His for the Holidays
Amy Starling
Chapter 1 - Sarah
Asher Carrington had always been an asshole. He was a sexy asshole, though. Jerk could charm the clothes off of any woman in town.
Except for me. Nope. No matter how much he flirted, or how good his butt looked in those pants...
“Yo, Sarah. You gonna help me hang these twinkly lights, or stare out the window all morning?”
Lana fumbled with the tangled wires and almost fell off the ladder's top step.
“If you break your arm doing that, don't expect worker's comp from me.”
She stuck out her tongue. “Some cousin you are.”
“Sorry. Shop's barely in the black as it is.” I pointed across the street. “Don't like it, you can go work for Asher's company. I hear they've actually got real health insurance.”
Outside, snow flurries had begun to fall. It was the day after Thanksgiving, the one day of the year pretty much every retailer saw a huge boost in sales.
Except that my business, Hazel's Curiosities, would not likely share the same good fortune.
“Look at all those people,” Lana remarked as she untangled the lights. “Must be over a hundred of them, all lined up to get the newest electronic gadget. Bunch of sheep, they are.”
“I have to admit, it's an easier sell than antique teddy bears and retro board games from decades past.”
Yet another thing that pissed me off about Asher.
He and I both sold toys for a living, but our stores were worlds apart. His building rivaled Walmart in size, and it was stuffed with all kinds of expensive computer stuff: game consoles, drones, even robot dolls that could have a real conversation with you.
My shop could hardly compete. Children these days were too enamored with their smartphones to care about model trains, jigsaw puzzles, or books made out of actual, real paper.
Lana plugged the lights in, cheering to herself when they all lit up. The playful flashes of red, green, and blue made it feel a bit more like Christmas in here.
“We should go over there and steal some of their customers,” she said. “Greedy jerk has more than enough for himself. Doesn't he care that he's gonna make our shop go under?”
The sun had just risen, and the crowd in front of Slicker Image was getting restless. One guy shouted at another for cutting in line.
“Go to end where you belong,” he yelled in a thick Russian accent. “I waited in line for eight hours to get TV.”
Big yellow signs hung in the windows. “HUGE Black Friday sale,” one screamed. “Hundreds of early-bird door buster specials! Get this HOT plasma TV for only $199!”
I had to admit one thing; Asher was very good at marketing. Was I jealous?
Yeah, a little. And not just about his ability to open customers' wallets.
What really bugged me was all the women. I saw him around town, a different lady on his arm every time.
So what if he hit on me? I refused to be part of his harem – and not only because we were competitors.
Still, my ridiculous attraction to him was becoming harder and harder to ignore.
Over at his store, a couple of men were arguing. One pushed the other. A woman looked on, horrified, as the little girl with her started to cry.
“What a circus.” Lana grinned and slipped into her fluffy coat. “How about we go watch, huh? Curiosities doesn't open 'til seven, and it's not like we'll have any buyers.”
I wished she wasn't right about that.
“I guess it wouldn't hurt – but only for a minute. We've got work to do. Shelves to be organized, floor needs swept.”
She rolled her eyes, called me a slave driver, and out we went. It was barely past dawn, and the temperature had yet to rise. I wrapped my arms around my body for warmth.
We made the short trip across the road to the Slicker Image parking lot, where there seemed to be a lot of complaining going on.
“What is the meaning of this?” The man at the front of the line berated a teenage employee. “The store is supposed to open at six on the dot. It's fifteen minutes past now.”
“Yeah, c'mon! We're freezing our asses off out here!”
“Mommy, I gotta go potty!”
The chorus of protests grew louder. The worker put his hands up in defense and backed away. Two other employees huddled in the corner, as if fearful they might be physically attacked.
“I'm really sorry, sir, but I can't open the door. My boss, um... It seems he hasn't gotten here yet.”
“What? I demand you let us in right now, or I'll be taking my business elsewhere.”
“Just like Asher,” Lana said. “That man acts like an overgrown kid. No wonder he sells toys for a living.”
“Hey. What does that say about me, then?”
She looked me over and smoothed down my frizzy hair. The snow falling on my head was only making things worse.
“You're different.”
“That doesn't exactly inspire confidence.”
Tires squealed on the road, and a flashy red BMW whipped into the parking lot. Asher parked it crooked in the fire lane, got out – and looked straight at me.
His brown eyes twinkled, and that smile of his made my stomach drop. With looks that good, he could have screwed every woman in this town, and probably already had.
But not me. I'd fought his advances for the past five years, determined not to be just another one of his conquests.
One night, though, I was horny and alone. His handsome face entered my fantasies. This, I didn't resist.
I undressed him with my mind, and he did all sorts of dirty things to me. He'd offer me that same pleasure in real life, too, if only I'd accept it.
“Hello there, Sarah.” His gravelly, just-woke-up
