Free Merry Kisses (Riverbend Romance 5) by Valerie Comer Page B

Sonya’s mind as she managed the moms and tots in the lineup. She was falling for this guy in a big way. There was no pretending otherwise for the passionate and very merry kisses they’d shared. When he wore anything but the Santa suit, the reservations were easy to push aside. Even seeing him in action wasn’t a real deterrent. It was only when she forced herself to take a long look into the future that the doubts welled up again.
    She turned to the laptop to enter the information for the next Santa photo, and caught movement beyond the piles of glittery gifts. Shoppers hurried by in both directions, so how could one motion catch her eye? No, it was the stillness of one small body amid the flurry.
    Bailey.
    The child watched from a distance, hands stuffed in her jeans pockets.
    Sonya took an involuntary step closer as Bailey’s gaze latched onto hers. Then the girl was gone.
    Someone desperately needed hope this Christmas season.

CHAPTER 10

    “It’s the least I can do.” Heath guided Sonya into the Save-On-More supermarket not far from River of Life Church. In the foyer, he plugged a dollar coin into a buggy’s handle and disengaged it from the row.
    “But—”
    He dropped a quick kiss onto her sweet lips. “Okay, you do have a choice. You let me buy groceries to cook with, or I’ll go back to eating ramen noodles and day-old sandwiches from the Petro-Canada.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “You don’t want gas station food on your conscience, do you?”
    Sonya sighed. “You drive a hard bargain.”
    Whew. He pushed the cart into the produce section of the store. “Have at it. We’re not leaving until this thing is rounded on top, okay? Whatever you need.”
    “Then we shouldn’t start with produce. It will get crushed.”
    “See? I know nothing about this process. I shop at the Petro-Can because there are only four kinds of soup to choose from, and their fruit choices are bananas, oranges, and apples. When they have any.”
    “I can’t believe you shop there. Besides fuel, I mean.”
    “Fresh coffee. Pop.” He grinned at her as she tugged the cart into the baking supplies aisle. “I can even get a hot dog or a slice of pizza there.”
    Sonya shuddered. “You want pizza? That can be arranged.”
    He nudged her. “I knew you’d see it my way.”
    A smile peeked from both her mouth and her eyes. “You’re impossible.”
    “I’d like to think that anything is possible.” Now that he had her attention, he leaned for another kiss.
    She stepped back, shaking her head, but smiling. “We’ll never get done in here if we keep that up.”
    Heath pulled an imaginary zipper across his mouth. “I’ll dream of merry kisses with every step we take through this store. What do we need here? Flour? Sugar?”
    Sonya nodded and reached for a bag of sugar, but Heath snagged it first and set it in the buggy. “I hope this means there are cookies in my future.”
    “What’s your favorite kind?”
    “Hmm. Christmas cookies? Gingerbread men with icing and coconut and those little sprinkles.”
    She turned and stared at him as he licked his lips.
    “What, you’ve never had those?”
    “My mom didn’t make special cookies.”
    Heath slid his hand over hers on the shopping cart handle. “Your parents didn’t really do Christmas.” Would she confide in him soon?
    “Not the trappings everyone associates with it, no. Just Baby Jesus.” She grimaced. “I’m sorry. That came out wrong. The Savior’s birth is the only part that matters, anyway.”
    Her apartment, cozy and full of character, but not full of Christmas. No tree. No decorations. No visual reminders of the holiday season. “You don’t have to do things the way your folks did,” he said softly, scooting the cart to one side to allow another shopper to pass. “You can choose a different way, unless their way makes you happy?”
    She stared down at their entwined hands. “I always thought it did.”
    His heart surged out of proportion