Free Merry Humbug Christmas by Sandra D. Bricker Page A

“I’d still like to have children one day, but as much as I’d like my own small hockey team, I’m fairly certain I’ll have the good sense to stop after three or four.”
    “What if you fall for someone who wants an even dozen?” Joss
    asked him with a straight face. “You’ll just nix her whole dream?”
    He froze for a moment. “A dozen?”
    “You like hockey,” she said dryly. “I’m a fan of soccer myself.”
    Kathleen snickered from the other side of her before whispering
    to Joss, “I like your spirit, child.”
    THE DECK GLISTENED BENEATH the twinkling strands of lights
    hanging over their heads, and the section of railing where they’d chosen to stroll after dinner shimmered with red foil garland looped around it in a candy cane pattern. Joss slipped her arm through Patrick’s, and his pulse began to race.
    “Isn’t the water beautiful?” she asked him softly. “It seems to go on forever.”
    “The reflection of a full moon doesn’t hurt,” he added.
    “It’s a perfect night.”
    Patrick cleared his throat and ran his tongue along his front
    teeth in the hope that no turkey dinner remnants had stuck around.
    Screwing up the bravery to do something he’d wanted to do almost
    since he first met her, he came to a stop and looked at Joss. The ocean breeze caught her hair and nudged all but one lone strand away from her pretty face, and Patrick picked up the dark auburn lock with the tip of his finger and combed it away.
    “A schoolmate of mine owns a winery in the Napa Valley,” he told
    her as he traced the curve of her jaw with his finger. “I spent the New Year with his family last year, and at midnight he opened a very special bottle of their wine . . . a sparkling variety of white. I don’t normally enjoy the sweeter wines, but this one was spectacular, largely because of the gold flakes meandering about in it.”
    Joss grimaced. “Gold.”
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    He nodded once. “Twenty-two karat gold flakes. Floating right
    inside it.”
    “I think I had a piece of wedding cake once with edible gold leaf on it,” she told him. “So I guess your friend’s wine won’t kill anyone.”
    “I’m still standing,” he replied as he rubbed her temple delicately with his thumb and gazed into her eyes.
    “Were you making a point?” she asked. “Or did you just find
    yourself thinking about wine?”
    “Oh.” He dropped his hand from her face and snapped back to
    the moment. “Your eyes. They have gold flecks in them.”
    She connected the dots. “Like your friend’s wine.”
    “Exactly.”
    She paused for a few beats before she looked as if she might make a move to continue their stroll around the deck. Patrick couldn’t let the moment pass, and he slipped his arms around Joss’s waist and
    pulled her closer.
    “Can I?” he asked.
    He could feel her warm breath on his face in the silence that followed. Finally, “Can you what?”
    “Kiss you,” he clarified.
    The corner of her mouth twitched. “You want to?”
    He sighed and replied, “Very much.”
    “Why?”
    Patrick could hear his own heart pounding in his ears, and he
    wasn’t entirely sure he hadn’t misheard. “Why?” he repeated.
    “Yes. Why do you want to kiss me?”
    He snickered. “The usual reasons, I suspect. I’m attracted. . . . I find you quite charming and unexpectedly beautiful. . . . Oh, and if I don’t, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stand it.”
    Joss’s smile spread across her entire face like warm butter on a
    hot roll.
    “Then I guess you really should,” she said.
    He moved closer. “I think you’re right.” Patrick took her face
    into both of his hands.
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    Merry
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    “What does that mean, unexpectedly beautiful ?” she asked him with a grin.
    “I’ll explain later,” he replied, and he pressed his lips against hers.
    He’d wondered if the moment would