Now that she was finally gone, I could concentrate on getting Santa properly attached to the roof. I leaned Santa up against the metal pipe sticking out of the roof, then one step at a time, wrapped the rope around him and the pipe. By the time I stepped back, still holding out my hands in case he toppled over, he was secure.
Well, as secure as I could make him.
All he needed now was some lights. I pulled the string off my shoulder and started wrapping the lights around Santa, then walked them along the top of the peak to the other end of the shop. I was just about done and ready to guide the string of lights down to the roofline when I heard something that had me blush on the spot and stumble over my own feet.
“Cassidy, does he tie her to the bed in this one and whip her, or is that in another book?”
I stood too suddenly, caught off guard by the question, and my feet tangled in the lights. My balance quickly went by the wayside until I was hobbling and grasping at air for purchase.
I held the string of lights as if they would save me as I teetered over. And as a scream rippled up my throat, I knew Santa wasn’t going to make it through this experience.
I tumbled back, my feet flying out from under me. Landing on my back, I started tumbling down the roof until I was airborne with only the string of lights to grip onto.
Squeezing my eyes closed, I prayed for a quick death as my entire life flashed before my eyes, but I came to a sudden jerk and all the blood rushed to my head as I dangled upside down.
And just inches from my face were the most startling blue eyes I’d ever seen.
Slowly, he cocked his head to the side, examining my rosy cheeks before settling on my eyes.
“I meant to do that.”
2
SAM
My lips twitchedin amusement for the first time since arriving in Montana. Not much made me laugh in the past few years, but hearing those five words from this woman’s lips sparked something inside me that I thought was dead.
I meant to do that.
As the blood rushed to her head, it occurred to me that someone should help the woman down from the predicament she found herself in. And I was standing right in front of her.
But before I could open my mouth and say something clever, I heard the telltale sound of the wire stretching too thin. My hands flew out and caught her just as the lights snapped. Legs flailing, she somehow managed to lock them around my neck as she screamed and jerked in my arms.
“Lady—” I sucked in a ragged breath as her head slammed into my junk.
Wheezing, I lowered her to the ground, careful not to smack her head on the concrete, though I was quite certain she deserved it after what she just did to me.
Wayne, the deputy, walked over, chuckling as he watched me bend over and protect myself from any further abuse.
“And that’s what you get when you decorate too early.” His eyes flicked to mine, and he quirked his eyebrow at me. “What’s wrong with you?”
“She bashed him in the nuts,” Mrs. Abernathy chuckled. “You know, this would make an excellent meet-cute.”
“A what?” Wayne asked.
“A meet-cute. It’s when—well, I don’t know why I’m telling this when we have a resident book lady right here. Cassidy, get off the ground and explain it for me.”
I glanced down at the woman who just nailed me in the nuts, and nearly laughed again as I saw her struggling to extract herself from the lights tangled around her body.
“Bigger problems here, Mrs. Abernathy!”
“I’d say. This poor man saved your life, and this is how you repay him?”
I really needed to get out of there, back to my house where I could nurse my bruised body in peace. Not that I had a house to go to with any form of privacy. I was still living in the guest room of Krista and Rob’s house, and the constant moaning at all hours of the night was enough to drive me out of the luxury of the house and into that tiny home once again just so I could get some fucking sleep.
“Would somebody please help me untangle myself before I end up with the cord wrapped around my neck!”
When no one moved to intervene, I put aside my pain and whipped out a pocket knife, slicing through the lights wrapped around the gorgeous woman.
