He walks away before I can ask any questions, but I follow him anyway. When he opens the door to a utility room, I know I'm in trouble.
“Hold this for me.” He hands me a flashlight without waiting for me to respond. Apparently, I'm his permanent flashlight holder. “Now aim it down here for me.”
I kneel and do as he says, sneezing when he brushes off a layer of dust.
“You allergic?” he asks, crouching next to me.
“To filth? Yes.”
He snorts.
“Just hold it steady.”
After ten minutes of the pilot light coming on and flickering off, he shrugs his shoulders in defeat.
“It's not gonna stay lit.”
“What's wrong with it?” I rush out, my breath floating in the crisp air in white bursts.
“Either it’s still too windy or a sensor went bad and needs to be replaced.”
“Is that easy to fix?” I ask.
“For a professional, yeah, but it's not something I'm equipped to do.”
We both stand. “Really? I thought the Christmas-mountain man-lumberjack could fix and do anything.”
He smirks as if he's amused. “Within my skill set, sure. But I'm not an electrician and don't have spare parts lying around to replace something like that.”
I sigh with an eye-roll.Just great.
He waves out his hand. “But hey, if you wanna give it a shot and tinker around until your ass gets zapped, be my guest. Just remember, I can't get you to a hospital.”
Tossing the flashlight at him, he shoots me a shit-eating smirk. “I’ll take that as a no.”
He crosses his arms, and I still can't believe he's shirtless and not getting frostbite.
“Just so you know, I'm rating yourlistinga zero out of five. Bad weather, no heat or power, clingy dog, and overly happy owner who walks around half naked.Do not recommend,” I deadpan.
He throws his head back with a laugh. “It's notmylisting. Surely, we've been over that.”
I teasingly narrow my eyes at him and place a hand on my hip. “Yeah, I'm still not convinced this wasn't a part of your plan. Do you dump the bodies in the pond?”
Levi inches closer, catching me off guard. One side of his lips turns up in a mischievous grin as he lowers his mouth to my ear. “Sweetheart, if that was the case, your relentless complaining would've ensured you didn’t make it past the first twelve hours. But instead, I fed you and made sure you were warm. Not to mention, the pond’s frozen. It'd be a helluva lot easier to burn your body. No one would even bat an eye at a winter bonfire.”
His deep, hoarse voice sends a shiver down my spine as his breath floats over my ear like a secret.
“That's actually incredibly disturbing. By the depth of your description, it sounds like you really want to convince me that this was a scam,” I shoot back, but I’m not as confident as I sound.
A sparkle in his eyes flashes with amusement before he winks. “Guess you'll find out soon enough.”
I swallow hard though I know he'sprobablyharmless. No serial killer could be more jolly than Santa Claus himself.
“That's not funny.”
Grinning, he tenderly grabs my shoulder. “You're shivering. Let's get you back in front of the fire.”
I don't tell him my body is actually on fire, andhe'sthe reason for it.