Excerpt from Four Weeks 'til Christmas, now available! Kindle: http://amzn.com/B00GSPUCTA
By six a.m. Noelle was beginning to fall apart. Her feet hurt, her eyes stung and her holiday cheer had walked out the back door. She only had two more hours to go and she picked up another cup of coffee to boost her energy. When she heard her name called over the loud speaker, she bolted out of the break room with her cup of coffee and barreled in to a wall. A human wall.
“Shit.”
“Oh my gosh. I am so sorry.” Embarrassment and exhaustion took over and as she stared at the huge brown spot on the white shirt in front of her, tears began to slide down her cheeks.
“Hey. Don’t worry, it’s okay.” A deep voice vibrated through her.
“I just…it’s…sorry.” Noelle glanced up at the victim of her clumsiness and gasped. The man, whom she had just spilled her coffee all over his white shirt, was beautiful. He was probably over six feet tall, though with his head ducked down to look at her, she couldn’t be sure. His dark blue eyes were fixed on her face. He was frowning, but whether it was out of concern or annoyance, she wasn’t sure.
Noelle hadn’t noticed the strong hands that held her up until now. Warmth flooded through her and for the first time, in a long time, she felt safe. Noelle glanced down at the large hands that gently held her forearms and the man suddenly let her go, leaving her feeling bereft. She wondered what it would be like to feel those gentle hands on other places of her body. How it would feel to tuck herself in to those strong arms? She sniffed, wiping her hand over her eyes, and an intoxicating scent drifted to her nose, assaulting her senses.
“Sir. Please forgive me. It’s been a long night. If you send me the cleaning bill I will reimburse you.”
“What?” Oh he was well over six foot and built like a linebacker. His face was scrunched with confusion. Then, a smile crept on his face as a light flickered in those beautiful eyes.
“Don’t worry about the shirt, sweets. I have plenty more.”
Noelle would normally bristle at the endearment, but something about the gentleness in his voice comforted her, instead. To make matters worse, the warmth that had flowed through her body was now probably displayed by the blush in her cheeks. Which, he was gazing at, that moment.
“I am so sorry. I have to go.” She turned to head back to the break room.
“Before you go, Noelle…” Her head snapped back and she couldn’t help but glare at him. He pointed at her Samson’s name tag then flashed a beautiful, wide bright smile at her, stealing her breath away. He was gorgeous. Sinfully gorgeous. Noelle felt her knees weaken as the thought invaded her mind. “Do you have any more of those singing dolls? Sammy or Stacey? I was given the duty of stopping by and getting one for my niece, but I don’t see them any where.”
“Singing Suzy?”
“Ah, Suzy, yes that’s the one.”
“Let me check for you.” Noelle high-tailed it away from him and once again headed to the store room. She dug in to a new box that had been delivered at five a.m. and found the doll.
“Here you go sir.”
“Zane. Noelle, please call me Zane.”
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