Read Online A Cowboy For Christmas (A Copper Mountain Christmas) by Katherine Garbera - Free Book Online

wasn’t just kissing a woman, I was kissing you, Annie.”
    She looked down and away from him, and he wondered if he ’d read her wrong.
    “ Me too. I wanted to kiss you, Carson. You kiss like a man now,” she said.
    “ I should hope so,” he said.
    “ I didn’t mean to freak out like that. I don’t know why I was crying,” she said at last and he stepped back and let frigid air and the distance cool his body. Of course she knew why she was crying but she didn’t want to admit it and not to him.
    “ Probably being back home and not having any of your friends and family around you,” he said.
    “ Thanks Dr. Phil.”
    “ Just calling it like I see it. You’ve always been a bit of a rebel and I think being back here has reminded you of all that. Was it talking to your sister?”
    “ Probably. I hate how, even though I’m thirty-three and an adult, I still feel like I’m six around her. Why is it I’m still Marilyn’s little sister?” she asked. And now it was just the two of them. They were the only ones alive who remembered the joy of their little family and the sadness when it ended. This Christmas she wanted to make some new memories with her sister and her sister’s family. There was no reason why she had to be alone.
    “ It’s the same with me and Alec. He’s always bossing me around and sometimes I just do what he says before I remember that I don’t have to. It’s habit for him and for me.”
    “ Yes, I guess so.”
    “ I’ll tell you one thing,” he said. “When Rainey died, having Alec there made a huge difference to me. He just stepped in and refused to let me retreat the way I wanted to.”
    “ I really am sorry you lost your wife.”
    “ I know,” he said, glancing out toward the mountains again. He missed Rainey always would, but he wasn’t pining for her. “She would have liked you.”
    “ You think so?”
    “ Yes, she didn’t take any sass off me either,” he said.
    She laughed like he hoped she would, but the sound was forced and he realized she was still fragile inside. In fact... kissing her might have been a mistake. Maybe he’d just made her feel even more vulnerable.
    But now that her guard was down, maybe he could get a few answers from her. “What are you running from? And don’t say you aren’t running. You have that look in your eyes.”
    She shook her head and wrapped her arms around her waist, looking over at him as if to gauge whether she could trust him or not.
    “I thought if nothing else we’d once been friends,” he said at last.
    “ We were,” she admitted. “But you asked me to dinner to tell you that story and I can’t do it right now without crying again. “
    “ Fair enough,” he said. “We should be getting back anyway. I’m not sure how long Evan will be good with Rumple before he tries to ride him or put a pair of Rudolph antlers on him.”
    “ Truly?”
    “ He did it to Puddles last year. The poor dog looked miserable but he tolerated it. He just loves Evan,” Carson said, leading the way back to her tree. “I’ll get the tree trimmed up and delivered to your place this afternoon.”
    “ Why don’t you bring it by tonight and I’ll fix you dinner,” she said. “Seems the least I can do since you’re delivering my tree.”
    He ’d have to find a sitter for Evan but he suspected his dad might want to have his grandson sleep over. “Sounds good to me.”
     

     
    Annie had gone carefully over her budget and then decided she could just splurge on the fixings of a nice Italian dinner. It was the one meal she was really good at cooking and she admitted to herself she wanted to impress Carson.
    An open bottle of Chianti sat on the counter and a hearty lasagna in the oven as she waited for Carson to arrive. She’d put on her favorite Christmas CD by Diana Krall. She had purchased some cookies from Rachel at the Christmas tree lot and looked forward to eating them. But for right now, she was sitting in her living room looking