Free The First Love Cookie Club by Lori Wilde Page A

crossed Travis’s face, and he lowered his voice. “He passed away.”
    “Oh.” What was she supposed to say to that?
I’m sorry
seemed so inadequate. Sarah had never been good at comforting people. Her inclination was to treat them the way she’d want to be treated. Leave them alone and let them sort things out. “Um … I hate to hear that.”
    “It was several years ago,” he said neutrally as if he’d already processed and dealt with it.
    “So you’re good now?”
    He looked down at Jazzy, who was in excellent hands with a group of doting women. “I’m good.”
    Sarah shifted her weight. Time to leave before they got into a full-blown conversation and it led somewhere she did not wish to go. Sarah stepped past him, angling for the stairs. He extended his hand to help her down, but she pretended she didn’t see his offering and forged ahead on her own.
    What she hadn’t taken into account was how quickly the swirling snowflakes melted as they hit the ground. This was North Central Texas and even though it might be snowing, the rich soil was still warm. No matter how fast it fell, the snow would not be sticking around. Combine the slick wetness with metal steps and three-inch-stiletto fashion boots and you had a recipe for disaster. Which Sarah realized two seconds too late.
    Her boot hit the wet patch and her foot slipped.
    “Oh!” She gasped, flailing her arms to help regain her balance, but then her other boot heel caught the skid and Sarah knew she was going down.
    The group of women at the bottom of the stairs all reached out for her, even little Jazzy. In her Isabella costume, she looked like Sarah’s own heroine waiting there to catch her as she fell.
    But she didn’t fall.
    Instead, two strong arms went around her, hauling her back up onto the floor of the float. Travis’s hands were locked under her breasts and his warm breath fanned the hairs along her temple. She hated to think how stupid she looked. Not that it was the first time she’d looked stupid in front of him.
    “You okay?” he murmured.
    She tilted her head and looked into those gorgeous gray eyes that had graced many of her teenage fantasies and gulped. “Peachy,” she mumbled.
    He released his arms from around her waist. Thank God, because she was terrified he’d discover that her nipples were suddenly hard as little pebbles underneath her camisole. She knew
she
was terrified by this unwanted turn of events.
    But his hand remained at her back, steadying her. His touch sent a ripple of sensation running up her spine. His gray-eyed gaze attached to hers in a thoroughly wicked light.
    The song “Santa Baby” (the Eartha Kitt version of course; every other rendition paled in comparison) ran irreverently through her head. She sank her top teeth into her bottom lip, struggling to hold on to some semblance of self-control. But her old schoolgirl daydreams came raging back with the added fuel of adult knowledge.
    She wrenched away from him, unable to handle the tumult of feelings pushing through her.
Be detached, be calm, be collected. You’re Sadie Cool, act like it.
    “Well,” she babbled. “Well, thank you.”
    Yes, that was so cool.
    One side of his mouth quirked up and a mischievous expression crossed his face as if he was imagining what she looked like naked. “Don’t mention it.”
    Sarah felt heat color her cheeks, and she ducked her head. Couldn’t very well let the guy know he’d stirred a physical reaction in her. She couldn’t bear it if he thought she still had a crush on him. Because she didn’t. Absolutely
did not.
She was a grown woman, a successful children’s book author, and he was …
    A very buff cowboy Santa Claus with snow in his beard.
    Wistful longing tugged at her solar plexus. Not good. Time to clear out of here. No more Christmas magic nonsense. Somehow she made it safely down the stairs only to be enveloped by the women who’d been waiting to surround her.
    “Welcome,” one of them said.