Christmas Nights(16)

Stella grinned and waved one of her crutches. “Yes! When are we leaving?”

Janie’s mother had joined her at the base of the stairs. “Whenever you’re ready,” Leslie said. “It’s just for the night, so you don’t need to pack much.”

Stella spun around and immediately crutched her way back down the hall. “Hang on. I’ll get my stuff now. Mom, can you help me carry a bag down?”

Not much later, Janie stood by the kitchen door and watched her mother’s small truck disappear as it turned onto the road. They’d decided to take Pansy with them since the hotel allowed dogs. When Janie closed the door and walked through the kitchen, the house felt strangely quiet without Stella and Pansy. She started a load of laundry and puttered around the house, taking care of chores, until she ran out of things to do. Restless, she found herself pacing aimlessly back and forth in front of the windows, thoughts of Travis tumbling through her mind.

She was wrestling with figuring out how to shove him out of her mind, but didn’t know if it would be that easy. She was too drawn to him and disconcertingly drawn to the humming attraction between them. She wondered if she simply needed to get him out of her system. Abruptly, she spun away from the windows. She had the rest of the day and night to herself. It would be the perfect time to see if she could do precisely that.





Chapter 11





Travis stared down at the text message on his phone screen for roughly the one-hundredth time. He wasn’t usually an indecisive man, but then he wasn’t usually tossed asunder inside by a woman like Janie. He didn’t know what it was about her, but just thinking about her sent him spinning inside, not to mention kept his body on high idle. He tried to recall the last time mere thoughts of a woman got him hard, and he kept coming up empty. He considered himself practical and in control. Janie made him feel wildly impractical and bordering on out of control. For instance, she’d sent him a text message a bit ago, the message he couldn’t stop re-reading.

Have the house to myself until tomorrow.

That’s it. That’s all it said. The ball was in his court, but he didn’t want to make assumptions. All he could think was that meant he could go over and finally slake the pounding lust inside. He nearly jumped when there was a knock on his truck window. He glanced up to find Nathan grinning at him through the frosty glass. He glanced at the dashboard clock and realized he’d likely been sitting in his truck in the post office parking lot for a good five minutes. That’s how much a text from Janie got to him. He gave himself a mental shake and climbed out of the truck. Nathan stepped back as Travis opened the door.

“Hey man, what’s up?” Nathan asked casually.

Travis shrugged. “Not much. Just checking the mail.”

He started to walk toward the post office. Nathan turned at his side and walked with him. A bracing wind gusted across the parking lot.

“Damn it’s cold,” Nathan commented.

They reached the door, and Travis experienced a sense of relief when the door whooshed shut behind them and the warmth inside the building rushed around him. He glanced to Nathan. “That it is. What’re you up to?”

Nathan arched a brow. “Uh, same as you. Checking the mail.”

They walked in tandem down one of the aisles, each respectively opening their post office boxes and pulling mail out. In silence, they stopped at a small table by the windows and sorted their mail. Travis tossed junk mail in the recycling with Nathan following suit. He glanced up and almost jumped in his skin when he saw Janie walking across the parking lot. Her dark hair blew in a swirl with a gust of wind.

“Aha. Now I know why you’re so distracted,” Nathan commented.

Travis looked to his side. “Huh?”

Nathan cocked his head to one side and shook his head slowly. “You’re all out of it. Janie walks across the parking lot and you can’t stop staring at her. Do yourself a favor and actually do something about it.”

Travis was relieved he wasn’t one to blush, not because it wasn’t exactly a masculine thing to do, but because it would cue Nathan to the fact he was right on target. He forced himself to take a slow breath and studiously kept his eyes off the door when he heard it open. Despite his best efforts, his eyes flicked sideways all on their own to see Janie turn the other direction toward the counter. At Nathan’s low chuckle, he looked back in his direction. With a mental sigh, he shrugged. “Fine. You got me.” He looked down at his mail and realized he was about to toss a bill in the recycling. “I’m a little lost here, any suggestions?”

Nathan flashed a grin. “I just told you. Do something about it. I’m no expert, but I can guess you’re tiptoeing around this thing. Having been a guy who was totally clueless to finding a woman who meant a hell of a lot to me, I get it. One foot in front of the other. Take her to dinner again. Pretty sure you can handle that.”

Travis absorbed Nathan’s words and nodded slowly. Right. He could handle taking her to dinner. He tapped the small stack of mail left on the counter and straightened his shoulders. “I can do dinner.”

Nathan’s shoulders started to shake as he looked at Travis. Travis rolled his eyes. “Dude, give me a break. You were ridiculous about Tess, so don’t go acting like you don’t know what it’s like.”

Nathan gulped in air between bursts of laughter. “Fair enough. Can’t help it though. You’ve always been calm and cool about women. It’s funny to see you all tied up.” He paused and glanced toward the post office counter where Janie stood in line. “I’m outta here. I’d suggest you make sure to talk to her before you leave. Keep me posted.”

At that, Nathan turned and ambled out of the post office. Travis remained by the table facing the windows for another moment. He stared beyond the parking lot to the bay on the far side of the highway. The wind was brutal today, stirring the surface of the water choppy and rough. The view was shades of gray between the clouds and water. In a flash, he sensed Janie’s presence. His body was that attuned to her. He turned to find her walking in his direction. When she reached him, her eyes looked uncertain.

Before she had a chance to speak, he did, barreling through the muddle inside. “Let’s grab some dinner tonight,” he blurted out.

Her gorgeous hazel eyes widened before she nodded. “I was just about to ask if you got my text.” At his nod, she continued. “My mom took Stella and Pansy to Anchorage for the night.”

“Well, why don’t we grab dinner at the Boathouse?” he asked, latching onto the first restaurant that came to mind.

“Perfect. Should I meet…?”

“I’ll pick you up,” he said firmly.

They stood there for another few beats. Hot lust jolted through him just to have her near. It wasn’t even noon yet, and he had hours to go before he could have her to himself. It was so bad, he was mentally considering the idea of yanking her down one of the aisles just to snatch a chance to feel her lips under his again. With a mental shake, he grabbed his stack of mail. “Six o’clock sound good?” he asked abruptly.

At her nod, he spun away and nearly stalked out of the post office. He was far from upset, but he was rattled by how strongly she affected him.



Janie stood in the bathroom, her reflection staring back at her in the mirror. Born and raised in Alaska, she was a relentlessly practical woman and dressed mostly with the weather in mind, not her appearance. Given her strong inclination to avoid men at all costs ever since watching what Randy did to her mother, she’d skipped over the common adolescent anxieties about how she looked. She grabbed the hairbrush again and whipped it through her hair. Her hair was, well, it was brown. At the moment, it was also quite shiny because she’d brushed it enough it practically glowed. She kept it just past her shoulders in a layered cut. It tended to wave slightly, and she was annoyed with a particular wave that kept curling out no matter what she did. You’re being ridiculous. Travis will be here any minute and you’ve spent forever on your hair.

With an abrupt sigh, she slammed the hairbrush on the counter. She quickly swiped lip-gloss on and stomped out of the bathroom. She’d already wasted plenty of time obsessing over what to wear, only to settle on a pair of jeans and a soft green scoop neck shirt. When she couldn’t decide what to wear, she’d figured it made the most sense to go with something comfortable. There was also the problem of having few clothes that were anything other than practical.

There was a knock on the kitchen door as she stepped off the stairs. She hurried to the door and swung it open. “Hey! Just let me grab my coat.” She was talking rapidly, her anxiety ramping her up inside. She’d come to the crazy conclusion she was going to get Travis out of her system for once and for all tonight. Translation: she planned to screw his brains out before she lost her mind. A few awkward dates and sexual experiences and hardly any in recent memory left her stirred up and tossed wildly in the storm of the desire. Travis’s presence didn’t do much to settle her nerves, in fact it sent every nerve scrambling.

She grabbed her lightweight down jacket and tugged it on, stuffing her feet into a pair of lined leather boots at the same time. When she glanced up, Travis’s blue eyes were on her. In a flash, heat raced through her. His eyes were like the ocean, changing shades of blue that mesmerized her. “Okay, ready!” she said brightly.