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She crossed her arms and frowned, jutting out a hip and tapping her toe on the gravel. "That isn't very nice."
April was an attractive woman. But when she pulled her false pout, I was surprised to feel an overwhelming urge to scoop her up and toss her over my shoulder to wipe that little frown right off her face. I took a deep breath, a little overwhelmed at my own reaction to her. "Just open the front door and push the button on the gate. We'll figure out the rest inside. These little girls should get out of the car, okay?"
She peered past me to the girls glued to the windows of the car over my shoulder and smiled. She gave them the "thumbs up" sign and jogged up to the front door of the house, her striped nautical sweater and fitted boyfriend jeans making her look like something from a J. Crew catalog, especially with the huge colonial house looming behind her. She was more than pretty, I realized. It was too bad she was the enemy at the moment.
April stopped on the porch and then disappeared inside the front door, and a moment later, the gate swung open. She jogged back out and handed me the keys, which I took before spinning on my heel to go back to the car. Distance. I needed distance from her before I did or said something I’d regret.
"You're welcome," she called. "Mind if I come in?"
I shrugged and got into the car, forcing myself to concentrate on driving and parking just in front of the house. As I got out, it annoyed me to realize I was happy to see her pulling up behind us. I released Maddie from her car seat, setting her next to the car as her sister climbed out.
"Since you're here," I told April, "and you're so into demonstrating your athletic abilities, you can help wrestle this monster tree into the house."
"Ahem." Taylor's small voice came up from my left side.
"Sorry," I corrected, dropping a hand on her thin shoulder. "I meant Christopher. You can help us show Christopher his new home."
April's eyebrows shot up and her face held a question, but she didn't ask. "Fair enough."
* * *
April was strong, considering she was a pretty small woman, and she hoisted the front end of the tree off the car and up the front steps of the house like she did this kind of thing every day.
"You got a stand for it?" she asked, once we’d laid Christopher on the floor in the middle of the front room where he was going to live.
"Yup, in the car, give me a sec." I limped toward the door, but April sped past me, shooting a look over her shoulder as she trotted to the front door.
"I'm on it."
Great, I thought. She feels sorry for the gimpy guy. I didn't know exactly why I cared what she thought. No, scratch that. I knew why. April was hot. She was energetic and bubbly, and there was something strong about her that I was more attracted to than I wanted to admit. And I didn't want her pity.
I swallowed my pride as she returned with the tree stand, and together we lifted Christopher and got him set up in the front window of the room that was probably once called the parlor. Despite the tree's massive size, it didn't quite reach the ceiling of the room. Which was a bonus, since I didn't think the little girls would be thrilled to watch their uncle saw the top of Christopher's head off, and I sure as shit wasn't cutting a hole in the ceiling of my new house.
"He's glorious," Taylor breathed, looking up, and I had to stifle a grin at her use of such a big descriptor.
"Gloww-ee-us," Madison echoed at her side.
"Just wait until he's got lights and decorations," April said, grinning at the little girls.
I pointed to the back of the room where I’d hauled out the Christmas decorations Becky had boxed up last year when we’d shared a townhouse in San Diego. I had no idea what was in there—decorating had been her domain.
The little girls scrambled to the boxes, and soon the room was a scattered minefield of shining balls and whimsical nutcracker ornaments. April helped string the lights on, though as soon as she was standing on the ladder I’d found in the shed outside, wrapping the strands around the tree's top, her face took on a lost expression. When the lights were done, I stepped to her side.
"So you popped by to help me decorate the tree?" She hadn't actually explained why she'd stopped by. "You haven't even mentioned the show. Aren't you supposed to be trying to sell me?" I kept my voice low. If the girls got wind of the show, I’d never hear the end of it.
April gazed at me for a long minute, something troubled in her eyes I couldn't identify. "I haven't decorated a Christmas tree since I was seven," she said.
Oookay … we were changing the subject. Maybe this was where the lost look was coming from. I raised an eyebrow at her. "Doesn't your family celebrate Christmas?"
The sad look in her eyes hardened into something else, something fiery and fierce that actually sent a little thrum of desire bolting through me. "Not anymore."
"Because …" I knew I was prying, but for the moment I’d gotten distracted. Her hair floated around her shoulders, little specks of red sparkle dust caught in the front strands, and it was such a contrast to her flushed skin and glowing eyes, the combination was perfect. For a long minute, I didn't feel the pain of my ankle or the gaping hole where my reason for living had been ripped out of my chest. I only felt a compelling desire to know more about April.
"Long story," she said, breaking the sizzling eye contact that had developed between us.
"Come on, you guys," Taylor called, and I looked over to see that the bottom few branches had been covered with ornaments, while most of Christopher was sadly bare. I didn’t have enough ornaments for a tree this size, and the girls couldn't reach much higher than they’d already decorated.
"On it," I said, moving toward the tree to help disperse some of the lower-level ornament crowd.
