Hating Christmas (Holiday Series) (10 page)

“Umm, bossy and bitchy. Kind of sexy in a dominatrix
way.”

“Okay, Vulture. You’re on your own.” Without giving
him a chance to reply, she flopped on the sled and raced down the
hill.

The powdery snow blowing up in her face, she kept her
grasp on the sled rope, shifting to adjust her balance on the
rails. It had to have been ten years since she’d felt the sting of
the icy wind on her cheeks and as she pelted down a snowy hill, it
all came back to her. Behind her, she could hear Levi shouting, his
words getting louder half way down the hill.

A bump in the ground—hidden by the blanket of
snow—threw the sled up and she came down hard, trying to steady the
frame under her. Throwing the toe of one boot out in an automatic
movement, she steered the racing sled to the side of the house
where the ground rose slightly.

Her ears still ringing from the icy rush of air, she
staggered to her feet near the deck that held the hot tub and
spotted Levi off to the opposite side of the yard, on his knees in
the snow three-fourths down the hill, hollering.

Walking through the powdery snow, she went to where
he’d finally staggered to his feet.

“What the hell?” One side of his head had apparently
smashed into the snow. His hat was rucked up on that side and
packed with snow, and a glove lay on the snow about three feet in
front of him. “What was that? You just took off down the hill.

“You were waiting for a light to flash Go? Like in
the Olympics?” She looked at him with amusement.

“No.” He took off the cap and tried to shake off the
snow. “I expected something like ready-set-go. Not you just flying
down the hill.”

“It wouldn’t have made any difference.” She gave him
a smug smile

“Yes, it would.”

Standing there, a challenging smirk on his face, his
cheeks red from the cold and his dark hair snow-ruffled, he looked
even better than the GQ guy at the airport. Holly looked down at
the snow and told herself to get a grip. She’d seen him at movie
openings, looking sleek and tough in his tux. She knew the real
guy, even if this one seemed sexy as hell.

“If you’d have given me a warning—“ he started, still
brushing the snow off his jeans.

“Admit it, Harper.” She reached a foot out and nudged
his sled. “You just suck at this.”

“Not at all. Given a fair shot, I’d be just as good
at this as you.”

“Okay.” She took up his dare. “You’re on. And this
time no whining when I beat you.”

She started back up the hill, pulling her sled behind
her.

“Whining? No one’s whining, Ms. Snarky Puss.”
Grabbing his glove off the snow, Levi started after her.

Grinning at his trash talking, Holly stopped when she
reached the crest of the hill.

He came up only a step or two behind her.

“Okay,” she said in an exaggerated voice. “Are you
ready?”

“Yes.” Levi positioned his sled in the now-trampled
snow at the top of the hill.

“Are you sure you’re ready?” It was a taunt and she
shifted her sled with a boot.

“Yes,” he said with similar exaggeration. “I’m sure
and thank you for making sure.”

“No problem.” She knelt on the snow in front of her
sled. “I wouldn’t want you to be at a disadvantage—even though you
don’t give a fair shot to the little guy yourself.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Are we talking about Mac
here? Cause I didn’t think the issue was fair play. Seemed more
like you thinking you were above the rules.”

“Just sled down the hill, Harper.”

Kneeling down on his sled next to her, he said, “No
problem, Fitzgerald. See you when you get to the bottom of the hill
after I do.”

“In your dreams.” Placing both gloved hands on the
sled—the steering rope clutched in them—as she knelt on the sled,
she said, “Ready-set-go!”

Throwing herself down on the frame, Holly sailed over
the crest of the hill and raced down the slope. With the path
having been flattened some by the first run, she flew even more
quickly over the frozen ground. The wind rushing up in her face as
she hurtled toward the house, she remembered the joy of this
childhood pleasure.

Again steering to the left to slow the runners as the
ground rose a little under her, she glanced over her shoulder to
check on Levi’s descent.

He’d made it further this time, almost reaching the
bottom of the hill before having apparently fallen off his
sled.

Getting to her feet, Holly crunched over to him.

“Don’t you know how to play fair?” He sat on the snow
next to the sled.

“What’s the problem now,” she asked with an
exaggerated sigh.

He gave her a mock grimace, looking even less like
the guy in the perfect tux. “I had an equipment failure. Did you
know this sled was the more rickety one? Is that why you gave it to
me?”

“What happened to your sled?” She ignored his
questions to take a couple of steps closer to the sled, sitting to
one side next to him.

He looked over. “I don’t know. I was trying to steer
the thing the way you showed me and all this snow came up in my
face all the sudden.”

She bent to flip it over, “Looks like one of the
runners came off. It must have been loose.”

Pulling the knit cap back over his short hair, Levi
bent to examine the sled. “Well, that explains it. You got the good
sled and mine fell apart.”

Holly laughed. “Yours might have lost a runner, but I
don’t think that had anything to do with my winning.”

“Of course not. And yet, here my sled
sits—incapacitated.” His response was smug as he stood and brushed
the snow off his jeans.

“It’s just been in the shed too long.” She
straightened to see him standing next to her with a disturbing
smile on his face.

“What?”

“You wouldn’t want to deprive me of the only fun this
silly holiday season has to offer, would you?”

Following his gaze, Holly looked down at her sled.
“Hey, Harper. If you’ve messed up one sled, why would I give you
mine to tear up?”

Levi shook his head mournfully. “You mean you don’t
trust me?”

“No. Not at all,” she returned, laughing a little at
his tone.

“You could go with me. I’d even let you steer.”

“What?” She glanced at him quickly. “Both of us? No,
not a good idea.”

“Come on,” he cajoled. “Don’t you feel—given your
sneaking behavior with my client—that you owe me this one? Or maybe
you’re too afraid to go down the hill with me and you’d rather me
just go alone on the one working sled?”

Her answer was a scoffing laugh. “Fat chance. I don’t
owe you anything because Mac Toledo has a right to make his own
decisions—and you suck at sledding.”

“All the more reason for you to take me down the
hill.” He looked at her with the smirky smile she was coming to
recognize.

“Oh, alright,” she caved in. “But only because we’re
both here having to share the crappy holidays—“

“—that we both hate.” Levi finished for her.

“Come on,” she started back up the hill, “but here,
you have to drag the sled.”

“Great. Thanks for taking pity on your
step-brother—“

She stopped and looked back at him.

Stopping, too, Levi exchanged a glance with her. “No.
You’re right. That just feels too weird.”

“You are
not
my brother, step or otherwise,
and we’re breaking up this marriage if it’s the last thing we do.”
She started climbing to the top of the snowy slope, ignoring the
little niggling voice in her head that reminded her his dad had
talked like he really loved her mom.

“Absolutely we’re breaking this up and,” Levi
followed after her, “that’s just one more reason to get our parents
to see reality. We’re not siblings of any sort.”

“Absolutely.”

At the top of the hill, Holly stopped. “Right here,”
she directed him, before sitting at the front of the small sled,
“you sit behind me.”

Squatting down, she glanced over her shoulder at
him.

“There’s not a lot of room.”

In response to his comment, she made a face. “It was
your idea.”

“And we’ll make it work. Here. You sit in the front
with your knees together and I’ll straddle you from the rear.”

She gave him a deadpan look. “Sounding just like all
the other guys I date. Watch yourself.”

Levi chuckled. “If those are the kind of dates you’re
having, you need to broaden your pool…and we should get to know
each other better.”

Perching at the front of the sled, she glanced up.
“Don’t get your hopes up. We’re just sliding down the hill.”

Kneeling down at the back of the small sled, he
scooted forward to enfold Holly, balancing himself on the back of
the sled. He braced his feet on the curved front runners and tucked
her under his chin.

He smelled good, hugging her tightly against his
chest in the crisp afternoon air. They sat hunkered together
unmoving, both huddled on the sled until Holly glanced up at him.
“You know you have to push us off to get started, right? I can’t
get leverage.”

“Oh, right.”

She felt him take a deep breath as he unwrapped one
arm from around her to reach back and push them off the hilltop.
And then he snatched his gloved hand out of the snow, clutching her
as they went over the edge and everything was a blur of speed and
snow and random bumps.

“AEEEIIIII!!!!” The sound seemed to burst out of him
as they slid over the edge.

Their combined weight must have made the sled sink
deeper into the snow because every little rise rattled them as they
hurtled forward.

Holly started laughing, holding tight to the rope as
they pelted down the hill. Never would any of the pricy Hollywood
executives have recognized the guy on the back of the sled—clinging
to her for dear life—and screaming like a ten year-old. She
registered his grip even as gravity pulled them down the slope and
she grappled to direct the little sled aiming for the far side of
the house, away from the hot tub deck.

Laughing and shrieking, they flew over the snow.

They hit one bump that sent them slightly aloft and
came down with a crazy rush, only to immediately hit another rise
in the snow that sent them spilling to the left, the sled under her
fanny tilting over and sending them both flying. In a blur of snow
and trees and even a little blue sky, they tumbled until they came
to a stop in a snowy depression in the ground, Holly landing right
on top of his chest.

They’d both lost their hats. She only had one glove
and he lay flat on his back in the snow with her body sprawled on
top of his…and he was still shrieking.

Holly just lay there on top of him, laughing so hard
she could barely catch her breath.

Between laughs, she managed to get out, “You can stop
hollering now.”

Levi abated his shrieks enough to say over and over,
“Ohmygod, ohmygod.”

Perched there on his chest, she looked down at the
most powerful agents in Hollywood and she wanted to kiss him. It
made no sense and she was sure she was having an aneurysm or
something from the fall, but at that moment, all she could think
about was kissing Levi silly, right there on his shrieking mouth.
When their snowball fight had led to his impulsive kiss, she’d been
able to write it off as a one-time aberration. Unusual events could
lead to strange behavior, but kissing him now would be a trend.

What the hell! She thought too much.
Bending
to lower her mouth to his, Holly blotted out his shrieks and kissed
him for all she was worth. His prayers muffled, he went still
beneath her. And then he was kissing her back, tongues and lips and
everything. He generally looked good and smelled really good, but
he tasted wonderful. She remembered that, from the snowball
kiss.

In the flash of a startled minute, she kissed him for
all she was worth, lingering on the texture of his lips…and then
the world went crazy around her as Levi flipped her on her back in
the snow and took their kiss to another level. Holly grabbed at his
snow-wet jacket, straining against him. His mouth tasted so right
against hers, breath tangling. He was clearly a man who knew how to
kiss. She wouldn’t have been surprised if the snow melted under
them. She ripped his jacket open—without any consciousness of how
she did it—and pressed herself against his sweatered chest.

This was so incredible, his mouth against hers.

In some dim recesses of her brain, the reality of
what she was doing ping-ponged around. She was making out with Levi
Harper?

“Wait a minute!” She panted when he lifted to angle
another kiss on her mouth.

“What?” Above her, he was framed by a cloudy blue
sky. Looking as flushed and aroused as she felt, his brown eyes
were even darker.

“Wait.” Holly struggled to lift herself to her
elbows. “What are we doing?”

His stormy gaze shifted as he seemed to gather
himself. “Yeah. Yeah, right.”

Straightening, he pulled back and sat down next to
her. “So, want to take this upstairs?”

She could tell by the smile tugging at the corner of
his mouth that he was only half-serious. As ridiculous as it was,
the suggestion pulled at her senses and she had to get a grip on
herself. Holly yanked her jacket around her—again she had no memory
of the zippered anorak having been opened—and sat up. “We need to
remember why we’re here…and who we are.”

Levi glanced toward the picture window at the back of
the house. “I get that we might be seen from the house as we’re not
in the most private spot, but you lost me on the ‘who we are’
part,”

Struggling to sit up completely, she zipped her
jacket and said in a hard voice. “Levi, we don’t even like each
other a lot. Sex doesn’t seem like the best option.”

He pulled his jacket down and leaned toward her to
say in a lowered voice, “I don’t know what was happening to you,
but it seems like a really great option to me. And I never said I
didn’t like you. I actually like you a lot.”