Jill Shalvis - Small Town Christmas

2011

Merry Christmas, Sandy Jansen murmured to herself, staring in her office mirror. She closed her eyes, trying to avoid the sadness in her own reflection. She loved Christmas, loved the decorations, loved the festivities, loved the joy of the entire season, but this year that joy was sorely lacking.

It had been for five months, ever since the day shed watched Logan Perrishs very fine ass walk out of her life.

It was silly because shed known he was just a fling. Hell, itd even been her idea. But she hadnt known that shed miss the NASCAR star as much as she had.

Or that all these months later, shed still remember his smile, his warm, dark eyes, how shed melted at the sight of him. And when hed touched her well. Shed gone up in flames for him, all of her, including her damn heart.

Sandy opened her eyes but didnt meet her own gaze again. Instead she looked at the rest of her. As the town clerk of Lucky Harbor, shed come to the annual employee Christmas cocktail party in a cute little red dress, her holiday dress, which never failed to cheer her up. Being all of five foot two was a bit of a problem, but her four-inch Manolo knockoffs helped.

What hadnt helped her was the costume she now had on over her sexy little red dress, complete with a stuffed belly and butt, white beard and wig, red fur-lined hat, and the final touch, thick wire-rimmed glasses.

Santa Claus.

From outside her office and down the hall, there was only silence. The party had emptied out, leaving her alone in the building. Tomorrow night, Christmas Eve, everyone in town would be here for the annual Christmas parade, which Santa would head up in the same 1972 Buick convertible, aka rust bucket, that theyd been using for years. The evening would culminate at the end of the pier, with all the kids lining up to sit on Santas lap so they could whisper their holiday wish.

Sandys wish, if anyone had asked, would be that Anderson hadnt caught the flu so he could play Santa as planned. Shed tried to get a last-minute replacement, oh how shed tried. But Jax Cullen, Lucky Harbors mayor, was master of ceremonies of the parade. Ford Walker and resident hottie had taken his new fiance to Palm Springs for a holiday getaway. Sandys third and final choice, Sheriff Sawyer Thompson, was going to be on duty at the parade, handling crowd control.

There was no one else to ask, which panicked Sandy. No one but her She took her roll of town clerk very seriously, but this this was going over and above the call of duty. Yet all she could think of was the kids of Lucky Harbor, and how disappointed theyd be without Santa. Dammit. She sighed and took one last look at herself. She did actually look a little bit like Santa, albeit a very short one.

You, Sandy Jansen, she told her reflection. Are a sucker.

The biggest. And she had a broken heart to prove it. With a sigh, she reached around behind her to unzip the Santa costume, but the zipper wouldnt budge. She tried again. And then again. Really? she said to the room in general, most specifically to her karma. Are you kidding me?

Karma wasnt listening. The zipper was stuck.

Dammit, she said, and tried again to no avail. Well, isnt this just perfect. With an eye roll, she snatched up her purse and her keys and headed out into the night, hoping a neighbor was still up. But if anyone so much as smiled at this I Love Lucy predicament, Sandy was going to smack them. Christmas, she muttered, but it wasnt annoyance she felt so much as bone-deep sadness. Her family was back East. She didnt have a date, and she felt alone. It was a feeling that someone whod grown up as the nerd, the bookworm in a family of charismatic, outgoing people, should be familiar with by now. Shaking her head at herself, she hurried out to her car, her heels clicking on the asphalt, and she realized how she must look in the Santa costume-with her heels.

Santa in drag

Good thing she was all alone. Except she wasnt.

The lot was empty but for her rundown Toyota and another car, a convertible BMW.

And leaning against her car as if he belonged there was the cool, sophisticated, gorgeous Logan Perrish, as if shed conjured him out of her nightly fantasies. Except in her nightly fantasies, he returned her rambling but heartfelt e-mails

Clearly she was hallucinating. Because no way would karma be so cruel as to stick her in the Santa costume and then produce the man whod crushed her.

Sandy?

At the low, almost unbearably familiar voice that shed expected to never hear again, she dropped her keys. To give herself a desperately needed moment, she bent over, and her hat and wig fell off. What were the chances hed believe she really was Santa?

Sandy.

Dammit! Oh, how she wished she could turn back time. Because then, when shed gotten that sexy hey, babe voice mail message a few days after hed left, she wouldnt have then poured her heart out to him via e-mail.

To which hed never responded

She scooped up both the hat and the keys and hugged them to her padded belly as she straightened and shook her head wildly. Nope, not Sandy. No Sandy here-

It is. Its you, he murmured, and then laughed.

Which settled it. Hed hurt her and laughed at her. She tended toward a mild-mannered and easygoing temperament, but this was too much for her. She was going to have to kill him.

Logan pushed off of Sandys car and shook his head. He couldnt believe it when, through the mist of the frosty night, came a very short, round Santa, wobbling through the lot toward Sandys car.

In four-inch FMPs.

It hadnt been until Santa dropped the hat and wig that he realized he recognized that wavy mass of dark hair. Choking out a laugh, he took a step toward her. His smiled faded when she just stared at him. Her baby blues, usually so soft and warm, were putting out a chill to rival the December night air.

Not exactly the welcome hed envisioned. And he had envisioned. His fantasies had involved her throwing herself at him, and shortly thereafter divesting them both of all clothing.

Hey, he said. You okay?

Why wouldnt I be?

Hmm. That didnt sound like she was gearing up to throw herself at him at all, much less anything indecent after that. Logan looked at her thoughtfully, rubbing his jaw. In his world, decisions were made in split seconds. Sandy had always made him want to slow down and enjoy. Take his time It was to his shame that he hadnt realized how much she meant to him until he left Lucky Harbor.

He was going to have to leave again, but not until hed made her his. Which apparently wasnt going to be as easy as hed thought. He took another step toward her, but her hand came up, eyes flashing, and she pointed at him. No. Do not touch me.

Theyd spent a week together, during which shed spent a fair amount of time begging him to touch her. Hed loved touching her. In fact, hed spent seven long nights doing just that every inch.

Logan wasnt unsure of much. Of anything, really, not that he could think of. Things tended to go his way. Sure, thered been a failure or two along the way, and disappointments, even heartbreak.

But mostly things fell right into his lap. His mom had always told him it was because he was the last of seven kids, born early. Hed been in a rush to get ahead of the pack from the get-go, and that had never changed. Which is what made the sweet, warm Sandy Jansen so confusing. Hed wanted her, hed had her, and that should have been the end of the story.