Bring Me A Maverick For Christmas!

Which gave Annie’s husband only two days to recuperate from whatever had laid him up.

“I’d be happy to fill in again,” Serena immediately offered.

“Oh, that would be wonderful,” Annie said. “And such a weight off my shoulders to not have to worry about finding a replacement at the last minute again. Thank you both so much.”

“Both?” Bailey echoed. “Wait! I never—”

But his sister-in-law didn’t pause long enough to allow him to voice any protest. “In that case, I’ll leave the costumes with you and just pop over to Daisy’s to pick up some soup for Danny. Fingers crossed, he’ll be able to keep it down.”

“—agreed to anything,” he continued.

Of course, Annie was already gone, leaving Serena and Bailey alone again.

She wasn’t surprised when he turned toward her, a deep furrow between his brows. “I never agreed to anything,” he said again.

“I know, but Annie probably couldn’t imagine you’d object to doing a favor for your brother,” she said reasonably.

“Another favor, you mean.”

“Was today really so horrible?”

“That’s not the point,” he said. “But you’re the type of person who’s always the first to volunteer for any task, aren’t you?”

She shrugged.

It was true that she hadn’t hesitated when Annie asked her to fill in as Mrs. Claus. Although she generally preferred the company of animals to people, she was always happy to help a friend. And when she’d acceded to the request, it had never occurred to her to ask or even wonder about the identity of the man playing Santa Claus.

But even if Annie had told her that it was Bailey Stockton, Serena wouldn’t have balked. Because how could she know that she’d have such an unexpected visceral reaction to her friend’s brother-in-law?

After all, this was hardly their first meeting. She’d seen him at the clinic—and even once or twice around town, at Crawford’s General Store or Daisy’s Donut Shop. He was an undeniably handsome man. Of course, as far as she could tell, all the Stocktons had been genetically blessed, but there was something about Bailey that set him apart.

Maybe it was the vulnerability she’d glimpsed in his eyes. It was the same look of a puppy who’d torn up the newspaper and only realized after the fact that he’d done something wrong. Not that she was really comparing Bailey Stockton to a puppy, but she could tell that Bailey had felt remorseful as soon as he’d agreed with Owen’s assessment that the holidays sucked.

Serena knew as well as anyone that Christmas wasn’t all gingerbread and jingle bells, but over the years, she’d learned to focus on happy memories and embrace the spirit of the season.

But now that she and Bailey were no longer surrounded by kids pumped up on sugar and excitement about seeing Santa, now that it was just the two of them, he didn’t seem vulnerable at all. He was all man. And every womanly part of her responded to his nearness.

When he’d unzipped her dress, he’d been doing her a favor. There had certainly been nothing seductive about the action. But she’d been aware of his lean hard body behind her, and his closeness had made her heart pound and her knees tremble. And although she was wearing a long-sleeved sweater and jeans beneath the costume, she’d felt the warmth of his breath on the nape of her neck as the zipper inched downward, and a shiver had snaked down her spine.

While she was wearing the costume, she could be Mrs. Claus and play the role she needed to play. But now that the costume had been packed away, she was just Serena Langley again—a woman who didn’t know how to chat and flirt with men. In fact, she was completely awkward when it came to interacting with males of the human species, so she decided to do what she always did in uncomfortable situations: flee.

But before she could find the right words to extricate herself, Bailey spoke again.

“And what if I have plans for Tuesday afternoon?” he grumbled. “Not that Annie even considered that possibility.”

“If you have plans, then I’ll find somebody else to fill in,” she said.

In fact, that might be preferable, because being in close proximity to Bailey was stirring feelings...desires...that she didn’t want stirred. And while she liked the idea of a boyfriend who might someday turn into a husband, her track record with men was a bunch of false starts and incomplete finishes.

Well, not really a bunch. Barely even a handful. But the number wasn’t as important as the fact that, at the end of the day, she was alone.

“Do you have other plans?” she asked.

“No,” he reluctantly admitted. “But that’s not the point.”

“If you don’t want to help out, say so,” she told him.

“I just don’t think I’m the best choice to fill the big guy’s boots,” he said.

“You managed okay today.”

“I’m not sure Owen would agree,” he remarked dryly.

“A bump in the road,” she acknowledged. “But I’m confident you won’t make the same mistake again.”

“You’re expressing a lot of faith in a guy you don’t even know,” he warned.

“I’m a pretty good judge of character.”

Except that wasn’t really true with respect to men. Canines and felines, yes. Even birds and rodents and fish. And while most people would doubt that fish had much character, she’d had a dwarf puffer for four years that had been a true diva in every sense of the word.

“But if you really don’t want to do it, that’s fine,” she said to him now. “I’m sure I can find someone else to play Santa.”

And that would probably be a better solution all around, because he was clearly a reluctant Santa and she was reluctant to spend any more time in close proximity to a male who reminded her that she was a woman without a man in her life.

Most of the time, she was perfectly happy with the status quo. But every now and again, she found herself thinking that it might be nice to share her life with someone who could contribute something other than woofs and meows to a conversation. And then she’d force herself to go out and try to meet new people. And her hopes and expectations would be dashed by reality. Again.

But Bailey surprised her by not immediately accepting this offer. “Well, I’m not sure that what I want really matters, since Annie will tell Dan that I agreed to do it and then, if I don’t, I’ll have to explain why and how I wriggled my way out of it.”

“Are you saying that you will do it?” she asked, half hopeful, half wary.

“I guess I am,” he agreed.

“Then I guess, unless Dan makes a miraculous recovery, I’ll see you at the school on Tuesday.”

“Or maybe now,” Bailey said, as Serena moved toward the door. Because for reasons he couldn’t begin to fathom, he was reluctant to watch her walk away. Or maybe he was just hungry.

She looked at him blankly. “Maybe now what?”

“Maybe I’ll see you now—which sounded much better in my head than it did aloud,” he acknowledged ruefully. “And which was supposed to be a segue into asking if you wanted to get something to eat.”

“Oh.” She seemed as uncertain about how to answer the question as he’d been to ask it.

“I was so nervous about the Santa gig that I didn’t eat lunch before, and now I’m starving.”

Serena offered him a leftover candy cane.

“I think I’m going to want something more than that,” he said. “How about you? Are you hungry?”