Kissed By Christmas. Jamie Pope

have a family. If it were my father, I would have wanted somebody who went through medical training to be there with him until help arrived. And you made me think about my sister. I wouldn’t want her hurt and alone in a strange city.”

      “I’m not sure that I could ever be that good of a person.”

      “I’m sure you’re wrong.” They looked at each other for a long moment, the urge to pull her closer and wrap his arms back around her growing stronger.

      “I hate you a little,” she said changing the subject. “You mentioned the word bath and now it’s all I can think of.”

      “You can take one at my place. My tub is pretty big.”

      Her eyes widened. “With you?”

      “Alone. Unless you really want me there. I thought we made it clear that I wasn’t going to try anything. I try to stay away from women with fresh head injuries. You don’t have to take me up on my offer.”

      “But I will.” She turned away from him and grabbed a robe out of her closet and some fresh pajamas. He knew that this wasn’t the typical favor that one neighbor did for another but he couldn’t take back the offer. He wasn’t ready to leave her alone just yet and knew his instincts were right when he saw how slowly she moved, like her body was stiff with pain.

      A few minutes later they were in his bathroom, which by New York City standards was huge, with a deep tub and a wall with tiles that had been salvaged from old buildings. The shower was separate from the tub and was enclosed in glass.

      It was a million times better than his last place and as he sat down on the side of the tub to turn on the water, he knew it would take an act of God to get him to move out of this place.

      “I can definitely tell that a man lives here, but this bathroom looks like it has been designed by a woman.”

      “It might have been. The guy who lived here before me moved out because his fiancée left him. He moved to LA.”

      “Oh, I know that story.”

      “Do you?”

      “Why do you think I came to New York?” She gave him a small smile. “My fiancé called off our wedding just before I was supposed to walk down the aisle. He wasn’t sure if I was the kind of wife he wanted, or if he loved me enough to spend forever with me.”

      “Stupid bastard.” He got up, brushing past her to grab the Epsom salts and lightly scented oil and bubble bath he kept under the sink.

      “Why do you think he’s the stupid one? It could be me. You don’t know.”

      He looked at her for a long moment. “I know.” Any man who broke up with a woman like that after he asked her to marry him was cruel.

      She gave him another soft smile. There was a sweetness about her and he wanted to pull her mouth to his just to see if he could taste it.

      “You look like a man who has run a lot of baths for women,” she said as he added everything to the hot water.

      “I’ve been known to take a bath from time to time. I was a college football player. I took a lot of hits and last year I did a Spartan Sprint and dislocated my elbow. The hot water usually soothes it when it starts acting up”

      “A Spartan Sprint? Is that one of those 5K mud runs?”

      He shook his head. “My brother-in-law and I did a long-distance one. Twenty-seven obstacles. There was fire, mud and barbed wire. We would have been the fastest team if I hadn’t slipped.”

      “That sounds like my worst nightmare.”

      “We’re going to do another one in Miami in March.”

      “Crazy. I can barely walk down the street without falling and you sign up for death runs.”

      “You sound like my mother.”

      They grinned at each other for a moment before he looked back at his tub that seemed inviting. He had never taken a bath with a woman. He liked his private time, but it was something he might like to try with her.

      “I’ll leave you alone now. Take as long as you want in here.”

      “Thank you, Asa.”

      He nodded and left her.

      He settled in to read, but he couldn’t concentrate on the words because his thoughts kept returning to the presumably naked woman in his bathroom.

      A knock on his door saved him from trying to go back to his book. He found his mother standing there. She was looking fashionably proper, with her hair swept up elegantly and wearing a gray wool coat that would probably never go out of style. Dr. Andersen might have a PhD in advanced mathematics, but she was no absentminded academic. She could intimidate nearly anyone she came across and that was why Asa was uneasy about her unexpected appearance at his door. It had nothing to do with the woman in his bathtub.

      “Mom? Hey. What are you doing here?”

      She breezed past him with a smile on her face. “Do I need an excuse to see my baby boy?”

      “Um. No? You just never drop by unannounced.”

      “I was in the city to have lunch with a former colleague at Columbia and I thought I would stop by. I have something to tell you and I figured I should do it in person rather than over the phone.”

      He sat down hard on the stool at his breakfast bar. “Are you sick?”

      “No! Of course not.”

      “Are you divorcing Dad?”

      “Asa! Do you think I would look this happy if I were divorcing your father or sick?”

      “I don’t know, Mom. You could be coming over here to tell me that you’re running away to Bora Bora with one of your students.”

      “I’m not sure where you got such an imagination from. You’re starting to sound like your sister.”

      “Did you tell her the news?”

      “She knows. It was her idea.”

      “It was Gin’s idea and you’re happy about it?” He crossed his arms across his chest. “This I’ve got to hear.”

      “Your sister wants to throw a big get-together at her house on Hideaway Island with both families. It’s going to be wonderful—two weeks of holiday festivities, topped off with a huge Christmas party they are inviting the whole island to. I’m so excited. And I’m making the point of telling you that you’re going to use up that vacation time you have accrued and spend the whole time with us down there.”

      “Okay,” he agreed.

      “No argument? No, ‘I have plans,’ or ‘a date?’ Or something more important than following your mother’s dreams and wishes?”

      “I was planning to see Virginia at Christmas anyway. You could have told me this over the phone. What else is going on?”

      “Your father and I are retiring to Florida. I put in my paperwork yesterday and we’ve officially put the house on the market. We are going to be looking at homes on Hideaway Island while we’re there.”

      “Oh.” He wasn’t expecting her to say that. He had always pictured his parents living in their Cape Cod–style home, but it made sense for them to move. His father had hurt his back shoveling the heavy snow more than once. And he had been retired from the military for years now. None of their children were home. There was no reason for them to stay. They should go but he felt odd about it. “Congratulations, Mom. The school will miss you.”

      “Is there something wrong, sweetheart?” She touched his cheek and in that same moment he heard his bathroom door open. Out stepped Hallie in a short blush-colored robe. Her curly hair was damp, but he could see her perfect ringlets forming. Her eyes went wide when she saw his mother there, and he found Hallie to be incredibly