A Little Bit of Holiday Magic by Melissa McClone

Author:Melissa McClone [McClone, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin (UK) Ltd
Published: 2013-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

TURNING HIS TRUCK onto the driveway, Bill hit the garage door opener. No sign of Thad or his pickup.

Good. Bill didn’t want to get into a fight.

The garage door lifted.

His headlights lit up the boxes and plastic bins from Grace’s pickup. He tightened his grip on the leather-covered steering wheel.

He wasn’t proud of his behavior at the brewpub, but seeing Grace with Thad had turned him into a caveman. He had wanted to stomp on any guy who eyed her as O’Ryan did, or took her to dinner, like Thad. Bill had never felt that way about anyone.

Not even Cocoa Marsh, the only woman he’d ever thought about dating more than a few times.

Bill drove into the garage.

He’d been bummed about Cocoa hooking up with her ex-flame, gold medal snowboarder Rex Billings. Until Bill had met a cute snow bunny a week later. What was that girl’s name? She’d been blonde and hot enough to make him forget why he’d been attracted to Cocoa in the first place.

He turned off the ignition and removed the keys.

Over dinner, Leanne had called him on his behavior, rather his “childish, territorial chest-puffing.” She could be such a hardnose, but he loved her like a sister. Still, he wasn’t about to open up to her.

Not after the abuse he’d received at the station over Cocoa, Leanne’s former roommate. Discussing Grace was off-limits with everyone.

He’d backtracked during dinner. Shot from the hip, hoping something he said about boys being boys appeased her. Lied his butt off.

What else could he do?

Admit he thought Grace was hot? That he liked spending time with her and her kid? That he wanted them to stay in Hood Hamlet as long as possible?

Nope. Bill couldn’t admit any of those things.

Because they weren’t true. Not really.

He exited the truck.

Bill was just a little lonely due to no dating in December. He didn’t want a girlfriend. He didn’t want a relationship. He sure as hell didn’t want a ready-made family.

Monogamy and commitment were not in his DNA. He wasn’t going to fail like his dad by saying “I do,” when the only words out of his mouth should be “I can’t.”

He opened the door to the laundry room.

Grace was attractive. But she didn’t seem like a fling kind of woman. More like an on-bended-knee-proposal kind. A forever kind.

That was why his mom worried he’d break Grace’s heart. Leanne had warned him off over dinner. Even Christian had pointed out Grace had to be stressed, and needed friends with no agenda.

No problem.

Bill would keep his distance. Be her friend, her bud, her pal. He would treat her like Thomas. Okay, maybe he’d be nicer than that.

Inside the house, he shrugged off his jacket and tossed it on the dryer.

He accepted he wasn’t the right guy for Grace, but knew Thad Humphreys wasn’t, either.

Sure, Thad was an upright, responsible, respectable citizen. No one in Hood Hamlet would disagree.

Bill walked through the dining area to the living room.

The mechanic spent every New Year’s Eve giving free rides to drunk drivers and towing their cars home.

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