A Perfect Holiday Fling by Farrah Rochon Read Free Book Online Page B

from the north a few days ago.
    He stretched his upper body, and then began jogging in place. After his body was properly warmed, Stefan took his sweatshirt off and tossed it onto his sister’s front porch. He had on a long-sleeved t-shirt with NAVY written across the chest in gold block letters, one of about three dozen that he owned, along with a pair of navy sweatpants and his beat-up, but comfortable, Nikes.
    Stefan turned up the volume on his iPod and bobbed his head to the Run DMC album that was his running music of choice. It took less than five minutes to feel the sweat dripping down his face, despite the brisk wind and skin-numbing temperatures. But he’d faced the cold of the Afghan mountains; he sure as hell could withstand autumn in south Louisiana.
    His sister lived in an older neighborhood, filled with a mixture of cottage-style wood frame houses and classic one-level brick homes. Just about all of them had strings of Christmas lights strung along their rooflines, and huge, decorated wreaths adorning their front doors and windows.
    He hadn’t even thought about decorations. How was he going to give Jacob the best Christmas ever if he didn’t even have the house decked out with boughs of holly?
    Damn, he really was blowing this.
    Hopefully Stef had a box of decorations in her attic, but if he couldn’t find any, they would go out and buy some. No matter what, by the time the sun went down, their house would look just as festive as the rest of them on the street.
    Stefan waited at the curb for a car to pass and then continued up the street. He took a right at the next intersection, deciding to go another route from the one he’d taken yesterday. He was learning his way around Maplesville with his daily jogs.
    As he ran past a short, white picket fence, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. A very nice backside poking out of the back of a ruby red SUV.
    A smile drew across his face as he took the ear buds out of his ears and stuffed them in his pocket. He walked through the open gate, stopping just behind Callie.
    He leaned forward and asked, “Need help with that?”
    “Oh, my God!” She jumped so high, Stefan was sure both of her feet left the ground. “God!” Callie breathed, clutching her chest as she slumped onto the exposed tailgate of the SUV.
    “Sorry.” Stefan tried for contrite, but wasn’t sure if he pulled it off. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
    Her sarcastic eye roll made holding in his chuckle even more difficult. “Yeah, you look really sorry,” she said as she stood.
    “I was just trying to offer up my services as a gentleman.” He leaned into the back of the SUV and pulled out the cardboard box she had been reaching for when he’d come upon her. He waited while she grabbed the two shopping bags before starting for the brown and white-trimmed wood-framed house that was similar in style to his sister’s.
    Stefan climbed the four steps and set the box on the front porch, then took the bags from her hands and set them next to the box. He tipped his head toward the front door, “I thought you lived in the huge condo out by the highway?”
    Callie stopped on the second to last step. “What?”
    Oh, shit .
    He wasn’t supposed to know that.
    Shit!
    How could he explain his remark without looking like the creepy stalker he’d tried to avoid becoming by not stopping when he’d seen her the other night?
    Deciding that straightforwardness was the best course of action, Stefan held his hands up.
    “I promise I’m not stalking you or anything,” he said.
    She continued up the last step, crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the porch railing. She lifted her eyebrows as if to say continue .
    “I noticed you going into that high-rise out there on Highway 421 when I passed there the other night,” he explained.
    The frown that had furrowed her brow relaxed a bit. “I was visiting my friend,”— Please let it be a woman , Stefan silently