sorry. Mom.”
She hugged him to her side. “Come on, before Mr. McAllister realizes I’m not at his beck and call.” She looked over the top of Colter and told Clove. “I’m a virtual assistant.”
Clove smiled. “That’s a great way to be home with your kids and work.”
She nodded. “Unless they sneak out to visit a reindeer.”
Clove chuckled. “Well, if you’re going to sneak out…”
Drake turned his head to the side to hide his smile. She didn’t like that. Didn’t like it at all.
“Bye, Felix!” Colter waved as long as he could. His new coat swished as he moved.
Felix did a little hop and shook out his antlers in farewell.
Once Colter and his mom were on their own front porch, she stroked Felix’s neck. “You did good, buddy.”
He let his tongue roll out:Of course I did.
She laughed and tucked it back in for him, wiping his slobber on her pant leg. “Great,” she grumbled.
“Problem?” Drake asked.
“This is my only pair of pants, and I just swiped it with reindeer spit.” She grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed it into the jeans. It didn’t help.
