She stood there with bright eyes, lush curves, and a mouth made to suck—
“Yoo hoo, Earth to Jack,” Emily says, and it brings me back to reality. “You missed the turn.”
“Shit, sorry.” I drive down Candy Cane Lane and make a U-turn. “I guess I was distracted by—”
My words are cut off when I hear the sound of a siren behind me, and then I see blue lights in the rearview mirror.
“Five whole minutes?” Emily checks her watch. “That must be a record.”
“Not necessarily,” I disagree. “She got me that one time for littering when I dropped my coffee and then cited me for defacing public property when it splashed on the barber shop.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that one.”
Putting on my brightest smile, I roll down the window just as Tinsel comes to a stop beside it. She’s already writing the ticket before I’ve had a chance to say a word.
“There’s no sign that said I couldn’t make a U-turn,” I say, but Tinsel ignores me as she rips off the ticket and hands it over.
“Have a great day,” Emily calls over me, and Tinsel smiles. What I wouldn’t give to have that smile directed at me.
“See you later, Ems.” Tinsel’s smile drops and turns to a glare before she walks back to her patrol car.
“You know you’d catch more reindeer with sugar,” Emily quips, and I roll my eyes.
“Trust me, this is one reindeer that doesn’t want to be caught.”
As I pull into the inn, Emily heads for the conference room to meet with the staff and go over the day-to-day operations. I’m the owner of Snowed Inn, but she’s the manager that keeps things running. She’s great at her job when she isn’t lamenting about how in love she is with her boyfriend who’s overseas until the new year. I can only hear about how great love is for so long before I have to tune it out.
Being in love is the worst. I would know because I’ve been in love with Tinsel for years, and I’ve had to suffer in silence. Sometimes I think about just laying it all out on the table, but I couldn’t take the rejection. Not with how much she hates me and how it could most definitely mess up my relationship with her brother North. He’s the only family I’ve got, and I wouldn’t want to hurt that because I’m the dumbass who fell in love with his sister. A sister who despises me.
There she was in that damn apron looking like I was Santa Claus come to life and all I could think was, fuck. I’d lost my parents and had no one other than North. When I looked at her, I was so damn angry because I knew I couldn’t have her. All the money in the world couldn’t buy what I truly wanted. I’d already had so much taken away from me, and I couldn’t stand to lose something else. Something so important.
“I’m headed to City Hall,” I call to Emily as I grab my coat and coffee.
It’s just across the street, so I decide to walk through the dusting of snow and enjoy the crisp morning. Days like this make me ache for Tinsel, and I know it’s because the holidays are coming. Every year, I spend it with her family, and every year, I have to sit beside her and use all of my control to not put my hand on her thigh and sink my fingers between them.
“Morning, Jack. He’s in his office.”
“Thanks, Joy,” I say to the mayor’s secretary. She’s looking over something on her desk, but I don’t pay attention to it as I make my way back.
When I walk into North’s office, he looks up from his desk and smiles at me. “What did she get you for now?”
“Making an illegal U-turn.” I toss the ticket on his desk, and he picks it up.
“I’ll take care of it.” He sighs and shakes his head. “I get that there’s not a lot of crime happening in Troping, but she seems to love making you a target.”
“Lucky me,” I mumble as I look out his window to the busy street. That’s when I see the patrol car come by and stop as a group of kids cross the street. It’s the very same spot where she gave me a ticket for jaywalking. Meanwhile, those kids get a pass with a smile and a wave.
There’s that damn smile again. What have I got to do to get her attention?
Chapter Three
TINSEL
I stare up at the sky as snow starts to fall. We get snow year-round, but it’s thicker and fluffier in the wintertime. I close my eyes and let the flakes hit my face, and although it might be silly, for some reason, the snow can calm me. I don’t know why today I’m more annoyed with Jack than normal.