Kiss Me on Christmas Read online

  “Me, too,” his date chimed in. “But it was good to meet you. Maybe you could give me a call sometime.”

  “What if something happens on your way? It’s bad out there and you’ll be alone.”

  “I have to go pick up my daughter.”

  “I can drive you.”

  “No, really, I’ll be all right.”

  Shanna followed the back-and-forth conversation and wondered why the woman was so agitated.

  “Then I’ll follow you. Just to make sure you get home all right.”

  “My daughter is at a friend’s, and my husband is a firefighter. I should have realized he’d be tied up—” Her eyes popped wide and her mouth O’d.

  Kane stood there a moment. “Your husband?”

  The woman’s chest lifted and fell in the shadows of candlelight.

  Shanna shared a look with Gayle, who raised her eyebrows speculatively.

  “You left that out in your profile.” Kane sounded injured.

  “I’m sorry. I—I thought you were…you know…” She waved her hands in small circles.

  “No. What?”

  The woman’s hands stilled and she looked up at him. “Looking for…you know…sex.”

  “You just wanted sex.” It was a flat statement.

  Shanna tried to shake herself from being so riveted.

  Beside her, Gayle stifled a laugh into a nasally grunt.

  Kane’s date turned to look at them the same time he did. Her expression had a deer-in-headlights look, his crunched into bridled anger. But he faced his date again and held it all in check.

  “I’ll still take you home,” he surprised Shanna by saying. She’d have thought a guy like him would just let the woman walk right out of his life so he could move on to date number fifty-one.

  “No.” The woman turned and went to the door, going outside and into the blustery weather. Kane followed.

  Shanna looked at Gayle, who looked back. A couple of seconds later, Gayle scurried to the front door and Shanna followed, where they watched through spitting snow as Kane helped his date chisel ice off her windows while her car warmed up. The amount of ice on the windows gave Shanna’s worry a nudge. It was going to be a scary ride home.

  Kane finished clearing the windows and stood in the snow as the woman drove away. When the car vanished from sight, he turned and headed back toward the shop.

  Gayle and Shanna stepped back as he reentered Bean Me. He stopped just inside, facing them. “We should go find somewhere else to stay. I have a room at the Warwick Hotel tonight. Maybe you should do the same. They have a generator. You could both come with me if you have nowhere else to go.”

  “I have a husband, one I can admit to having. And a fireplace. A real one,” Gayle said, smiling. “So don’t worry about me. It’s her you should worry about.” She swung her gaze toward Shanna and then winked her subliminal meaning Kane’s way.

  He looked at Shanna, unaffected. “What do you think?”

  She had to stop herself from visibly flinching. “What?” He wanted her to go with him? Temptation and appall clashed inside her.

  “The hotel will have power. Food.”

  He was only trying to be a Good Samaritan. He wasn’t hitting on her. The fact that some part of her had considered it helped make up her mind.

  “I have a car. And I have a dog who needs me,” she said.

  “All right. Where’s your car? I’ll help you clear the windows and make sure you make it home all right.”

  He seemed awfully conscientious, not wanting to leave anyone alone in the storm. Surely it was a temporary affliction. “You don’t have to. Just go. I need to close up anyway.”

  “You should go with him,” Gayle said.

  Shanna sent her a silent warning.

  “I’ll wait for you,” Kane said.

  She turned back to him, unable to stop herself from looking into those dark-rimmed green eyes. She ought to know by now not to trust gazes like that—kinder than they actually were.

  “Well…I better get back and close myself.” Gayle started for the door, there she paused with a look over her shoulder. “You shouldn’t be alone, Shanna. I came over to bring you with me, but I can see you’re in capable hands.” She smiled at Kane.

  Shanna wanted to bop her one over the head. The woman left, her form swallowed in snow and darkness as she made her way across the street.

  “Let me at least make sure you’re on your way,” Kane said.

  Reluctantly, Shanna met his eyes again. What harm would there be in that? If she let him help her dig out her car, he’d leave and she’d be rid of him. Besides, the weather did have her spooked. And she was worried about Scotch. She could not leave her sweet little dog in a cold house, all alone and scared.

  Without acknowledging him, she went to lock the front door and then returned to the counter. She opened the cash register and removed the money. Bending for a money bag, she stuffed it in and zipped it shut. With a final glance at the dark front windows, hoping no one would break them during the blackout, she blew out the candles.

  Kane followed her into the back office. Tucking the bank bag into her tote, she slipped into her jacket and looped the tote over her shoulder. Outside, Shanna caught her breath against a blast of cold air.

  Kane took the keys from her hand in her distraction. She decided to let him. It wasn’t often she had the luxury of having someone to take care of her. He opened her car door and sat inside with one long leg still outside. Nothing happened. No headlights. No sound from the engine.

  Shanna gripped her jacket tighter, snow flecking her face in the freezing breeze, making her blink. She backed up, so the building sheltered her as Kane got out and peered under the hood. After a few minutes, he slammed the hood shut and strode over to her.

  “Battery’s dead.”

  “What?” she almost shouted.

  “Dead. And I don’t have any cables. But don’t worry. I’ll take you home.”

  Was it really dead? She looked at her car, then him. He was an onliner. Habitual. Could she trust him?

  “I’m only trying to help,” he said, reading her too well.

  Helpful was not a word she’d have used to describe him before the lights went out…unless it involved an orgasm. She had to remind herself not to fall for these crumbs of kindness. It was only the storm making him offer. Beyond that, some men were just good at fooling women to get what they wanted.

  He put his hand on her arm and guided her toward the side of her coffee shop. Not knowing what else she could do, Shanna walked with him to the front where he’d parked his dark green Hummer H2.

  There, she stopped as he opened the passenger door. She’d taken care of herself on her own for years. Did she really need this man to help her? Were his good looks making her weak? Was a secret part of her wishing a man like him would be interested in her?

  No.

  “I changed my mind. I don’t want to go anywhere with you. I can find my own way home.” She stepped back.

  “Really?” He scanned the deserted, ice-caked street. “How?”

  She stopped, looking one way and then the other. A single car crossed the street at a crawl a few blocks away. But then it vanished, leaving everything in darkness. Emptiness pooled in her stomach. She didn’t like having to depend on him.

  “Come on. You can’t stay here. I’ll make sure you get home. Will you be okay there?”

  She turned to look at him. Would she? She wasn’t even sure if she had a flashlight. She didn’t have a fireplace, either. Only a few candles.

  “I have a room at the Warwick. You could stay there if there aren’t any others available,” he said.

  She opened her mouth but nothing came out. A few things crossed her mind to say, but it took her a moment to choose one. “What…you mean with you?”

  “It’s a suite. You can have the bedroom.”

  “Don’t you live here?”

  “I live outside of the city. When I heard the weather was going to ge
t bad, I reserved a room for the night. Better than driving in Seattle traffic on icy roads.” He looked around. “I had no idea it was going to be like this, though.”

  Wow. A suite with a bedroom. He must be loaded. Pieces of his conversations sprinkled into her mind. Developer.

  “What do you do?” she asked.

  “I’m a commercial developer.” He nodded his head toward Bean Me. “This is one of my buildings.”

  Kane Ramsey. Of course! Why hadn’t she thought of it before? He was KR Development.

  “You’re my landlord.” She was too stunned to say anything else.

  He smiled. “I thought you already knew that.”

  “No. I didn’t know that.” She stared at him while emotion coiled and churned inside her, building to anger. Then she pointed at him. “You raised my rent!”

  Chapter 2

  K ane took in the slender woman holding her bony wrist up and aiming a finger at him. In the darkness, her eyes looked brown, but he knew when the light hit them they turned the most intriguing shade of blue-green. The first few times he’d come to Bean Me he’d noticed her beauty and the way she laughed, so full of life and self-confidence. He’d noticed other things, too, like the way she kept interesting trinkets for sale—ornaments from all over the world and rare collectible dolls that matched the holiday season. She played a wide array of music and what little he’d heard her reveal about herself to patrons always struck him as sweet. He’d also noticed her standoffish body language. She rarely looked him right in the eye but he never missed her circumspection.

  “Let’s get in the truck.” He opened the passenger door for her.

  Folding her arms, she stuck her chin up. Snow dropped onto her creamy skin and strands of reddish-auburn hair that sprawled in layered disarray over the shoulders of her jacket. She was probably around five-five and was fine-boned. Anything but intimidating. Yet, as little as she was, she sure packed some dynamite.

  He couldn’t stop a grin.

  “Something’s funny?”

  “Get in and we’ll talk.”

  “I don’t want to go with you to your hotel room.”

  “Then I’ll take you home, where you can freeze with your dog.”

  Her gaze threw darts at him in her hesitation, but finally she climbed up onto the tan leather seat and he shut the door. Walking around the front of the Hummer, he got behind the wheel and started the engine.

  “Now what’s this about your rent?” he asked. He’d get out and chisel all the ice off the windows in a minute.

  “One of your project managers backed me into a corner.”

  “I’m sure he was just doing his job.”

  More darts flew at him from across the truck. “I argued with him for two hours but he wouldn’t listen. He refused to lower his figure.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with your contract. I work at a higher level than that.”

  “Do you pay your managers on commission? Is it your policy to hire greedy jerks?”

  He’d just avoid that. Arguing would only agitate her more. “Have you already signed the contract?”

  “What was I supposed to do? Not sign it and move? I have established patrons. If I moved, I’d have to start all over. Do you know how risky that would be? I’ve only been open a year. And now because of your company’s lack of ethics, I might be driven out of business.”

  “I’ll take a look at your contract as soon as I can.”

  “You should be ashamed of yourself, gouging people the way you do.”

  “Hey. Wait a minute. I don’t gouge people. It’s standard practice to raise rents yearly or when a contract is expiring. We have guidelines about that, with set percentages on increases. It’s like a cost-of-living raise. Everyone needs them, including my employees, who wouldn’t get pay increases if I didn’t make the money in the first place.”

  “You could spell out the increases in your contracts. Instead of waiting until the established ones are about to expire so you can pounce.”

  “I’m not the one who negotiated your terms. And it doesn’t sound like you did a very good job of negotiating yours.”

  She grunted her distain. “That wasn’t negotiating. That was harassment.”

  “Why did you sign the contract, then?”

  “I didn’t have a choice!”

  “You could have brought it to someone else’s attention.”

  “Like who? You?”

  He tried to read her face along with the way she said you. What did she have against him? It was more than just her rent.

  Seeming to catch herself, she turned to face the window. “I’m sorry.”

  “Not a problem.”

  She looked over at him, her eyes softer now. “It’s just that it came at a bad time and the increase was more excessive than I thought was appropriate.”

  “I’ll personally look into it, I promise.”

  “That would be nice. If you do it.” She looked straight ahead.

  “Why wouldn’t I?”

  She just shrugged.

  As the founder of KR Development, he could do something if he really wanted to, surely she knew that. He’d just told her he’d look into it. He’d even promised. Why didn’t she believe him? Was it past experience with men? That had to be it. Was she so sweet that she was easily hurt? A spark of temptation struck him to find out, without hurting her. He didn’t want that. But the possibility that she was as sweet as he thought started a burn inside him. He wanted to get to know her better. And despite her attempts to ward him off, he could tell she wanted the same with him.

  Wait a minute. Sweet? Sweet didn’t fit a busy lifestyle. He needed a tough, independent woman who had her own life and didn’t need him to constantly woo her.

  He climbed out of the Hummer and started scraping ice, glancing through the glass on the windshield he’d just exposed. She was watching him. Damn if the thought of wooing her didn’t toy with him. He had to get a grip. He’d be setting himself up for another failure for sure if he got mixed up with this one!

  If it wasn’t for Scotch, Shanna would have told Kane to fend for himself. She could have gone with Gayle and slept by a nice warm fire, away from this online dating addict. She didn’t like the way he’d looked at her through the windshield, wary of the hothead coffee shop girl. But also curious. She stole a glance across the truck. He drove slowly along the deserted, darkened street, both hands on the wheel, thighs slightly parted, eyes watching ahead. Relaxed as could be.

  That same spark of interest that sometimes caught her off guard whenever he came into Bean Me crept into her now. And like all the other times, confusion followed. He was exactly the kind of man she was tired of meeting. What about him was different?

  He slowed the Hummer even more. She looked through the snow-splattered windshield. A car that had slid off the road was just ahead. Its lights were still on. She felt the antilock brakes work as Kane stopped the Hummer beside the stranded car.

  Leaving the engine running, he turned to her as he opened his door. “Wait here.”

  Was he being protective because he didn’t want her to slip on ice? Not knowing whether to be offended or flattered, she decided to let it pass.

  He approached the car and tested the driver’s door. It didn’t budge. He leaned close to the window, trying to peer inside through a thick layer of ice. He pounded his knuckles on the window.

  Apparently no one stirred, because he moved to the rear passenger window and peered through the ice covering it. He must have noticed something, because he started yanking on the door. It must be frozen shut. He kept pulling until ice cracked and pieces fell to the ground and he opened the back door. A crying old woman bundled in a winter coat and a hat and gloves inched her way toward the edge of the seat.

  Kane leaned in to help her, his strong arm going under one of hers and easily bringing her to her feet. She leaned against him, weakened from cold and fear. Her husband climbed out of the car after her, bundled like his wife, moving slow bu
t not needing assistance from Kane.

  How long would they have sat in that car?

  She watched as Kane put his arm around the woman and the man gripped his other one. As they started toward Kane’s truck, Shanna got out and opened the back door, her feet slipping. She used the handle to keep from falling.

  She reached for the elderly man, whose breathing was as taxed as his wife’s. He took her hand as Kane helped the woman into the back. She scooted over and her husband climbed in beside her.

  Shanna watched them huddle close, shivering, white-skinned, lips a bluish hue. Kane stood right behind her and shut the door. Her feet slipped again but his body steadied her and he held her arm as she got back into the front seat.

  A little too aware of that contact, she covertly watched him get back behind the wheel. She couldn’t stop herself from observing the way his body moved as he slammed his door shut and switched the heat to high.

  Then he twisted to look in the backseat. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  The woman shakily nodded. “God bless you for stopping.”

  Kane smiled in response. “I’m Kane and this is Shanna.”

  “Carl and Leona Ray. It’s our pleasure, I assure you.” Carl smiled back, his shivering easing with the blasting heat in the Hummer. Hugging his wife closer against him, he told Kane where they lived. It was a few blocks from Shanna’s house.

  “We were on our way home from the hospital,” Leona said. “Our daughter just had a baby girl.” Her face beamed love and Shanna envied the years of family life the couple must have enjoyed so far.

  “Do you two have any kids?” Carl asked.

  Startled by the question, Shanna looked at Kane the same time he looked at her.

  “Uh…no,” he answered.

  Shanna turned toward the couple. “We aren’t married.”

  “Oh, well, you do make an attractive couple,” Leona said. “How long have you been together?”

  It took Shanna a moment to reply. “We aren’t.”

  “That’s too bad. Some people just look like they belong together.” The woman laughed. “How did you end up together tonight?”

  Nosey old woman. “He was in my coffee shop when the power went out. My car wouldn’t start so he offered to take me home.”