The Christmas Tree Read online

  “You’re not going to be working all night. Come on,” Allison wheedled. “It’s Friday night tomorrow. We’ll have dinner first, and then I can show you around this town again. It’s a lot more fun here as an adult.” She waggled her eyebrows.

  Laughing, Sadie nodded her head. Just because she was here under court order didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy herself. “Okay, I’m sold. But I don’t have any fancy clothes with me.”

  “No problemo. We’ll keep to the wrong side of the tracks tomorrow.”

  “I really should go.” She pulled out her wallet. “Colt should be back soon and I don’t want him to think . . .”

  “That you’ve been having fun hanging in the coffee shop while he’s been off working?” Allison asked.

  “Exactly.” Sadie shrugged. “Appearances are important. I should know.”

  Agreeing that they would meet at the coffee shop tomorrow after Sadie’s community service ended, they parted ways with a hug. She made it to a town square bench without sighting her car and sighed, relieved. She didn’t need to give the man any more reasons to be mad at her.

  * * *

  When Colt pulled up, Sadie was chatting with Officer Davis. The cop had been very understanding when Sadie explained she was waiting for decorations before she could start working. “Really, I don’t usually just sit around when there’s work to do. But I’m at an impasse.”

  Officer Davis blew on his hands and rubbed them together. “Don’t sweat it, Miss Wilson. I know you can’t get started yet.”

  Colt stalked up to Sadie and dropped several shopping bags at her feet. He glared at her, as if daring her to say something else was wrong with them.

  “Colt, I hear you had some problems with the lights.” Officer Davis smirked at him. “Maybe you should let Miss Wilson take charge of the decorations. Someone who can color coordinate.”

  “There was no problem,” Colt said. “Only a perfectionist would be bothered by my choice of lights.”

  She straightened from examining the new lights, the correct ones this time. “I wasn’t being a perfectionist—”

  “Now Miss Wilson, don’t let him get your goat. I’m sure if Colt was solely responsible for the tree, it would look like a third-grader decorated it.” Officer Davis turned to Colt and said innocently, “Green cords for a green tree.”

  “Isn’t there some crime you should be fighting, Jerome? We need to get to work.”

  “Speaking of crime,” Sadie said, “is it true that someone is stealing Christmas decorations?”

  “Afraid so, ma’am. There were two incidents this last week.” Officer Davis shook his head. “Pineville has itself a real Grinch.”

  Colt rubbed his jaw. “I hadn’t heard that. Is there going to be any security for this tree? I don’t want to have my community service extended because some yahoo steals my decorations.”

  “Our decorations,” Sadie interjected quickly. Colt rolled his eyes. She forced her eyes to remain steady and unrolled, even though her body really wanted to mimic the action. It was like a pea under her mattress that she and Colt had the same thoughts, the same concerns. He was such a jerk to her, it was irritating to know they thought alike in any way.

  “Whoever’s on night patrol will check out the tree on his rotation. That’s about all we can do,” Officer Davis said. He checked his watch. “And I’d better get back on my patrol.” He tipped his hat to Sadie. “See you two later.”

  Sadie was sad to see their buffer leave. She got along much better with the lumberjack with a third party running interference. At least she had tangible results she could show him. Maybe that would put him in a better mood. She turned to Colt. “I used your circular saw thingy and added some branches. Doesn’t the tree look fuller?”

  “You what?”

  “Yeah, that was a really nice drill attachment,” she said. “I’ll have to look into getting one of those.”

  He stepped into her space. “First of all, it’s not a ‘circular saw thingy.’ It’s a hole saw.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Fine. I don’t know all the names for tools—”

  “Secondly,” he said loudly, drowning out her response, “you shouldn’t have touched it without my supervision. You could have hurt yourself.”

  “How?”

  His eyebrows shot up. “What do you mean, how? Isn’t it obvious?”

  “No.” She pursed her lips. “Do you expect that I’d hold a sharp cutting-edge to my skin and pull the trigger on the drill? Not even a five-year-old would be that dumb. Or do you think I would trip and fall, keeping the drill running, and land on it? I mean, it’s really got to be hard to injure yourself with a drill.”

  “Drill injuries happen,” he bit out. His lips twisted and he grunted. He looked like he realized just how stupid that had sounded.

  She paused for a second, enjoying his moment of foolishness. She didn’t get brownie points with him for her hole saw skills, but irritating him was just as good. Maybe better. “Well, nothing happened to me. I guess we should get started with the lights.” He didn’t reply, just turned and walked toward the tree. She picked up several bags and followed.

  “I’ll start running some extension cords down the trunk,” he said, and turned to her. Seeing her struggling with the bags, Colt stepped forward with a slight frown and took them from her. “They have outlets every couple of feet so we won’t have to plug all the lights together into one strand. Why don’t you start unwrapping the lights?” He pulled a utility knife out of the front pocket of his jeans. Flipping it open, he handed it to her, handle first. “You might need this to open all the packaging.”

  She smiled and reached into the zippered pocket of her parka. “I have my own.”

  “It’s pink.” The scorn dripping from his voice was as thick as maple syrup.

  “It cuts just as well as yours.” Sadie squatted down and got to work opening and organizing the lights. After a moment, he stalked off and began working on the extension cords. The next twenty minutes were silent except for the occasional hushed curse word from Colt’s mouth. When he was done, he emerged from the tree covered in sap, clothing disheveled, and a tuft of hair standing straight up.

  “Are the lights ready yet?” Colt brushed silver-blue needles from his jeans.

  “Of course. Since the extension cord runs the length of the trunk, we can start at both ends of the tree and meet in the middle.”

  “Fine.” He grabbed a fistful of lights and climbed up the nearest ladder, his denim-clad cheeks looking tight and strong. Sadie had to admit that Allison was right. The view was nice. Colt was quickly down that ladder and climbing the next one.

  She let out a soft sigh and turned to her task. Kneeling, she began winding lights around the boughs. She had never decorated a tree so large and had trouble reaching to the center. Twenty minutes later she crawled from under the tree, dirty and frustrated, to examine her work. Only about a two-foot-high section of the tree was lit all around. She stretched her back and looked up at Colt’s progress.

  “Colt, it makes it a lot easier if you plug the lights into the extension cord while you hang them. When they’re lit, you can see if you’ve missed anywhere.”

  Colt cracked his neck. He climbed to the top of the ladder and connected the end of the light strand to the extension cord hidden by the trunk. Then he climbed back to where he was before and continued winding the lights.

  “Oh, come on. What is that?” Sadie put her hands on her hips. “That looks horrible.”

  He jumped down the last steps of the ladder and blew out a deep breath. “What did I do wrong now, princess? My light stringing isn’t up to your professional standards?”

  “It isn’t up to anyone’s standards.” She waved at the tree. “You’ve just wrapped the lights around the outside of the tree, swirling them like a soft-serve ice cream. Compare what you’ve done to the lights I’ve put up so far.” She grabbed one of the lower boughs. The bottom portion of the tree twinkled merrily. “You need to hav
e the lights on the inside of the tree, not just the outside. They need depth. Wrap the lights around each bough, from back to front. That will make it much more three-dimensional.” At his stony-faced look, she continued. “Even you have to admit that what I’ve done looks better.”

  “Sadie . . .” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

  “Colt, if we don’t get this right, the judge might sentence us to more than this week of community service. I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to stick around here that long. We need this tree to look great. Capisce?”

  His lips twitched. “Capisce? Who are you, Al Capone?”

  “Colt . . .”

  He rested his hands on her shoulders. “Calm down, princess. I need this done right, too. I just think you’re taking it too far.”

  She tried not to tense under his hands. The weight of his broad palms on her felt . . . comforting, and that just had to be wrong. It had been way too long since she’d been close to a man if just the feel of Colt’s hands on her shoulders sent a shiver down her spine. She stepped back.

  “Look at the tree and tell me, honestly, which method of stringing lights looks better.” Sadie was proud her voice remained so calm.

  He turned to the tree and sighed deeply. “Maybe yours looks a little better. But when it’s dark—”

  “Yours will look even worse.” She moved toward a ladder. “Look, why don’t we switch positions. I’ll give the top lights some depth and you can continue what I’ve been doing down here. Remember, wind the lights into the center of the tree.” Without waiting for an answer, she climbed to the top. She unraveled the lights she could reach and started winding the strand around the short branches near the top of the evergreen. She arranged the lights as far as her arms would reach, but there was still a gap near the tip.

  Sadie glanced at another ladder. No, it wouldn’t bring her any closer. Gripping the aluminum, she stepped onto the second highest step. The ladder wobbled.

  “Get down from there.” Colt’s gravelly voice caught her by surprise. He stood at the base, holding the ladder. Resting one foot on the bottom rung, he said, “That step isn’t safe.”

  She frowned. He was right. Even under his firm grip, the ladder still swayed with her movements. She eased back down to the lower step. Maybe if she turned so she didn’t have to reach across her body with her right hand? Moving slowly, Sadie turned on the step so her body was facing out, away from the ladder. Then she stretched for the dark patch of tree again.

  “Sadie . . .”

  She ignored Colt’s warning growl. Her fingers pulled at a strand of lights, dragging it to a lower bough. She almost had it. Gripping the ladder firmly with her left hand, she leaned farther into the tree. Almost there . . .

  The nylon of her glove made no sound as it slipped from the ladder. Sadie had a moment of panic, the inkling of an idea to grab on to the tree to stop her fall, when an arm banded around her waist and pulled her tightly between the ladder and a hard body.

  She clung to Colt, burying her head against his shoulder, and prayed the ladder would remain upright. It rocked onto two legs but remained standing. The jackhammering of her heart was mirrored by Colt’s. For a minute they breathed as one, their heaving chests easing into slow, deep inhalations.

  “I’ve got you. You’re okay.” His whispered reassurances tickled her ear. Brushing a hand through her hair, he tugged gently, pulling her head back to look in her eyes. He stood on the step below her so their faces were on the same level. His eyes searched her face, missing nothing. “You’re okay?” This time it was a question.

  “I’m okay,” she whispered back. This close, she could detect features she hadn’t noticed before. The cleft in his chin hiding beneath his scruff. The fullness of his lips. The flecks of gold in his green eyes, eyes that for once seemed to look at her with warmth. Then with heat.

  Their faces were only inches apart, his breath warming her mouth. She tilted her head and licked her lips. Colt pressed into her body. Every inch where her body touched his felt like an exposed live wire. Pheromones. That could be the only explanation of why her traitorous body found this man attractive, hard muscles and wicked smiles aside. Although, he had just saved her from a nasty spill. That probably deserved some recompense. Her body eagerly accepted that rationale and prepared itself for his kiss. Her eyelids lowered and she waited for that first brush of the lips.

  And waited.

  She opened her eyes. The familiar reserve was back on Colt’s face. All heat extinguished. If it had ever existed. Sadie kicked herself for overreacting to Colt’s rescue. She shouldn’t let herself be attracted to this man.

  “If you can do so without killing us, I would suggest turning around again to climb down the ladder.” Colt’s voice was even and Sadie steeled her emotions, not wanting to let him see her disappointment.

  “Of course.” She put words into action and carefully turned around within the cage of his arms. He stayed one step below her the entire climb down and she couldn’t help her body’s reactions every time her butt brushed against Colt. And maybe he wasn’t as immune to Sadie as he would have her believe, if the hardness behind his jeans was any indication.

  When they reached the ground, he put space between them and blew out a breath. “Well, you’re off ladder duty.”

  She ground her teeth. “It was a mistake I won’t repeat.”

  “You got that right. You won’t be on a ladder to repeat it.”

  Sadie put her hands on her hips. “I suppose no one in your construction crew has ever fallen off a ladder before?” Colt’s eyes narrowed. “And when they have, I suppose you’ve prohibited them from ever climbing one again? No? Well then, I think I deserve the same consideration.”

  She headed for the ladder, determined to get back on the metaphorical horse. His hand shot out and stopped her, gripping her elbow. She tore her arm from his hand with more force than was necessary. His eyes widened momentarily before assuming their normal look of disdain.

  “You’re not going back up, and that’s final. Maybe when I get the scaffolding up tomorrow.”

  Her eyes darted between Colt and the ladder.

  He brushed the sides of his coat back as he settled his hands on his narrow hips, the open pea coat framing his hard, flannel-covered chest, and stared her down. No, she wasn’t getting up on the ladder today.

  She turned her face to the side and blinked back the tears of frustration that suddenly threatened. Everything in her life seemed to have a roadblock lately. This six-foot-something of solid muscle was just the latest. She had the childish urge to kick him in the family jewels, make a break for the ladder, finally accomplish something, even if it was just outmaneuvering this heap of a man.

  She held her hand out instead. “Keys.”

  A crease appeared between his eyebrows. “What?”

  “Give me my keys.”

  Colt reached into his pocket and dropped them on Sadie’s palm. “You can still work on the lower branches.”

  “How kind of you to allow me to do that. In fact, all of your kindnesses have left me quite overwhelmed.” She spun on her heel and stalked toward her car.

  “It’s not five o’clock yet. You can’t go,” Colt shouted behind her.

  At that moment, Sadie didn’t care if she spent the night in jail, as long as she was away from Colt. “Watch me.”

  Chapter Five

  Colt shifted on his feet, the wood planks of Sadie’s front porch buckling under his weight. The yellow paint on the front door was faded and peeling, and he resisted the urge to scrape it off. He shifted again but could procrastinate no longer. He knocked.

  Voices drifted through the door, growing louder as they drew closer. At least he wasn’t waking her up. It was eight a.m., but Colt had worried that a city girl might sleep as long as possible.

  The door swung open and his breath hitched in his throat. Flecks of dust caught in the air currents swirled around her, dancing in the morning light, and giving Sadie
an ethereal appearance. Her blond hair swung loose around her shoulders and hung to just above high breasts accentuated by a tight T-shirt. Her nipples puckered under the thin cotton when the brisk morning air hit them. Colt’s gaze jumped to her eyes, where the distrust he found looking back at him reminded him of why he was there.

  “Uh, good morning. I brought you some coffee.” He lifted the paper cup, similar to the one she had brought for him yesterday.

  “Why?” Sadie crossed her arms across her chest.

  “I wanted to . . . Look, we’re letting all the cold air into your house. Can I come in?”

  After a pause, she stepped to the side and closed the door after him. “What are you doing here? If anyone, I was expecting Officer Davis, coming to arrest me for skipping out yesterday.”

  “Jerome won’t be a problem. I told him that I sent you home until the scaffolding was erected. It wasn’t safe until then.” He waggled the coffee cup in front of Sadie and she slowly took it from his hand.

  “You covered for me?” She cocked her head to one side and took a sip. “Why would you do that?”

  “Well, that’s what I came here to tell you.” Colt blew out a breath. “I—”

  “Sadie, I’ll run these numbers for you. . . . Oh. Hello, Colt.”

  Colt’s head whipped to where David Carelli emerged from the kitchen. He was holding a chipped porcelain mug and looked casual in chinos and a thin sweater. Colt’s gaze flickered between David and Sadie, his eyes narrowing.

  “Carelli.” Colt nodded his head at the man. “What are you doing here? So very early in the morning.”

  David merely smirked at him, then took a sip from his mug. Sadie stepped between the men and, after a glare at Colt, said to his competitor, “Thanks for coming by. I appreciate it and I’ll wait for your call.” She picked up a man’s jacket and handed it to Carelli.

  David placed his mug on an end table, slipped on the jacket. “I’ll definitely be calling.” He reached out for her hand and held it a beat too long. “See you around, Colt.”