No Bunny But You (Holiday Romance Series) by Carol Rose

who was making himself at home on his knee.
    “Stephen, climb down this instant! The bunny doesn’t
need you in his lap.” One of the child handlers took the boy’s arm
and urged him to move.
    To his own surprise—if you’d have told Drake two
hours ago that he’d encourage a kid to sit on his lap, he’d have
laughed—Drake put up one bunny-fur covered arm, patting the worker
in a reassuring way. He then looped his arm around the boy,
shifting him to more security on his bunny lap. Drake had no idea
what had come over him, but he could play an affable bunny, if that
were the role. The Easter Bunny was a kid thing and kids were
welcome.
    He could understand actors who said they disappeared
into their roles. Suddenly, he wasn’t Drake. He was the Easter
Bunny. Not that he wanted to be a damned cartoon character ever
again. Lots of people were better with kids than him, but he’d
taken this on. Even if he had done it under duress.
    “Oh, okay.” The handler smiled at him. “Thank the
nice Easter Bunny, Stephen. He said it’s okay for you to sit
there.”
    The boy looked up. “Thank you, Bunny…now can you give
me a chocolate egg. I like them best.”
    * * *
    By the time the last Austin Women’s League member and
all the kids were gone, Molly felt ramped up. This was such a big,
damn deal for her. The tea party was just the start of the spring
League events leading up to the Easter Picnic. In addition to the
under-privileged kids and the children of League members, local
business people would be invited to several smaller events before
the big day.
    If she’d been without an Easter Bunny, she didn’t
know what she would have done.
    Turning to Drake, who still sat in a chair in the
gazebo, she had to grin at him.
    “Is the last one gone now? Are we alone in this
place?” he asked plaintively. “Can I take off this damned bunny
head?”
    As things wound down, he’d assumed less of a
bunny-posture, despite his still wearing the bunny head with
upstanding ears, and he sat now with one ankle resting on his other
knee, the huge bunny foot making her want to giggle.
    “Yes, I think all the League members are gone now.
The kids left fifteen minutes ago.”
    The light in the secluded, private garden was fading
and the sounds from the parking lot had died away. It was over.
She’d made it through her first League event without bursting into
flames.
    He started to lift the bunny head off and she jumped
up to help, grasping the head at the sides and pulling. Bending
forward, Drake pulled back as she yanked the head off. When he was
finally free of it, she set the head aside and sat down in a chair
next to him in the gazebo.
    “You know, you really saved me.” Molly knew he hadn’t
been thrilled about her desperate request that he pretend to be a
rabbit.
    Drake ran his hands through his short hair, looking
glad to be free of the head. “Yes. And you now owe me in
perpetuity. Whatever I want. Whenever I want it. Your ass is
mine.”
    “I wouldn’t say that exactly.” She forced herself to
laugh, giving his shoulder a shove. Just the thought of her ass
being his made her breathe more quickly.
    After his kiss the other day, she had some idea what
he wanted from her and it wasn’t just her ass, although he probably
had some interest in that, too. Molly knew that by kissing him back
so passionately when he had tried to comfort her after the birthday
party, she’d tipped her hand. Her interest in his comforting
kiss had clearly started his engine.
    And then that kiss by the ladder. Good grief! She’d
felt like she was going to lose it and start ripping his clothes
off right there. She’d had to shove him away before she went
totally crazy and stripped him.
    The kisses were phenomenal and amazing and made her
melt into a hot puddle, but she wanted more than Drake’s
libido.
    It came right down to that.
    If he’d really been into her as a girl he wanted to
date, she’d have seen some sign of it all these years