Jingle Hells Read Free

front of me,
making me jump. Liddy and the women behind me all gasped.
    His eyes were now at my level, a mixture of
emotions warring inside them. “I must find the truth.”
    Jack Nicholson’s famous movie line echoed in
my brain. You can’t handle the truth.
    I frowned and ordered Jack to stand down.
“What truth?”
    The door of the shop blew open again, a
fresh gust of cold air and swirling snow entering the room along
with an exquisitely beautiful redhead. Her long, flowing robes were
sheer and multicolored in soft hues like the sherbet in my freezer,
much better suited to harem life than my hometown of Eden in
winter.
    Her large, almond-shaped eyes were heavily
fringed with black lashes. As they settled on Samson, he tipped his
head in her direction. “The she-devil.”
    “Samson.” Her voice broke on his name and
her full bottom lip trembled as if she were about to cry. “You must
believe me.”
    “Let me guess,” I said, massaging my temple
where a headache now bloomed. “She wouldn’t happen to be Delilah,
would she?”
    He took my hand in his, cradling it between
his massive paws. They were rough and callused. And warm as sin.
“You will help me?”
    His butter pecan eyes and earnest face,
along with the iron grip he had on my hand, were hard to say no to,
not to mention all the eyes of my friends on me. Still I didn’t
know what he was talking about, much less what he needed help
with.
    As I opened my mouth to tell him no, Liddy
reached over and squeezed Samson’s massive bicep. “Of course she’ll
help you. Amy’s a good person.”
    I frowned at her and shook my head. “Wait,
I, uh…”
    Samson bent his head and kissed my hand.
Heat shot up my arm. “God’s blessings on you.”
    God’s blessings on me? I almost snickered.
Then I caught Delilah’s narrowed eyes in my peripheral vision.
Jealous anger vibrated against my skin. If I didn’t do something, I
was going to need God and the Devil to survive her wrath.
    With dread setting up shop in my stomach, I
ushered Samson and Delilah back to my office where Liddy’s new cat
friend stretched across my desk. Her green eyes flickered open and
she yawned at my attempt to shoo her off. Then her gaze locked on
Samson, her hair stood up like a mullet, and she shot off the desk,
hissing as she left.
    “Sorry about that.” I motioned Samson and
Delilah into seats. My office was entirely too small for Samson’s
hulking muscle-bound body and Delilah’s petulant sulk. Add Keisha
trying to sneak in behind them and I was suddenly claustrophobic. I
glared at her and pointed at the door. She rolled her eyes, made a
rude gesture and left.
    I sat down and picked up a pencil, hoping to
appear competent. “Before we go any further, I just want to say,
there is no guarantee I can help you with whatever your problem
is.”
    “You assisted Adam,” Samson pointed out.
    Boy, had I assisted Adam. In many ways and
unique positions. Outside of the sex, I’d assisted him with his
chance at redemption and resurrecting the original Garden of Eden.
While that hadn’t worked out like any of us, including Gabriel, had
anticipated, it sure had worked out to my advantage.
    The thought of Adam and our growing
relationship made my heart tweak in that now familiar way. I missed
him and his sexy grin so much I could barely see straight, but he
hadn’t even called once in the three weeks he’d been gone.
    Delilah waved a hand in front of my face to
bring me back to the situation. “I want to say, I am innocent of
the charges brought against me.”
    Her accent was thick but her voice was
musical, perfectly matching her burlesque dancer’s body. Running
through the sparse number of biblical stories in my brain, I tried
to recall the one of Samson and Delilah. All I could remember was
the part about his hair getting cut off. Since neither of them
looked like they’d been in a fraternity hazing involving shaved
heads recently, I had to ask. “What exactly happened?
    They