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“Ha. Try again.”
With an unrepentant eyebrow raise, he crosses his arms. “And why is that so unbelievable?”
She gives him a derisive sniff. “Because according to her lawyer, Maeve Hollins’s great-nephew owns the Christmas House.” Then she narrows her eyes, eyeing him up and down.
Expensive shoes. Expensive coat. Even-more-expensive-looking haircut. He’s not... There’s no way that he could be... But what if...?
“Wait. You’re not...?” she asks weakly.
“Maeve’s great-nephew, Ves Hollins. And I wish I could say it was a pleasure to meet you, but—”
Elisha’s cheeks burn at the way he lets the sentence hang.
He shrugs like he didn’t just insult her, getting to his feet without offering her a hand. “So, want to tell me who the hell you are?”
“Elisha Rowe,” she croaks.
Her name has never felt more like a tangled ball of scratchy yarn is lodged right in her throat. It worsens when she has to tip her head back to look at him. Ves. He has a name now. A rather sexy one, really. Which makes her shitty first impression all the more of a shame, but she shoos the thought away.
“So, Elisha, now that we’ve established that you’re the only intruder here...” Ves’s voice is as stony as his jawline. “Care to explain why?”
Her stomach nose-dives like Santa’s sleigh crashing through the atmosphere, aiming for a chimney.
Well, Ves, she thinks, I’m here because I was watching Maeve’s cats until I knew whether you wanted to adopt them, and they suck at personal space and letting me sleep in. And sure, go ahead and laugh, but this house is one of my favorite places in the whole world, and I did think I was protecting it, actually.
But if you want the full story, I’m the film liaison for our Chamber of Commerce and I busted my butt to make sure the fiftieth-anniversary anticipated sequel to Sleighbells under Starlight will be filming in Piney Peaks this January. Since the house is yours now, I need you to sign the location release because I promised everyone that I would and Elisha Rowe does not go back on her word.
I know we got off on the wrong foot, but feel like helping a girl out?
Nope, can’t do it. Asking him for a favor now would be entirely inappropriate and completely pathetic. Her window of opportunity to make a good first impression was just smashed into smithereens thanks to a candy cane and some questionable judgment. Had she really thought her elf pajamas and pink bunny slippers were cute? Why hadn’t she thrown on a robe before leaving the house? Or, better yet, changed into something remotely in the realm of adult?
So Elisha sighs and points haphazardly in the direction of home. “I live there. Welcome to the neighborhood.”
Ves crosses his arms and arches an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. “Piney Peaks really needs to work on its welcome committee.”
Chapter Two
Elisha
I might as well have introduced myself as Elisha Rowe, the biggest fuckup in Piney Peaks history,” Elisha says with a groan, sinking her head into her arms on the counter at the Old Stoat pub. Even after an achingly slow Friday at work, her run-in with Ves Hollins hasn’t diminished her embarrassment in the slightest. “I keep seeing his face in my mind. Ugh! I can’t believe I took a swing at the man who inherited Maeve’s house when the one thing I needed to do was to win him over.” She heaves a sigh. “What the fuck.”
Ves Hollins. The hot man. The really hot man. Which shouldn’t have even been a thing that she noticed, but now that she has, she decides it’s an unhelpful adjective. So no, not the hot man—the smug man. That suits him better.
And right now, he’s the man who holds the fate of this movie and her sparkling reputation in the palm of his hand.
Elisha’s best friend, Solana Pereira, gives her shoulder a sympathetic rub. “It’s not that bad, Lisha. I bet he’s already forgotten it.”
“Would you forget a deranged woman in elf pajamas playing Whac-A-Mole on your head with a giant candy cane? Nothing short of a time machine can undo that epic disaster.”
“Heh. Yeah, that was pretty bad.”
Elisha groans again.
“But!” cries Solana. “Let me finish! It’s not like you actually succeeded in Whac-A-Moleing him. Just be extra nice, redeem your terrible first impression, and make Ves Hollins see how lovely you are, my darling.”
Elisha lifts her head. “There’s no fixing this, Lana. Literally the second I told him that I was simply a concerned neighbor, he kicked me out. I apologized, but he didn’t even let me finish before he slammed the door in my face. Oh, and he kept the candy cane.”
“Well, you did try to hit him with it...”
