Four For Christmas(10)

The idea of staying longer wasn’t unappealing. In fact, it was so appealing it scared her.

These men were trouble.

She walked over to the area they’d cleared for her to sit on. It looked like an oversized tractor tire. She climbed up and settled on top of it just as the man with piercing blue eyes and a beard she wanted to feel scraping along her skin came her way. “Are you too cold, Georgia? Do you need to go inside?”

She shook her head, unable to hide her wide smile. “And miss the creation of my very own snow army? I don’t think so, Doc.” He didn’t seem convinced. “You know you don’t have to take care of me anymore. I’m not your patient.” She wiggled her be-gloved fingers and pointed down at her borrowed boots. “See? I have all my fingers and toes.”

“If you aren’t my patient anymore, why do you keep calling me Doc?”

Georgia shrugged. “Habit?” Distance? A way to keep herself from getting used to his kindness, and stem the strong desire to climb him like a tree and never come down again. “Do you want me to stop?”

Chris smiled. “I suppose its better than Officer Jimmy or Snowmobile. It does make me feel a bit like one of the seven dwarves.”

Georgia bit her lip to stem her laughter. “Yes, but the best one. Doc was always my favorite.”

Her breath stopped when she saw a change come over his expression. “Your favorite?”

When had he gotten so close? He was standing right in front of her, so close the clouds of cool air created by their breaths mingled. Combined. What she should be asking herself is why wasn’t she getting up and moving away, but she knew the answer to that already. She was only human after all. And she wanted to be kissed.

He was leaning in close when an icy explosion blasted his neck, its chilly spray decorating her cheek and dripping from her eyelashes. A snowball?

Georgia leaned over to see Flynn standing a few feet away from them, looking innocent as he knelt beside Roux to give her a good scratch. She glared. Her dog was a traitor. Since they’d arrived she’d hardly left Flynn’s side.

Flynn winked. “Aren’t you glad Roux and I convinced you to come out and play today? Come on, admit it.”

Chris growled and wiped the snow off his neck. “You should still be taking it easy, Flynn.”

Jimmy looked over from his ridiculous snow self-portrait, complete with an old highway patrol hat, and chuckled. “When have you ever known him to do that, Chris? Besides, he’s a sucker for Roux’s big brown eyes. The poor dog hasn’t been able to run anything but circles around him for days.”

“You and my dog have been getting pretty chummy lately, Snowmobile.” Georgia tried to sound playful, though she was a little disappointed that her dog had been getting more affection than she was. How silly was it to be jealous of her dog? “I know she’s irresistible but I’m still taking her with me when I go, so you shouldn’t get too attached.”

Flynn tilted his head. “She’s not gone yet. We still have time before we have to drop you two off at the orgy palace.”

“The orgy palace?” Georgia was blushing again, and not from the cold.

“Flynn, that’s enough.”

Flynn walked up to them, his dark wavy hair poking out of his ski cap, and patted Chris’s back. “You never stop worrying, do you, bro? Never stop giving orders. It’s cute in an old mannish kind of way. You should be worrying about the fact that both Jimmy and I are nearly done with our snowmen and you aren’t. It looks sort of sad and tiny next to ours. And headless.”

“I’m three years older than you not thirty,” Chris grumbled, tugging Georgia’s cap lower over her ears before turning and heading back to his creation. “And mine isn’t overcompensating size-wise. It’s the one that will last.”

Flynn sat down beside her and lowered his voice as Georgia watched Chris walk away. “He’s sensitive about being the oldest. Especially since Jimmy has decided to compete against him this year.”

“Compete?”

“Doctor Williams is the strongman champion of Divide. He pretends he only does it to fundraise for the children’s wing of the Medical Center, but Jimmy thinks it’s more than that.” Georgia felt his warm breath on her cheek and shivered. “Which is why he’s signed up for next year’s games. Thankfully, he waited until I was around so we could both enjoy the old man’s response to a little healthy competition.”

Georgia watched Jimmy and Chris, their bodies strong and distracting as they bent to scoop up the snow around them. “I was wondering why you were all so huge.”