His Stand-In Holiday Girlfriend (Christmas in the City Book 1)

by Kasey Stockton

  They left Sharon and Shelby sitting at opposite ends of the sofa, both questioning Becky about her wedding plans, and Ellie was glad to get out of there.

  “This is great,” Ellie said as they made their way outside into the cool evening toward Brady’s Audi. “Maybe we can chat about the tablecloth vendor on our way home. I haven’t heard anything from them all week so I’m thinking we need to go with a different company.”

  Monica rolled her eyes before stepping in front of Ellie and sliding into the front seat of the car. “Figure it out Monday. I don’t work on the weekends.”

  Brady stood at the driver’s side door, glancing between Ellie and the car where Monica had seated herself. He lifted one shoulder in a helpless shrug and mouthed, “Carsickness.”

  Ellie got into the back seat. It didn’t really matter, anyway.

  The ride back to the city was long and drawn out. Monica spent every moment talking to Brady about mutual acquaintances or shared holiday memories and Ellie wanted to slip into the floor. The woman was doing her best to retaliate after the horribly boring family party and—most likely—being forced to witness them kiss. But it was worth it. Even for her incessant chatting.

  The sun set over the rolling hills and vineyards and Ellie watched out the window at the mesmerizing view.

  By the time they reached the Golden Gate bridge, Monica’s monologue had slowed and they entered San Francisco in relative silence. Ellie didn’t know what to think when Brady drove straight to Monica’s apartment and dropped her off without need for directions, but it was excusable. They had dated for a long time.

  And she wasn’t actually dating him anyway.

  When Monica slid out of the car she didn’t so much as wave, and Ellie got out to sit in the front seat.

  “White Christmas?” she asked.

  Brady turned his head to look at her. “Yes.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  What did it mean when a woman asked Brady to watch a movie with her and then promptly fell asleep? He sat through the whole of it. And though he wouldn’t be able to honestly say that he loved it as much as Ellie did, he could give it a solid four star review.

  But really, the singing did make the movie great.

  About one-third of the way through the movie, Ellie had slipped down until her head rested on his arm. Her roommate had said goodbye then because she was on her way out, and brought him a blanket to lay over Ellie, but she hadn’t seemed to think he needed to wake her up. And he didn’t want to.

  Ellie looked like a peaceful angel, and after what she had done for his grandmother earlier that day, he wouldn’t be surprised if she was hiding wings under her jumper and a halo somewhere in her hair.

  She stirred, her nose scrunching up as lines formed on the sides of her eyes.

  “Hey,” he said softly, trying to remind her gently that she was not alone. He glanced around her small but well-decorated apartment. She really, truly, loved this holiday.

  “Did I miss the whole thing?” she asked, her voice sleepy. “Shucks.”

  “Yeah,” Brady said, stretching out his arm where it had fallen asleep. “But I’m glad to say I liked it.”

  She looked at him with mock indignation. “Just liked it? You didn’t adore it?”

  “I liked it,” he repeated.

  Her gaze narrowed as she watched him a moment longer. “And what sort of things do you love, Brady Garrison?”

  This was getting awfully personal for a fake relationship. He leaned his head on the back of the sofa and looked at the twinkle lights Ellie had strung around the ceiling. “My job,” he finally said. “I love my job. And I’m good at it.”

  “Hey, speaking of work, what did you think of Zane’s ideas?”

  Brady froze. Where was this coming from? “For the gala? To be honest, they were mediocre. It was nothing an intern couldn’t come up with.”

  She shot him a look. “I’ll try not to be offended by that.”

  He hadn’t meant it that way. He often forgot Ellie was an intern, she was so good at what she did. “I just meant they were at a very primary level.”

  “Well maybe that’s because he didn’t take a job designing galas. He took the job to design buildings. And he’s pretty good, in my opinion.”

  “Someday, maybe. For now, he has a lot of growing to do.”

  Ellie sat back on the sofa and surveyed him closer. “You haven’t even looked at his designs yet, have you?”

  “I have been swamped—”

  Ellie shook her head and the disappointment in her eyes was enough to draw an arrow through his heart. Why hadn’t he just glanced through Zane’s designs? Then he could at least break down why they weren’t great.

  But he hadn’t expected to be questioned by his fake girlfriend on their somewhat real date. Was this a real date? Or was it simply research?

  “I told him I’d look first thing Monday.”

  “Great. I hope you do.”

  “I will.”

  “Great,” Ellie repeated, causing irritation to form within Brady’s stomach.

  “Listen,” he said. “We might be fake dating, but I am still head of design at Harver Allen and if I don’t think Zane is ready to take on any huge projects, then you just need to trust me on this. I know what I’m doing.”

  Ellie held his gaze for a moment before drawing herself up to a stand. “Consider it noted. I guess I’ll see you for the meeting with Gaines Monday morning? I’ll try not to spit my drink all over the floor this time.”

  That was his cue to leave. Standing, he did his best to salvage the night and dispel the awkward feeling between them. Offering her a smile, he said, “Thank you for what you did today. I know my family isn’t super warm or welcoming, but my grandmother appreciated it.”

  “It was worth it,” she said. “For her.”

  Brady took himself to the door. “Goodnight, Ellie.”

  “Goodnight.”

  First thing Monday morning Brady opened up his tablet and located the email from Zane. He’d gotten to the office a few minutes early and was alone in the design room to give himself plenty of time to look at Zane’s email without any watchful eyes.

  Drawing in a deep breath, he opened the email and enlarged the attached images.

  Well, this was just great. He’d been prepared to hate Zane’s ideas, when in reality what he felt was just the opposite.

  He slid through the images one at a time, impressed by Zane’s vision and attention to detail. By the time he reached the final mockup—a detailed design of the courtyard garden—he felt like an idiot for not giving Zane a better chance earlier.

  Pulling up a new email, he forwarded the designs to Gaines with a brief description of what they were meant for and who came up with them.

  By the time he’d completed the task, people had begun trickling into the office. Now, he had to figure out how he was going to tell Zane.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Things were stilted between Brady and Ellie for the next few days. He hadn’t been cold toward her, exactly, but he’d been sure to treat her like the coworker she was. Not that it mattered. It was a safe idea after the boundaries they’d crossed under the mistletoe at his grandmother’s house.

  But that didn’t mean it was fun for her.

  Ellie had an afternoon meeting with the founders of Kids Afterschool, so she closed up her computer and gathered her things. Pausing by reception on her way out of the office, Ellie leaned against the counter.

  “Any updates?” Cassie asked.

  “Nope. We haven’t had to meet with Monica all week so there’s been nothing to report.”

  Cassie’s face formed a perfect pout. “Boring.”

  Ellie pulled her purse handle higher on her shoulder.

  “Are you going to the company skate night tonight?” Cassie asked.

  She had been tempted to say, You mean Cassie’s skate night? But she swallowed the quip. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

  “Oh come on, it’ll be fun,
” Cassie said, her smile wide.

  “Maybe,” Ellie answered noncommittally. “I’ve got to run.”

  She left Cassie with a wave and left for her meeting. Brady excused himself from this meeting due to some other work responsibilities, but Ellie felt like she could handle it.

  And she had been right. The executives were as friendly as one would expect for a board of people who ran a charity to help less fortunate children, and they all came to the same conclusions easily regarding the percentage of the proceeds that would go straight to their foundation, and the percent that would go to the event facilities and catering. It was heavily in the charity’s favor, but that was as it should be, in Ellie’s opinion.

  She left for home after the meeting and paused in the doorway to her apartment. There was a yellow Volkswagen parked on the street.

  Mom.

  Climbing the stairs with resignation, Ellie let herself into her apartment and registered the sound of her mother’s hollow laughter.

  “Hi, Mom,” she sang, effectively silencing the laughter in the kitchen. She moved forward to find Kayla and her mother sitting at the kitchen table with dirty plates in front of them.

  “Hi, Ellie. How good to see you, sweetheart. Did you ever get that fruitcake recipe I left with Kayla?”

  “Yes,” she said. “But I’m not going to that family party so there’s no need for me to make it.” Besides, Grandma had given her a copy of the recipe herself years before.

  Mom stood, crossing the room to stand before Ellie. She pulled her into a hug, which Ellie barely participated in. “Don’t talk such nonsense. You know your cousins would love to see you.”

  “I don’t want to drive clear to Sacramento for a family party full of people I don’t really know. I’m swamped at work and I’ve got too much going on here. In fact,” she said, disentangling herself from her mother’s grip, “I’ve got a work thing tonight so I should probably clean up and head out.”

  Ellie took herself to her room and shut the door. Quickly changing her clothes to something more flexible, she grabbed her coat, scarf and hat and went back out to the living room. Her mom had reseated herself at the table beside Kayla and Ellie gave them a bright smile. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

  Halfhearted goodbyes trailed Ellie out the door and she whipped out her phone and sent Brady a text as she stepped out onto the sidewalk.

  Are you going ice skating tonight? Because I am and it should be loads of fun.

  Ellie hopped onto a bus to ride to Union Square, ignoring the faint thread of unease which slithered into her abdomen. She hadn’t meant to be rude to her mom, of course, but it was a defense mechanism. The woman hadn’t raised her, anyway. Her grandparents had.

  And when both of them passed away a few years before and her mom miraculously showed up again and wanted to be part of her life—well, to say she was hesitant to dive in headfirst was an understatement. The only relationship she’d had with either of her parents was as go-between for them when she was a teenager until she finally put a stop to it.

  But was it wrong of her to keep putting the woman off? At some point she needed to give her a chance, right? Just maybe not at Christmastime.

  The Union Square stop came and Ellie got off the bus, crossing the road toward the square and mounting the steps to better see the enormous tree. There was a group forming near the skating rink located near the tree, and Ellie noticed Cassie right away standing at the rear with her arm strung through a man’s.

  Approaching them, she looked the man over, but she had no idea who he was. He was tall, with his hands slung in his pockets and his hair in need of a trim. But his beard was immaculate. He resembled a logger, if they still existed, with his red and black checkered shirt.

  And he was the last guy in the world she would have imagined to be Cassie’s boyfriend. If she’d guessed, she’d have paired the tall, chic blonde with a tall, debonair businessman. And rich. She would have pegged him as rich.

  “Hey Ellie,” Cassie greeted, waving her over. “Come meet my boyfriend, James. He’s amazing, am I right?”

  Ellie exchanged a smile with James and introduced herself.

  “Skates are over there,” Cassie said, indicating the booth to their right. Ellie thanked her and went to rent some ice skates. She never particularly loved ice skating. It wasn’t a sport for the clumsy, of course. But she could have fun with a group from work.

  Anything beat making small talk with her mom.

  Once she’d acquired skates and sat on a bench to lace them up, she saw a few more people she recognized from work. She had been hoping Zane would show up, but she hadn’t seen him yet. And despite her text to Brady, she hadn’t seen—

  “Mind if I sit here?”

  Ellie’s heart began to beat in rapid succession as she looked up and found Brady standing behind the bench, a pair of black ice skates hanging from his hand.

  “Not at all,” she said, moving her bag to the floor. “You didn’t tell me you liked to ice skate.”

  “I don’t,” he said. “But my friend invited me, so here I am.”

  Was she the friend? His facetious smile indicated that he meant her. But she didn’t love being referred to as simply his friend.

  They finished lacing their skates and then stood awkwardly, balancing precariously as they walked to the rink.

  Ellie stepped onto the ice first, and she found her balance coming back to her. The familiar motions of skating were easy to recall and as soon as she got moving and found her rhythm, she was gliding across the ice with ease. She waved to a few women from the office, and to Cassie, who was hand-in-hand with James, both skating like they’d been doing it their entire lives.

  When she made it back around to the entrance, she found Brady holding onto the edge of the rink, his feet slipping on the ice.

  “Come on,” she said through a laugh. “You’ve got to just go for it. It’s so much easier that way.”

  He did not look amused. “I don’t know why I agreed to this. It’s not one of my strengths.”

  “It’s okay to do things that you aren’t perfect at sometimes. It’s fun.”

  He didn’t look convinced. She wanted to reach for his hand, but they were surrounded by coworkers and it probably wasn’t a good idea to be seen that comfortable with one another.

  “Come on,” she urged. “Just try it.”

  Huffing out a cloud of breath, Brady slowly released the edge of the rink. His strides started out very small but grew in length as he became more comfortable on the ice. By the time they began their second turn around the rink, Brady was moving along at a decent pace and Ellie clapped her hands together.

  “Good job,” she said, skating beside him with ease.

  “How do you make it look so easy?” he asked.

  Ellie sped up and skated a full circle around Brady before returning to his side. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Very funny.”

  Cassie skated past them again and Brady leaned closer. “Who’s the guy?”

  “James,” she informed him. “Cassie’s boyfriend.”

  “That’s funny. For someone who doesn’t know how to stop talking about other people’s drama, she really keeps a tight lid on her own.”

  Huh. Ellie hadn’t considered that before, but it was true. They chatted at least once a day, usually more than once, and Cassie had never once talked about her own boyfriend. Or her personal life at all, for that matter.

  Maybe she really did know how to keep quiet about things which were important. Given the secret she knew about Ellie and Brady’s fake relationship, that was a very good sign.

  They passed a woman clutching the side of the rink, her hair bright red and curly and her cheeks rosy. “Hello, Bridget,” Brady called to her as they approached.

  Mr. Gaines’s secretary waved back at them as they passed.

  They skated near one another for another twenty minutes before they decided to call it quits and left the rink, along wi
th a large majority of their Harver Allen coworkers.

  “Who’s up for hot chocolate?” Cassie asked the group they stood in; the general consensus was yes.

  The group changed back into their own shoes, gathered together their things, and set off for the coffee shop down the street.

  Ellie and Brady took up the rear, careful not to walk too closely to one another.

  “Did we pull you away from any grand plans this evening?” Ellie asked.

  Brady chuckled. “If takeout in front of the TV is grand, then yes. You pulled me away from a really important evening at home alone.”

  Ellie had to smile to herself that it was her text that brought him out to a work function. He had mentioned that a friend invited him, but that could have been someone else and Ellie. Was it terrible that she was overly pleased with the idea that she had influenced his plans for the evening?

  If nothing else, it meant that Brady chose her over a chill night at home.

  “What about you?” Brady asked, causing her to pause on the sidewalk. She quickly righted herself and caught up to him.

  “My mom stopped by to remind me about the family party next week, but I can’t go to it anyway.”

  “Oh bummer. I was going to offer my services if you needed them.”

  Ellie pretended to consider the idea. “Yeah, sorry. I don’t have any crazy ex’s that I need to be guarded from. I’m pretty good at just saying no.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me one bit,” he said. “The gala is one short week away. Do you feel ready?”

  “I think so. Do you have your ornament yet?”

  “No,” Brady said. “I didn’t even think of it, to be honest. I guess we’ll be attending too, though, right? So why not participate.”

  “Exactly. I’ve chosen mine already. I saw it in a little shop walking home from work the other day and fell in love with it.” She cast him a sidelong glance. “Actually, I might have to hide mine among the branches so I can take it back home with me.”