Christmas in paradise

Hallie Roberts has had a string of bad luck, beginning with her fiancé dumping her! Now she is disillusioned and ready to leave her beloved big-city teaching job behind and return to her idyllic island hometown. Then fate intervenes, and a slip and fall on the ice brings gorgeous, brave paramedic Asa Andersen to her rescue and into her chaotic life.

Saving victims can take its toll, but Hallie fills Asa with hope and renewed purpose. His mission to show the homesick English teacher a romantic New York Christmas culminates in a passionate, brief affair. But Asa isn’t about to lose the best thing to ever happen to him. When they meet again on Hideaway Island, the magic and sensuality of the sultry isle affects them both. Can he convince Hallie to trust in their future and a love that’s worth every risk?

Her body went slack beneath him, and he knew there was no stopping what he was going to do next.

He kissed her. Beneath the Christmas tree. She tasted like chocolate and spiced rum. That combined with the flavor of her lips made her delicious. It made him greedy, and he couldn’t stop himself from going back for more and deepening the kiss. She responded by opening her mouth beneath his and welcoming in his tongue.

He didn’t need alcohol tonight. He could happily get drunk off her.

She broke the kiss and set her lips on his jawline, sliding them across and leaving behind little sweet kisses.

He didn’t think he had ever been kissed so sweetly in his life. He didn’t think he had ever been this turned on in his life, especially by a woman who was wearing so many clothes.

“You’re not supposed to be kissing me, Asa Andersen.” Her voice was breathy. Sexy. She had no idea how crazy she was driving him. The sweet little schoolteacher made him want to burst out of his skin.

“You’re not supposed to be kissing me back.”

Dear Reader,

I have always had a deep love for the holiday season...and sexy men in uniform. Kissed by Christmas combines those loves into one romance-filled story! You’ll travel the country with Asa and Hallie as they meet in snowy New York City and fall in love on the lush Hideaway Island.

I hope you enjoy reading about them as much as I enjoyed writing about them.

xoxo,

Jamie

Kissed by Christmas

Jamie Pope

www.millsandboon.co.uk

JAMIE POPE first fell in love with romance when her mother placed a novel in her hands at the age of thirteen. She became addicted to love stories and has been writing them ever since. When she’s not writing her next book, you can find her shopping for shoes or binge watching shows on Netflix.

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To Josh, future driver and manservant.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Extract

Copyright

Chapter 1

Hallie Roberts had never been so cold in her life.

Freezing wasn’t accurate.

Bone-cold wasn’t enough.

She was arctic-tundra cold. The kind of cold where jumping into a blazing-hot fire wouldn’t even be enough to thaw her out.

Her nose was ice. Her toes were so scrunched and frozen in her shoes that they threatened to break off and move back to Florida where they thought they belonged. She didn’t blame them—in a few weeks, she was planning to follow.

New York City in December was no joke, especially when it was experiencing a historic cold snap. There was snow on the ground. Mounds and mounds of graying snow and a brutally chilling wind that whipped through her thin but fashionable trench coat and caused her to break out in what seemed like a permanent case of gooseflesh. She hadn’t known that weather like this existed. Before she moved from Florida she’d had this romantic idea of winter. Of New York in winter. That it would be all snow-globe beautiful with crystal flakes that gently floated to the ground and made whatever they touched seem magical.

But there was nothing magical about the nor’easter that had covered the city in white. It kept her snowed in and prevented her from going home for Thanksgiving and seeing the family she so sorely missed. So instead of eating her mother’s delicious sweet potato pie and slow-cooked ham, and walking on the beach with her grandmother after the big meal, she sat in her apartment and ate General Tso’s chicken along with an entire pint of strawberry cheesecake ice cream. And instead of taking an extra day off to breathe in the fresh ocean air and let the sun warm her face, she was trudging through icy snow on her way to work to teach her tenth graders about the brilliance of James Baldwin.

What a way to start the Christmas season.

Even though her plans had been ruined she didn’t mind going back to work. Her job was the only thing she liked about New York since she had moved there nearly six months ago. She had been mugged, her brand-new iPhone stolen by a hipster with a full beard wearing an ironic T-shirt. Her car had been towed because she had no idea what alternate-side-of-the-street parking was all about. And she’d once gotten so hopelessly lost on the subway she had to call her cousin back in Florida to help her navigate her way back home because she was too embarrassed to ask for directions. She didn’t know anyone in the Big Apple, aside from the people she worked with. She never thought she would be lonely in a city of eight million, but she was. And the longer she stayed here, the more she longed for the sandy beaches and small-town feel of Hideaway Island.

But going back to Hideaway Island wouldn’t be easy for her. Back in Hideaway Island was a man who had broken their engagement the day after she had the final fitting for her dress. Back in Hideaway Island was a man who’d told her that he wasn’t really sure if he loved her enough to spend the rest of his life with her.

I’m just not sure you’re what I need.

I’m not sure if you’re good for me at this point in my life.

It was hard being away from her close-knit family for the past half year but it was harder for her living on that tiny island and running into him everywhere she went. They had been together for over five years this time, but they had first started to date in high school. Brent had been her prom date. Nearly every place in town held some sort of special meaning for them. The dock where they had their first kiss. The beach where he proposed to her. The yacht club they were supposed to have their reception in. Reminders of him slapped her in the face at every turn. She had heard about heartbreak, but she had never expected to feel like she had felt.

He had made promises. They had made plans. She had made sacrifices. She had spent the last ten years of her life thinking she was going to be his wife and when he abruptly ended things she knew she would never plan her life around a man again. So when the opportunity came up to teach at this prestigious charter school, she’d jumped on it. Teaching inner-city kids wasn’t always easy, but she genuinely enjoyed them.

Except for right that moment when she walked up to the school to see two of her brightest students in the middle of a heated argument.

“You are obviously too stupid to understand what he was saying!”

“Who are you calling stupid? You’re the one—”

“Ladies!” Hallie took a step toward them only to feel her foot slide across the sidewalk. It was like the world had slowed down, like she was having an out-of-body experience. Falling down in public was bad enough, but falling in front of a bunch of high schoolers was the stuff nightmares were made of.

Hallie heard someone scream. Maybe it was her. She wasn’t sure because she hit the ground hard, her head bouncing on the sidewalk, and then everything went black. She wasn’t sure how long she was out or if she had died and gone to heaven, because when she woke up again the most beautiful man in the world was standing over her.

* * *

“How was your Thanksgiving, man?” Asa Andersen’s partner, Miguel, asked him as they headed back to their station at the end of a long shift.

“Quiet. My sister went to her in-laws’ this year so my parents and I went out to a diner.”

“A diner!”

“Yeah.” Asa grinned. “My father usually does the cooking but he’s recovering from the flu and no one wants to eat my mother’s food. Trust me, the diner’s Thanksgiving special was a thousand times better than anything my mom would have produced.”

“Your mom can’t cook,” Miguel said, moaning as if it were tragic. “I feel for you. You should have come to my house. We have the roasted pork, along with the fried turkey. My grandmother and tías made hundreds of tamales. The pumpkin-pie flan wasn’t such a big hit, but my mother’s chocolate cake more than made up for it.”

“That sounds amazing.” Asa couldn’t remember the last time they’d had a big holiday meal with aunts and uncles and extended family. Most years it had just been his parents and his sister at the holidays, but since Virginia got married she split her time between her and her husband’s family. They saw less of each other now than they ever had and even though he knew that was how things happened, it didn’t sit with him too well. It felt like something had been missing.

“My mother sent you a plate,” Miguel went on. “And by plate I mean the twelve pounds of food she packed in a huge brown paper bag.”

“Your mother is sweet.” All of the Gonzaleses were. Sometimes Asa envied his partner. Miguel always had a big, warm family to go to after the end of a long, hard shift.

“My mother wants to hook you up with my little sister but—”

“You stay away from my little sister,” Asa finished for him, laughing. “I’m not going anywhere near Arianna, trust me.” Arianna was cute, but Asa had been working with Miguel since he joined the FDNY as a rescue paramedic. They were an elite squad of highly trained paramedics that worked alongside the firemen and administered medical care in dangerous, unstable conditions. The last thing he needed was Miguel pissed at him if things didn’t work out. Their job was too dangerous for personal feelings to get in the way of the work. “I think you tell everyone to stay away from your little sister. You won’t be happy unless she decides to join a convent.”

“She’ll be married to God. A man can’t ask for a better brother-in-law.”

“Mine is pretty cool,” Asa said as a call came in from dispatch. “I get box seats to any baseball game in the country.”

“If you were a legendary shortstop, I would let you date my sister.” Miguel picked up the radio. “We’re in the area, dispatch. We’ll respond.” He looked at Asa. “Slip and fall on some black ice. It shouldn’t take long.”

Asa hit the lights and they drove the two blocks to the scene. Eighty percent of their calls were typical paramedic calls that he rarely thought about when they were done. It was that other twenty percent that stayed with him. An innocent person getting struck by violence, a car accident that left the vehicle and the people inside of it unrecognizable. Last week Asa had gone through another one of those events that he just couldn’t get off his mind.

They had responded to a catastrophic crane collapse last week that had made New York City look like a war zone. Some people didn’t make it. Death was an unfortunate part of the job. He should be used to it by now but last week the loss had hit him harder than usual. Maybe it was the time of the year and knowing that a man wouldn’t be with his family during the holidays. Maybe it was the fact that he felt that his time with his family was growing shorter and shorter.

The longer he did this job, the more important his family became to him.

They pulled up at the scene in front of Wheatly Academy to see a horde of worried teenagers surrounding a woman on the ground.

“Clear a path, guys,” he ordered as they rolled the gurney toward her. “We’re here to help her.” He took in the woman’s appearance and noticed two things. The first was that she definitely wasn’t dressed for winter in her brown high-heeled boots and her thin trench coat. The second was that she looked incredibly familiar. But he couldn’t place her at the moment. “Does anyone know her name?” he asked the kids.

“She’s our English teacher, Miss Roberts,” a girl told him. “Hallie is her first name, I think.”

“Yeah, it is,” a boy confirmed. “We remember it because we say that she’s like Halle Berry, but sweeter. Is she going to be okay? She hit her head, really hard.”

Asa knelt down to the unconscious woman and touched her cold cheek with the back of his hand. Brain injury was a common effect of a slip and fall. “Hallie?” He called her name and she opened her eyes, looking up at him, and it kind of jolted him. He knew in his gut he had seen this woman before. Seen that beautiful shade of brown skin, seen those large, almond-shaped deep brown eyes with what seemed like a million lashes look up at him.

“Am I dead?” Her voice was soft; there was wonder in it. “Are you an angel? Am I dead?”

“No.” He smiled at her. He didn’t usually find injured people cute, but this one was exceedingly so. “You slipped on the ice and hit your head. We’re going to take you to the hospital to get you checked out.”

“Miss, are you okay?” One of the girls asked as she stepped forward.

“No. I’m not.” She shut her eyes again. “I remember walking toward you because you and Tiana looked like you were about to engage in World War Three and that’s when I slipped.” Her voice was much stronger this time. “I blame you two for this fall and that means thirty years of detention for both of you.”

“Thirty years!”

“Yup. That’s how long I’ll be embarrassed about this. I’m not sure I’ll survive it.”

“But, Miss Roberts! We were just talking about that poem you assigned us last night. I think it’s about a boy wanting his mother’s approval. Liza thinks it’s about romantic love, but clearly she’s wrong and takes everything literally because that’s how basic she is.”

The other girl turned around so quickly Asa was surprised that she didn’t have whiplash. “Who are you calling basic?”

“Girls!” Those pretty brown eyes flew open again. “If you don’t stop arguing you’re both going to be feeling basic when I keep you after school for the next two weeks alphabetizing my book collection by genre. And if you don’t think it’s that many books, I will gladly go out and get more to keep you busy until prom season.”

The girls clamped their mouths shut.

“Well, the good news is that your teacher is lucid, kids,” Miguel said stepping forward so that he could stabilize her neck. “The bad news is, she going to be on a war path if you don’t give her some space.”

“Get to class,” she said as her eyes drifted shut briefly, before she opened one of them to survey the crowd. “I’ll know if you didn’t show up. I’ll be checking in, and your papers are still due at the end of the week. You will email them to me.”

“Really?” one of the boys asked.

“If you don’t believe me, you’ll find out what happens if they are late.”

The kids scattered. Asa would have, too. Her tone told everyone she wasn’t playing. He was surprised that someone who looked so adorable, with her doe eyes and head full of springy black curls, could get a bunch of high schoolers to obey without talking back. His retired military father would have admired that.

“Are they gone?” she asked, looking to Asa again. “My head hurts so much I’m not sure I can see straight.”

He nodded. “Ran out of here like they were on fire. Can you tell me what else hurts? Your neck, or back?”

“Just my head.” She grabbed his hand and buried it in her hair. “It hurts here.”

“That’s because you have an epic knot.”

“Darn, and I was planning to shave my head this week.”

He smiled down at her. “It’ll have to wait till after Christmas.”

“I don’t want them to worry.” She looked truly distressed then, and he could see the pain etched into her face. “I have to be tough with them or they’ll worry.”

“Your students?”

“Yes. They think they are grown, but they are still kids and they’ll worry about me. I love them, you know. They are the only reason I stay in this stupid, cold, icy city.”

“You’re a good teacher,” he told her.

“And you’re really hot,” she said to him. “I like the way your voice sounds. Gentle but strong. Are you sure you’re not some sort of jacked angel?”

“He’s not,” Miguel said. “But he gets that a lot.”

Asa shook his head, but he had to admit he was a little flattered. “We’re going to take you to the hospital now.”

“Okay. Stay with me, Mr. Hot Paramedic.”

“I will. I’m not going anywhere.”

Chapter 2

The gorgeous man who was sitting by her side as she rode to the hospital had told her that she wasn’t dreaming, but she had a hard time believing it. This had to be a dream. They didn’t make men who looked like him. Big, beefy, chocolate-colored angels with large hands and beautiful smiles. Or if they did, they weren’t walking around like normal people with normal jobs. In fact she was pretty sure she had seen this one on the cover of a fitness magazine. She knew she had seen him before. It was probably the head trauma that made him walk off the pages of a magazine and into her life.

The paramedic was really probably some short, balding middle-aged man with a potbelly, but it didn’t matter because he was so lovely. He made busting her behind in public kind of nice.

“You still with me, Hallie?” he asked in his deep, soothing voice as he touched her hand.

“I am. What’s your name? I’m feeling a little loopy. Did I ask you that already? I’m not sure what I’ve been saying.”

“You didn’t ask. My name is Asa. Do you know where you are going?”

Hallie gasped. “Healer.” Now she knew she must be hallucinating. “I’m with a healer on my way to the hospital.”

He looked truly surprised. “You know the meaning of my name?”

She nodded but it hurt her head and she shut her eyes. “Your name is healer and you have the body of a god. It’s perfect. Truly perfect. Did you pick your career based on your name?”

“No, ma’am,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. “I was supposed to be a doctor. I made it all the way through medical school and quit in my intern year.”

“Oh, that must have killed your mother.”

He laughed. “It did. I think she’s still in mourning. But she forgot about me when my twin sister became a painter.”

“A painter. Code for starving artist. What was she supposed to be?”

“A college professor, but she ended up being an interior designer.”

“That’s funny. My dream was to get my doctorate and become a college professor. It’s not for everyone. Is your sister happy?”

“She’s very happy.”

“Oh, I love to hear that. You’re happy too, right? That’s all that matters. That you’re happy. Happiness is the most important thing on the planet.” Hallie wasn’t sure why she couldn’t stop talking or what was making her say the things she was saying, but she couldn’t stop herself. This man was a stranger. He probably thought she was insane and maybe she was, but there was just something about him that made her comfortable.

His name had been well chosen. Just his calm manner soothed her. She should have been scared out of her mind, going to the hospital in a city she still didn’t know well, about missing work, and not having proper sub plans, but none of that mattered to her at the moment.

“I like my job very much.”

“But are you happy, Asa?”

He was quiet for a long as he looked down at her. “We’re here,” he told her. “They are probably going to do some neurological tests and a CAT scan. Give you something for the pain if you need it. You remember where you live, right?”

She opened her eyes and looked at him. He was still the same beautiful man that had been there since she had first opened her eyes. “In a fifth floor walkup in the Village that is smaller than my childhood bedroom.”

“Oh.” He nodded, a strange expression on his face. “Is there anyone for you to call?”

“No. I’m here all by myself. My family is South.”

“What about friends from work? Can you call someone to get you home?”

“I can call a cab.”

He looked hesitant and for the first time since she had hit her head, Hallie started to worry. “Is something wrong? Do you think I won’t be able to get home without help?”

He shook his head. “I’m sure you will. I just don’t like the idea of leaving you here all alone.”

“I have to get used to being alone. I’ll be okay,” she said as the door opened. “Thank you.”

“For what?” he asked as they rolled her out.

“For being kind to me.”

“I wasn’t. I was just doing my job.”

“You’re very good at it. Thank you for that.”

* * *

“What the hell was that?” Miguel asked him as they drove away fifteen minutes later.

“What?” Asa asked, still distracted by the woman they had just left behind.

“I’m used to women mooning over you. It makes me feel like I look like dog food, but it is what it is. This time I sensed something weird going on between you two. Granted, the lady was out of it from knocking her head, but you were weird, too.”

“I’m not weird. She lives in my building. She’s three doors down from me.”

“And she didn’t recognize you?”

“I haven’t lived there for that long. Just a few months and you know we work crazy hours. I couldn’t place her at first but I knew I knew her from somewhere and it was bugging me.”

“And you think she’s cute.”

“She is cute,” he admitted. She was more than cute. He found himself truly attracted to a patient, which had never happened to him. “A lot of women in New York are cute.”

“I like the way she handled those kids. She said go and they scattered like roaches.”

He nodded, smiling at the memory. “She made me think of my sister. I’m glad she’s married now. Before, she moved all around the world alone. Anything could have happened to her. But Hallie said she was all alone in the city. If she’d landed the wrong way or just hit her head a little harder, it would have been another story and her family wouldn’t even be near her.”

“This kind of stuff never bothered you before. You’ve been a little bit off since the crane collapse.”

“And you haven’t?” He had taken this job because he loved the excitement, the rush he got when the lights and sirens were going, knowing that he was going to use his skills to save lives. And this one had started out that way, but when they got there it had turned out different. It had been one of the worst scenes he had ever been to. He had been on the scene for fires, helped rescue a man out of an iced-over river, but it looked like a bomb had gone off in the middle of New York City. Dust and debris and pandemonium everywhere. Ten people injured, one died on the scene from massive chest injuries and the other man had died at the hospital later from a heart attack.

“I try not to think about.” Miguel shrugged. “The nature of a job. There might be something worse just around the corner.”

Asa had thought about those words all the way home that day. Hallie had asked him if he was happy. He had never thought about it before. He loved his job. He was having fun in New York dating some interesting women. But was he happy? Lately he had been feeling like something was missing in his life. Maybe Miguel was right, maybe the crane collapse had just put him in a weird head space.

He went home, made himself something to eat and tried to get some rest. He should be exhausted after working back-to-back shifts, but his mind kept going back to Hallie, wondering how she was. If she’d gotten home okay. Part of him wondered if he would have put her out of his mind had he not known she was his neighbor, but a bigger part of him thought that she was just the kind of person that would stay with him.

He got up and left his apartment. It would be easy enough to check. Then he could just go back to his life.

He knocked on her door, listening for sounds inside. If she wasn’t home he could check with the hospital. Most of the time they never knew what happened to the people they transported, but Asa could find out, see if she needed help. Perhaps contact a family member for her. It was what he would have wanted someone to do for his sister.

He knocked again and this time he heard rustling from inside of the apartment. He waited for a moment and then she opened the door. She wore sweats and fuzzy pink socks on her feet. Her springy curls stood out in every direction. Her eyes widened when she saw him and a guarded look crossed her face immediately.

“What are you doing here?” It certainly wasn’t the same greeting he had gotten when he’d first approached her that day.

“I came to see if you got home okay.”

“I did. How do you know where I live? Did you follow me home? I may have hit my head, but if you think you can abuse your position and try to take advantage of me, you have another think coming.”

“Whoa.” Asa put his hands up in defense. “Why the hell would you think I would try to take advantage of you?”

“You showed up at my door. You knew I lived alone. How many women have you followed home before? I bet they let you in because you’re charming and good-looking. But it’s not happening this time. I should call and report you to your supervisor.”

Asa felt his anger rising, but he tried to tamp it down. What was she supposed to think? It must have been scary for her to see a strange man show up at her door. “I’m your neighbor. I live at the end of the hall in 4D. I sure as hell didn’t follow you home. We bumped into each other once when I was moving in. I’ve seen you at the mailboxes before.”

She paused for a moment and he could see the pain and sleepiness on her face. “Prove it to me.”

“You want to see my lease?”

“That would be nice, but just show me that you can get into your apartment.”

“Okay.” For a moment he wanted to refuse, but the last thing he needed was for the little schoolteacher calling up the FDNY and complaining that he was stalking her.

He took a step back and she came out of her apartment with a metal baseball bat.

“You always answer the door with that?”

“When I’m not expecting visitors. My mother got it for me when she heard I moved here.”

“Smart.” He had to give her that. She should bash the head in of any man who tried to mess with her. He stopped in front of his door and pushed it open to reveal his large studio apartment.

“It’s twice the size of my place!” She stepped inside, her mouth agape, and even though he was annoyed with her he had to admit that she was still mighty cute.

“Here’s some of my mail. Addressed to me here.” He thrust some envelopes at her. “And here is a picture of me with my parents when I completed my training with the FDNY.” He pointed to the framed black-and-white photo on the wall.

“Oh.” She placed his mail back on the little side table he had taken it from. “I’m sorry. You do live here. You’re the guy who had all the big, hot guys move him in. You apologized to me for the noise the day you moved in. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you.”

“You hit your head and I keep irregular hours. It took me a little while to place you, too.”

She placed a hand on her forehead as if she were in pain. “What did I say to you today? Was it crazy? I know I was out of it, but was it as crazy as I think it was?”

“No.” He started feeling the need to tease her a bit. “It was just something about me being an angel with a perfect body.”

“Oh, no.” She groaned deeply and walked toward the door. “I’m going to crawl under my bed and die now.”

“Hey!” He grabbed her arm and turned her around. “I know you were joking, but don’t joke like that, especially after a head injury. What did the hospital say?”

“That I’m not allowed to go to work and that I need to rest for the next few days because I might have some lingering pain and dizziness. But I’ll be fine. I’m going to go in.”

“No, you’re not.” He cupped her face in his hands and looked into her large almond eyes. “Your eyes are watery. I can tell that you’re still in pain. You’re not going to work tomorrow. You’re going to follow the doctor’s orders and rest.”

“How exactly are you going to stop me?” She looked up at him defiantly.

“I liked you a lot better when you were dazed from a blow to the head.”

“Listen, I just spent the last five days alone in my apartment due to this stupid freak snowstorm we had. The last thing I want is to spend another week alone in my apartment. Those kids are the only reason I’m still living here. I don’t want to miss a week of work.”

She was dedicated to her students, and maybe she was lonely being all alone in this big city, but he couldn’t allow her to risk her health.

“I’ll come by tomorrow.” He hadn’t meant to say it, but it slipped out and he couldn’t take it back. He felt the need to look after her. Like there was a reason that he and Miguel, out of all the EMTs and paramedics, had responded to the call when they were technically off duty. “Just to check on you, and just in case you get any ideas it’s not to stalk you or take advantage of you, or any other twisted thing you thought up.”

She nodded and it was then he realized he still had her face in his hands. Her face was so small in his hands and her skin was so smooth. He resisted the urge to run his thumbs across her cheeks. He removed his hands from her face and stepped away from her.

“Get some rest, Hallie.”

“I will. Good night, Asa.”

She left then and Asa was sure that he was going to be seeing a lot more of his neighbor.

Chapter 3

Hallie could barely move the next morning. She had really thought about defying Asa and going to work anyway, sure she would be feeling a hundred percent better when she woke up, but that wasn’t the case. She felt like she had been hit by a large truck that had backed up and run over her again. The noise from the television hurt her ears. Looking at a computer screen caused a sharp pain to go right through her head, so she just lay in bed and reached for her cell phone.

Her cousin was on speed dial. She missed her family painfully, but it was her cousin whom she had the hardest time being away from. Derek was the mayor of their small town of Hideaway Island. He had encouraged her to move on after her breakup with Brent. He had given her the courage to step away from everything she had known and live a life that was simply just for her and no one else. But while she was living just for herself, she found herself missing the slow-paced life of her island home and the people that made living there so wonderful.

Her head throbbed steadily as she placed the phone to her ear, and she wanted to curse her cousin. If it weren’t for his unfailing support, she would have never slipped on the ice in the first place.

“My favorite cousin!” his deep voice boomed through the phone.

“Bite me,” she replied.

“Whoa. I’m pretty sure your mother taught you that you aren’t supposed to greet people like that.”

“I have a concussion. Spent all day in the hospital after I slipped on the ice heading to work and hit my head in front of a bunch of teenagers, and it’s all your fault. You big dumb jerk.”

“Did I cause you to fall?” he asked seriously. “I don’t remember flying to New York and giving you a shove. But if I did, I apologize.”

“You made me move to a terribly cold place.”

“I didn’t. I encouraged you to get off the island and be away from that pretentious jackass who you were giving up your dreams for. You took the job in New York because it was a great opportunity. I happen to like New York. It’s a great city. I would live there if my heart wasn’t so connected to this place.”

“I miss home.” She sighed. “I miss you, too.”

“You must have really hurt your head if you are admitting to missing me. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said, but could hear the weariness in her own voice.

“I’m serious. Are you really okay? I can catch a flight out of Miami this afternoon and be there tonight.”

“No.” He was protective of her. The big brother she needed. “You don’t have to. I was just calling to ask you to look for flights for me. I have a long winter break this year and really need to be home for Christmas. I would look myself but I’m not supposed to be on the computer.”

“Does your mother know that you got hurt?” The worry in his voice was clear.

“Of course not. She would have heart failure if she did.”

“She worried all Thanksgiving about you. She was sure you were going to starve that day because nothing would be open for the holiday.”

“That’s one thing I love about New York. There’s always something open.” She suddenly got extremely tired, almost letting the phone slip out of her hand.

“Hallie? Hallie!”

“I’m here. I just zoned out for a moment,” she said as she heard the knock on her door. She already suspected she knew who was standing on the other side of the door.

“I really think I should come up there. You don’t sound like yourself.”

“I’m fine. My neighbor is here to check on me. He went to med school.”

“But you didn’t say he’s a doctor.”

“He’s not.” She eased herself out of bed, feeling every one of her muscles protest. “He’s a paramedic. I’ve got to go, Derek. He’ll probably break down the door if I don’t open.”

“Who is this guy? I’ve never heard you mention him before.”

“That’s because I didn’t know him before. Please let me know about the flights.”

She disconnected before he had the chance to question her any more. The phone call seemed to zap the tiny bit of energy she did have out of her.

The knocking on her door had turned to full banging by the time she got there. Asa stood there, his beautiful face twisted with concern. It wasn’t fair that he got to walk around looking like that. He wasn’t dressed for work today. She had expected he would be and on the way to a shift but he was in jeans and a T-shirt. Looking just as good in that as he did in his dark blue uniform.

“You look like hell.” He stepped inside, took her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. Normally she would slap any man who touched her face like that after knowing her for twenty-four hours but she didn’t mind Asa’s hands on her skin. Big, warm hands that were a combination of rough and smooth and felt soothing when nothing else did.

“Gee, thanks.”

“You’re in pain.”

She attempted to nod, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. “Yes.”

“Just your head?”

“No. All over.”

“A side effect from slipping on ice. You probably have some minor soft tissue damage.”

He took a penlight out of his pocket and shined it in her eyes, which caused her to wince.

“Pupils look fine, but you have some light sensitivity. Sound, too?”

“Yes.”

“Turn around,” he murmured. He slipped his hand beneath her shirt and ran his fingers along her spine. It was in a medical way, not an ounce of seduction there, but Hallie had to admit that she liked the sensation of his hands on her bare skin. It had been a very long time since a man had touched her at all. Even when she was with Brent, their lovemaking had been very scheduled, very ordinary, pleasant but almost mechanical. Hallie was feeling different with Asa than she did with Brent and all he was doing was checking to see if she was injured. She wanted to chalk it up to being celibate for so long, and figured that she might react this way with any good-looking man but she knew it had more to do with Asa being Asa.

“No sore or tender spots?” he asked as he continued his examination. “Bend over for me just a little like you’re going to touch your feet.”

She did as he asked as his hands traveled across her back. “Does anything hurt when you do that? Any particular pain or twinge?”

“I’m just sore all over. My tailbone hurts the most.”

He pulled the band of her pants just a bit and looked. “You’ve got a bit of a bruise there.” He straightened her to standing and turned her around to face him where his fingers slid to the back of the neck.

“How’s your neck?”

“Stiff,” she answered and as soon as the word came out of her mouth his touch stopped being medical. He rubbed her aching muscles with his thick, long fingers. Too sore and sleepy to think about what she was doing, she pushed herself against him while he did it.

* * *

Asa’s intentions were pure when he’d begun his examination of Hallie. She’d opened the door and her appearance had knocked him in the gut. He could tell that she was in pain, her big beautiful eyes dull, her skin tone ashen. He still found her beautiful, but more than that he had this overwhelming need to take care of her. It was something he had never felt before, like something internal that was pushing him to. And then when he was examining her lower back, his need to take care of her had changed into a different kind of need all caused by the little tattoo of a seahorse on her back.

He had been surprised to see it there and then he realized what he had been doing, running his hands all along this woman’s body. Slightly aroused by her when he knew he shouldn’t be. He turned her around to face him, knowing he should stop, that he should go home, knowing that he had done his duty. But he looked at her tired, sad face again and couldn’t step away from her. She was a stranger, but he felt like he knew her, like he was supposed to be there. It was a crazy thought, but as he went to rub her neck and she pushed her soft body against his he knew that maybe he wasn’t the only one who felt a connection.

“Don’t think I’m crazy,” she said softly as she wrapped her arms around him. “But I think I’m going to cry.”

“It’s okay.” He stroked his hand down her back. “I know you’re in pain.”

“It’s not that. You smell good and your body is so warm and I miss my family. It’s been a long time since I’ve been hugged.”

“It must have been hard to be away from your family on the holiday.”

His parents were a few hours away in New Jersey so it hadn’t been that long since he had been hugged, but he couldn’t think of the last time he’d had a beautiful woman wrapped around him. He dated, frequently. He enjoyed women, but lately it had just been dates. He hadn’t invited anyone back to his place. He hadn’t spent the night at anyone else’s. He could have, but ever since his twin had gotten married he’d felt off. Odd. Like there was something missing in his life. Virginia was so happy. The women that Asa dated didn’t make him happy. They were just someone to pass the time with.

It was strange to be having those kinds of thoughts while he was holding a woman he barely knew, but he couldn’t stop them.

“I’m fine now.” She pulled away from him and he found himself missing her warmth. He should just go back home and forget about her. His mind could be soothed now. She was a little banged up, but he was sure she would be fine.

“You should take a hot bath with Epsom salts. It will make you feel better.”

“That sounds amazing.” She moaned a little and it made him harden just a bit. “But there’s a problem.”

“What?”

“I don’t have either of those things.”

“You don’t have a bathtub?”

“Have you seen the size of this place?”

He looked around him. He really hadn’t paid attention to it before, but it was tiny. Just one long room. He could see the entirety of it from where he stood. But it was cozy. It looked like her. She had a white gauzy curtain around her bed, which was made with a fluffy white-and-black floral-printed comforter. There was a small love seat beside it and a vintage wood desk that had been painted a soft blue. Besides the old fireplace that Asa was sure was no longer functional, there was nothing else to the space. They were standing in her kitchen. He turned around to see that her bathroom only had a shower.

“I have a tub.”

“My place could fit inside of your place three times. How can you afford it? Do paramedics make that much?” She looked pained then. “That’s one of those questions I’m not supposed to ask.”

“I happened to be there when the owner of the building was hit by a livery cab. I stabilized him until the paramedics arrived on scene.”

“You saved his life,” she said softly.

“No. I did what I was supposed to do. But he was grateful and he tracked me down to thank me. When he found out where I was living he told me his son was moving out of this building and offered the apartment to me at the same price his son was paying.”

“Oh. Did you follow him home to check on him, too?”

He grinned at her. “No. But I did visit him in the hospital.”

“Are you sure you’re a real person? No one cares that much.”

“I have a family. If it were my father, I would have wanted somebody who went through medical training to be there with him until help arrived. And you made me think about my sister. I wouldn’t want her hurt and alone in a strange city.”

“I’m not sure that I could ever be that good of a person.”

“I’m sure you’re wrong.” They looked at each other for a long moment, the urge to pull her closer and wrap his arms back around her growing stronger.

“I hate you a little,” she said changing the subject. “You mentioned the word bath and now it’s all I can think of.”

“You can take one at my place. My tub is pretty big.”

Her eyes widened. “With you?”

“Alone. Unless you really want me there. I thought we made it clear that I wasn’t going to try anything. I try to stay away from women with fresh head injuries. You don’t have to take me up on my offer.”

“But I will.” She turned away from him and grabbed a robe out of her closet and some fresh pajamas. He knew that this wasn’t the typical favor that one neighbor did for another but he couldn’t take back the offer. He wasn’t ready to leave her alone just yet and knew his instincts were right when he saw how slowly she moved, like her body was stiff with pain.

A few minutes later they were in his bathroom, which by New York City standards was huge, with a deep tub and a wall with tiles that had been salvaged from old buildings. The shower was separate from the tub and was enclosed in glass.

It was a million times better than his last place and as he sat down on the side of the tub to turn on the water, he knew it would take an act of God to get him to move out of this place.

“I can definitely tell that a man lives here, but this bathroom looks like it has been designed by a woman.”

“It might have been. The guy who lived here before me moved out because his fiancée left him. He moved to LA.”

“Oh, I know that story.”

“Do you?”

“Why do you think I came to New York?” She gave him a small smile. “My fiancé called off our wedding just before I was supposed to walk down the aisle. He wasn’t sure if I was the kind of wife he wanted, or if he loved me enough to spend forever with me.”

“Stupid bastard.” He got up, brushing past her to grab the Epsom salts and lightly scented oil and bubble bath he kept under the sink.

“Why do you think he’s the stupid one? It could be me. You don’t know.”

He looked at her for a long moment. “I know.” Any man who broke up with a woman like that after he asked her to marry him was cruel.

She gave him another soft smile. There was a sweetness about her and he wanted to pull her mouth to his just to see if he could taste it.

“You look like a man who has run a lot of baths for women,” she said as he added everything to the hot water.

“I’ve been known to take a bath from time to time. I was a college football player. I took a lot of hits and last year I did a Spartan Sprint and dislocated my elbow. The hot water usually soothes it when it starts acting up”

“A Spartan Sprint? Is that one of those 5K mud runs?”

He shook his head. “My brother-in-law and I did a long-distance one. Twenty-seven obstacles. There was fire, mud and barbed wire. We would have been the fastest team if I hadn’t slipped.”

“That sounds like my worst nightmare.”

“We’re going to do another one in Miami in March.”

“Crazy. I can barely walk down the street without falling and you sign up for death runs.”

“You sound like my mother.”

They grinned at each other for a moment before he looked back at his tub that seemed inviting. He had never taken a bath with a woman. He liked his private time, but it was something he might like to try with her.

“I’ll leave you alone now. Take as long as you want in here.”

“Thank you, Asa.”

He nodded and left her.

He settled in to read, but he couldn’t concentrate on the words because his thoughts kept returning to the presumably naked woman in his bathroom.

A knock on his door saved him from trying to go back to his book. He found his mother standing there. She was looking fashionably proper, with her hair swept up elegantly and wearing a gray wool coat that would probably never go out of style. Dr. Andersen might have a PhD in advanced mathematics, but she was no absentminded academic. She could intimidate nearly anyone she came across and that was why Asa was uneasy about her unexpected appearance at his door. It had nothing to do with the woman in his bathtub.

“Mom? Hey. What are you doing here?”

She breezed past him with a smile on her face. “Do I need an excuse to see my baby boy?”

“Um. No? You just never drop by unannounced.”

“I was in the city to have lunch with a former colleague at Columbia and I thought I would stop by. I have something to tell you and I figured I should do it in person rather than over the phone.”

He sat down hard on the stool at his breakfast bar. “Are you sick?”

“No! Of course not.”

“Are you divorcing Dad?”

“Asa! Do you think I would look this happy if I were divorcing your father or sick?”

“I don’t know, Mom. You could be coming over here to tell me that you’re running away to Bora Bora with one of your students.”

“I’m not sure where you got such an imagination from. You’re starting to sound like your sister.”

“Did you tell her the news?”

“She knows. It was her idea.”

“It was Gin’s idea and you’re happy about it?” He crossed his arms across his chest. “This I’ve got to hear.”

“Your sister wants to throw a big get-together at her house on Hideaway Island with both families. It’s going to be wonderful—two weeks of holiday festivities, topped off with a huge Christmas party they are inviting the whole island to. I’m so excited. And I’m making the point of telling you that you’re going to use up that vacation time you have accrued and spend the whole time with us down there.”

“Okay,” he agreed.

“No argument? No, ‘I have plans,’ or ‘a date?’ Or something more important than following your mother’s dreams and wishes?”

“I was planning to see Virginia at Christmas anyway. You could have told me this over the phone. What else is going on?”

“Your father and I are retiring to Florida. I put in my paperwork yesterday and we’ve officially put the house on the market. We are going to be looking at homes on Hideaway Island while we’re there.”

“Oh.” He wasn’t expecting her to say that. He had always pictured his parents living in their Cape Cod–style home, but it made sense for them to move. His father had hurt his back shoveling the heavy snow more than once. And he had been retired from the military for years now. None of their children were home. There was no reason for them to stay. They should go but he felt odd about it. “Congratulations, Mom. The school will miss you.”

“Is there something wrong, sweetheart?” She touched his cheek and in that same moment he heard his bathroom door open. Out stepped Hallie in a short blush-colored robe. Her curly hair was damp, but he could see her perfect ringlets forming. Her eyes went wide when she saw his mother there, and he found Hallie to be incredibly beautiful.

“Well, who do we have here?” his mother asked.

“Hallie, this is my mother, Dr. Andersen. Mom, this is Hallie. She lives in 4A.” He could have explained why Hallie was there, but he didn’t want to. He was thirty-two years old and if he wanted to have a woman in his apartment, he would have a woman in his apartment.

“It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.” Hallie started to rush forward, hand extended, but then stopped. He could see the pain on her face.

Asa went to her, his hand impulsively reaching out to touch her cheek. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. I almost forgot that my body is one big, giant sack of soreness.”

“Did the bath help?”

“A lot. Thank you.”

“How’s your head?”

“I’ll take some aspirin when I get home. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you okay, dear?” His mother stepped forward. There was genuine concern on her face.

“I’m fine. I just fell on the ice yesterday and gave myself a little concussion. Your son came to my rescue. I was coming to tell you it was nice to meet you and then get out of your hair. I didn’t mean to interfere with your plans. You have a very nice son, Dr. Andersen.”

“Thank you, Hallie.” His mother looked at him and gave him a smile. “He’s a good man.”

“I’ll see you around, Asa. Thank you again.”

He grabbed her hand, stopping her from fleeing. “You don’t have to leave. You’re not interfering with anything.”

“We didn’t have plans,” his mother added. “I was just stopping by. You shouldn’t be alone when you have a concussion. Sit down on the couch and I’ll make you some tea. Have you eaten anything today?”

“No ma’am, but—”

“No buts. You take yourself over to the couch this moment. Asa, help me find the tea and use that app on your phone to order us something for lunch. Italian, I think. Or maybe deli. What do you think, Hallie?”

“Whatever you want, Dr. Andersen.”

“I think you need pasta and bread. It’s settled. Go sit down now and I’ll bring you your tea.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Hallie did as she was told, leaving Asa and his mother heading to his kitchen.

“That girl is just darling. I like her already. A much different direction than your usual conquest. What’s her story?”

“She’s not one of my conquests. She’s my neighbor. She’s a high school teacher at Wheatly Academy.”

His mother gave an approving nod. “I’ve heard great things about Wheatly. They take brilliant but at-risk youth and prepare them for college. They only hire the most qualified teachers. Your girlfriend must be bright.”

“She is bright. Her dream is to become a college professor, but she’s not my girlfriend.”

“A college professor! Why didn’t you tell me about her sooner?” She rummaged through his cabinet for the tea he kept there just for her.

“There’s nothing to tell. I barely know her.”

She slanted a brow at him. “I saw the way you looked at her. Sweet, pretty, educated. She’s perfect for you. Maybe I’ll finally get some grandchildren. Your sister has been married for nearly two years and stubbornly refuses to give me one. Maybe if she knows she’s in competition with you it will speed her up.”

“She’s enjoying traveling with her husband. Carlos just retired from baseball at the end of the season.”

“You’ve both done enough traveling.” She touched his face. “Don’t ruin this for me, Asa. I might never like another one of your girlfriends again.”

Chapter 4

Hallie snuggled into the warm, hard surface she was sleeping on. She had slept on softer mattresses but she liked the feeling of this one. She had been so cold since she had been in New York, like a chill had seeped to her bones and never let up. But tonight it was finally gone and for once she felt warm and protected. It was when she felt a hand gently rest on her cheek that she realized that her warm, hard mattress was a warm, hard body.

She remembered where she was and she knew that she should move, but she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to lose this feeling that she was sure she would never have again while she was here, but she lifted her head and looked up at Asa. “I can’t believe you let me fall asleep on you.”

“You needed to sleep. You injured your brain. It needs rest to recover.”

She was feeling a little better despite the stiffness in her body. The Andersens had really taken care of her today. Dr. Andersen had bossed her around, ordered her to put her feet up and eat more and drink extra fluids. It was heavenly. She hadn’t been mothered in a long time. It was nice to experience it, even if it came from someone else’s mother. “Where is your mother? She must think I’m awful.”

“She went home about two hours ago.”

“Two hours ago! How long have I been out?”

“You went down about a half hour before she left.”

“You let me sleep on you that long?”

“It started out with just your head on my shoulder, but you curled up like that a half hour ago or so.”

“You should have woken me.”

“I didn’t see a reason to.”

“What did your mother say about me? ‘Where on earth did you find that dizzy girl? And do you always let women you barely know use your bathroom?’” She could only imagine what the beautiful, proper professor thought about the strange woman with the head injury who had somehow gotten involved with her son. “I can’t imagine a worse first impression to make.”

“She likes you.”

“She was being polite.”

Asa shook his head. “Trust me, Hallie. If my mother didn’t like you she would make it known. My mother may have excellent manners, but she has no problem stating her opinion. She had my last girlfriend in tears their first meeting.”

“Oh. I can see that. She scares me a little. Why didn’t she like your last girlfriend?”

“She called herself Bambi and when she met my mother she was wearing a top that was so low-cut you could see... All the gifts God gave her. Plus she wore jeans that were cut so low you could see her thong.”

“I think your mother should have made you cry. Why would you bring home a woman like that when you knew your parents would be disapproving? It’s like you set that poor lady up.”

“I didn’t. My parents were in the city and asked if they could take us to lunch. I wasn’t planning on introducing them that day. Bambi was dressed like that when I picked her up and I didn’t feel like it was my place to ask or tell her to wear something that would please my mother. Would you want a man telling you how to dress?”

He had a point. “No. My ex was like that. I was supposed to dress a certain way. Speak a certain way. Behave a certain way. All to keep up with the image he had crafted. I hated it.”

“What’s wrong with the way you speak, dress and behave?”

“I just wasn’t right. My ex-fiancé is a Realtor who specializes in luxury properties. It was a small family business that he had grown over the years. He wanted to cater to the wealthy jet-set crowd and celebrities and I was supposed to be.... I’m not sure who or what he wanted me to be, but in the end I couldn’t deliver.”

“Thank God for that. You shouldn’t be with a man who doesn’t think you’re good enough.”

“I knew it was going to end when he asked me to straighten my hair. I had worn it straight sometimes, but he asked me to wear it straight whenever I accompanied him somewhere special. I told him no. He barely spoke to me for three days. When we broke up, I cut it short and haven’t seen a flatiron since.”

“I like your curls. They’re beautiful.” He lifted his hand to her hair and sunk his fingers deep inside her ringlets. It was not something she normally let anyone do. But she didn’t mind him doing it. She liked his soothing touch and the way his fingers felt as they gently scratched her scalp.

She closed her eyes again. This was how she had fallen asleep before. He lulled her with his deep voice and calming conversation. She was comfortable around him. “Tell me more about Bambi.”

“There’s not much to tell. She was a cocktail waitress. Fun, sweet. Someone that was easy to hang out with but not someone you would discuss anything deep with. She was exactly what I was looking for at the time.”

“How did your mother make her cry?”

“She asked her a question,” he said evasively.

“Are you going to tell me what it was?”

“I don’t think my mother meant it the way it sounded. She’s an academic. She’s from a very conservative family. Her only option in life was to use her brain.”

“You don’t have to explain your mother to me, Asa. I can tell that she’s a good person.”

He nodded. “She asked Bambi what her future plans were. She wanted to know what she was going to do when her body stopped being in that kind of shape and she could no longer use her sexuality to get good tips. And then she said something about sagging skin and breasts and that’s the first time I had ever wished for a huge natural disaster.”

“You could have used a big meteor striking the restaurant.”

“I think Bambi said something about getting married and raising a family. I’ll never forget what my mother said then. ‘Being a wife and mother are wonderful things, but haven’t you ever considered that you have more to offer the world? Haven’t you ever thought about how you were going to leave your mark?’ Bambi burst into tears then. We broke up after that.”

“She never wanted to see you again after that meeting?”

“No. She was looking to get serious and I knew there was no point. I want to be with someone who has more to offer the world than their body. I hate it when my mother is right.”

Hallie smiled and leaned in to kiss Asa. As soon as she felt her mouth press against his, she realized what she had just done. It was just a simple kiss, just two sets of lips pressing against each other, but as she did it she knew she had felt more kissing him than she had felt kissing Brent for the last five years.

There was nothing sexual, nothing hot or explosive between them, but she felt a lovely warmth spread throughout her entire body and a very sturdy tug on her heart. Almost like it had been kicked awake.

“Oh.” She pulled away from him. “I didn’t mean to do that. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“No. You shouldn’t have,” he said just before he tumbled her backward on the couch and kissed her again.

She knew that they shouldn’t be doing this, but his heavy body settled on top of hers and it felt right. His kiss was deeper. More sensuous. It was open mouths and tongues sweeping across each other. It was slow and shocking. She knew it was too much for her senses and yet she wanted so much more. She knew without a doubt that this was the best kiss of her life and then he broke it. She lay there with her chest heaving and her eyes closed. It was a beautiful moment.

“I’m not stopping because I want to, but because I know we shouldn’t go any further.”

She opened her eyes and looked up into his handsome face. “I know.” She let out a long sigh.

“I’ve wanted to kiss you all day. I wanted to be in the bathtub with you and run a washcloth over your naked back. I wanted to pull you close and keep you there more times than I could count today.”

Hallie felt another painful tug in her heart again. Why was this happening now? Why did it have to be him who responded to the call yesterday? She was still heartsore from her broken engagement. The last thing she needed was a romantic entanglement, especially if she wasn’t sure if she was going to last much longer in this city. “Asa. Don’t say that to me.”

“Why? It’s true. I won’t lie to you.”

“I don’t need sex right now, but I do need a friend.” She surprised herself by saying so. It would be easy for her to go back to her apartment. For her to ignore him, forget about this day and all he had done for her. But she knew that would be too hard. It wouldn’t be easy to just be his friend, but she knew she’d rather have him in her life like that, than to go back to being completely alone in this big scary place. “Can you be my friend?”

He sat up, pausing for a moment, before he nodded. “I can.”

“Good. You can start by walking me home.”

* * *

Asa got up and walked Hallie down the hall. He could still feel her lips on his, could still feel how her body went pliant beneath his. He could taste the sweetened tea on her lips and when she’d returned his kiss by sweeping her tongue into his mouth he’d felt jolted, a rush that he couldn’t put into words.

She’d curled his fingers into his shirt. She had wrapped her leg around him. She’d let out a little moan when he broke the kiss. He had wanted to kiss her all day—he just hadn’t expected it to be an experience.

He’d stopped because he was growing too aroused, far too quickly. She was still suffering from a concussion and as much as he wanted her he knew that he couldn’t take things any further that night.

And then she’d asked him to be her friend. It was like someone had thrown cold water on him. She had every right to ask him that. He could see things going too quickly with her. The kind of attraction he had for her was dangerous. He barely knew her, but he knew she wasn’t the kind of woman to jump into bed with a man. She was alone in this city and still recovering from a bad breakup.

It would be foolish to jump into something with him.

They stopped in front of her door and he watched her as she opened it and stepped inside. She turned to face him. “Good night, Asa.”

“Good night.”

“And thank you.” She reached to hug him, pressing that sweet, curvy body against his once again. “For everything.”

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back, holding her tightly against him. He would be her friend, but he knew he would kiss her again, too. He wouldn’t be able not to. There was no way to prevent it if she was anywhere near him.

* * *

There was a knock at Hallie’s door just before 6:00 p.m. that next evening. It was her second day off work and she was feeling only slightly better. Her body was still stiff and sore, although the constant heavy throbbing in her head had lessened and her dizziness had mostly subsided. She’d thought she was nearly back to normal when she left Asa’s last night and that she would be ready to go back to work again. The pain had been completely gone when she woke up on his chest last evening. There was no dizziness at all, maybe just some headiness. His kiss had kept her floating all night. It had her thinking of him and his soft, firm lips when she went to bed. It had her dreaming of him on top of her, beside her, his hands roaming all over her, his breath tickling her skin. But she hadn’t slept as well in her bed as she had when she was curled up against him. It had been one time, for a few hours, but as she lay in her bed alone, she felt like something was missing, like he was missing.

Her heart sped up as she walked to the door. It was probably him, coming to see how she was.

She opened the door to find a woman there. She was short, Hispanic, very pretty with long black hair that had a dramatic gray stripe running down the center of it. She was dressed in some kind of a uniform and holding two large paper bags. “Ms. Roberts?” There was a touch of an accent in her voice.

“Yes.”

“My name is Rosa Nieves. I’m Charlie’s mother.”

“Oh, hello. It’s nice to meet you. I spoke with your husband during conference week.”

“Yes. Charlie told me that you had fallen in front of the school and hit your head. He’s been worried. All the kids are worried about you.”

“They’re sweet. The doctor wants me to stay home for at least a week. Hopefully, I’ll be cleared to go back to work by Monday.”

“We hope so, too. My son never used to tell me anything, but he told me about you and I figured you must be special. He likes your class. He told me you taught him about the Nuyorican movement and he’s become very interested in that playwright Miguel Piñero. He’s talking about going to college to study writing. He’s never talked about going to college before. I don’t know how we’ll pay for it, but we’ll find a way.”

“Charlie is incredibly bright. I have a list of scholarships that he’s eligible for. We’ll figure it out. He’ll have the life you hoped he would.”

“Thank you. That’s why I’m here. To thank you. The school gave me your address so I could deliver this. I work around the corner in an office building and I swear I’ll never come back here to bother you. But I wanted to do this. Me and a couple of parents from the school made you enough food to last you a week. Some of the dishes are still hot. I made you coquito cupcakes and there is some breakfast stuff, as well as some lunch meat. Some of the kids wrote you letters, too.”

“Oh.” Hallie was breathless. Her vision had gone blurry. “This was so kind of you. Thank you. That doesn’t feel like a big enough word but I really don’t know what else to say.”

“Don’t cry, honey. Just get better and get back to school. Those kids need you.” She placed the bags on the floor inside the door, just as Asa walked up. He was wearing his uniform.

“What’s the matter? Why are you crying, Hallie?”

“The parents at my school are very kind. Thank you, Mrs. Nieves.”

“You’re welcome. Just get some rest. I’m glad you have someone here to take care of you.”

“But...”

Mrs. Nieves walked away before Hallie could clarify things. Asa was standing there, looking extremely handsome and slightly concerned. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

“I am. Come inside. My students had their parents send me a care package.”

“Is that what smells good?”

She nodded. “Can you grab the bags? My head feels like it’s going to explode when I bend over.”

“Yeah, of course.” But instead of turning away he took a step toward her and placed his hand on her cheek. “How are you feeling?” he asked her, studying her face closely. Part of her wanted to close her eyes and savor the feeling of his touch on her skin, but a bigger part of her wanted to remove his hand from her face and push her body closer to his.

But she did neither. She just looked into his concerned dark eyes. “I’m feeling better.” She was, really. Better now than she had been feeling all day. There was something about Asa... She couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was something about him that made her feel like she was having an out-of-body experience.

“Good. I’ve been thinking about you all day.” His thumb briefly stroked along her cheek, and Hallie swallowed hard as tingles ran down her spine. How could one simple touch be so affecting? “My mother called and asked about you. I promised her I would see how you were.” He took a step backward and stripped off his jacket, revealing his powerful arms and chest. As he turned to pick up the bags, she saw how his muscles worked beneath his uniform shirt. She wanted to fan herself. She wasn’t used to being around a man with Asa’s kind of body. Her ex was much, much different.

“Your mother is very kind to ask about me. I thought you weren’t working today.” She hadn’t meant to say that. But thoughts of him had been on her mind all day, wondering if and when he might show up at her door.

She had told him that she just wanted to be friends but her thoughts about him today hadn’t been exactly friendly.

“I got asked to switch shifts.” He unloaded the bag on the counter. There was fried chicken, beef patties, a rice dish, and some homemade macaroni-and-cheese among the staples that the parents included. “I now see why you were crying. This food looks amazing.”

“Stay with me and have some.” She paused. Asa might have kissed her last night, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have plans with someone else tonight. He was a beautiful man. She would be surprised if he didn’t have some woman waiting in the wings. “That is, if you want to, or don’t have any other plans.”

“I don’t.” He looked through her cabinets, pulling out plates and glasses. “If you think you’re getting rid of me after I smelled this food, you’re crazy.”

A little bit of pleasure flowed through her. “How was work today? Did you run into any other slip-and-fall victims?”

He grinned. “One this week is enough.” He piled the plates high with food and motioned for her to go sit on her couch. “Go sit, I’ll bring your food over.”

“I can carry a plate.” She reached to take one from him.

He gave her a look and shook his head once firmly. “Go sit. I’ll bring it over. But tell me what you want to drink first.”

“I’ve got cranberry juice in there. I wish I could offer you something fancier.”

He gave her a small smile. “I don’t need anything fancy. I’ll be there soon.”

A few minutes later he had brought their food over and sat next to her on her love seat, his body completely pressed against hers. Suddenly she felt shy. Like she was in high school again, sitting next to the most handsome boy in school. “Were you popular in high school?” she asked as she took her first bite of the rice and pigeon peas.

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“You just seem like you were. I wasn’t. I always had my nose in a book.”

“I played football. In my hometown, being on the varsity football team was a very big deal.”

“My town was so small we didn’t even have a football team. Did you love the game or did you do it just because you knew it would get you girls?”

“A little of both,” he admitted with a smile. “I didn’t love it as much as my best friend, Marcus. Or at least I thought he loved it. I was sure he was going to go pro but he turned down a few full football scholarships.”

“College is so expensive. What made him do that?”

“I’m still not sure. I thought he was crazy. It had something to do with my sister’s best friend. They had been secretly in love all through school and broke up right before we graduated.”

“So he gave up his scholarship because of that?”

Asa nodded. “He had put the game before her. I guess he was trying to prove something. He worked in public relations in DC until he gave all that up to become a teacher.”

“Did they get back together then?”

“Yes, but last year. They met again at my sister’s wedding in Costa Rica. They’re expecting their first baby.”

“Do you see him a lot?” she asked, knowing she was full of questions.

“He lives in New York now, but I don’t get to see him as much as I should. He’s got a wife and a baby on the way. His life is a lot different than it used to be. We used to catch a plane to Vegas on a whim. Now when I see him, he’s planning out how they are going to do their nursery.”

“It must be tough, having your friendship change like that.” Hallie could identify. Her best friend had had a baby a few months ago, a baby Hallie had never met, but even before that she had been seeing less and less of her friend. Marriage and family often did that.

“It’s the way things are supposed to be, though. I would be a selfish bastard if I blamed him for not hanging out with me as much. He’s happier now than I have ever seen him. Plus, I love his wife. We grew up together. They’re like my family.”

“It’s nice to have friends like that,” she said softly, missing home tremendously then.

“It is.” He picked up his glass and took a long drink before he smiled at it.

“Why are you smiling?”

“I was just thinking. Cranberry juice reminds me of Christmas.”

“Really? Why? I would think Thanksgiving. Ugh. I was just reminded that I didn’t get to have any cranberry sauce this year. Plopping that stuff out of that can is my favorite thing about the holiday.”

“My mother hates the stuff from the can and refuses to serve it, but I love it. But cranberries remind me of Christmas because my mother used to make us string them for garland every year.”

“That seems like a lot of work,” she said, but she could tell by his smile that it was a good memory.

“It was, and my sister and I hated it. But looking back, it was fun. My mother used to go crazy when we were kids. My father would take us to cut down a huge tree every year and my mother would pull out the old ornaments that she got from her grandmother and each one of them had to be placed just right. And in the front, under the star were the ornaments that my sister and I made in first grade. They didn’t go with the antique stuff, but they got a place of honor every year.”

“That’s very sweet. Does she still do that?”

“No.” He shook his head and an almost sad expression crossed his face. “She hasn’t put up a tree in years. Our house used to be decked out in lights, but after my sister and I graduated from college she stopped doing all of that. It was too much work.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t do it again. I’m sure your mother would like it if you wanted to do it again.”

“She told me they’ve put the house up for sale and that they are moving to Florida. That’s why she stopped by yesterday, to tell me she’s retiring. There won’t be any more snowy Christmases at that house.”

“But what about this Christmas?”

“We’re going to my sister’s place.”

Hallie put her plate down on the table and wrapped her arms around his middle, feeling the need to comfort him. “Your childhood home is something you feel should always be there, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t realize I’d missed all those little traditions until I knew they weren’t going to happen anymore.”

“You can make your own traditions, you know. You’ll get married and have kids and you’ll do things for them like your parents did for you.”

“You’re right.” He draped his arm around her and rested his lips on her forehead. She closed her eyes, liking the closeness, the intimacy she had with him. She had never had this with Brent. They’d never just sat like this, their skin touching, their arms wrapped around each other, each lost in their own thoughts.

The only time Brent touched her was when he wanted to take her to bed. She barely knew Asa and yet was sitting this close to him on the couch. She felt closer to him than the man she had been planning to spend the rest of her life with. And then it dawned on her what she was doing.

She sat up quickly, retrieving her plate so that her hands would be full and not reach for him.

She barely knew him.

They were just supposed to be friends.

She wasn’t supposed to feel this kind of pull toward him.

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