Secret Santa: A Bluegrass Series Novella by Kathleen Brooks Read Free Book Online

idea what he was
talking about and was just petrified he'd do something else to
embarrass her even further in front of Pierce.
    Santa grabbed her around the waist so
suddenly that she had to throw her arms around his shoulders. Santa
was hiding some seriously ripped muscles under his red coat. She
felt him chuckle and then his lips were on hers. His tongue asked
for entry and when she opened to him she forgot that anyone else
was in the room. She felt one of his hands across her back as the
other wandered down her side and gave a quick caress to her rear
end. Fire shot through her and she suddenly didn't feel like a
little girl anymore. She felt like a woman on fire. Would it be bad
to have sex with Santa in the closet?
    Santa pulled back from the kiss and nuzzled
his lips against her ear. "That should get his attention. Good
luck. Pierce has never known a good thing until it jumps up and
bites him. But, I guarantee he'll notice you now."
    She felt her mouth form a smile as she
realized that Santa just gave her the best gift ever. But the
Pierce project may take a while. She was a woman after all, so she
grabbed Santa's neck and pulled him back to her lips for another
searing kiss.
    "Merry Christmas Santa," she said as he put
her back on her feet.
    "Best gift I could ever receive," Santa
replied, looking directly at Pierce as he did. He saw Pierce's
stern set of his jaw and how he looked Tammy over again and knew
his business was done here. He had just one more person to see
before he left.
     
    Paige licked her lips and ate another
chocolate cupcake. Her stomach revolted for a minute, but gave way
to the sweet sugary confection. Okay, so maybe eating six in a row
was a bit too much, but they were just so good!
    She and her husband Cole had been talking to
Keeneston's two deputies, Dinky and Noodle along with their dates
when she had spotted the cupcakes. Her baby kicked and she had to
take a deep breath through another stupid Braxton Hicks contraction
before trampling over people to get to the dessert table. She had
been suffering from these false labor pains since the end of her
second trimester and now she just ignored them. She'd been so
freaked out the first time she had one that they'd rushed to the
ER. Now they didn't even get in her way, especially when she had
her sights set on cupcakes.
    "Honey, let's go get something to drink.
Those stupid contractions are starting again and it always helps to
walk around some."
    Her husband smiled down at her and gave her
belly a gentle rub before they excused themselves from the happy
group.
    "Who do you think Santa Claus is?" Cole
asked as he filled her glass with non-spiked fruit punch.
    "I don't know. Probably just someone the
Roses hired for fun. I haven't seen John Wolfe around, so it could
be him." Paige took a sip of the punch and tried to relax some. The
way Santa laughed reminded her of John, the town's very jolly
gossipmonger.
    "I sure hope not!" Cole laughed.
    "What? Why not?"
    "Because Santa just kissed Tammy in a very
inappropriate way and the way she's grinning I sure hope it wasn't
an almost 70 year old potbellied man that put that grin on her face
or she'll be devastated."
    "You're right! How did I miss that?" she
chuckled.
    "Well, it looks like we may be able to find
out soon enough, because here comes Santa Claus." Cole started to
whistle the familiar Christmas tune as they watched Santa make his
way towards them.
    Paige smacked him and shifted her weight
from one foot to another. The false labor pain was gone, but now
she was just achy. But there was no way she'd say anything to Cade.
No way. Not after the lecture he'd given her about staying off her
feet yesterday. When he went into the office this morning she might
have taken advantage of his absence by washing Chuck and changing
the sheets on the bed, and maybe, just maybe she might have gone
for a long refreshing walk with Chuck through the park. Now she was
paying for it. Her ankles were swollen, her back