Kim Boykin is a women’s fiction author with a sassy Southern streak. She is the author of The Wisdom of Hair, Steal Me and Palmetto Moon. While her heart is always in South Carolina, she lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband, three dogs, and 126 rose bushes.
Just in Time for Christmas
Nobody does Christmas like Miranda Hamilton, and now that she finally has her chance to chair Magnolia Bay’s tree lighting and the cotillion, which benefits her late mother’s breast cancer foundation, this Christmas is shaping up to be the best ever. That is until her childhood nemesis Logan Mauldin buys his way on her committee and starts making plans of his own.
Logan Mauldin loves to get under Miranda’s very sexy skin, and it’s only fair. She’s been getting under his since long before their first kiss at 13. Logan’s the last man interested in co-chairing a Christmas committee or participating in a sexy bachelor auction, but since that night he interrupted Miranda on a date and cornered her under the mistletoe, he can’t stop thinking about her. Or vying for her attention and bugging the hell out of her.
Christmas cheer isn’t the only thing that heats up between the Miranda and Logan, but, thanks to a lie that is as much her fault as it is his, he loses the woman he’s loved since forever. Logan will need a Christmas miracle for Miranda to forgive him. A grand gesture to melt her heart and win her back just in time for Christmas.
First Kiss:
Miranda had been twelve, no thirteen. It had been Dusty’s birthday party. They were supposed to be outside playing kick-the-can like Dusty’s mom had suggested. But a dozen teenagers sat cross-legged in a secluded corner of the garden, playing Seven Minutes in Heaven, using a spinning bottle to determine who got paired off with whom.
Everyone who had taken a turn in the windowless potters shed had either come out grinning or blushing. Girls tried to hide the hickeys they’d gotten in record time; a couple of boys were sporting them too. Because Miranda was now confident, boisterous, all of her friends expected her to know everything about everything. But she knew nothing about girl-boy stuff. Wasn’t even sure how those kids had gotten those bruise looking things on their necks or why they thought they were so cool.
Dusty’s sixteen-year-old brother, Hamp, who did seem to know about everything, especially about giving hickeys, was playing too. And when it was Miranda’s turn to spin the bottle, it landed squarely between Hamp and Logan. Miranda had trembled when Hamp had licked his lips, looking like the big bad wolf. She hadn’t wanted to go in that shed with him.
Logan looked at Miranda and must have seen the fear she was trying to hide. “It’s a tie,” Logan said, just as Hamp started to get to his feet.
“Okay. Spin it again,” Hamp said.
Logan just shook his head and adjusted the mouth of the Coke bottle until it pointed squarely at him. Everyone except Miranda and Logan oohed and giggled. He helped her up and nodded toward the shed but didn’t speak until the door closed behind them. “You okay, Miranda?”
It was hard to avoid touching him; the shed was smaller than the antique phone booth at the Five and Dime. Even though it was fall, it was still humid in the shed, and it smelled earthy, musty. “Thank you,” she whispered, unable to remember a single time that she’d thanked Logan Maulden that he hadn’t made her take it back because of some smartass thing he had said or done. The boy lived to get a rise out of her.
He came a little closer and she jerked away, knocking God only knows how many pots over. There was a chorus of laughter outside followed by the buzz of whispers about what was going on in the shed.
“I’ve never seen you afraid before,” he said softly, easing closer. He’d snaked his arms around her waist, and she was surprised that she didn’t pull away. “You sure you’re okay? You seemed afraid of Hamp.” It wasn’t that Hamp was a bad guy, not at all.
Like most teenage girls, there had been times when Miranda had been a big talker. About stuff. Kissing. She’d never had a boy hold her like Logan was holding her. And the thought of Hamp Rice doing the same thing and sticking his tongue down her throat, particularly when she wasn’t even sure how that worked or why anyone in their right mind would want to do that was more than a little intimidating.
“Miranda,” he said softly. “You don’t have to be afraid of me.”
She tried to hold the tears back. She really did. But when he felt her body shake, he held her tighter. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” he whispered, just below the shell of her ear sending chills down her legs.
“Four minutes,” someone outside shouted.
She wiped her eyes against his chest and let out a nervous laugh. “I’m fine.” Then she’d willed herself to unwrap her arms from around his waist.
“You’ve never been kissed before, have you?” He wasn’t teasing her, like he usually did; it was more of a statement than a question.
She felt her face burn bright with embarrassment and was glad the shed was too dark for him to see. “Of course I have,” she said, trying to sound convincing.
“Three minutes!” That was definitely Emma, who was dying to get back into the shed with her boyfriend of the week.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered, “When the time’s up, we go out there together. You hold my hand. Nobody will know.”
Was that true? Up until then, no one had guessed that she was all talk. What if they did find out? Dusty had promised another round of Seven Minutes in Heaven. What if Miranda ended up with someone who wasn’t as nice as Logan? And when did Logan get to be so nice anyway?
“Or I have another idea,” he said. “Let me be your first kiss.”
She inched her fingers into the darkness until she felt his hand and then pulled his arms around her again. She felt his knees bend into hers so that he could reach her, then felt him smiling against her lips. “You ready?”
“One minute,” some guy shouted. “I’m warning you, Mauldin, if it starts
rocking, I’m comin’ knocking.”
She nodded and tipped her chin up. The kiss and been so light, so sweet that when it was over, she’d thought she’d die without another one. He pressed his forehead against hers as the kids counted down the remaining seconds.
~~~~
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