Free Last Chance Christmas by Joanne Rock

asked lightly, tipping her head against the doorjamb as she studied him. “Or have you had enough of the Walker family antics for the last twenty-four hours?”
    Across the rink, a cheer went up as the guys who’d been installing the boards finished the job. The two teams that had been working on it nailing their pieces together after working in opposite directions.
    “Hardly.” He didn’t want her to think this had anything to do with her. “It’s not you. Something else Warren said made me think your family doesn’t really have a clue how much you’ve achieved.”
    “Same as it ever was.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t come back much because it gets old trying to explain to Great Aunt Marcy why I just don’t take the cashier job at the local department store. She figures I work in retail—same difference.”
    “Aunt Marcy I can forgive.” He retrieved the broom and stood it in one corner of the shed before turning off the interior lights, though he left on the ones over the rink. The sun was setting already even though it wasn’t even five. “But Warren is a smart guy. He ought to know better.”
    He stepped out onto the concrete pad that led to the rink. The late afternoon sun shone gold on the snow while higher on the hill, some of the volunteers started to head home for the night.
    “My family doesn’t think I have a good job and—from their perspective—I do understand why. I’m not close to all this.” She gestured to the house, the outdoor rink, and the general hubbub surrounding them. “And for as long as I stay in my line of work, they’re going to view it as me choosing work over family.”
    “That’s bullshit. Your father pushed you to play collegiate hockey instead of going to New York.” He remembered how much pressure she’d been under to make decisions about her future before she’d even turned sixteen. They hadn’t been as close then, but there had been a time when Shea had been as much of a local hockey standout as him—with a promising future in the sport. “Would they have thought you weren’t a part of the family then?”
    “Hockey is synonymous with the Walker name, so what do you think?” She shook her head. “Actually, forget I asked. I’m sure you don’t want to go down this conversational road any more than I do. Although, for what it’s worth, my cousin did mention to me that there is a retail store front available in the ski resort and suggested I ought to buy it, so at least he wasn’t suggesting I be a cashier.” She winked, clearly ready to move on. “Why don’t we send everyone home so we can turn the water on and go find a Christmas tree?”
    The last rays of the sun caught a gleam in her eye, making him remember her promise of seduction from earlier in the day. He’d been troubled by her easy agreement to a no-strings affair this week, half-hoping she’d be interested in something more. But if this was all he could have with her, he was more than willing to take whatever she wanted to give him.
    “Did I mention I have a back ache from sleeping on the couch last night?” he lied, lowering his voice even though no one else was close to them.
    “You’re already working that angle?” She shook her head, sending her red ponytail in a dance across her hockey sweater, drawing his attention to the gentle swell of her breasts.
    “Too obvious?” he asked, winding the end of the tail around his finger even as he resisted the urge to pull her in for a kiss.
    “I’d definitely be more flattered if you said you couldn’t stand another night without me. Or that you’d been lusting over my body all day. Or—”
    “Don’t.” He let go of the ponytail to cover her lips with his finger. “You’re cranking up my imagination way too much for a public place.”
    “Really? I figured you were used to women throwing themselves at you. My meager patter would just be all in a day’s work for you.”
    “Other women are not you.” He wanted that to be