Free Brave by The 12 NAs of Christmas, Zoe Dawson Page B

to lick my wounds? I know the real reason why
I was here, but that had been six months ago, and I was still alive,
still struggling with my demons. Just as I bent to unload the sled, a
collision of cold-packed snow hit me in the middle of the back.
    I
turned to look at Alissa. She had the most mischievous expression on
her face. “You trying to start something with me, killer?”
    “What
if I am?” she said defiantly.
    She
laughed as I bent down and rolled snow into my gloves. “Are
you, now? You sure about that?” I let the snowball fly, but,
lithe creature that she was, she ducked it and fired off the one she
had behind her back. It hit me square in the face and the shock of
the snow made me gasp. I took off after her, but she couldn’t
run only hobble awkwardly. I easily caught her and took her down into
the snow. “You little sneak.”
    She was
laughing so hard, the joy of her settled into my bones and my joints,
embedded itself deeply into my heart. I scooped up snow, but before I
could, she’d already pulled my jeans away from my groin and
dropped in a handful.
    I
howled as the cold and wet hit my dick, my body heat melting it
almost immediately. She scrambled away and pelted me with more snow.
    I held
up my hands as I fell back in the snow. “You win! You win!
Uncle!” I cried. I heard the snow crunch as she limped over to
me.
    “You’re
a pathetic snowball fighter.”
    I
lunged up and grabbed her. She squealed as I pulled her down and
rubbed cold snow in her beautiful face.
    “That
was a glorious ambush.”
    We both
lay back in the snow. She turned her head to look at me. “I
hope I didn’t do any permanent damage to your…”
    “Male
pride?”
    She
laughed. “Yeah.”
    I
raised myself up on my elbow. “No, it still functions,” I
said softly as I dropped my mouth onto hers, defying the flashbacks
and the memories and my own pain and suffering. Defied it for the
feel of her soft lips, warm breath, and the connection that only
strengthened each moment I spent with her.
    She
rolled toward me, pressing her body against mine, slipping her arms
around me to hold me against her.
    “Well,
I’m glad about that,” she said.
    “Alissa,
you unravel me. Maybe you’ll know how to untangle the knots.”
    “Maybe
I can, if you let me in, Dakota.”
    I
thought about what she’d said. Let her inside? With the demons?
They shredded me. What would they do to her? Once inside with the
tree, I set it in the stand and toted all the boxes over for her.
    “I’m
sure that the lights are all tangled up.” She rummaged around
in the box marked tree and pulled out a mess of lights. “Yup.
Why is it that, no matter how careful you are when you pack them
away, they end up like this when you need to hang them on the tree?”
    “You
would know better than I would,” I said. “Your kind
always makes mischief wherever they go.”
    “My
kind.”
    “Yup,
mischievous little elves.”
    “Ha!
Let’s unravel them tonight. Then they’ll be ready to put
on the tree tomorrow.”
    Each
time my hand brushed against hers, I got a jolt. Then very softly she
started singing Silent Night. I joined in after a moment. We weren’t
the best singers in the world, but that was okay. It wasn’t
about sounding good. When she looked up from the knot she was working
on, she grinned at me and my heart melted even more.
    “How
is that ankle doing? It was a busy day for you.”
    “It’s
pretty good. Just a few twinges here and there.”
    “Let
me take a look at it before you go to bed.” She extended her
leg and I slipped my hand over her heel and pulled off her sock. Her
skin was warm. I gently cupped it and manipulated her foot, and she
didn’t make a sound.
    “The
bruising should start to fade.”
    “It
feels a lot better.”
    “Do
you need any help before bed?”
    She
shook her head. But, as we stood, she threw her arms around me.
“Thank you for indulging my Christmas wishes.” My heart
felt squeezed by many emotions. I