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  Excerpt from Ten Minutes for Christmas

  “Go back inside.”

  She steps closer and tips up her chin. “No.”

  “Listen to me.”

  “No,” she repeats. “I don’t have to listen to you. You’re not my brother.”

  Our breath curls together in the cold air as we stand almost toe to toe.

  “You’re right. I’m not.” I grab her hand and yank her into the shadows of the garage. The smell of oil and rusting nails surround us. I’m desperate to taste her, I can’t seem to breathe. I hear the rush of air leave her lungs as I pull her to me and crush my lips against hers. I kiss her more forcefully than I plan. Everything. Everything that’s happened over the past months comes out. I try and stop the flood of emotion, but I can’t.

  Cupping her face in my hands, I mold my mouth again to hers and delve my tongue into the crease between her lips. I taste warm peppermint from a candy cane she ate. The kiss is amazing and for a moment all else falls away. For once, I don’t question tomorrow. It’s now.

  I pull back only long enough to fix my gaze on her beautiful, upturned face. A pink blush flushes her cheeks. She closes her eyes and places her cheek against the palm of my hand.

  I force myself to take a breath and drop my head again until our lips meet. This time, I take my time. The kiss is slow and moving, I linger until I hear her sigh.

  Ten Minutes for Christmas

  Story 1

  Handmade for Christmas Series

  Jennifer Conner

  Ten Minutes for Christmas

  A Books to Go Now Publication

  Copyright © Jennifer Conner 2014

  Books to Go Now

  For information on the cover illustration and design, contact [email protected]

  First eBook Edition October 2014

  Also Published on Smashwords

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously.

  If you are interested in purchasing more works of this nature, please stop by

  www.bookstogonow.com

  Novels

  Shot in the Dark

  Kilt by Love

  Coming Soon - Sleep Fall

  Please look for Jennifer Conner’s other short stories

  Sweet Romances

  Love on the Airwaves

  Love Uncorked

  Christmas Dog Tails

  Christmas at Central Bark

  Christmas Gift that Keeps Wagging

  Dog Tags for Christmas

  Love Comes for Valentine’s Day

  Love Comes for Saint Patrick’s Day

  Love Comes for the 4th of July

  Love Comes for Halloween

  I Hear Angels

  Brewing up Some Love

  Valentine Surprise

  Cupcakes and Cupids

  Christmas Chaos

  The Christmas Horse

  All I Want for Christmas is You

  All I Want for Christmas is You

  Weddings First Chance

  Sexy Romances

  In Love With Santa

  The Music of Christmas

  Make Me Burn

  Winner Takes All

  Valentine Encounter

  New Year Resolution

  Christmas with Carol

  Auld Lang Sigh

  Rush of Love

  Fields of Gold

  The Music of Christmas

  Historical

  The Duke and the Lost Night

  The Wounded Nobleman

  The Reluctant Heir

  Redemption for a Rogue

  Time Travel

  I’ll be Seeing You Through Time

  Walk with me Through Time

  Anthologies

  Handmade for Christmas Series

  The Love List Series

  The Pancake Club Collection

  A Christmas Kiss is on the List Anthology

  Love in TIme for Christmas Anthology

  Christmas Romance (Best of Christmas Romances 2013) Anthology

  Love Under the Christmas Tree Anthology

  The Mobile Mistletoe Boxed Set

  The Regimental Heroes Boxed Set

  Yours for Christmas Anthology

  Valentine’s Say I Love You

  Chapter 1

  Everly-

  I look up at my mom and dad’s two story brick house and start to sneak across the lawn. I hop on one foot to slip my sandals on and edge toward the front steps. I have no idea why I’m sneaking. I’m twenty-one and it’s legal for me to be tipsy. I got a cab. When you’re still living at home with mom and dad, it’s hard not to feel weird when you come in late and a little drunk.

  Why do I feel guilty? Because, I’ve always been the good girl.

  I’ve never done a single thing to make my mom and dad shake a finger at me or put me on restriction. I’m too old to put on restriction, but when they find out what’s going on, it will be even worse… they’ll be disappointed. I thought a bottle of screw cap wine would make the day disappear.

  A hiccup escapes my mouth, as I fumble through my messenger bag for my front door key. You should never have a big purse when you’re drunk. You’ll never find anything. When I finally come across the key, I shove it in the lock only to find the door’s unlocked. I push it wide and try not to stumble in.

  The only light to the living room is from the street lights outside. I don’t want to turn on a lamp and wake anyone. I drop my bag and then stop to stare at it. Is this where I usually put it? I can’t remember. I kick off my sandals again and look up to the second floor landing. I don’t really want to go upstairs to my room. I still share it with my teenage sister, Katy.

  Maybe I’ll sleep on the couch and then I don’t have to take the chance of Katy smelling my breath. I’m the golden child and no one’s ever seen me this way before. It’s not the first time I’ve drank. I am twenty-one, but I’m not sure I like it. I doubt it has to do with drinking in general and more to do with what I’ve been drunk. Great. I’m going to barf on my mom’s beige Berber. My head spins, and I sit on the couch.

  The couch moves under my butt. I hear a grunt, and then see the dark head of a man open his eyes.

  I scream and jump up. I run to the sideboard and grab a vase of flowers. It’s my mom’s favorite vase, so I whip the flowers out and throw them.

  The man rolls, flips on the light and then stands. He’s in plaid boxers with a worn grey t-shirt. Suddenly all the alcohol in my body is replaced with adrenaline. I open my mouth to scream again. I pick up a cut glass candy bowl.

  “Ev… it’s me. Don’t throw anything else. It’s me,” he repeats and holds up a hand to stop me.

  Just then the overhead lights pop on and my mom, dad, and sister run down the stairs.

  “Everly!
Logan! What’s the matter?” my dad’s voice booms across the room. He’s holding his trusty baseball bat clutched in his fists.

  I take a closer look. “Logan? What the hell are you doing here?” My heart is still thundering in my chest.

  “Oh dear,” my mom says, as she comes closer and takes the candy dish from my hand. “You weren’t here earlier to hear the story. Logan’s going to be staying with us for a while. Brett wants to do some remodeling of the house and to Logan’s room, so Logan asked if he could stay here for a week or two until he can move back in with his dad.”

  Logan bends, scoops his jeans off the chair and then hastily jumps in and zips them. Embarrassment flushes his cheeks. Quick as a snap, he goes into the cocky mode I’m familiar with. “Great plan. You thought I was a burglar asleep on the couch in my underwear, so you threw flowers at me?”

  I glare at him. “Good damn thing I didn’t have my pepper spray out.”

  “You haven’t changed a bit, have you?” he asks and sits back on the couch.

  “What does that mean?”

  “It’s late,” my dad says and turns to go back up the stairs. “I have an early meeting tomorrow with Brett. If the house is not going to continue to fall down around us, I’m going back to bed.”

  “Goodnight you two,” mom says, and Katy follows her upstairs.

  I try and calm my shaky knees and sit in a chair. Logan gets off the couch, bends, and then lifts the scattered roses off the carpet. “Ouch!” He mutters a curse and sticks a finger in his mouth.

  “I’ll vacuum the petals in the morning.” I hand him the vase.

  He shoves the stems in frowning as he tries to straighten them. “I don’t think there’s much hope. They’re trashed.”

  “I think you’re right.” I can’t help but smile.

  He breathes in and cocks an eyebrow. “How was the party?”

  “I wasn’t at a party. It was a solo venture.” Was the liquor on my breath that obvious? I snap my mouth closed. “Why do you care what I do?”

  “I don’t.” He sits again across from me on the couch. “It was a generic question. I guess I’m just a little surprised to see you coming home at two in the morning drunk and there’s even more of me wondering why you were drinking alone.”

  “Since we graduated from high school three years ago, some of us have changed.”

  “Yep. Some things have changed and others are pretty much the fucking same.” He leans back, stretches his arm across the back of the couch, and looks out the side window at the darkness.

  I figure he’s referring to how we argued as kids and there’s a part of me that feels bad. We were kind of rotten to each other. “I know that we didn’t get along growing up. You were always in my space and like a big brother.”

  “I’m only four months older than you.”

  “You know what I mean. You were over here so much you even had your own bedroom…but now, my dad made it into his man cave.”

  “That’s what he said. Which is why I’m on the couch.” He looks down at the floor. “I could have gotten a hotel room, but… I always like it here with your family and it’s only for a week or so until I figure out what I’m doing.”

  “While your dad remodels?”

  His face grows dark and his laugh is hard. “Sure. If that’s the story, then we’re sticking to it. That’s what we always do.”

  I start to ask another question, but he scoots off the couch and stands. Logan’s much taller than I remember. He’s also not that skinny boy I knew growing up. He extends a hand.

  “When did you get all the tats?” I ask, as I check out his arm.

  “When I started doing things that I wanted to do.”

  I take his hand and he pulls me off the couch. “How about some coffee?”

  “How about some aspirin with that coffee. My heads already pounding from that vintage screw cap Merlot I bought at the Sip n Go.”

  His gaze catches mine. I’m acutely aware that he hasn’t let go of my hand. “I’m sorry I scared you. I’d never do that intentionally.”

  “I believe you, and I’m sorry I threw the flowers that ended up poking you.” I picked up his hand. There is still a scratch and a dot of blood. I raise his finger and put it in my mouth. It tastes like copper. His eyes never leave me. “I didn’t know that you were here.”

  “I had nowhere else to go,” he says barely above a whisper.

  “You can always come here. My mom and dad will always welcome you.”

  “I know that, but what about you?” He’s close, as we stand next to each other in the doorway to the kitchen. He smells good. Like sleep and dark nights. Beard stubble frames his cheeks and I can’t stop staring at his mouth. It must be all the wine. For an insane reason, I want this guy I’ve known since I was six to kiss me.

  “I don’t mind that you’re here.”

  “Well.” He finally smiles. “I guess that’s ground work for a new start.”

  Chapter 2

  Logan-

  I want to ask Ev more about the other night, but I’ve barely seen her the last few days. When I got home from work, she’s already up in her room with the door closed and I don’t want to disturb her.

  Mary is sending me up with some cookies she just baked to see if I can persuade Ev to eat something. Taking the stairs two at a time to the second floor, I stop outside. I can see her hunched over her desk in the corner through the open cracked door.

  I rap my knuckles on the wood, but she doesn’t hear me.

  “Ev?” I call and stick my head through the door’s opening. “Can I come in?”

  “Sure,” she says, as she turns and looks at me. Her eyes are red with dark circles underneath.

  I step into the room and set the tray on the side of the desk. “I think your mom sent me up here with cookies as a peace offering. If I remember, they’re your favorite. Peanut butter. She said when she came up earlier that you snapped at her. She sent me in as the second battalion force with baked goods.”

  I thought this might get a laugh, but she bites her lip and frowns. “I can’t eat, I have to study.”

  I look down at the desk. Papers are strewn around with one on the floor. I bend and pick it up. “Calculus. Huh. It’s not easy.”

  “No, it’s not.” Ev lets out a dry laugh. “Can I have my paper back?” She tried to pull it from my grasp, but I step out of reach. I scan the problems. “You’ve got 1A right, but you did do the formula right for 1B, so the answer is wrong.”

  She snatches the paper and scowls down at it. “But it equals one and… no, it has to be right.”

  “Suit yourself.” I shrug. “It’s not. The answer’s zero”

  “How the hell would you know anyway?”

  “I took calculus for a chemistry class when dad pulled me out of North Ridge our senior year and sent me to Crossdale. The equation should read, x2-x2+4y=0.”

  “You took calculus and why did you take college prep chemistry?”

  “For a few reasons that are nothing but my own.” I laugh and sit on Katy’s bed. “I took the class to make my dad think I wanted to have an illustrious career running a meth lab.”

  “Did you? I heard you got into drugs when you left North Ridge.”

  “I smoked some pot, but nothing harder than that. I’m not going to mess up my life like some of my friends. Besides, I like my teeth too much to do meth.” I rub a finger over my pearly whites.

  “It wouldn’t have been just for pot. If you weren’t doing or selling drugs, then why did your dad pull you out of school in our senior year?”

  “He thought I was a bad ass and didn’t want me to make waves for your family… or talk too much.”

  “Talk about what?”

  I didn’t want to answer. I pasted on my best lady killer grin,
and said, “If I’d stayed at North Ridge, I could have asked you to the prom.”

  “Right...” I roll my eyes.

  “Why is it so difficult to believe that I would have asked you?”

  “You hated me.”

  “Never once have I said that.” I could tell she thought about what I said. “It’s the truth and you know it. So, who did you end up going to the prom with?”

  “Bobby Grander asked me.”

  “That beaked-nosed geek? You’re shitting me.”

  She smiled. “Yeah, but he got drunk, ran off to screw Patty Fransen, and never came to pick me up. I was the bell of the ball without a prince. I was so upset, my dad threatened to go find Bobby, to show him how a baseball bat is properly used. But Patty got pregnant that night or shortly thereafter and now they have three kids and live off Meridian. Lucky them.” She finally laughed.

  “I can’t believe he stood you up. Man… his loss.”

  Her smile makes her face light up. Her brunette hair is pulled back in a high ponytail. Long lashes fan her brown eyes. She’s wearing little to no makeup, but she’s still… beautiful. How had that awkward kid I knew a few years ago turned into this beauty?

  “You look tired. Exhausted is more like it.” I take a cookie off the plate and hand it to her.

  She shakes her head. “I’ll sleep and eat some other time. Now I have to study.” She looked at the paper and frowns. “If 1B is wrong, then that means that the rest of the problems on this page are too.” She crumples the paper in her fist and throws it. “God… I suck at this.”

  Her breath catches and then she chokes back a sob. Angry tears streak her cheeks. I look at her for a second not believing what I’m seeing. Ev always knows how to do everything. I moved to the door, shut it, and then come back. I drop to my knees and take her hands.

  She looks at me and cries harder.

  “Hey, it’s okay.” I wrap my arms around her and pull her against me to cry on my shoulder. She’s warm and soft. “I hate when girls cry, can you knock it off.” When her sobs quiet, I grab some tissue and let her wipe her eyes. “I’m starting to put all of this together. The other night with your screw top merlot and now… are you having problems at college?”