Mistle Tow

By H. K. Carlton

The last thing Brantley Holley wants to do this year is spend the holidays at home with his family.

In an attempt to move on from his failed marriage, Brant places the marital home on the market and also decides to clean house, ridding himself of any and all reminders. Although it wrecks him to do so, that includes selling his beloved ’66 Chevelle, which may also have contributed to the demise of his marriage.

Brant puts his baby up on the auction block at one of the premier auction houses— the auction to be held over the holidays. But instead of racking up needless extra miles on her, which might be a detriment to potential buyers, he hires a flatbed tow truck to convey his precious cargo from Philadelphia to Arizona.

But when the rollback shows up, Brant is totally unprepared for the sexy blonde bombshell in the red Santa hat who steps out of the massive red tow truck.

All of a sudden, the holidays are looking a whole lot more festive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight Publishing
• Release date: Dec 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781772336368

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Published by Evernight Publishing ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2015 H.K. Carlton

ISBN: 978-1-77233-636-8

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: Audrey Bobak

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

To my husband—tow-truck driver and wrecker operator for more than twenty years and my resident car-crazy guy. Maybe someday I’ll be able to give you a little GTO of your very own, until then this is my gift to you. Merry Christmas, AC. Thank you for allowing me to live my dream. We don't need roads where we're goin'.

MISTLE TOW

H.K. Carlton

Copyright © 2015

Chapter One

Brant Holley wiped down the hood of his precious ‘66 Chevelle. The glossy black finish gleamed even under the dull fluorescent lights in the garage.

Off in the distance, in the house, the phone rang, but he made no attempt to get it. Eventually, the answering machine picked up.

Brant? It’s Mom. Are you there? After a long drawn out sigh, a sound he was very familiar with, she continued. I thought I’d try one last time. I’m really hoping you reconsider joining us for Christmas dinner. I know things are … strained…

Pfft. Strained? Ya think, Ma?

Between you, your brother, and Haylee at the moment.

Brant hopped in the car and cranked the engine, blocking his mother and everything else out. His baby roared to life. He pressed the accelerator and gave it a couple of quick shots of the gas pedal, enjoying the sound of the guttural revs. Man you sound pretty, baby. I’m sure gonna miss this. Covetously, he ran his fingertips over the black dash, polished to the nines.

On the spur of the moment, he hit the remote tucked in the visor above his head. Automatically the garage door began to rise. He popped the car in gear and slowly drove outside. Normally he wouldn’t even consider driving his car at this time of the year. Generally she was tucked away from the end of October until the first of May. His Chelle had never been winter driven. At least not since she’d come into his tender care.

Brant eased out onto the road, dumped the clutch and squealed the tires the entire length of the quiet neighbourhood street.

****

Brant took one last sip of his coffee in time to hear the unmistakable rumble of a large truck pull up outside, followed by the obnoxious warning back-up beeper that tow trucks were mandated to employ these days.

Placing his cup on the counter, he took a deep calming breath and hurried over to the door separating the house from the garage.

Hesitating, he stood there with his hand on the doorknob.

Are you sure about this? he asked himself for the hundredth time. He’d struggled with this decision for months now. Even after he’d made it and taken the steps to follow through, putting his girl up on the auction block was one of the hardest decisions he’d ever had to make. But it was time to move on. She brought back too many memories he needed to put behind him.

With determination he opened the door and rushed outside before the tow-truck driver rang the bell.

The first thing he saw was the flatbed of the tow truck and he was at once relieved to see how new and clean it appeared to be. The last thing he wanted was his Chelle being transferred on some greasy dirty wrecker. For one, she wasn’t being scrapped, and two, Brant kept all of his stuff in pristine condition. For their last ride together, he intended for her send off to remain the status quo.

Brant stepped out onto the front stoop and immediately pulled his collar up. It was damn cold and by the cloud cover, he didn’t doubt the first snowfall of the year was only hours away. Come on. He encouraged the driver. Let’s get outta here before the bad weather comes. It would kill him to see snow on his car. What had he been thinking? Why hadn’t he hired an enclosed trailer? Especially at this time of year.

The driver’s door opened and he lost all train of thought. One black-booted foot appeared on the step-down to the massive red cab. Brant followed the line of that knee-high boot up a slim, denim-covered thigh, hip, and waist to the plaid shirt that he half-expected to be topped off with a red and black trimmed jacket. But instead of some burly bearded lumberjack type, he stared into the flawless face of a woman who should be on the cover of one of his car magazines, draped over some sleek and sexy machine instead of driving a fucking rollback.

On the top of her head she wore a bright red Santa hat. Brant shook his head trying to clear it. With the big red truck and the hat he couldn’t not think of that catchy lyric, ‘won’t you guide my sleigh tonight’.

The wind picked up and blew her long blonde hair all around, covering her face. Unexpectedly, she rolled her eyes and snatched the hat from her head. He lost view of her upper body for a moment as she leaned back inside the truck. When she reappeared, she was without the