Snow Way

By Alex Winters

It may be a brand new year, but Jace Carrollton is still in the same, boring slump: he’s dropped out of college and as the Strolling Snowman, walks around the mall all day wearing a musty snowman costume for a living. The only highlight of the job is Cory, the sexy owner of Vintage Vinyl, where Jace shops just for an excuse to flirt.

Cory Fairfield can’t believe it’s the last night of the mall’s Winter Wonderland promotion and, as such, the last time Jace will wear his furry snowman costume and walk in his store. Somehow Cory finds the courage to make his move: by hanging a faded sprig of mistletoe over Jace’s locker and offering to unzip his snowman costume, once and for all.

He’s finally shot his shot, but will Jace fall for it? And if so, what can an old grump do to melt his sexy snowman’s heart, one mistletoe kiss at a time?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Jan 20, 2024
• ISBN: 9781685506544

Alex Winters

Alex Winters is the pseudonym of a busy restaurant manager whose curious young staff would love nothing more than to follow him around the dining room reading his steamiest, most romantic passages aloud! When not writing romantic holiday stories of various heat levels, he enjoys long walks with his wife, scary movies and smooth jazz. Visit him at www.awintersromance.com to see what stories are brewing up next!

Book preview

Chapter 1

Jace

Bonus?

Jace Carrollton glanced at his paycheck, surprised by the four digits printed in the little rectangular box next to the dollar sign. It was nearly four times his usual amount, if not five.

Sure, kid. Denice Johnson’s voice was low but insistent, to match the almost urgent look behind her thick, black glasses. Didn’t you read your contract when you re-upped for the Strolling Snowman gig this year? Every seasonal worker is entitled to a percentage of projected sales from the holiday season. Must have been a good one this year, huh?

Jace smirked and slid the check back in the pay envelope with slightly trembling hands. He’d had his eye on a tiny loft apartment downtown, not far from the mall in fact, but had been struggling with a way to come up with the deposit. Though it was already January by now, the sudden windfall seemed like a Christmas do-over.

A much-needed one, in fact.

Especially considering the cold reception he still got back home after every shift, his surly father wondering when he was going to get the hell back to college no matter how many times Jace assured his old man that idea was a bona fide non-starter.

Do I ever? he teased, tucking his paycheck in his worn Georgia Eastern University backpack for safekeeping. I don’t remember getting one last year, though?

Denice’s soft, ebony cheeks curled upward in a stubborn smile. Naw, I guess you don’t. But the mall was bought out since you worked last year and the new owners have been fairly generous in how they treat the seasonal help, so…congrats.

Thanks, I could sure use it.

What, for books and such? Denise waved a chewed-up Pepper Ridge Mall pencil at his backpack.

Not very likely, he murmured, glancing down at his grubby sneakers. Ever since I dropped out.

Denice made a scrunched-up face and sucked in air through her teeth. Ugh, sorry. Sore subject?

Not for me, Jace insisted. I’ve never been happier. I was only going because it was my dad’s alma mater anyway. Now I’m free to be… Jace’s voice trailed off, the way it did whenever he got a little too excited about talking about a future where he might be free to be…himself. His authentic, lived-in, comfortable, potentially even happy self. Who he really was, and not his dad’s warped version of what a man was supposed to be.

A townie? Denise teased, as always, a motherly presence even though he only worked with her once every winter.

Hey, if the shoe fits.

Denise nodded sagely, waving her pencil at a pink and red flyer tacked to the crowded bulletin board next to the reception window. "Well, if you are sticking around for a hot minute, Valentine’s Day is coming up and they’re hiring for Mall Cupids, so…if you’re interested, I can sign you up?"

Heck yeah! Jace leaped at the chance. He’d been wondering what he might do now that his Strolling Snowman job was coming to an end and, like the surprise bonus check burning a hole in his backpack, sticking around for another holiday gig was just the shot in the arm the poor townie needed.

Denise beamed back at him from behind the frosted pay window. I thought you might be interested, so consider it done. Costume’s gonna be a little more revealing than your snowman one, you good with people actually seeing your face this holiday?

Just how revealing are we talking here? Jace didn’t care if it was a G-string on top of a thong, the chance at another few months not spent out looking for a job was more than worth it. It was time to get his life back in gear, and if that meant running around the mall naked with a pair of wings strapped to his back shooting foam arrows at the usual crowd of grumpy Boomers who still shopped at the mall all day, well, so be it.

Denise gave him a playful gander, letting her soft brown eyes rove up and down his rangy body as if already measuring him for the costume in question. The more of you the girls of Pepper Ridge Mall get to see, Jace, the better!

Jace blushed, but not for the reason Denice might have thought. He rolled his eyes and inched back from the window, none too eager to come out to his HR rep, no matter how helpful she’d been to him over the years. Then she surprised him with a clucking little tongue beat and knowing eyes. Or maybe that sexy new record store manager, Cory? Hmm, Cupid?

Jace froze, wondering if perhaps Denise had a row of security cameras behind the frosted window where she sat all day instead of just job applications and