Christmas With The Marine

“Terrific,” Kaylie said. “That’s so kind that you’re doing this for kids. Of course we’ll help you. And we really appreciate the donation. We’re trying to get to three different dance competitions this year, so every penny counts.” She batted her eyelashes at Jake.

This time Ben did chuckle. Jake had that effect on women. Never failed.

“Wonderful,” a woman’s voice said. He glanced down to see Ainsley. She was here, and she looked every bit as beautiful as she had the day before. He’d been sure his imagination had been playing tricks on him.

Today, she wore jeans and boots that came up to her knees. But it was the tight white sweater that nearly did him in. Her body was the stuff of fantasies. His fantasies.

Once again he found himself clearing his throat, and he positioned the bag he was carrying so no one would see the sudden tent in his pants.

Crap. Sad puppies. Old, crinkly people. He had to think of something that was not the beautiful woman beside him.

“Hi,” he said. Well, that was brilliant.

She beamed up at him. “I’ve brought the rest of your gifts. Got them first thing this morning. Since they’re for the nursing home, I asked the girls to put them in bags with tissue so it would be easier for those arthritic hands to open,” she said sweetly. “They should be just about finished with those.”

“You really do think of everything.”

“Part of the job.”

“Oh,” Kaylie said. “This is the guy you were talking about?”

“Yes,” Ainsley, said waving a hand to the group of kids wrapping at the tables behind the coach. There was now a bunch of boys, as well. “I’m glad you picked up some more volunteers.”

“Yeah, I never seem to have a hard time getting the football and basketball teams to help out the dancers. Though, keeping a constant eye on them isn’t always the easiest.” Kaylie laughed. “We should be done in about thirty minutes with the seniors’ gifts, and we’ll need a few hours for the tots.”

Brody groaned behind him.

“It’s okay, guys, if you want to go on home.” He turned back to Kaylie. “Can some of those players help me load the truck later?”

“Absolutely,” she said.

“I’ll stay,” Jake offered. “I don’t mind volunteering if you need help,” he said to Kaylie. “I’m not much good at wrapping, but I’m good at other things.”

Kaylie and Ainsley both roared with laughter.

“What?” Jake asked innocently. “I meant I can keep an eye on the players to make sure they aren’t trying to put the moves on these lovely young ladies.”

The dancers giggled and whispered to one another.

“I might take you up on that,” Kaylie said. “You two,” she called out, pointing to Ainsley and Ben, “go look around and come back in a couple of hours. We’ll have everything ready.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Brody said. “I’m going to search for Mari. Make sure she doesn’t need help with anything. Matt, I can give you a ride back.”

They waved goodbye and then left.

Ainsley crooked her arm through his. “Come on, Marine. I’ll buy you lunch and we can check out the booths. I have a few homemade gifts on my list. I might find them here.”

He’d walk across hot coals to spend a little time with her, so he could easily handle the loud noise of the craft fair a little longer. “Only if you let me buy,” he said.

“Sure. If you really want to.”

“Hey, you’ve donated a lot of time and like I said, I owe you a meal at the very least.”

“Whatever. Come on.”

He thought they’d head back to the parking lot. He planned on taking her somewhere nice. Instead, she pulled him through a maze of booths to reach the other end of the cafeteria.

“Hold up, you want to eat here?”

“Yes,” she said. “This booth has the best chili pies.”

She walked up to the window. “Who made the chili today?” she asked the elderly woman manning the cash box.

“Frank,” the woman replied. “He doesn’t let anyone else touch it. Doesn’t want to ruin his reputation. What can I get for you?”

“You are in for a treat,” Ainsley said to Ben. “Frank is an award-winning chili star. His daughter, Amber, is on the drill team. He’s pretty much the best thing about coming to the craft fair.”

She turned to the woman. “We need two chili pies and a Coke. And what do you want to drink?” she said to him.

“Water is good.” He didn’t drink a lot of soda. He tried to avoid sugar and he was careful about what he ate, too. Not that he had a lot of choice when he was deployed. You ate what the mess hall gave you or what was in your pack. But when he was stateside he ate fresh food whenever he could. He’d learned to cook when he was kid. It’d helped out his mom because she had to work so much of the time.

“You okay?” Ainsley was handing him a bottle of water.

“What? Yeah. Sorry. I’ve never had a chili pie.”

“No way. Fritos and chili and cheese. Best things ever. Are you some kind of health nut? Is that how you have that hot bod?” Her eyes flashed as if she’d realized what she’d just said.

“You think I’m hot?”

“Marine, everyone here thinks you’re hot.”

A grin spread across his face. “Uh, thanks. But I don’t think everyone’s looking at me, I have a feeling all eyes are on you. How could they not be? You’re gorgeous.”

She snorted. “You’re so polite.”

“You don’t know how beautiful you are, do you?”

She shrugged. “Don’t really think about it. Let’s go sit. Can’t believe I’m hanging out with a chili pie virgin. This is going to be fun.”

He nearly tripped when she said the word virgin. He picked up their drinks, so she could grab the cardboard containers with their food. The chili didn’t smell too bad, and he was hungry. She led him to an orange table with matching plastic chairs. Been a long time since he’d eaten in a high school cafeteria.

“Make sure you get some Fritos in that first bite. It’s the salty mixed with the chili spices that makes it worthy of worship.”

He did what she’d told him and it was...good. Really good. “I had no idea corn chips could taste like this.”

“I know, right? So amazing.” She took a swig of her drink. “How long have you been in the Marines?”

“Joined up the week I graduated from high school. Best way I could think of to take care of my mom and little sister. It was decent pay, and I didn’t have to worry about living expenses so I could send them just about everything I made.”

She blinked and he wasn’t sure if those were tears in her eyes.

“Did I say something to upset you?”

“No. Not at all. You risked your life when you were nothing but a kid to take care of your family?”

“Yeah. And I’ll admit, it seemed cool at the time. Fighting for my country. But I had no idea what I was getting into. Still, I wouldn’t trade being a Marine for anything.”

She blinked again.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yep. I’ve just never met a selfless man before. You’re an anomaly.”

Her compliment made him laugh.

“I don’t know about that. Maybe you just haven’t met the right guys.”

“True that.” She wiped some chili from the corner of her mouth with a paper napkin. “I’m so impressed that even that young you were looking after your people. Wow, when I was eighteen, I was an idiot. Partying in college and making bad choices.” She rolled her eyes. “Really bad choices.”

He chuckled. “Well, if I’d had the opportunity, I probably would have made worse choices, another reason why my mom didn’t fuss too much when I went off to boot camp. She knew I needed the discipline. I was never a bad kid, but I didn’t always make the smart choices, especially in high school. My grades were low.” Of course, a lot of that had to do with being tired from working sometimes as many as two jobs after school. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to help his family.

It had taken his mom challenging the principal in front of the school board before they finally gave him some grace. His mom was a lot of great things, and fierce was one of them. Never in his life had he won an argument with her, and the principal had learned that the hard way.

“Still,” she said, “it took me another four years before I figured out what I wanted to do. And another year after that before I finally had the guts to do it. What you do is heroic and dangerous. It takes a special type of person to do that job. To run toward the scary when everyone else is running away.”

“We don’t really think about it that way.” He wanted to find out more about her, and he’d never been comfortable talking about himself. “I’m curious how you make money shopping for people.”

She blanched.

Shoot. He’d done it again. “No, no. I mean, I think it’s a cool job. And I’m curious about how it works. Oh, and that reminds me.” He pulled out a wad of cash. “How much do I owe you?”

“You can pay me later. I have receipts for you in my car. I was able to get some of the stuff donated when I told them what it was for, so I bought twice as much. I hope that’s okay. Maybe these elderly people might enjoy getting more than one gift. It’s small stuff, mostly, to make their lives more comfortable. Only spent a little over half your budget and that’s with the wrapping. I’ll have to look at the receipts but it was right around six hundred.”

“You are good at this. We can donate the rest to the charity. Are you sure I can’t compensate you in some way?”

She shook her head. “Nope. And to answer your question, I usually get a commission. A negotiated percentage of the whole budget. A lot of what I do is for corporate clients. Finding the perfect gifts for their staff or for guests they have coming in, or finding giveaways for trade shows. We have a whole division for that last thing, and by division, I mean that’s mostly what my partner, Bebe, handles, where she finds promotional swag for different companies.”

He swallowed the last bit of chili. “That’s interesting. I didn’t even know a business like that existed.”

She put down her fork. “Yeah, my grandmother actually helped me figure it out.”

“Did she have the same kind of business?”

“Oh, no. She’s a retired professor who lives in Ireland now. But she’s always had a knack for finding the perfect gifts for people. Like an intuitiveness for knowing what’s wanted. I sort of inherited it from her. I know that sounds weird, but I get this gut feeling for what’s right for folks. And after college, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with that awesome philosophy degree I had.”

“Wow. I didn’t see that one coming,” he said honestly. He figured an MBA or something.

“What? I can spout Plato and Charles Hartshorne with the best of them.”

“I know the first, never heard of the second.”

“Trust me, most people haven’t. But about two months after I graduated, I was working as a personal shopper at Neiman Marcus in Dallas. I really wasn’t qualified to do anything else. I was promoted three times in six months. Grandma said I should take what I was best at and apply it to my career goals. ‘But never work for the man.’ Did I mention Grandma is a bit of a hippie, much to the chagrin of my mom, her daughter?

“Anyhoo, I took some business classes and decided to open my own personal-shopping service. There are a lot of them in Dallas and the competition is stiff. But there wasn’t here in Corpus, so I came home and... Wow, I’m telling you my life story.” She rolled her eyes.

“Nah, I’m intrigued. And your grandma sounds supersmart and practical.”

“She’s brilliant. Taught at Oxford. Still lives over there. She’s my favorite philosopher.”

“Ah, and it comes full circle. Oxford? Wow. That’s pretty fancy.” All this info made him even more curious about Ainsley. She was intelligent and beautiful, a dangerous combination. He could sit here all afternoon listening to her talk.

That had never happened before.

She nodded. “So I guess you didn’t mind the chili pie, after all?”

He held up the empty container. “One of the best things I’ve eaten in a while. Who is this Frank guy?”

“He owns a barbeque place out by the beach, Duley’s, which is named after his dad. They’ve been around a long time. And his ribs are even better than his chili.”

“Maybe I could take you there some time?”

“I don’t know. We’ll see.”

“You keep saying that. Do you have a thing about not dating guys in the military or something?”

Her head popped up. “A thing? No. Should I? And who says I want to date you?”

She had him there. He sounded like a jerk. “Sorry, I—”

She reached out and touched his arm. “I’m messing with you. Your face. That was classic. But I’m going to be straight with you. I’m focused on my career. I’m really not looking to date anyone right now. I don’t have a lot of luck with guys, and I find them kind of self-centered. Not that you would be. But...if you want someone to hang out with today, I’m your girl. Want to come shopping with me?”

“Uh, sure?”

The way she talked—so fast—it took him a minute to catch up.

“And for the record,” he said, clearing his throat, “I’m not looking to date, either. I simply wanted to thank you for helping me.”

She chewed on her lip as she eyed him. “Okay. So,” she began and waved to the empty containers, “we’ve had our meal. We should be good. You still want to hang out?”

He shrugged. With this one, it was probably best to play it cool. She didn’t want to date. Well, he’d been honest when he said that wasn’t his thing. His teaching at the base was keeping him busy, and besides, he didn’t do relationships.

But he definitely wanted to spend more time with her.

“I’m yours for the afternoon,” he told her.

And a small voice inside said “and more,” if she wanted.

3

BEN WAS SNIFFING some homemade candles at a booth, and Ainsley could not keep from staring at him. She had to stop ogling poor Ben, or he was going to get the wrong idea. But everything about him... Heck, she’d never been so attracted to a man. Never in her life had she believed in pheromones but it had to be something like that.

That and he had one of the most jaw-dropping examples of the male body she’d ever seen. Oh, and the fact he was sweet. Taking care of his mom and sister. Putting his life on the line for them, and his country.

A heart-stopping combo if ever there was one.

How many times do I have to tell myself no more men?

He glanced back and shot her one of his devastating smiles.

At least a hundred.

“My mom might like this vanilla one. Do you think giving her something like this would be a good Christmas gift?”

She nodded and smiled. “Everyone loves candles,” she said.

“What else is on your list?” he asked her.

Right. Stay on task.

“I have gifts for two executives I need to pick up. The client wanted something homemade but nice. Classy. Wood sculptures or pens. There’s a man here who crafts things out of old bourbon barrels. I usually buy him out. Those are popular gifts for men and women.”

Her phone played Ozzie Osbourne’s “Crazy Train.” It was the ringtone for her sister, Megan.

“Just a second,” Ainsley said.

“Help!” Megan yelled before Ainsley could even say hello.

“Megan, breathe.” Her sister was a bit of a drama queen in all things, but she loved her. She was the only person who made worse choices when it came to men than Ainsley did.

“Sorry. I’m freaking out. The bachelor auction is tonight, and,” she gasped and sniffled, “two of our guys had to cancel because they have the flu. I swear, if they’re faking I will kill them both. Dead.”

Ainsley thought to downplay the situation and scoffed, “It’s fine, Megan. So you have a couple less bachelors. No biggie.”

“Yes, biggie. It’s for charity. I promised twenty of the hottest guys in Corpus. What am I doing to do with eighteen? And those guys were my big tickets, the two that backed out. My end-of-show wow factors.”

“What?” Sometimes Megan talked in riddles.

“My moneymakers. They were going to push us over the top. I so wanted to beat Stephanie at her own game. She’s been talking behind my back about how she was so much more organized last year. And it’s true. But still. I want to win. And by win, I mean I want the children’s cancer fund to make a ton of money. The most money ever.”

Ainsley smiled. “You want to stick it to Stephanie in the worst way. Be honest.”

“Yes. Okay. Fine. But the only way to do that is to get the most donations for these guys, right? So, it’s a win-win, if I can make it happen. But I can’t do that without some hot studly studs.”

Her sister always had a way with words. “So call your friends. You know hundreds of guys.” Megan went through men faster than she did shoes, and she really loved shoes.

Her sister sighed. “Yeah, unfortunately, I do. I’ve called in all the favors I could. A lot of my friends already donated the silent auction prizes. They don’t like the idea of being in front of a bunch of drunk women trying to buy them.”

“I can’t imagine why.” Ainsley had never liked these types of events for that reason. Even though the guys were doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, she always felt it was kind of humiliating. The whole objectifying them, and then there was the women pawing after them on the dance floor. No, she couldn’t imagine why.

“Please,” Megan begged. “You know everyone. Surely you can scrounge up a couple of super good-looking guys. I’ll owe. Like, my life. Please don’t make me beg more.”

Ainsley glanced up to find Ben watching her intently. No. She couldn’t. He wouldn’t. But if ever there was a big moneymaker, it was him.

“Hold on.” She put her phone on mute and gave him her best smile.

“What are you and Jake doing tonight?”

* * *

“I’D RATHER BE in the middle of a war zone with insurgents ready to take me down,” Jake said, messing with his tie for the fiftieth time. Ben and Jake were both dressed in penguin suits for the charity auction. This was the worst idea in the history of ideas. That’s what he got for giving in to a pretty face.

“Right there with you, brother.”

When Ainsley had smiled that big, hopeful smile at him, he couldn’t say no. Heck, he’d probably have done just about anything to spend time with her.

But this. Well, it was definitely beyond the call of duty. Ainsley had talked about kids with cancer, and that was all it took. He couldn’t say no. And he’d coerced Jake into doing it with him by telling him not just about the charity, but that there would be hot women who wanted his body.

Jake seemed a lot more comfortable with that idea than Ben. He liked things quiet, without so many people. This would be mayhem. The sound of voices was growing louder and louder. The night had begun with free champagne and light appetizers since, as Megan had explained, “We like the women to be slightly tipsy because they spend more.”

Ben didn’t think that was a nice way to do things, but it was for the kids, which was what he kept telling himself. They’d just finished the video showing why the research needed to be done. There were some sniffles on the other side of the curtains.

“Sorry, ladies. That video gets me every time,” the announcer said. “But now, let’s turn up the music and have some fun.” The announcer went on to explain how the women could bid.

His gut twisted. One by one the guys went and strutted their stuff. The screams grew louder every time. When the bidding began for the first guy, Ben never wanted to retreat more than he did right then.

“We’re Marines. We can do this,” Ben said, more to convince himself than anything.

Jake turned to face him.

“Oorah,” they said together and high-fived. The other remaining bachelors laughed and shook their heads. They were pretty nice guys—had to be to do something like this.

“I bet I pull in twice as much as you,” Jake said. This is what they did—challenged each other. They’d been on two tours together and humor was the one way they all dealt with the horror.

Ben grunted. “Only if they like their side of beef with a hunk of cheese,” he said. “This,” Ben said as he patted his abs, “is the real deal.”

They both grinned. It was bravado, nothing more.

There was one more to go before it would be Jake’s turn. And then Ben was last. Ainsley had told him it was a prime spot, but man, he was feeling the pressure. Each bachelor was pulling in more than the next. The last guy had made two thousand for the charity.

The noise went up a couple of decibels and he and Jake peeked around the curtain. They were in a large hotel ballroom that had been set up for the event, with lots of tables and chairs, and a stage, or rather...a runway. It was a fancy affair with crystal chandeliers, gilt centerpieces and lots of pink and white flowers. Everyone was dressed up. None of the women were as beautiful as Ainsley, who wore a white gown that fit her curves. Her hair was up and she looked like a royal princess or an A-list movie star.

Damn, he couldn’t’ stop looking at her. She wasn’t even paying attention to the guys, but was glancing down at her phone. And then, as if she sensed him, she met his eyes and gave him a little smile. And she winked. He loved it when she did that. Like they were in on their own little secret.

“So out of your league,” Jake said when he figured out where Ben had been watching. Ainsley was sitting at a table, dead center.

“Yep,” Ben said. The music volume went up a bit more, as did the screams. The noise was getting to him. This happened sometimes. He backed away from the curtain and bent over to put his hands on his thighs, drawing in deep breaths. He concentrated on his breathing like his therapist had taught him.

“Hey.” Jake patted his shoulder. “It’s just a bunch of crazy tipsy women. I was kidding. It’s going to be okay. It really isn’t much different than the country bar we were at a few weeks ago. Remember all those women when we joined their line dance? At least, maybe these women won’t puke beer on your shoes.”

There was that. He’d had to toss out his favorite pair of cowboy boots because there was no coming back from that.

Ben hated this weakness. Nothing had ever bothered him until that last tour. They’d spent twenty-four hours holed up in a camp where they were hit with mortar after mortar. He’d been working maintenance on a downed Black Hawk. And they were only getting out when the chopper was fixed. Problem was, he didn’t have the parts he needed. It took every mechanical brain cell he had to figure out how to create something makeshift to get them to safety.

And it wasn’t as if he hadn’t done that sort of thing hundreds of times. They were always in some hot zone. Always under pressure. But that one hit him. It was the noise. The constant boom boom boom of the electronic music.

“Oh, no,” Jake said.

“What?” Ben glanced up to find his friend loosening up and cracking his neck like he was getting ready to go into the ring with a prizefighter.

“You’re on,” Megan said to Jake. Ainsley’s sister was the reason they were there. She’d needed help, and Ainsley had turned to him. And with that smile.

“Good luck, dude,” Ben said as he straightened and then high-fived his friend. “You got this.”

The noise level rose even louder. Ben pushed it away, focused on his breathing. He wouldn’t disappoint Ainsley or her sister. All he had to do was walk to the end of the stage, stand there and wait for someone to say “sold,” and he was done.

“Five thousand!” he heard a woman shout.

What the...? A date with Jake brought in five thousand dollars?

Ben had been hoping for maybe five hundred for himself. He’d even offered to give Ainsley two hundred and fifty if the bids didn’t go up for him. She’d kept telling him that he had nothing to worry about, but there was no way he would bring in that kind of big money.

Ben popped his jaw. This was nuts. He was a confident guy. He’d never had problems with being appealing to women, and this was for charity. He was going to have fun.