Free The Christmas Wish by Maggie Marr

while too, perhaps even longer than it had been for him.
    “I”—her gaze fluttered away and then she turned back to him—“I haven’t been on a date in a really long time.” Her voice was soft and it seemed almost laced with embarrassment. “When you first called, I wasn’t even certain that this”—she waved her mittened hand between them—“was a date.” She tapped her hand on her lips and tilted her head. “I mean, I thought this was a date and I hoped it was, but it, wellllll…” She glanced again toward her front door. “A date with you just didn’t seem possible.”
    Tyler squinted. Not possible? Their date was an impossibility? Brinn bit her lip. Those warm brown eyes of hers. Damn. He could fall into those eyes.
    “I didn’t even tell Ma. I knew she’d hear about it because town is so small. I just didn’t want all the questions that went with having dinner with you.”
    “Ah, the joys of a small town.” Tyler pressed his head back against the leather headrest. The knot that had tightened in his chest started to loosen. “She’ll know by tomorrow.”
    “Right. I just”—she looked at him—“I’m not sure how to do this. I’ve never really dated in Powder Springs, and not that we’re dating .” She lifted both her hands.
    He reached out his hand and grasped hers. “I’d love to take you out again.”
    A gasp flew over Brinn’s lips.
    Want tightened in his belly and traveled farther down to below his belt. His gaze caught hers. The desire to kiss her throbbed through him. To lean forward and bridge the space between them in the cab of his truck. To press his lips to hers and wrap his fingers in those thick ringlet curls.
    But he didn’t.
    She looked too shocked and surprised over his admission that he wanted to take her out again. Maybe dating him wasn’t what she wanted. Maybe she was trying to be polite and tell him that they were just friends and he wasn’t picking up on the signs.
    A smile spread over Brinn’s face. “I’d love that.” Her eyes brightened.
    Tyler’s heart felt lighter than air.
    “So you’ll come in? Before your coffee gets cold?”
    Tyler nodded. In this moment, there wasn’t anything he wanted more than to walk into Brinn’s cozy little house with its white lights and a Christmas tree, then stare even longer into those beautiful brown eyes.

 
Chapter Eight
     
    Brinn flipped on the lights and rushed ahead into the house. Tyler Emerson was in her house. Brinn closed her eyes and forced breath in and out of her lungs. The enormity of this event was nearly incomprehensible. The boy, and now man, that she’d crushed on since she was ten years old was alone, with her, in her house.
    She scanned the living room. Her place seemed cleanish. No glasses on the end table or plates balancing on the sofa cushions. Her bedroom was a disaster zone thanks to her inability to pick an outfit without first trying on every piece of clothing she owned, but what were the odds that Tyler would end up in her bedroom?
    She pulled off her winter coat and opened the front closet door. “Sorry it’s such a mess.” She picked up a pair of tennis shoes and tossed them into the closet.
    “Mess? You should have seen my place in Denver before Charlotte and I found a housekeeper. My baby girl was growing up in a biohazard.”
    Tyler’s gaze trailed around the room. How did her place look to him with her red and white tree and her Christmas snow globe collection on the bookshelf?
    “Your place looks great.” He walked to the built-in breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the dining room and set the box of cannoli on the counter.
    Her heart fluttered in her chest. Brinn hurried into the kitchen. “Let me get some plates.” She rubbed her hands together and flitted about the kitchen. She grabbed two plates from the cabinet beside the stove and a real coffee cup from above the sink. She picked up Tyler’s to-go coffee and dumped it into the ceramic mug.
    “There