Kissed By Christmas

“But, Miss Roberts! We were just talking about that poem you assigned us last night. I think it’s about a boy wanting his mother’s approval. Liza thinks it’s about romantic love, but clearly she’s wrong and takes everything literally because that’s how basic she is.”

The other girl turned around so quickly Asa was surprised that she didn’t have whiplash. “Who are you calling basic?”

“Girls!” Those pretty brown eyes flew open again. “If you don’t stop arguing you’re both going to be feeling basic when I keep you after school for the next two weeks alphabetizing my book collection by genre. And if you don’t think it’s that many books, I will gladly go out and get more to keep you busy until prom season.”

The girls clamped their mouths shut.

“Well, the good news is that your teacher is lucid, kids,” Miguel said stepping forward so that he could stabilize her neck. “The bad news is, she going to be on a war path if you don’t give her some space.”

“Get to class,” she said as her eyes drifted shut briefly, before she opened one of them to survey the crowd. “I’ll know if you didn’t show up. I’ll be checking in, and your papers are still due at the end of the week. You will email them to me.”

“Really?” one of the boys asked.

“If you don’t believe me, you’ll find out what happens if they are late.”

The kids scattered. Asa would have, too. Her tone told everyone she wasn’t playing. He was surprised that someone who looked so adorable, with her doe eyes and head full of springy black curls, could get a bunch of high schoolers to obey without talking back. His retired military father would have admired that.

“Are they gone?” she asked, looking to Asa again. “My head hurts so much I’m not sure I can see straight.”

He nodded. “Ran out of here like they were on fire. Can you tell me what else hurts? Your neck, or back?”

“Just my head.” She grabbed his hand and buried it in her hair. “It hurts here.”

“That’s because you have an epic knot.”

“Darn, and I was planning to shave my head this week.”

He smiled down at her. “It’ll have to wait till after Christmas.”

“I don’t want them to worry.” She looked truly distressed then, and he could see the pain etched into her face. “I have to be tough with them or they’ll worry.”

“Your students?”

“Yes. They think they are grown, but they are still kids and they’ll worry about me. I love them, you know. They are the only reason I stay in this stupid, cold, icy city.”

“You’re a good teacher,” he told her.

“And you’re really hot,” she said to him. “I like the way your voice sounds. Gentle but strong. Are you sure you’re not some sort of jacked angel?”

“He’s not,” Miguel said. “But he gets that a lot.”

Asa shook his head, but he had to admit he was a little flattered. “We’re going to take you to the hospital now.”

“Okay. Stay with me, Mr. Hot Paramedic.”

“I will. I’m not going anywhere.”

Chapter 2 (#ub316e48e-492c-5b3d-8ad7-79b4e262689f)

The gorgeous man who was sitting by her side as she rode to the hospital had told her that she wasn’t dreaming, but she had a hard time believing it. This had to be a dream. They didn’t make men who looked like him. Big, beefy, chocolate-colored angels with large hands and beautiful smiles. Or if they did, they weren’t walking around like normal people with normal jobs. In fact she was pretty sure she had seen this one on the cover of a fitness magazine. She knew she had seen him before. It was probably the head trauma that made him walk off the pages of a magazine and into her life.

The paramedic was really probably some short, balding middle-aged man with a potbelly, but it didn’t matter because he was so lovely. He made busting her behind in public kind of nice.

“You still with me, Hallie?” he asked in his deep, soothing voice as he touched her hand.

“I am. What’s your name? I’m feeling a little loopy. Did I ask you that already? I’m not sure what I’ve been saying.”

“You didn’t ask. My name is Asa. Do you know where you are going?”

Hallie gasped. “Healer.” Now she knew she must be hallucinating. “I’m with a healer on my way to the hospital.”

He looked truly surprised. “You know the meaning of my name?”

She nodded but it hurt her head and she shut her eyes. “Your name is healer and you have the body of a god. It’s perfect. Truly perfect. Did you pick your career based on your name?”

“No, ma’am,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. “I was supposed to be a doctor. I made it all the way through medical school and quit in my intern year.”

“Oh, that must have killed your mother.”

He laughed. “It did. I think she’s still in mourning. But she forgot about me when my twin sister became a painter.”

“A painter. Code for starving artist. What was she supposed to be?”

“A college professor, but she ended up being an interior designer.”

“That’s funny. My dream was to get my doctorate and become a college professor. It’s not for everyone. Is your sister happy?”

“She’s very happy.”

“Oh, I love to hear that. You’re happy too, right? That’s all that matters. That you’re happy. Happiness is the most important thing on the planet.” Hallie wasn’t sure why she couldn’t stop talking or what was making her say the things she was saying, but she couldn’t stop herself. This man was a stranger. He probably thought she was insane and maybe she was, but there was just something about him that made her comfortable.

His name had been well chosen. Just his calm manner soothed her. She should have been scared out of her mind, going to the hospital in a city she still didn’t know well, about missing work, and not having proper sub plans, but none of that mattered to her at the moment.

“I like my job very much.”

“But are you happy, Asa?”

He was quiet for a long as he looked down at her. “We’re here,” he told her. “They are probably going to do some neurological tests and a CAT scan. Give you something for the pain if you need it. You remember where you live, right?”

She opened her eyes and looked at him. He was still the same beautiful man that had been there since she had first opened her eyes. “In a fifth floor walkup in the Village that is smaller than my childhood bedroom.”

“Oh.” He nodded, a strange expression on his face. “Is there anyone for you to call?”

“No. I’m here all by myself. My family is South.”

“What about friends from work? Can you call someone to get you home?”

“I can call a cab.”