Christmas In Silver Bell Falls by Samantha Chase

night.  It sort of came to me while I was in the tub.”  She looked up and gave him a pointed look.  “Before someone broke in and disturbed me.”
    “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
    Melanie playfully shook her head.  “It’s not everyday someone barges in on me while I’m taking a bath.”
    It was on the tip of his tongue to say something about how amazing it was for him, but decided to keep it to himself.  “You have to admit, you’ll never forget our first meeting,” he teased with a wink.
    She burst out laughing and Josiah found he loved the sound of it.  He joined her and before either could say anything else, Bev was back with their lunches. 
    They ate in companionable silence and Josiah knew right then and there, he’d more than likely never forget Melanie Harper.
    ****
    “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
    “I told you.”
    “No,” she said, “you made it all sound rather blasé…but this?” She held her chocolate ice cream cone out toward him.  “This is decadent perfection.”
    “I said it was the best ice cream in the world.  How is that blasé?”
    “There was no passion in your voice.  Ice cream like this deserves a little passion.”  It wasn’t until the words were out that Melanie actually heard them and she wanted to groan and perhaps die of embarrassment.  Was she seriously sitting in Josiah’s truck talking about passion with him? What in the world?
    “I keep telling Nikki—she’s the owner—she better make sure her daughters know the family recipe because she can never close the shop.”
    “How many does she have?”
    “Four—Kathy, Donna, Caroline and Rhonda.  So chances are good that they’ll be in business for a good long time.  Her ice cream alone makes living here worthwhile.”
    “That and the fact it wasn’t like Christmastown in there.”
    He chuckled.  “Geez, woman.  Ease up on the Christmas hate.  While you’re here, you better learn to embrace it.  It’s going to be everywhere.”
    “Hate to break it to you, but Silver Bell hasn’t cornered the market on that.  Everywhere you go from November first to December thirty-first is all trussed up for Christmas.”
    “So what does that mean?  You don’t leave the house for two months?”
    She glared at him, but found it hard to be truly angry.  “No,” she said and then took a few licks of her cone.  “I just limit my outings and keep my iPod handy at all times.”
    “Anyone ever tell you you’re a Scrooge?”
    With a smile and wink, Melanie nodded.  “For two months out of every year!”
    Josiah laughed out loud.  “You sound very proud of that fact!”
    “You have no idea.”
    They pulled up in front of the cabin and Josiah parked but didn’t move to get out.  Turning in his seat, he faced Melanie.  “I had a really good time today.”
    She faced him with a smile of her own.  “I did too.”
    “You sound surprised.”
    She shrugged.  “I don’t know…I think I had such a negative attitude about being here that I didn’t think I’d find anything good about it.”  She paused.  “Then you added to it last night…”
    He rolled his eyes and groaned.  “Okay, let’s make a deal right now—neither of us is allowed to bring it up anymore.  We’ve talked it to death and it was all an unfortunate misunderstanding and I think it’s safe to say we can move on.”
    Melanie considered him for a minute.  “I don’t know…”
    “What?  What’s wrong with that?”
    She shrugged.  “You sort of made out better than I did in the whole thing.”
    “How do you figure?”
    “You walked in and saw me naked!  I was mortified!  You came out of the whole thing unscathed!”
    “So if you walked in on me naked, would we be even?”
    Her mind instantly raced with possibilities.  Normally, Melanie was the type of woman who didn’t make rash decisions and weighed all of her options.  But something about Josiah Stone made her want to throw all