Her ass snuck out from under her robe when she reached for the coffee cups on a top shelf of a cupboard. Much as he wanted to help her, he liked the view more.

Parker turned and hesitated.

When he looked up, he found her smiling. “Were you checking out my ass, Mr. Hudson?”

He licked his lips. “Yes, ma’am, I was. I didn’t notice those red panties last night.”

Damn if she didn’t lift the hem of her robe and flash him a proper look at those panties from the front.

He lunged forward and grabbed her hips and pulled her close.

She giggled and tried squirming away.

“Oh, no, you don’t.”

He lifted her off her feet and put her on the countertop. Just like he liked her.

She gave up and into a much more satisfying morning kiss.

“I like waking up beside you,” he said once she stopped kissing him back.

“Even if I hog the covers all night?”

He nodded. “You did hog the covers, but the fact that you were wrapped around me like a bun to a hot dog made up for it.”

Her cheeks blossomed with color. “Sorry.”

“Bite your tongue.”

To make a point, she stuck that tongue out and did just that.

He made a biting motion toward her and she pulled back laughing.

If Colin could have a Christmas wish, it would be more moments like the one they were sharing right then. “I want to give you your Christmas present before anyone gets up.”

“Like Santa?”

“If I knew I was staying the night, I would have wrapped up something nice.”

Her eye narrowed. “I don’t get it.”

He pulled away from her and went to retrieve his wallet from her bedroom. He removed her gift from inside and walked back to the kitchen.

Parker had poured them both a cup of coffee and was stirring hers when he set the tickets on the counter.

She stopped moving, then lifted the papers. “Tickets to Cabo San Lucas?”

“Yep. Just you and me . . . five days of sunshine and margaritas. By the time your school has spring break, things here should be past the breaking point, and we will both be ready for a vacation.”

“Colin . . . I don’t know what to say. No one has ever done anything like this for me.”

“Now someone has. Just tell me you’ll come and pack a bag. I’ll take care of the rest.”

She tossed her arms around him in a hug worth every penny. In his ear she said, “All I got you was floor mats for your Jeep.”

“I’ll love them.”

“Wait.” She pulled away.

“What?”

She looked at the tickets and shook her head. “Nothing. This is awesome. Thank you.”

Colin gave her butt a little tap when she turned back to her coffee. “I can hardly wait to get you alone for five days.”

“Something tells me we may never see the beach.”

He accepted the coffee she handed him. “I like that idea, too.”

“Somehow I knew you would.”

“There isn’t anything to discuss. If we didn’t remove the debris up that channel, the next rain will just wash it into our way.” Two days after Christmas, Colin was in the office having a pissing match with his boss.

“The allocated money is for the main wash, not the side jobs.” Ed was busting his balls.

“How about we engineer the structures right the first time so I have money in the budget to make sure the road is clear to maintain what we’ve built,” Colin shot back.

Once the water level dropped and his men started the job of removing debris, giant holes where rocks crashed through the slotted structures proved the engineers wrong. Something Colin attempted to point out to Ed early on. His boss didn’t listen.

Ed wasn’t amused.

He also knew Colin was right.

“Dig it out, but if they want K-rails, the homeowner needs to buy or rent or whatever . . . we’re not providing them.”

Colin could work with that. Having gotten what he wanted, he turned to leave.

“And no special favors for your girlfriend.”

He paused, kept his mouth shut, and kept on walking. “Asshole.”

Colin chased problems all morning and into the afternoon.

It was after three when he walked up the drive to see if Parker was home. She wasn’t answering her text messages, which usually meant she was busy outside.

He found her kneeling beside a hole next to the driveway, a shovel sat on the ground beside her.

“What are you doing?”

She looked up; her hair fell in her face.

Every time he saw her, she looked more tired.

“I woke up to water bubbling out of the ground.”

He recognized the PVC pipes, Red Hot Blue Glue, and fittings. “You’re fixing the sprinklers?”

“Yeah. This one’s a bitch, though. The ground is hard, making it almost impossible to get to.”

It appeared to be an offshoot from what was once her lawn, out toward the area where her barns once lived.

Now that he looked closely, he realized just how much damage that section of her property was taking on. The sandbags weren’t handling the job, and three inches of mud covered nearly every manicured portion of the land. The section of pipe she was working on was in a designated water flow area that had obviously been undermined by the amount of rain they’d received.

“Damn it!”

He looked down to see her looking at her fingertip.

“What did you do?”

She wiped her dirty finger on her dirty shirt and stuck it in her mouth. “Cut.”

Colin bent down beside her and pulled at the pipe she was trying to fit together. “I can help with this kind of stuff.” The pipe hardly budged.

“And I can bake a pie, but we both have other things to do. This needs to get done so I can turn the water back on.”

He stood and helped her to her feet.

“Can you bake a pie?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Of course I can.”

There was a twinkle in her eye.

“Those Marie Callender’s ones you pop in the oven for forty minutes are a cinch.”

He laughed while she shook off the pain in her finger.

When he attempted to pick up the shovel, she took it from him. “Give that to me.”

“I can—”

“Yeah, but it’s personal now. I’ve been at this for two hours and the pipe drew first blood. It’s mine.”

He understood that emotion. “Can I give you some advice? I mean strategy for getting back at the pipe?”

“Sure.”

“Dig out another foot around the whole thing. Under and around. Then you’ll have room to work.”

“I was hoping to avoid that.”

He could see why, the earth was rock-hard.

“Then I hope your tetanus is up-to-date.”

Her playful glare had him smiling. “Any more thought to New Year’s Eve?” He’d broached the subject on Christmas Day after they’d eaten dinner and were playing cards with his family.

She shook her head and looked at the ground. “I can’t, Colin. There’s rain in the forecast and—”

“It’s okay. I’ll cancel.”

“No! Don’t you dare.”