Free Millionaire's Christmas Miracle by Mary Anne Wilson

she saw Jenn, she felt as if she’d been thrown a lifeline, and she knew what she had to do. Get rid of Quint. Get him out of there and get the T-shirt back.

Chapter Five
    Jingle Bells? Merry Christmas?
    Quint had to literally make himself draw back from Amy, to break the contact, so he could make sense out of what was going on. For a man who usually understood everything happening around him, he understood very little of what had happened in the apartment since he’d knocked on the door. And for a man who understood his limitations and knew when to cut his losses and run, he was hanging around like some moonstruck teenager, standing half-dressed in front of someone who looked deeply relieved to have an interruption in whatever was happening between them.
    He curled his hand around the T-shirt and watched Amy smile as a woman entered the apartment and set a pile of brightly wrapped presents on the floor. Amy hurried over to the woman, but Taylor beat her mother there, and was scooped up into a huge hug.
    The newcomer was all in red and trimmed in jingle bells, from the two tied at the top of each red boot, to those sewn on dancing reindeers embroidered on an oversize sweatshirt and those fringing a Santa hat worn over pale-blond hair. She was laughing, huggingTaylor, calling her, “My munchkin,” then leaning over to kiss Amy on the cheek, before she looked up finally and saw him there.
    She had to be in her late twenties, pretty in a “cute” way, and obviously a woman with control, because she didn’t say a thing about him being half-naked. And she was a woman who didn’t mind a little girl tugging a Santa hat right off her head to throw it in the air. Instead, her eyes flicked over his bare chest, then she met his gaze. “I left a message I’d call or come by later,” she said without looking away from Quint.
    “Yes, Jenn, I got it,” Amy said as Quint shook out the T-shirt, fully intending to put it on to try and make the situation less awkward. But before he could, Amy hurried back to him, saying. “And I was hoping you’d stop by. I’m very glad that you did.” Then she startled him by reaching for the T-shirt, tugging it out of his hands.
    Without missing a step, she kept going, through the mess of laundry Taylor had scattered from the table to the floor, and across to the bookshelf the television sat on. She was still talking. “Just come on in, and we’ll open presents and have a good time, as soon as I take care of this.” She bent down and opened a drawer in the chest, then stood and turned with something navy in her hands. “This is better, warmer and more…” She shrugged, an action that seemed tinged with a degree of vulnerability to Quint. He barely had time to absorb that before she finished with, “Suitable.”
    That’s what this whole experience wasn’t—suitable.He was older and wiser, and wasn’t looking for any of this. This definitely wasn’t going with the flow or chilling. It was stupid. Then Amy was there holding out a navy sweatshirt to him.
    “Yes, that’s suitable,” he said, taking it from her.
    Even as he spoke, she was moving again, going over to Jenn, who was still holding Taylor.
    He shook out the sweatshirt, put it on, tugged it down, then raked his fingers through his hair. “It fits,” he said.
    “I’m Jenn Blake,” the visitor said out of the blue. Quint looked at her and met a smile. “And you are…?”
    “He’s late. He’s got an appointment,” Amy said before Quint could say anything, and started to pick up the presents Jenn had put on the floor. “Wow, you outdid yourself with all of this, Jenn.”
    Jenn was still looking at Quint. “Whoever you are, won’t you stay for some hot cider, or carol-singing or some holiday spirit, or just plain old spirits, as the case may be?”
    He liked her. She had the ability to go with the flow, just adjust to whatever she found, even a half-naked man. He just wished he had that ability at the moment. “I