Santa Soldier Bear - Meg Ripley Page 0,7

all year…” It was late and she was alone, so she allowed herself to move to the music that was consuming her head. A fantasy of Roman in a much smaller version of that Santa costume floated through her mind as Melody pulled out a plate of deviled eggs and bent down to get Raul’s famous ham from the bottom shelf. “So hurry down the chimney tonight!” She shut the fridge door.

“If you insist.”

Melody shrieked before slapping her hand over her mouth and doubling over. “Holy shit, you scared me! How long were you standing there letting me make a fool out of myself?”

He smiled, and the twinkle in his dark eyes wasn’t from the Christmas lights. “Long enough. I thought I’d come down for a midnight snack.”

Though she had somewhat recovered from the scare, Melody wasn’t sure she’d ever recover from seeing Roman standing there like that. His plaid pajama bottoms weren’t too dissimilar from what she wore, but his tight-fitting undershirt showed off his sculpted muscles. It was too easy to imagine what it would be like to press her hands against that shirt and feel the heat of his skin through it. Her tongue curled in her mouth as she took a step backward. “Well, there’s certainly plenty here.”

“So you don’t mind if I join you?”

Could he tell that she no longer knew how to breathe? He’d probably seen her shaking her ass in the air, singing a song full of innuendo. Her only hope was that he couldn’t read minds and had no idea she’d been thinking about him the entire time. “Sure. Of course. I was actually going to see if there were any good holiday movies on TV, if you’d like to join me for that, too.” God, what was she saying?

Roman reached past her with one long, brawny arm and picked up the platter of ham. “That sounds great.”

Melody wanted to kick herself as she led the way into the living room. What would they watch? Where would they sit? They’d have to sit close together to share the food. Wait, did that mean anything significant if they were sharing their food? No. She was overthinking this. Just because Roman had incited a feeling inside her that she’d never experienced, one that could be… No. It was just a midnight snack. That was it. It didn’t have to mean anything.

“Do you have a favorite?” Roman asked as he set the platter on the coffee table.

“Huh?”

“A favorite Christmas movie.”

“Oh. I don’t know if I could choose.” Melody racked her brain for even a title of a Christmas movie. She loved this time of year, and the movies were a big part of it. There was nothing better than settling in on a cool night to relax and watch an old flick, even if she’d already seen it a hundred times. So why couldn’t she come up with even one? “It’s hard to say. I like so many of them. Christmas is probably my favorite time of year.”

“Then I’m surprised you live in L.A.”

“What do you mean?” Melody settled in next to him on the couch, the table in front of them loaded with food. She tried not to think about how close his muscular thigh was to hers.

“It doesn’t feel very Christmasy around here. I mean, other than inside the house itself. You guys must’ve really gone all out when you hired a decorator. If I didn’t know there were palm trees swaying in a warm breeze outside, I’d think I was at the North Pole.” Roman gestured widely to take in the garland, lights, and baubles.

“We didn’t hire a decorator,” Melody replied with a laugh. “I did this.”

Roman had sat back against the cushions, but he sat up and braced his elbows on his knees. “Really? By yourself?”

“Well, sure.” Her face flushed as he looked so intensely into her eyes. She let her own gaze take in his high cheekbones, the long line of his nose, the hardness of his jaw. His dark hair was rumpled, probably from being under that ridiculous Santa hat earlier. The reminder of their initial meeting sent a tingle of energy through her nipples, and she was glad they hadn’t bothered turning on the lights. “It was a lot of work, but I’d gladly do it all over again.”

“It doesn’t bother you to put in all that effort, only to have to take it all back down in a month?” Roman grabbed a slice of ham off the