I should have been concentrating on anything besides her looks. But that face…
Delicate cheekbones, thick lips, and the most expressive eyes I’d ever seen, it was hard to think about anything other than what she looked like when she wasn’t wrapped in Christmas lights.
Though this was a good look for her as well.
Finally, I pulled the last of the lights from around her and held out my hand, only half-nervous that she’d somehow end up nailing me in the groin again. What I wouldn’t give for my cup right now.
“Thank you,” she huffed, tugging her bright red hat down on her head. Two braids stuck out on either side, keeping her silky brown hair safely out of the way of tangling in her work.
Cocking her head at me, her lips twitched in amusement. “That’s when you would say something likeyou’re welcome.”
“Is that so?”
She shivered, glancing away from me as she pretended to busy herself with escaping the last of the lights. But I knew better. I’d recognize a shiver like that anywhere.
Attraction.
Not that I was in the right frame of mind to date any woman, and this woman had marriage material written all over her body.
“That was a nice move,” Wayne laughed. “Mind demonstrating that for us again?”
“Shut up, Wayne.”
“No, I’m being serious. I thought the whole thing was spectacular. You know, the whole wobbling up there and tumbling down the roof. Not many could pull off something like that.”
“I’d be happy to take you up there and shove you off just to see how you compare.”
Again, my lips twitched in amusement.
A woman shoved through the crowd, wrapping her in a hug. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I got tangled up in the lights, but otherwise, I’m safe thanks to?—”
“Sam. Collins. Blake’s brother.”
“Oh, right,” she frowned with a knowing look.
I was so tired of everyone around here giving me that pitying expression. The boxer who had retired due to an injury. And where was I now? Bumming around Montana without a clue in the world as to what to do next.
The woman who had hugged her glanced up at the roof. “What were you thinking? Why didn’t you get a man to hang those up for you?”
The woman snorted in amusement. “Because I can do it on my own.”
“Clearly,” I muttered, earning a disdainful glare from her.
“Excuse me, but I am perfectly capable of doing this on my own.”
“That’s why you fell off the roof,” I pointed out. “And why I had to catch you.”
“The lights caught me.”
“Until they snapped. Then it was all me,” I corrected.
“Look, just because you’re a man and bulky and muscular and…big, doesn’t mean that I can’t do this on my own,” she stuttered. “I don’t need a man to help me with anything.”
“Well, I’ll leave you to your work, then.”
But before I could make my escape, I was thwarted by none other than Liam, Michael’s brother. And since Michael was my brother-in-law, I was somehow attached to the rest of the family. That was the way things worked in Montana.
