Twelve Dates of Christmas: The Ballad of Lula Jo by Jessie Evans

Author:Jessie Evans [Evans, Jessie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Tags: second chance romance, western romance, friends to lovers, holiday romance
Publisher: Self Taught Ninja
Published: 2014-11-09T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Lula

On their first night out, she and Carter found seats at the back of Lonesome Point’s one-screen theater and shared a bag of peppermint-chocolate drizzled popcorn while watching A Christmas Story. Half the town was crowded into the small theater and Lula ended up sitting elbow to elbow with Trish Mullens from her book club.

At first, she was shy about introducing Carter to Trish and highly conscious of the curious looks from everyone who spotted Lula wearing an uncharacteristically vibrant orange dress while out on a date. But by the time Ralphie began to daydream about his Red Ryder BB gun, Lula was lost in the movie and the feeling of her fingers brushing Carter’s as they reached for the same piece of popcorn.

By the end of the movie, the rest of the world had faded away, until there was nothing but warmth spreading through her chest and a different kind of warmth curling in her belly. It had been a scandalously long time since she’d been with a man, not since her ill-fated long distance relationship with a university librarian in San Antonio five years ago, the one that had ended when Steve decided to join a monastery.

During the past few years, she hadn’t missed physical closeness that much. No man had ever made her hunger for a sexual connection the way Carter had, and after a while, she had begun to doubt any man ever would. She had eventually allowed her libido to go dormant and resigned herself to more productive pursuits than attending singles mixers or internet dating.

But now Carter was back, walking beside her, filling her head with his sexy smell, warming her body with his as he pulled her in for a hug on her front stoop after the movie.

“That was fun,” he said, his breath ruffling her hair, making her skin tingle before he released her and stepped away, starting down the steps to the shop with a wave. “See you for climbing tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Lula echoed, lifting a hand and fluttering her fingers.

But her fingers weren’t the only thing fluttering, and Tuesday afternoon proved even more tingle-inducing than Monday night.

Lula’s blood started pumping faster the moment Carter helped her into her climbing harness—his hands lingering on her upper thighs as he adjusted the buckles—and didn’t let up for a solid hour and a half. Every time Carter reached out to help her onto the next ledge or his fingers brushed against her calf as he encouraged her to lift her foot a little higher to find the next foothold, her pulse would stutter anew.

By the time they were back at her truck, loading up the equipment, Lula was fighting the urge to tackle Carter to the ground and wrestle him out of his clothes. Only the knowledge that she was the one who had insisted they take things slow and Carter’s seeming ease with just friends gave her the strength to keep her hands to herself. After all, no one likes a gutless

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