“You’re a gem, Parks.” Ash winked and smacked Parker’s arm lightly. “Gonna go out back and try it on. Be right back.”
“’Kay.” Parker turned back to me and his smile faltered. “You still mad?”
I blew out a breath. “I’m notmad, Parks. Just drop this thing. I’m not a charity case. I have a job I love, a house I love, friends… sort of. It’s a fine life. I’m not a sad person.” Though possibly a cranky one.
“I know. But your lifecouldbe even better,” he insisted. “And it’s not just me who thinks so! The whole town’s been talking about it. How you’re so grumpy because you must have some great tragedy in your past that broke your heart”—he rolled his eyes—“and how much happier you’d be if you found someone to love.”
Motherfucker.“Isn’t that delightful? Who died and putthemin charge ofmylife?”
Parker sighed. “Nobody, obviously. And they’re interfering and presumptuous as hell.”
“They?”
“Fine.We,” he admitted. “I have become the thing I hated. But… we mean well, dummy. You doa lotfor this town, and you’re… I dunno. You’re important to us, man. That’s all. And that’s what the Santa thing is all about.”
The man’s eyes shone with kindness, and even I found it hard to be an asshole in the face of his sincerity, but I managed it.
“Parker, don’t you have a boyfriend to bother? Shouldn’t you scurry along and force your guy into hisownsequoia-sized red suit? Satisfy your Santa kink that way?”
He tilted his head, exasperated. “It’snota kink.”
“Mmm. Sure. Far be it from me to yuck your yum, babe. Whatever floats your boat… or, uh… flies your sleigh? But remember charity begins at home.”
Parker snorted. “God, you aresucha jerk. Our own personal Ebenezer Scrooge.”
“Accurate.”
“I’m afraid that’s your first mistake, though,” Parker said, his green eyes intent on mine. “Not sure if you’ve noticed, but people in this town are settling down. Everett and Silas are shacked up. Karen and Mackie have a baby. Hen’s making an honest woman of Diane. Cal and Ash are engaged. Jules and Daniel have adopted approximately forty-seven animals. Mitch and Marci finally went public—like a single person in town didn’t already know they were together. Constantine and Micah are buying a house in the spring. Dana and Rena are fostering horses. Jamie and I rebuilt the bar, and we’re gonna be landlords now.”
A small smile danced across his face, like he was so freakin’ happy it needed to leak out somehow, and my heart squeezed a tiny bit because—and again, torture couldn’t make me say this out loud—he deserved it, and I was damn pleased for him.
“That’s lovely for everyone concerned. What’s it got to do with you being all up in my business?” I demanded.
“Well, the thing is, there’s nothing in the world more irresistible to a person in love than helping a good, deserving friend find a love of their own.”
I blinked.
“You’rethe friend,” Parker added wryly, like maybe I hadn’t made that connection.
God.
“Parker.” I coughed. “Did I somehow erroneously and inadvertently indicate that I consider you a friend?”
“Yup.” Parker grinned broadly. “That was yoursecondmistake.”
I opened my mouth to reply when Ash stepped out of the back room clad in head-to-toe red fur, with a giant white beard stuck to his face, and all thought fled my brain, because he was…wow.
I’d never understood the concept of a sexy Santa before, and now I could definitively say Idid, so possibly this day wasn’tallbad.
“Ho ho ho!” Ash said loudly.
Cal whirled around and his jaw dropped. “Oh. My.Fu—”He looked around the bakery packed with patrons, many of whom were kids, and finished lamely, “fresh baked bread.”
Ash grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. “Have you been a good boy this year, Caelan?”
Cal snort-giggled—a sound I hadn’t thought he was capable of and which was mildly disconcerting—and shook his head helplessly. He kept pushing his lips together, like he was trying to wipe the dopey grin off his face, but it just kept slipping out. “Ashley Martin, you are…”
He broke off, took a step toward Ash, grabbed the man’s face with both hands, and yanked him down into a long, thorough kiss that made every person in line, including Lisa “Dragon” Dorian, the town’s battle-ax of a librarian, sing a three-part harmony of“Awww!”
