ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (245 page)

Forrest’s reaction wasn’t the one she had hoped for.  He made a face and shook his head. 

“You’re a Dallas Cowboy’s fan?”

Rain looked down at her jersey, touching the silver numbers incredulously.  “Yes, I am!  Who’s your team?”

Forrest mumbled and Rain stepped closer with her ear turned to him.  “Come again?” 

Forrest rolled his eyes and sighed.  “Detroit Lions.”

“How did you like the stomping we handed you on Thanksgiving?”  Her face was bright and playful.

“Just fine!”  He snapped, but they both knew it was the pretend bantering of football fans.  He shook his head again.  “Your offense is a beast.”

“I know!”  She turned to emphasize her agreement, looking over her shoulder at him.  “See that name?  Witten.  He’s a football
god
.”

Hindsight isn’t always 20/20.  When Forrest laid in his bed later that night and thought about his action, he couldn’t pin point what had made him do it.  Maybe it was the floral scent of her perfume, maybe it was the unknowing coy way she looked over her shoulder, or maybe it was a combination of things all balled into one.  Either way, the outcome was Forrest taking one large stride to her and grabbing her along each side of her jaw, and his lips moving to hers in one fluid stretched out movement.  He kissed her firmly, nearly coming out of his skin as her tongue flicked across his lower lip as he pulled his head away. 

They stared at each other for several long moments.  Neither knew what the other was thinking but the heat exchanging within the small space between them was a furnace. 

“I better fix something for us to eat.”  Forrest moved reluctantly away from her, missing the small smile that played on her mouth as she tasted what was left of him on her lips. 

“I plowed the driveway.”  Forrest announced happily when he came in with a burst of cold.  Rain had only been awake a few minutes, and was wondering how anyone could get up before light just to plow a driveway. 

Galadriel was getting used to the hard wood floor and greeted him at the door with Leonidas.  It was a funny thing to see the little deer acting like a canine. 

“Do you want me to get her bottle ready?” 

“Yeah, you do that.  I’m going to see about the horses and get the generator.  We can go into town in a little bit.  Not much is open right now anyway.”

Rain was excited by the prospect of seeing the town.  She was getting cabin fever, and the thought of other people gave her relief.  Not that Forrest’s company was boring or bad in any way.  She was actually comfortable with him, and it was the easy effortless comfort she had always yearned for.  Neither had spoken of the kiss the night before, but there were looks that lingered.  He had pulled out a chess board and tried to teach her the basics, pleased with what an adept pupil she was.  It kept their minds and hands busy.

The roads were a virtual mess, and Forrest had to carefully maneuver his truck as they drove towards the town of Webster Springs.  On a clear day, with clear roads, the drive wouldn’t have taken long; fifteen minutes at most, but that day it took nearly thirty.  Rain was pleased to see that the town had power. 

Forrest drove them directly to the Enchanted Forest.  As he had suspected, Ruth Ann had her placed decked out.  A man sized Nutcracker stood guard by the front door and a large wreath of holly and pine hung on the door, tastefully decorated with balls and white lights.  The real show would be inside.

Rain entered the Enchanted Forest with the breathless anticipation of a child.  The store didn’t disappoint.  White lights twinkled all around the store and there was a huge Christmas tree with a gold and red theme cattycorner from the front door.  An electric train ran through the North Pole in the display window.  The little town was intricate and richly detailed.  

The store front gave the illusion that the inside wouldn’t be very large, but it was in fact massive.  Rain looked upward and saw a winding staircase which lead to a loft.  Several children were up there giggling and talking, their smiling mother’s trailing close behind as the children perused books and jumped on bean bags. 

“Let me show you something.”  Forrest whispered near her ear.  He took her by the hand and led her up the winding staircase.  Rain felt a moment of vertigo as they turned in a different direction every few steps.  The railing was a wrought iron, intricate in design, and painted a lovely pale gold.  The loft upstairs was a child’s paradise. 

Old fashioned wind up monkey’s in red vests held tiny cymbals at the ready.  There were bears all of shapes, colors, and sizes, and rabbits with little hats.  Rain picked up a stuffed brown bear which was surprisingly realistic looking. 

“Do you like bears?”  Forrest asked quietly, still holding on to her hand. 

“I like most all animals, but yes, I am particularly fond of bears.”

“Me too.” 

Shorter shelves, both in height and length, were spread throughout the space.  Rain mused that the loft alone could hold two of her apartment. 

“Is this part of the store just for children?”

“Mainly.  Children’s books and toys and a few books geared for tweens.”  He laughed robustly.  “The basement is reserved for the teenager young adult section.  Ruth Ann says the teenagers prefer the brooding windowless area so it can feed their angst.” 

“Ruth Ann said what?”  A woman of about sixty or sixty five stuck her head around Forrest’s shoulder, with painted eyebrows raised high.  She had short brownish gray hair with some kind of blonde highlight.  Her red lips turned upward and she offered a cheek to Forrest, which he dutifully kissed lightly. 

“I was just telling Rain here about the teenage angst room.”

“Ah.”  Ruth Ann smiled.  She held her hand out to Rain.  “I’m Ruth Ann Gordon.  Pleasure to meet you.”  She glanced at Forrest and Rain’s still clasped hands, but didn’t comment. 

“Rain Cash.” 

“Cash?  Are you a local, honey?”

“No.  I’m from Orange Virginia.”

“Drove through there once.  Cute little town.  So what brings you to our neck of the woods?” 

“Accident.”  Rain sighed.

“Literally.”  Forrest said and explained the literal accident Rain had been involved in.

“Ouch!  How’s your head?  I see that shoddy Forrest Early bandaging.”  She teased.  Forrest rolled his eyes. 

“Oh, I’m much better.” 

“Good.  Well, look around.  I’d love to catch up, Forrest, but I’m shorthanded as hell right now!”  She covered her mouth.  A nearby mother regarded her with a light frown.  “Sorry.”  Ruth Ann smiled.

“I would have thought you would have extra help since it’s less than a week until Christmas.”

“Me too!”  She threw her hands in the air and caught them together in a wringing motion as they fell back down.  “Louise decided to elope with the Martin boy the day of the blizzard.  My golly, that girl is nineteen years old, but to hear her parents talk she was a twelve year old spirited away by a dirty old man in the dead of night!  For goodness sakes, she’s a year older than the Martin boy!” 

Forrest chuckled.  “Well, she’s from old money and he’s just…not.” 

Ruth Ann waved her hands.  “Yeah, I know.”

“Who else are you missing?”

“Christian decided he would get paid better to work a Christmas tree stand.  I’m an old fool, but I told him he could come back in January.” 

“You are an old fool.”

Rain watched them banter back and forth for several more minutes.  She guessed Ruth Ann had time to catch up she didn’t know about.  She stared at Rain and clapped her hands in a single sharp motion. 

“Hey!  Are you going to be here until Christmas?”

“Well…I’m not sure.”

“She has to wait on the insurance adjuster.”  Forrest gripped her hand tighter.  Rain guessed he had decided what she should do after all. 

“Honey, would you want to work a few hours a day until Christmas Eve?”

“Oh…I don’t know!”  Rain laughed nervously, and looked to Forrest for help.

He shrugged.  “You could.  I don’t mind bringing you into town each day.”  A tingling grew under his skin and his stomach did a flop. 
An excuse.  A perfectly reasonable excuse for her to stay longer.  For her to stay until Christmas
.

“Tell you what.”  Ruth Ann began.  “I don’t even have to put you on payroll.  How about ten an hour, paid in cash every day, and you could work ten to five.” 

“That’s very generous.”

“Great.  I’ll see you tomorrow at ten.”

Rain watched in stunned silence as her new temporary boss hurried away.  She looked up at Forrest, but all he could do was burst out laughing. 

“Yep, that’s Ruth Ann, alright!”

“She didn’t even ask if I could work a cash register!  She didn’t even ask for a reference!”

Forrest laid an arm gently around her shoulder.  “You’re in here with me.  That’s credentials enough.” 

The rest of the store was just as magical as the children’s area had been.  Rain was impressed with a nook in the adult section with a sofa and to chairs.  Low lighting gave the area a cozy at home feel.  Behind the couch was a mural painted on the wall of a deep evergreen forest.  Rain smiled at the pixie’s barely visible in the painting, peeking out at the unsuspecting humans.  There was another tree, smaller than the first, sitting in the corner beside the couch and floor lamp.  Ruth Ann had chosen hunter green, brown, and cream balls and ribbon.  Standing beside the mural, decorated with all of the earth tone colors, it gave the painting a three dimensional look, like the Christmas tree had popped loose of the paint.       

“Look around, ok?”  Forrest said, and removed his arm from her shoulder, and wandered off to shop himself. 

Rain wasn’t sure where to start, but she had heard of an author whim she was interested in reading, and wandered to the “H” section.

It was hard to believe that an entire hour had passed when Forrest sought her out.  She had a stack of books spread out on the coffee table in the reading section, staring at them with a frown.

“What’s wrong?”  Forrest asked.  He had two books tucked under his arm. 

“I can’t decide.  I really can’t afford all four.” 

Forrest stacked her books and laid his on top before picking the whole stack up.

“What are you doing?”  Rain asked with wide eyes. 

“They can be an early Christmas present.  All of them are trade paperbacks, and one is used, so they won’t be that expensive.”

“I can’t let you do that.”  She said, and tried to grab the stack. 

“I have one of Ruth Ann’s book club cards.  After you purchase ten books, you get one free.  At least one of these will be free.”

“Thanks.”  Rain said quietly.  She wasn’t used to a man offering to buy her anything but dinner, and life with Dante had proved that even that was iffy.  Trevor had been too preoccupied to think about gifts.

“My pleasure.  A woman who reads is a woman who thinks.” 

They left the store with their purchases and Ruth Ann called happily after her to just wear whatever the next day as long as it was decent. 

“I hope this won’t be a mistake.”  Rain sighed as they neared Forrest’s truck. 

“It won’t be.  She’s a lot of fun, and she always brings in cookies and…”  Forrest’s voice trailed off as he stared across the street.  Rain followed his gaze to see the two men who came to the cabin the day before. 

“Why are they staring at us like that?” 

“Here.”  Forrest said and handed her the bags of books.  He walked purposefully across the street towards the men.  They looked at each other and began walking away.  Forrest caught them anyway and a Rain could see a heated discussion happening, heated at least for one of the men.  It was the one who had talked the day before and he was shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head.

“What do you want, Scott?”

“We don’t want anything!” 

“I wasn’t talking to you.”  Forrest cut his eyes dangerously and the greasy man shut his mouth with a snap. 

“Nothing.”  Scott replied, his strange yellow eyes pinned on Forrest. 

Forrest leaned forward and spoke in a low menacing tone.  “I know what you
are
.”

The man replied, a perfect mimic of Forrest.  “I know what
you
are too.”

“Why did you really come to my house?”

“It was a mistake.  We saw the woman through the window, and thought we would just have a little fun.” 

Forrest growled.  “If I catch either of you on my property again…I’ll kill you.”

“Sheriff Benson wouldn’t take too kindly to a threat like that!”  The greasy man spit. 

“Shut up, Mike.”  Scott said without taking his eyes from Forrest’s face.  “Sure, no problem, but keep in mind the agreed upon boundaries. 

Forrest smiled coldly.  “I don’t think I forgot them in the first place.” 

“Like I said, it was a mistake.  I didn’t realize it was your house.” 

Mike watched them with a wary fascination.  He wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but it didn’t sound good.  He tugged on Scott’s sleeve.