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Duke had dropped her off at the mall earlier, and she still had about forty minutes until he picked her up so they could get to work.
So she thought she’d check her emails.
Three rejections! All right, so they weren’t actual rejections. Just messages from people who owned cabins they rented out over the holidays.
All of whom had no openings for Christmas or New Year’s.
Shoot. She’d known it was a long shot, but she’d been hopeful. Christmas was the season for miracles, right?
“Hey Sunny. Why so sad?”
She jumped as someone sat next to her . . . someone dressed all in green with pointy shoes and pointy ears.
“Are you . . . are you one of Santa’s elves?” she asked breathlessly.
The elf turned, and she went bright red. “Oh, my God. Jonas, hi! Sorry, you must think me a complete idiot.”
Jonas was a regular client of Duke’s.
His face softened. “Sunny, girl, of course I don’t. It’s good if you think I’m one of Santa’s elves because none of the kids seem fooled.”
Hmm . . . he wasn’t a typical elf, that was for sure. He had tattoos all up his arms and along his chest. She couldn’t see the chest tattoos right now, of course. But she knew they were there since Duke had been adding to them for the last two years.
“What are you doing here by yourself? Where’s Duke?”
“Oh, I’ve just been finishing my shopping. Duke’s coming to pick me up. Um, Jonas, why are you dressed as an elf?”
“Because I refused to dress as Rudolf,” he muttered with a scowl. “But I still look fucking ridiculous.”
“What?”
“A friend of mine manages this mall. The guy meant to be an elf is out sick with gastro. Anyway, long story short, I owed my friend, so here I am.”
Wow.
“That’s nice of you.”
He just snorted, looking unconvinced.
“And I think you make a great elf,” she told him loyally.
He just shot her a look. Yeah, maybe great was a stretch.
“What’s got you sitting here looking so sad?” he asked.
“It’s silly, really.”
He shot her a look, so she told him what she was looking for.
“Duke never mentioned wanting to go away for a few nights. I was under the impression he was busy as hell at the moment.”
“Oh, it’s a surprise.”
“Hmm. I’m going to get a friend of mine to call you. He’s got a cabin in the mountains. Be perfect for what you want, and he usually only rents it to friends and family.”
“Would he rent to me?”
“Course he would.” He grinned at her, then programmed her number into his phone before he stood. “Got to go. I’ll set it up so you can go take a look at the cabin. And don’t worry, I won’t tell Duke anything.”
