Mistletoe Season by Michelle Major

CHAPTER ONE

THEACCIDENTHADhappened so quickly, but Bella Hart couldn’t stop replaying it in her mind in excruciatingly slow motion. They were the worst few minutes of her entire life, and that was saying something.

The front door accidentally left ajar.

The ten-month-old puppy gleefully running across the yard toward the street, ignoring his panicked owner’s calls to come.

The giant SUV headed right toward the animal.

Bella’s scream as she followed her four-legged baby into the road.

In front of the massive vehicle.

The squeal of tires reverberating in her ears.

And then...

“Hey.”

Tanned fingers snapped in front of her face.

“You okay, Bella? Are you sure I can’t call someone?”

She blinked and looked into the brilliant cerulean gaze of Sam Anderson. Blue that reminded Bella of the Colorado sky on a clear winter’s day. A bluebird day, the locals called it as they headed for the slopes in the mountain town where she’d grown up. Bella had never liked snow.

Sam was her neighbor in the duplex she rented just outside the small town of Magnolia, North Carolina. She’d gotten a job as a third grade teacher there after graduating from college five years earlier, much to the chagrin of her parents, who were desperate for her to return home.

Sam was also a couple of years younger than her, as hot as any man she’d ever seen—a fact that made him quite popular with the ladies of the quaint Southern town.

He’d also been the one to hit her puppy. Or almost hit. Bella wanted to believe it was a near miss.

The veterinarian who was currently casting Tater’s front leg couldn’t be sure if there had actually been impact. The puppy had a broken leg but no other sign of trauma.

Bella hadn’t been hit. Thank God the brakes on Sam’s ancient Land Cruiser seemed to be in good working order.

But she had a nasty road burn on her legs.

She’d been wearing—still wore—a short robe over pajama shorts and a thin T-shirt, no bra. She pulled the fuzzy pink robe closed as she met Sam’s gaze.

“I’m fine,” she said, hating that heat infused her cheeks as he studied her.

What was wrong with her? She and Sam had been neighbors for nearly two years now and were friends of a sort. Neighborly, anyway. He wasn’t her type, despite his physical perfection, and she certainly wasn’t his.

Not to mention he’d almost killed her dog.

Could nothing dampen her physical reaction to the man?

“I’m sorry.” He sat back on his haunches. “So damn sorry. I didn’t see the little guy and—”

“I know.” She reached out and covered his hand with hers. An immediate and unwanted spark of awareness zinged through her. She snatched her hand away before Sam noticed. When they’d first met, she’d literally walked into a wall because he’d flustered her so badly.

In addition to his piercing blue eyes, Sam was tall with a kind of natural athletic grace, like there was nothing he couldn’t handle. He wore his blond hair cropped and had an easy smile that lit up his whole movie-star-handsome face.

He had to know she had a major crush on him. From what she could tell, every single woman in Magnolia—and a number of the married ones—felt the same way she did.

Pull yourself together, she commanded silently. Maybe the post-adrenaline rush could be blamed for her overwhelming reaction. The letdown had only come once Sam had driven them to the vet’s office, where her sweet pup had checked out in good health other than the leg.

According to Dr. Kaminski, the attending vet, Tater’s fracture was simple, so the leg could be cast without needing surgery.

“Let’s take care of your leg while we’re waiting.”

“My leg?” she asked dumbly as Sam straightened and walked to the small sink in the corner of the empty break room. The vet tech had suggested she wait in the back instead of the lobby since she was wearing pajamas, a robe and fake sheepskin boots.

He looked over his shoulder and gave her an encouraging smile. The kind he might offer some hysterical woman during one of his shifts with the local fire department. The kind that said, “don’t lose your mind on me, ma’am.” As if she were on the verge of...

She groaned as she shifted on the chair. Right. Her leg and the burning road rash she’d gotten from hurling herself in the path of his SUV, like she was some sort of superhero who could handle the impact and save her beloved puppy.

Her right leg had taken the brunt of the damage. From about midthigh to just above her ankle, her skin was a patchwork of red and raw wounds, inflamed and bleeding in several places. Somehow she’d become numb to the stinging pain with her mind focused on Tater’s injury.

“I’ll take care of it when I get home,” she said as he moved closer. He placed the bin of first aid he’d brought on the chair next to her and knelt in front of her.

“We should clean it out now. I can handle this, Bella.”

Of that, she had no doubt.

“I don’t even remember the last time I shaved my legs.” She jerked away as he reached for her, then sucked in a painful gasp.

“I promise I won’t even notice your legs.” His mouth quirked. “I’m going to touch you now, okay?”

“Okay,” she murmured, because he sounded so sure of himself. This caregiver side of Sam was one she hadn’t seen before, although it made sense, given his line of work. He dealt with people in crisis every day.

And she refused to think about his comment that he wouldn’t notice her legs. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. Sam had never noticed her as anything but his neighbor and platonic friend. Oh, he enjoyed her stories about the students at Magnolia Elementary. He appreciated it when she made extra dinner and left disposable containers on his porch.

But he dated women who were much different than Bella.

Beautiful women. Fun women. Women her mother would describe as having loose morals for the most part. Sam had made the dating rounds of Magnolia and beyond. Although his social life had slowed considerably in the past few months. Bella didn’t know why.

His hands were sure as he gently blotted at the scrapes along her thigh. “I don’t see much embedded gravel. Good thing they repaved the road last summer.”

“Yeah,” she managed, trying her best not to squirm as she watched him work.

“Hey, Bella?” He looked up at her through lashes that made her green with envy. Maybe it was the frame of thick lashes that made his eyes so striking.

“Yeah?” she repeated.

“Don’t run out in front of cars, okay?”

“I didn’t think,” she said as if that fact wasn’t obvious. “Well, I thought about Tater, but that’s all.”

“You love that puppy.”

“I do.”

He frowned, his brows drawing together. “I’ll pay for the vet bills, of course. I can’t tell you—”

“Sam, don’t apologize again. He got out. It was an accident.”

“I should have been paying more attention. It was a long shift, and I was just focused on getting home and to bed.”

“I understand. Tater’s okay—that’s what counts,” she added, because she had to distract herself from how much she appreciated the thought of getting Sam to bed.

She watched him work, gently placing antibiotic cream on her scrapes then covering them with a sterile bandage. Oh, he had good hands.

But she wasn’t going to go there.

Because Sam wasn’t for her.

Did she imagine it or did the air grow heavy between them as he took care of her? His focus remained on her leg—the one he’d told her he wouldn’t notice—and a muscle ticked at the edge of his jaw.

She was imagining things. Sam was a firefighter. He must patch people up or handle injuries worse than hers a dozen times a week. He was this close to people all the time, so the strange intimacy of the moment couldn’t possibly affect him the way it did her.

He returned the unused supplies to the bin but didn’t stand. He offered her a sheepish grin and drew in a deep breath. “I know this is odd timing,” he said, sounding uncharacteristically unsure of himself. “But would you—”

“Tater Tot is ready to go home,” a voice announced from the doorway.

Sam straightened in one fluid motion, and Bella turned to the doctor staring at the two of them.

“Is he okay?” she asked, tightening the sash on her robe as she stood.

“He’ll be groggy for a bit, but puppies are resilient. He’ll be full of his usual energy before you know it.” Dr. Kaminski, who was new to the practice and Magnolia, smiled. “He’s a cute pup. A real sweetie.” As her attention moved from Bella to Sam, she smoothed a hand over her shiny blond hair. “Hi, Sam. I haven’t seen you around for a while. We still need to catch that movie you promised me.”

“Sure,” Sam muttered noncommittally. “Thanks for taking care of Tater, Deedra.”

Bella sighed and took a step forward. Of course the female veterinarian would know Sam. She was young and pretty and human, after all. It was as if the universe had sent Bella a reminder of why he wasn’t for her.

“Thank you, Doctor,” she said to the woman, turning away from Sam. “I’m ready to take my best boy home now.”