Christmas From Hell (24 page)

So, that meant that he had to figure out a few things, including how to convince her that he saw her as more than just as a jinx.

He saw her as
his
.

Chapter 27

Monday, December 14
^th
.

“
Stop smiling,” Grandpa snapped without looking up from the apple he was slicing.

“
I’m not smiling,” she said, but of course she was. She couldn’t help smiling, not after yesterday, and last night…and this morning, she thought with a loud yawn.

She needed a nap, she decided as she risked a glance up and saw that it was barely eight o’clock in the morning, which meant that she had five more hours if she was lucky before she could go home and pass out. Then again, she could excuse herself and go to the office and get some work done and maybe sneak in a quick nap, she thought, sending a hopeful glance towards the locked office door.

“
Don’t even think about it,” Grandpa said as though he could read her mind, and considering the fact that he always seemed to know what she was up to, there was a good chance that he could.

That was a terrifying thought she’d save for another time, probably for that therapist her grandfather might drive her into seeing one day. She wondered if she’d get a discount if they met him and realized that she was actually very fortunate to have turned out normal. Probably, she decided as she reached for a peeled apple and began the tedious process of slicing it for the apple pies that they were making for the dinner rush.

“
Excuse me, Mr. Dixon?” Maryanne said from the front of the restaurant.

“
What is it?” he asked in that gruff manner of his without looking up from what he was doing.

“
A customer has asked if Necie could work the grill for his order,” she announced, which probably happened a few dozen times a day so it wasn’t really a big deal.

“
I’ll be right th-”

“
She’s busy,” Grandpa said, cutting her off and taking her by surprise, because Grandpa never had a problem when a customer made a special request to have her cook.

So, why did he have a problem today? she wondered, shifting her attention to Maryanne. “Who is it?”

“
Doesn’t matter,” her grandfather said, but she wasn’t listening.

“
Duncan Bradford,” Maryanne said with a big smile that Necie found contagious.

“
I’ll be right back,” Necie said, removing her baker’s apron and headed to the wash area.

“
Woman, I forbid it!” Grandpa said sternly.

“
Uh huh, that’s nice,” she said absently, biting her bottom lip as she struggled to hold back the huge smile that was trying to take over her lips and give her away, but she couldn’t help it.

“
You go out there and you’re fired!” Grandpa warned.

“
You gave me the majority share of the bakery for my twenty-fifth birthday,” she reminded him, not really paying attention to him or caring that all the employees had stopped what they were doing to stare at her grandfather in a new light.

They thought that he couldn’t fire them.

She should probably stay and rectify that bit of confusion, but she had grill duty and she wasn’t one to put off doing her job. Besides, the others would figure it out once someone did or said something stupid to earn his attention, they’d figure it out quickly that her grandfather was still the managing partner in this business.

Trying not to look too eager to see him, because of course she had to play it cool like most sophisticated women did, she casually strolled out into the front cooking area, grabbed a fresh apron, donned it along with a Dixon’s Bakery baseball cap, double-checked that her ponytail was tight and washed her hands, all while pretending that she didn’t feel a certain pair of emerald eyes running up and down her body, taking in every curve, every single movement, somehow making her entire body tingle with anticipation and all she was doing was taking his breakfast order.

She was pathetic, but she really didn’t care, not when it came to-

“
Your apron’s on fire!” Maryanne yelled, earning a heavy sigh from her, because of course it was.

*-*-*-*

“Let me see your hand,” he said, still trying to figure out how her apron had managed to catch on fire when she’d been more than two feet away from the open ovens.

Then again, this was his little jinx that he was talking about here, so this probably really shouldn’t surprise him. While Necie adamantly refused to show him her hand, he muttered a few curses, undid the ties keeping the smoldering apron attached to her and within a few seconds he had it off her and dumped in the wash bucket full of cleaning rags in the corner.

When he was done, he looked up at her with a look that told her that she had exactly three seconds to show him her hand or he was going to hang her upside down and-

“Fine!” she sighed heavily, sounding putout as she held her hand out to him before she released the cutest little squeal when he picked her up and carried her towards the back, past the curious employees and the man that kept sizing him up for a body bag and brought her straight to the back sink where he plopped her beautiful ass down on the counter.

“Don’t move,” he said softly, but the warning was clear.

Besides, with the way that she tried to run away, she’d probably just trip over her own two feet within a few seconds and then they’d be right back here, only he’d probably have to break out the first aid kit as well. Thankfully, she didn’t try to move or make a run for it as he turned on the water to cold, grabbed her burnt hand and-

“Ouch!” she gasped on a surprised scream as the cold water hit the injured skin on her palm that was still burning.

“What the hell are you doing to her?” Mr. Dixon demanded, stalking over to them, clearly intent on taking over.

“She has a second degree burn on her hand. I’m stopping the burn from spreading,” Duncan simply said as he held Necie’s hand beneath the cold water, refusing to let her pull it back even a centimeter.

He ignored the numbing pain that was starting to spread through his fingers and hands and kept her hand there, ignoring the tears that were coming down her face because it killed him to see them and focused on stopping the burn from spreading.

“You’re hurting her!”

“No,” he said, keeping his voice calm as he leaned in rewarded Necie with a brush of his lips for her bravery, “I’m not.”

When she turned her head and buried her face against his shoulder and wrapped her free arm around his shoulders, he knew that he had her trust. Keeping his free hand on her hip, he kissed the top of her head as he whispered that everything was going to be okay. When he asked if she trusted him, she didn’t hesitate in nodding and murmuring a little pained, “Yes.”

“Good girl,” he said in approval, rewarding her with another kiss, “First aid kit?” he asked no one in particular.

“We’ve got one under the sink,” one of the women said, looking flustered as she gestured towards the cabinet doors beneath them.

He shook his head, because a ten-dollar first-aid kit from Wal-Mart wasn’t going to do. Not for her. Giving her one last kiss, he released her hand beneath the water and shut the faucet off. Before she could sigh with relief or her grandfather could demand that he get his hands off her, he was carrying her back the way that they’d come. Only this time he didn’t stop until he had her out the front door and carried her to his truck.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going with her?” her grandfather asked, looking flustered as he threw an accusing glare at Necie, telling him that the old bastard had probably gone for one of his guns from his infamous collection, one reason the bakery had never been robbed, and she’d found a way to block him.

He fucking loved this girl, he decided, shooting her grandfather a wink, letting him know that he was well aware of how close he’d come to getting his balls shot off and simply said, “Home.”

Chapter 28

“
Umm, this isn’t my home,” she felt obligated to point out as he carried her through the backdoor that led to his large kitchen, which she would love to get her hands on and up the backstairs, careful of the large packed moving boxes stacked here and there, blocking their way to his attic bedroom.

“
Well,” he said, pausing to lean down and kiss her before he continued carrying her up the stairs that would lead to his large attic bedroom, “to be fair, I never said whose home I’d be taking you to.”

“
What’s with all the boxes?” she asked, her curiosity taking over, which was probably for the best since her nerves were fighting for an opportunity to take over and most likely have her do something that would leave them both scarred for life.

“
Not really sure,” he said with a curious frown of his own, but when he simply shrugged it off, she let it go and focused on that large bed that he was carrying her to and for the first time since last night when he’d showed her exactly what stamina meant, all she could think about was how soft the pillows were and just how good that mattress felt.

He chuckled as he sat her down on the edge of the bed. “Tired?” he asked, taking another peek at her hand before he went to his closet and grabbed a large trauma bag, the kind that she’d seen in ambulances.

“
Just a little,” she said, embarrassed to admit that staying up all night to have sex with him had left her exhausted.

As he cleaned her burn with saline and dry linen, she had to wonder how most women did it. How did most women have incredibly hot sex all night long and still manage to get up, lead a full life and not pass out in the process? There was probably something wrong with her, she thought worriedly as she sat there, pondering the idea of buying those five hour energy drinks in bulk so that she would be able to keep up with him.

There had to be a trick to doing this, she told herself, barely aware that he was stripping her naked or carrying her into the bathroom, mostly because she’d already fallen asleep.

*-*-*-*

“
Thank God,” he said, sounding like a wimp and not giving a fuck, not when he was sure that he was seconds away from passing out from exhaustion.

He laid the freshly washed, slumbering woman in his arms carefully on his bed and when she didn’t wake up, he promptly dove for the spot behind her, pulled the blankets up, wrapped his arm around her and closed his eyes.

Who would have thought that the small woman next door, who couldn’t seem to go a single day without causing a disaster, could wear him out so completely? He’d been exhausted before, but never like this. God, he couldn’t remember hurting this much before, even after working two double shifts, back to back, but here he was, praying that she stayed asleep so that he could get some sleep.

She’d definitely worn him out, he thought with a smile as he pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder and-

“
Wake her up and it will be the last thing that you’ll ever do,” came the erringly familiar voice of the man that he knew would kill him without a second’s hesitation.

*-*-*-*

“
Let’s have ourselves a talk, shall we?”

Duncan rubbed his hands down his face, not even bothering to open his eyes as he waited for Mr. Dixon to get to the point of this kidnapping. Any other man and he probably would have beat the shit out of him for sneaking into his room and threatening him, but this was Necie’s grandfather, so out of respect for her, he’d gone along quietly with this kidnapping.

“
Might as well get it out of the way,” he said, already knowing where this was going.