Free Jingle Bell Rock by Linda Winstead Jones

already I adore you.”
    There was a mud room, where the washer and dryer were located, and that was where the doggy door was located. A quick peek through a small window high in the door revealed that the door opened onto a large and wooded fenced-in backyard. The privacy fence was a good six feet tall.
    She took a quick tour through the rest of the house. There were six bedrooms, five bathrooms, a large dining room, and an office that was probably hers. She paused in the doorway for a moment, recognizing her favorite chair, her books, her collection of ceramic cats—old, familiar ones and a few new additions to the collection. The old desk was hers, but there was a new computer sitting on it.
    Back in the great room, she found herself thumbing through the CDs beside the stereo. Jimmy’s were together, there at the front. Legs, Blue Christmas, and then the ones she’d never heard of: Heart 2 Heart, Pickup, and Promises. No Over the Edge, she noticed with a sigh of relief.
    It didn’t seem quite fair to check out the new CDs, so she slipped Blue Christmas from the rack and put it in the CD player.
    Jimmy had such a great voice, and the first song on the CD filled the room that was magically lit with only firelight and the glow of the Christmas tree. After a few bars Rudy joined in, lifting his head and howling softly from his bed by the fireplace.
    “I never should have tried to teach him to sing,” Jimmy said as he stepped into the room. His hair was still damp, and instead of a robe he’d slipped into a pair of old jeans. And nothing else. Jess’s heart skipped a beat. He was so beautiful.
    “Come on, sugar,” he said as he stepped toward her. “You know I hate to listen to myself.”
    “Why?” she asked as he punched the button that brought “Blue Christmas”—and Rudy’s accompaniment—to a sudden halt.
    “I hear every mistake, everything I should’ve done... better.” He switched on the radio. “You want Christmas music? Here you go. Nothing but Christmas music for the next twenty-four hours.”
    The song playing on the radio was “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” the same version that had been playing on her ride home from work just... a few hours ago? Three years ago? Jess shivered. The song was a stark reminder that no matter how great this was, it wasn’t real. Not yet, anyway.
    “Are you okay?” Jimmy wrapped an arm around her and led her to a wide chair, a solid-blue padded chair that was sized somewhere between a regular chair and a love-seat. Jimmy sat down and brought Jess with him.
    “I just got a little chill.”
    Jimmy wrapped his arms around her to warm her up, and she curled against him.
    “I checked out the kitchen,” she said into his chest. “Everything’s set for tomorrow. All we have to do is cook the turkey and heat the casseroles and the dressing and we’re done.”
    “I told Florence I didn’t want you doing too much this year.”
    “You did?” Jess smiled, a small smile directed toward the low fire.
    “I did.”
    They cuddled in the wide chair before the fire, listening to Christmas music and saying little or nothing. Everything was touched with perfection, holiday enchantment of a sort that Jess had never known. The fire, the music, the light from the Christmas tree... and Jimmy’s easy touch. It was a wonderful evening. Even Rudy was silent, apparently not inclined to sing along with anyone but Jimmy. He seemed as content and comfortable as Jess was.
    She was tempted to close her eyes and go to sleep in Jimmy’s arms... but where—and when—would she wake up?
    In her apartment? In another, less wonderful future? Would she wake up again in her office to hear Dean doing his Elvis impersonation?
    The news came on, a break in the continuous holiday music. Weather, a traffic report, and a radar update indicating that Santa had been spotted in Knoxville and that all children in the Nashville area should go directly to bed. There followed a bit of local news, and