How Gavin Stole Christmas (Fierce Five Series Book 0) Read online

  “Already taken care of,” he said.

  “What?” she asked, turning around and looking all over the room. Figure skater again in his mind, twirling and seeing everything. How the heck did she do that and not get dizzy?

  “I ordered a bunch of shirts last week with Fierce on them.”

  “Are they red?” she asked, and she was smirking at him when she said it. He didn’t know what to make of that.

  “Why?”

  “Just answer my question,” she said.

  Damn, she was pushy when she wanted to be and he found his lips twitching in response. It should make him mad, but instead it turned him on. “Maybe.”

  “That means yes.”

  Then she turned and walked away from him and pulled more supplies out of one of the bags. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked, as she climbed onto the booth and reached her hands over her head.

  “Seeing how far up I can hang the garland. You’re taller; why don’t you do it?”

  “Nope,” he said and walked away. She wanted to decorate? She could do it. He wanted no part of it. He’d made his voice clear.

  ***

  Jolene was trying not to laugh at the disgruntled look on Gavin’s face. She didn’t think she was going to get her way and had taken a risk buying everything and walking in here like the steamroller her family often called her.

  There’d been a moment there when she’d thought he might fire her. When his eyes narrowed and he started to look a little...fierce. Instead he followed her to her bags of loot and asked if she should have gotten permission first. Like that was ever going to happen and she told him so.

  But trying to get him to help had been her mistake because now she was on her own and if it meant she was going to be taking a few steps back with Gavin, then so be it.

  She loved Christmas though. Loved decorating and listening to carols, even singing along with them. It was the one day of the year her parents made their lives not seem too dismal. There would be a big feast of a meal and though there weren’t a lot of presents under the tree, it was festive. It was family. And it mattered a great deal to her to know her parents were trying to have one day where there were no tears or worries of the struggle they faced daily to just make ends meet.

  She tacked up the red garland and then hopped back on the floor and walked to the other end of the room to see how awesome it looked. It’d be better higher, she thought, frowning.

  Knowing she wasn’t going to get any help from the owner who was almost a foot taller than her five foot four, she grabbed a bucket and rag, brought it over, and set it on the table she decided to stand on. Since it was bolted to the wall, she’d be fine.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing now?” Gavin shouted from across the room thirty minutes later.

  She’d kind of thought she’d get it done before he came back out, and figured he’d then notice how it looked and not say a word. She didn’t get that wish though.

  “I’m hanging garland. My last one too. How does it look?”

  “Don’t care,” he said, marching over and reaching for her. She hadn’t expected that and went to pull her arm back when he was trying to help her down and she ended up twisting and falling into him.

  If his hands landing on her waist had her gasping, she didn’t care. Nor did she care that her eyes probably got all dewy doe-like as she gazed into his much darker ones filling with something like rage. He wasn’t feeling the same emotions she was. Bummer.

  He set her on the floor, steadied her, and stepped back as if he’d gotten burned. What a nice blow to her ego.

  “I’m all done now. You worried for nothing. I told you I had good balance.” Before he could say anything, she turned her back on him to hide her smirk, then picked the rag up out of the bucket and wiped down the table nice and clean.

  “I should fire you over this,” he said and her heart stopped. Would he really? Could she lose the best job she’d had in years? Had she pushed just a little too far and would now have to go tell April they were back to square one? All over a red garland?

  She turned and squared her shoulders, put on the most confident front she could and said, “Over some Christmas decorations?”

  She wanted to add that it’d be petty but knew that’d be shoving it in his face and the easiest way to get her butt shown to the door.

  “Maybe I don’t believe in Christmas. Maybe it’s against my religion. Did you think of that?”

  She hadn’t. Oh crap. “Is it against your religion or beliefs?”

  He hesitated, staring right into her eyes. She knew they were getting a little misty right now. She might have really overstepped herself and hadn’t meant to do that at all.

  “No,” he said, then walked away from her. She let out a shaky breath and finished cleaning up. She had more decorations but wasn’t about to even consider hanging them now.

  ***

  Gavin thought he’d shaved ten years off his life when he walked out of the kitchen and saw Jolene standing on the table, reaching up on her tiptoes trying to hang Christmas decorations! Was she nuts?

  As if that wasn’t bad enough, when he reached for her so he could make sure she made it to the floor safe and sound, she’d lost the balance she always had and his fingers landed on her bare skin where her shirt had tugged up in the process.

  He adjusted her as best he could on her feet and stepped back, fearful the traitor in his pants was going to make an appearance and embarrass them both.

  Then she had to go and get all teary-eyed when he snarled at her when she tried to make light of why he didn’t want any reminders of Christmas in the bar. That made him feel like shit.

  When was the last time he felt that guilty? Probably when he’d yelled at his mother as a teen when she wasn’t paying enough attention to him. When she was trying to hold everything together for him and his brothers, working lots of hours and maintaining the house. When she asked him to do something for her and he snapped and said he didn’t want to. That he wanted to hang out with his friends and if she’d paid more attention to him than his younger brothers she’d known what he was missing in his life.

  It was the last time he’d ever raised his voice to his mother. He’d been fifteen and over six foot at that point. He looked more like a man than a kid and she’d told him that. That she’d forgotten at times he was still a kid and not the man of the house and she was trying as hard as she could. Then she burst into tears and locked herself in her room.

  He’d left the house after that feeling like a heel, then walked around town and found his first part-time job. She’d never wanted to take the money for household bills, so he stopped offering. Instead, he spent it on the boys when they needed clothes or shoes. He tried to buy her gifts for her birthday and Mother’s Day because she didn’t get them from anyone else.

  Never Christmas though. His mother always wanted to celebrate as if nothing happened, but he couldn’t. He pretended as best he could, but often left his brothers and mother to themselves and sat in his room alone wishing the night away.

  His mother never bothered him or talked to him about it and he was thankful.

  And here he was as an adult, running his own business having Christmas shoved in his face when it was the last thing he wanted.

  Only he saw those tears in Jolene’s eyes and knew he couldn’t tell her no.

  Right on Point

  “It looks nice in here.”

  Gavin turned to look at the woman who’d made that comment.

  “Thanks. What can I get you?” He’d never seen her before. She was dressed in some pretty tight clothing with a bit more makeup on than he cared for, but she was a paying customer so it didn’t matter to him if she thought she looked good when she glanced in a mirror tonight.

  “White wine, sugar.”

  She grinned at him. She was sending more his way than a smile at this point, but he was getting better at deflecting. Maybe he shouldn’t though. Maybe he should take her up on it
and get it out of his system.

  It seemed he was more worked up than a randy teenager looking at his first Playboy magazine in his bedroom all alone at night.

  “Two Buds,” Jolene said, moving next to the lady at the bar. That was the reason for his horniness right there staring at him with a big grin and small compact body.

  He set the wine in front of the lady, then pulled two more drafts for Jolene’s order. “I’m Candy,” the woman said, leaning on the bar and giving him a glimpse at the cleavage spilling out of her shirt.

  “Gavin,” he said back, focusing on the beer after Jolene snorted.

  “I like how festive it looks in here. Makes me want to spend more time at the bar than around my family this time of year.”

  He glanced over at Jolene, saw her eyes light up and her mouth open. He didn’t give her a chance. “Here you go. I think that table is anxious for their beers.” She narrowed her eyes at him, then gave him that damn smirk she always sported and took off. “I’m not into Christmas that much,” he told Candy.

  She giggled. He hated women that giggled. “How can you not be into Christmas?”

  “I’m just not,” he said, then went to the other end of the bar. Any interest he had in her was gone. It was the way she said it. Like she was talking down to him. Like a child. Like she had any right to judge him.

  Twenty minutes later, Jolene made her way back to the bar with another order. Food was being pumped out fast for a Wednesday night and the drinks were flowing with it.

  “Two sodas and a Bud,” she said. Then she leaned on the counter, but unfortunately there wasn’t any cleavage spilling out of her shirt for him to glance at. “I told you it needed more than the garland.”

  He wanted to growl at her but didn’t. He’d felt so bad about almost making her cry that he let her finish up the rest of her decorations the next day.

  Correction. He didn’t tell her she could, she walked in and started to organize the rest the next day and he pretended she wasn’t doing it as much as she pretended she wasn’t walking on eggshells waiting for him to tell her to stop.

  It was probably the first time he’d seen her be tentative over anything. Didn’t matter. She went about what she was doing and he did too. When it was all done, neither of them said a word.

  If it looked nice, he kept it to himself too.

  “Where did your lady friend go?” Jolene asked him an hour later.

  “Don’t know. Didn’t ask,” he said. Candy had given up after she’d written her number on a piece of paper but he’d smiled and declined. He did something he didn’t do often; he lied and said he was taken.

  Normally he’d say he wasn’t interested, but now he figured it was best to not insult a customer. He’d have to figure out how to be faster on his feet so he wasn’t lying all the time. That didn’t sit well with him.

  “Don’t want to get in trouble with your girlfriend?” Jolene asked him.

  “Who?”

  “You told her you were taken,” Jolene said. He huffed and filled her order. “Did you fib?” she asked, looking almost astonished.

  “It was better than the truth.”

  They were off to the side now with him filling her tray. She leaned in and whispered, “That she looked like a low-end call girl?”

  He didn’t have a chance to respond before she burst out laughing and walked away to deliver her order. The worst part was she was right on point like she always seemed to be.

  ***

  Jolene was trying to mask her frustration. She’d been working for Gavin for almost a month now and he hadn’t made so much as a move on her once.

  She wasn’t stupid; she’d seen the admiration in his eyes. Saw the lust spark into them when he touched her skin last week helping her down from the table.

  Watched him watching her when he didn’t think she knew.

  But had he made a move toward her once? Nope. Nothing. Not unless she counted the fact he let her finish decorating his bar, which she wasn’t because that wasn’t making a move. That was just letting her get her way.

  And she was still nowhere close to finding out more about him. Why he was so surly half the time to anyone that wasn’t a paying customer. He was good during working hours, but after, you could almost see the sign on his shop saying “Closed and don’t come back.”

  When she’d heard him say he was taken to the slut that was hitting on him at the bar, well, then she wanted to scream. How could she have read him so completely wrong?

  So she decided to call him out on it. And when she did, she’d found out he’d lied. That he didn’t have someone else. That he was single. And he still wasn’t making a move toward her.

  She’d avoided men like the plague for years since they always just wanted to get in her pants. In their eyes, she wasn’t good enough for anything more than a roll in the sheets.

  She was from the wrong side of town, had no education and worked in bars. Just like all the times her parents were thrown scraps because most felt they weren’t worthy of anything better, some men treated her the same for what she did for a living. They thought she was easy when she was anything but.

  But here she was finding a guy she’d like to make a move toward her and it seemed he wasn’t interested.

  Was it because she decorated his bar when he didn’t want her to? Nah. It couldn’t be that. He could have put his foot down at any point and told her no. He could have taken the decorations down later that night when she left. He could have done any number of things to get his point across more firmly.

  Instead, he’d pulled out the remaining decorations she hadn’t hung up yet and had them spread out on the bar for her to see when she came in the next day.

  To her, that was an invitation to finish what she started.

  And that was exactly what she was going to do. She was going to finish what she started over a month ago when she saw him working in this bar all by himself.

  His big broody body in motion swinging a hammer. The serious look on his face as he concentrated and tried to get everything just right. The sweat glistening on his arms and back when she walked by and saw him shirtless one day.

  He had an eye for detail and this bar looked so much better than she’d thought it could have. From the cherry wood at the bar to the matching wood tables. The black upholstery on the booths and the flashing red Fierce sign over the bar.

  She didn’t want to tell Gavin how many compliments she’d gotten on the huge silver Christmas balls she’d hung from the ceiling. She’d needed a ladder for that and didn’t even have to ask. It was there against the bar with the rest of her decorations that morning.

  But then she realized she didn’t have to tell him about the compliments because she’d heard just as many spoken directly to him. Each time she was within hearing distance and someone commented on them, he’d just snort and change the subject though. Never once had he given her the credit for it. Jerk.

  Not that she needed it because she knew darn well she made this place snazzy.

  “Hey, Jolene.” She turned and saw April standing there. April never went into a bar.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked. It was almost eight, well past when April would be out of the apartment.

  “I got a job. I just had to come and tell you.”

  “You did? That’s great. Where?”

  “An office building. They needed someone to answer the phones.”

  “Is this the job you interviewed for a few weeks ago and never heard back from?” Jolene had felt so bad for April then. April had been so excited over the interview and thought she’d done so well, but when she didn’t hear back, she was devastated.

  “It is. I guess the person they’d hired changed her mind after one week. I was the second choice they’d said. I could tell they felt bad saying that to me, but I don’t care. I’m just so happy.”

  Jolene reached in and gave her friend a hug. “I’m happy for you. Have a seat. I wish we could celebrate, but I’m working. Sti
ll, how about a glass of wine on me?”

  “I don’t know,” April said. “I’m driving home.”

  “It’s one glass, April,” Jolene said. “You can sip it for a few hours if you want. Or just hold it and look like you’re drinking it.”

  “I guess. It might be nice to see where you work and why you come home so tired all the time.”

  “Grab that seat down there at the other end of the bar. I’ll tell Gavin to give you a glass since I know you aren’t sure how to do it.”

  “Thanks,” April said, moving away. Jolene tried not to shake her head over the fact that April had never sat at a bar by herself before. Or even ordered a drink.

  An hour later, April pulled her aside and said she was leaving. Jolene noticed she barely had a few sips and had instead switched to soda. “I’ll see you at home. I’m tired.”

  “I’ll see you in the morning,” Jolene said, then went back about her duties.

  By two in the morning, her feet were killing her and Gavin was pushing the last of the patrons out the door or waiting on cabs for them.

  “Your friend seemed really nice,” Gavin said to her.

  “Who? April?” She’d noticed Gavin talking to April, but didn’t think much of it. April had a type and Gavin wasn’t it. He wore the wrong color shirt in April’s eyes.

  “Yeah. Kind of shy. Nothing at all like you.”

  It was the first time in awhile Gavin had made a personal comment toward her. Anything more than telling her when her orders were filled. “Nope. That’s probably why we get along so well.”

  “You’re roommates?” he asked.

  “Yeah. She told you that?” Jolene was shocked as it wasn’t like April to say much about her personal life to strangers, let alone strange men.

  “No. She said she’d see you at home. I’m assuming you’re roommates because you don’t look anything alike to be related.”

  The last few patrons left just now and it was only Jolene and Gavin in the bar. She wanted to see if she could shock him. To see if he’d laugh. He very rarely smiled at her, let alone laughed. She was in a reckless mood right now and Gavin was going to be her target for adventure.