Hating Christmas (Holiday Series) by Carol Rose Page B

the thing. From hard
experience, she’d learned that fluffy white snow didn’t always feel
as soft as it looked.
    The hill wasn’t large, but it had a smooth path
between stands of trees and emptied right behind her mother’s
house. It had enough pitch to make this exciting. She just hoped
Levi didn’t hit a bump and go sailing through the plate glass
window at the back of the house or land in the hot tub her mother
had installed two years ago.
    “You could have just said you’re not into winter
sports.” She mentioned as she and Levi continued up to the top of
the hill.
    He flexed his hands inside his father’s borrowed
gloves, reaching up to pull his knit cap on more tightly. “Scared I
might beat you?”
    “You’ve got to be kidding,” she scoffed, surprised at
how different he looked in his dad’s old knit cap. Much less
Hollywood-tough, but still mouth-watering. He should have borrowed
that and the gloves before he’d gone up to attach the string of
lights to the roof. She looked down at the sled he towed behind
him. “Look at how small that sled is. You’ll hang off the
sides.”
    “You just don’t want to meet me on the field of
battle.” His sled beside him, he danced on the snow in front of
her. “You need to throw snowballs from a hiding place around the
corner of the house or go behind my back to get my actors to work
with you.”
    “That does it!” She started stomping up the hill, her
little sled trailing after her. “I’m rubbing your face in it and I
did not go behind your back with Mac Toledo. You’re going
down, Harper.”
    “What do you call it then? Getting him to do your
documentary without even talking to me?” Levi followed her.
    “I call it talking with an actor to see if he’s even
interested.” She threw the words over her shoulder.
    “I’ve been on the phone since I got here,” he puffed
clouds of foggy air as he climbed behind her, “trying to get him
that big job. That’s my job. I help grow his career. I get him jobs
that pay him more and more money with every film.”
    She reached the top of the hill a little short of
breath, standing for a moment with her hand pressed to her side.
“Don’t you mean that you make sure you get more and more
money?”
    “Yes,” he said, reaching the spot next to her.
“That’s how it works. I get him more money; I get a piece of his
income.”
    “Vulture,” she taunted, shifting her sled in front of
her.
    “I’ve been called worse.” His breath made a foggy
puff in front of him. “By better paid people.”
    “Ohhhh, you’re going down, Harper!” Furious, she
turned to look down the hill. She was gonna crush him.
    Preparing to dive on the sled and cruise in ahead of
him, she stopped. Sledding could be dangerous for the novice.
Knowing he’d never attempted this sport, Holly felt a certain
responsibility for him. Dammit. “Listen up, Vulture.”
    He grinned at her.
    “This is a runner sled.” She nudged it with her
mother’s borrowed snow boot. “You pulled it up here by the rope
that’s attached to the steering rod.”
    “You sound sexy when you’re bossy.” Levi shuffled to
the side in the deep snow, regaining his balance quickly.
    Holly glared at him as she continued. “Sometimes when
you’re sledding down the hill, you need to steer—“
    “Why? I thought we just sit on it and slide down.” He
put one foot on the sled, nudging it back and forth on the
snow.
    “Steering can be important if—for instance—you find
yourself heading for the hot tub deck or for a clump of trees.
You’ll want to avoid a head injury, right?”
    He grinned again. “Right. Avoid the hot tub, no
trees.”
    Rolling her eyes skyward, she went on. “Pull on the
left side of the rope if you want to go left. Right, if you want to
go right. Just like riding a horse or turning a car’s steering
wheel. This first run will be the slowest because the snow isn’t
packed. So even you can probably handle it.”
    “Umm, bossy and