The Christmas Wish by Maggie Marr Read Free Book Online

walked toward the blackout drapes. He pulled back a drape and peeked inside. His eyes caught the round backside of Brinn. Heat flew through him. What might Brinn’s ass might look like in a pair of denim jeans? Or her legs in a skirt and high heels? Her black curls were wilder than last night, and ringlets drifted down her back. He fought the urge to step behind the curtain and place his hands across her ass and run his fingers through her mass of black curls.
    “I hear you might need an architect in here.” Tyler’s tone was playful but soft.
    Brinn quickly stood and turned. Her eyes widened. Surprise turned to a bright smile. “Do you know one?”
    “I do.” He walked closer to her.
    Heat fluttered between them. An undeniable attraction. He turned his gaze from her to collect himself, then looked at her work. The gingerbread base seemed to be complete. A pile of straight pins lay in a plastic case beside where Brinn, moments before, had been working.
    “Seems like a really solid foundation.” Tyler’s gaze trailed over the neat seams between each piece of gingerbread, the even alignment, and the attention to detail. Those things were tough, but paramount on a building site where everything was made to exact measurements. How much tougher when dealing with cookies made from flour, sugar, eggs, and ginger?
    “Thank you.” Brinn blew a breath of air upward and the curls on her forehead bounced. “We’ve been building since six. If I can finish up with these pins, we’ll only be about a half hour behind schedule.”
    “I wish I could say that on my construction sites.” Tyler’s gaze locked on Brinn. Hints of pink decorated her cheeks. Her eyes contained exuberance, excitement, joy. She looked beautiful, stunning even. Tyler couldn’t tear his eyes from her face. He was rooted to the floor. Enticed by her gaze, a sudden desire to pull her to him and kiss her raced through him as he imagined his mouth pressed against those amazing lips. Instead, Tyler pulled a deep breath into his lungs and a stepped away from Brinn.
    “I didn’t mean to barge in,” he said, suddenly conscious that he’d just sauntered into her workspace and interrupted her final stages of work for the day.
    Her smile widened as if she were trying to reassure him. “You’re a welcome break.” She turned toward the beginning of her Christmas castle. “What do you think? Will it hold?”
    “If the foundation is solid.” The castle looked good to him, but his specialty wasn’t gingerbread, it was concrete and rebar. “The pins are to keep it secure?”
    “For twenty-four hours. So are the wooden boxes. After that, the foundation has to stand on its own.”
    Tyler bent forward and looked closer at a seam filled with icing. “Looks good, Miss Bartoli. You’ve got some impeccable work here.” He tilted his eyes, and a smile flashed on Brinn’s face. “You said you were nearly finished?”
    Brinn nodded.
    “Well, two things. I know this is breaking the rules a little, but I’ve got a girl out there who really really really wants to see the Christmas castle. If I hold her close, is there any way I could let her peek in here?”
    Brinn wiggled her eyebrows. “You are such a rule breaker, Mr. Emerson.”
    “Just call me Tyler ‘Wild Man’ Emerson.”
    A giggle burst from that beautiful mouth and heat coiled in his gut. Hearing Brinn laugh would be a pleasure he could endure often and for a very long time.
    “Sure, bring her in. But will you warn her about this?” Brinn waved her hands toward the foundation. “Not very spectacular yet for a little girl who expects a castle.”
    “Consider her warned. Now, second.”
    Brinn nodded.
    “Since you’re almost done here, after Charlotte sees the castle, would you join us for lunch in the dining room?”
    Brinn’s face froze.
    Oh no. Not good. Had he put her on the spot? Did she want to say no but felt like she couldn’t? Damn, he should have read the signals better. He was so out