The Christmas Wish by Maggie Marr Read Free Book Online Page B

this was a gargantuan deal.
    “We’re still in the running, and if Emerson & Jackson get the expansion project, then Charlotte and I would live in Powder Springs for the next five years.”
    “Oh my goodness.” Carol’s face lit with joy. Her eyes danced over Charlotte and she reached out and rubbed the perfect blond curls from her granddaughter’s forehead. “I’d get to spend the next five years with this perfect little girl.”
    “You would, and she’d get to spend that time, here, in Powder Springs, surrounded by her family.”
    “Congratulations.” Her heart thwapped hard in her chest. Tyler, the Tyler Emerson, whom Brinn had crushed on since she was fourteen, would be living in Powder Springs, Colorado, for possibly the next five years.
    Five Years .
    Her heart pitter-pattered in her chest. She could barely breathe. Her gaze dropped and heat flushed up her neck and bloomed in her cheeks.
    “Thank you,” Tyler said.
    His sky-blue eyes pierced straight to Brinn’s heart and caused a bolt of joy mixed with fear to jolt through her body.
    “I haven’t closed the deal yet, but I sure plan on doing the best I can to make certain that I do.”
    Tyler placed his hand over Brinn’s. Her breath halted. Heat surged from her hand, up her arm, and spread through her body. He wasn’t just talking about the expansion for the Grande anymore, was he? Not with his hand over hers and the heat that raced through her veins and this insistent attraction.
    She’d forgotten how to breathe. Oh my God, Tyler Emerson was touching her hand, in the dining room of the Grande, with his mother and his daughter sitting with them. Tyler looked directly at Brinn. “I’d be really pleased if we get to move back to Powder Springs.”

 
Chapter Six
     
    “Brinn? Do you hear me, Brinn?”
    “Huh? What?” Brinn turned from the espresso grinder. The scent of fresh ground coffee beans filled her nose. She squinted at Alison.
    “I’ve called your name like five times. What the heck?”
    Alison’s hair was still a bright cotton-candy pink. She’d pulled it back with two clips shaped like elves.
    Heat crept up Brinn’s neck. Thoughts of Tyler invaded her mind all the time. The pressure of his hand on hers. The nearness of him. His smile.
    “Just thinking about the Christmas castle.” Brinn pulled on the cuff of her sleeve.
    “I boxed up a chocolate torte and six cannoli for tonight.” Alison placed the two pink bakery boxes on the counter. “Those old broads go through the sweets on bunco night.”
    “You should see what they do to the pizza and the Jack Daniel’s.” She set the bag of beans beside the desserts and opened a Bea & Barbara paper bag. “I better get going. I still have to pick up the pizza and Dorothy hates when I’m late. She pouts the entire night.” Brinn was the default Bunco Babe taxi service twice a month.
    “Those ladies crack me up.” Alison ran a towel across the countertop. “Bet you get an earful of gossip from them. They’ve been in this town like five hundred years combined. There’s nothing those five don’t know.”
    “Mostly they talk about their kids and their grandkids.”
    “I would have thought the smack would be flying.”
    The bell above the front door jingled.
    Angel gets its wings .
    The faces were unfamiliar, and because everyone who lived in Powder Springs knew everyone else who lived in Powder Springs, these four had to be tourists.
    “Hey, folks, what can I get you?” Alison called.
    One of the two men approached the counter and flashed a smile filled with bright white teeth. “Can we get four gingerbread cookies and four cinnamon coffees?”
    The two women circled the bakery and examined the different high-end art, chocolates, and other confections that Brinn imported and had for sale.
    “Came by because we heard your head baker is building the Christmas castle at the Grande.”
    “She is indeed.” Alison nodded to Brinn. “That’s the lady right there.”
    “We