Jingle Balls: A Holiday Romantic Comedy Anthology

by Dylann Crush

  “Uh-huh.” Anna pressed her lips together. “Sure.”

  “I did not do this thing you tell me.” Babushka threw her arms wide.

  “But you put Drake in the bachelor auction?” Anna asked like she already knew the answer to that and the locked door.

  “Now that…vas me.” Babushka grinned a toothy grin. “But it vas Roman’s idea. I buy this man for you.” She gestured toward Drake. “You fall in love. I get more great-grandbabies. Roman is smart boy.”

  Drake couldn’t help but grin at the thought of mini-Annas running around. He could definitely handle that kind of future.. “Hypothetically, if it wasn’t you, how’d we get locked in here?”

  “Roman.” Anna pinched her mouth into a line. “This smells like my brother.”

  Babushka nodded. “He is young. Smarter with Sadie, but still inexperienced in the vays of love. So much promise with the auction, but he fails vith the lock. He vill learn to be like his babushka someday. Not today, obviously. Someday.”

  “God, I hope not.” Anna’s chest rose and fell heavily.

  This was fun, really, but Drake had his Anna back and now he needed a job in Denver and an auction removal plan.

  “Should we get back out there so I don’t accidentally get purchased?” Drake asked.

  Being purchased by a fan with limited comprehension of boundaries would really put a damper on his evening with Anna.

  5

  Anna

  “There’s so much interest in your auction block. The disappointment if we pull you from consideration will be…intense.” The committee chair was all-in to convince Drake not to remove himself from the bachelor auction.

  Drake blew out a breath.

  Anna held hers.

  If he pulled out of the auction and disappointed all of Denver—in front of Medford—it would not help his prospects of a Denver transfer. There was no way Anna could let him do this. She looped her arm through his and leaned into him.

  “It’ll be fine. I’ll just buy you myself,” Anna assured.

  Drake glanced down at her and nodded.

  “Deal,” he said, resigned. “I’ll pay you back.”

  He wouldn’t—Anna wasn’t going to let him—but they didn’t need to argue about that now. Once everything worked itself out, Anna wouldn’t be paying to move to Miami, so she figured spending a little—or a lot—on the purchase of a boyfriend made sense.

  “Let me just”—Drake held up his cell—“step outside and let my guys know the latest.”

  He pressed a kiss to Anna’s cheek and she couldn’t help but grin.

  Drake strode out of the ballroom doors toward all the cell service a person could want.

  Anna had a plan of her own.

  The auction started in an hour, which meant—

  “Jase.” Anna hurried toward her brother, her favorite at the moment.

  “Yeah?” Jase turned from the appetizer buffet, a skewer with chicken in both hands and a mouthful of something making the word come out garbled.

  He was sort of an animal when he was around food, but Jase had a skillset that she required. “I need your help.”

  He smiled. “Do I get to punch somebody?”

  “Your call.” She shrugged.

  “Then anything for my baby sister.” He gnawed on one of the sticks of chicken while she continued.

  “I need you to tie Roman to something so I can kick him in the nuts,” Anna said abruptly.

  Jase paused, mid-chew. “Um…”

  “Did I hear my fiancé’s name?” Sadie asked, infiltrating their conversation.

  “Your fiancé locked me in a room with Drake.”

  “Seriously? I told him not to do that.” Sadie glared around the room. “He and I are going to have a serious conversation.”

  “He also put Drake in the bachelor auction,” Anna added, tilting her head to the side.

  “Are you kidding me?” Sadie asked, her eyes bulging. “Has he been taking Babushka lessons?”

  “Actually, yes.” That was the problem.

  “That serious conversation is going to involve an abundance of f-bombs.” Sadie crossed her arms, scanning the room in search of Roman.

  “You can have your conversation with all the bombs you want when Jase ties him to something. After I kick him in the nads, he’s all yours.” Anna crossed her arms over her ribcage.

  Sadie pondered the proposal for a brief second. “I am on board for the tying. It’s a ‘no’ to the testicle kicking. We would like children someday and those are necessary for that outcome. Also, we’re sort of here in support of testicles, so it seems inappropriate to maim them.”

  Anna sighed. “Can I at least get all up in his face and tell him he’s an idiot?”

  “Of course.” Sadie smiled her divorce-attorney smile that probably made clients piss themselves in fear of what she could accomplish with the law on her side.

  “Can I pretend like I’m going to kick him in the groin?” Anna asked.

  “Will contact be made between any portion of your foot and his body?” Sadie asked, her attorney-mode switch flipped on and ready to roll.

  “No.” Anna sighed.

  Sadie held out her hand. “Then we have a deal.”

  “First, I need my phone back,” Anna said. “So I can take off that dating app.” Thank God she wasn’t going to need that after all.

  “Give me five minutes to deal with Roman.” Jase handed Anna the half-eaten skewers of poultry. “You know the kitchen?”

  Uh. Yeah. She knew it. She nodded.

  “Behind the kitchen there’s a hallway. You with me?” he asked, low with a note of ominous.

  Anna nodded like a bobblehead doll.

  “Second door to the left, there’s a supply closet.” Jase kept his gaze on Anna’s, only briefly glancing at Sadie in acknowledgement that she was in on the deal.

  “Okay…” Anna said, certain she could find the supply closet.

  “Meet me there in five minutes.” Jase stepped away and before Anna could say Holly Jolly Christmas, he’d disappeared into the crowd of attendees.

  “What’s going on?” Drake slid his hand against Anna’s back, trailing his fingertips along her spine. Even now at this gala full of people, Drake made her feel special.

  Anna disposed of Jase’s half-eaten chicken. “Jase is helping me get revenge on our brother for sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong.”

  “Fun.” Drake pressed a light kiss behind her ear before swiping a skewer from the platter for himself.

  “We should probably head that way.” Anna tilted her head to where Jase had disappeared.

  After giving Jase the full five minutes he needed, Drake, Sadie, and Anna moved through the ballroom, nodding toward Babushka and her date for the evening—an elderly man named Harry who Anna had become very fond of.

  Past the kitchen, down the hall, Drake pulled open the door of the supply closet.

  “What…?” Anna’s jaw sagged and her lips went numb.

  Jase was trapped against a hot water heater with a string of dish towels tied together to form something that resembled a rope. Roman stood beside him, leaning against a utility sink and studying his fingernails.

  “Things didn’t go as planned,” Jase said, frowning even as his fingertips worked at one of the knots holding him hostage.

  “Clearly,” Anna said, grasping Drake’s hand. “What happened?”

  “You want the play-by-play?” Jase asked. “Or do you want to help untie me?”

  “Negative.” Roman shook his head. “No untying. You get to stand there until you’ve learned your lesson. Now, sis, I understand you have some things you want to say to me?”

  “As a matter of fact, I do.” Hands firm on her hips, Anna sauntered toward him, pressing her fingertip against his chest. “What the hell were you thinking tonight?”

  Roman’s eyes glittered in the annoying way of a big brother who thought he knew best. “I was thinking that you and Drake needed a little push.”


  Perhaps he did know best in this instance. But that didn’t excuse his methods, because this was not a little push. This was a shove off a cliff. Killing the fly by dropping a boulder on the house.

  “Putting my ex-boyfriend in a bachelor auction is not a little push,” Anna said simply.

  Drake cleared his throat. “Current boyfriend. Not ex.”

  “Well, now you are!” Anna threw her hands wide. “You weren’t then.”

  “Let us be clear.” Roman grasped his hands behind his back and strutted forward, pacing in front of Jase who was still tied tight and getting grumpier about it by the second, given the pulse pounding in his throat and the way he glared at Roman.

  “You both want to be together, and now, thanks to my help, you are together. Yeah?” Roman asked.

  “Can I kick him in the nuts yet?” Anna asked Sadie.

  She nodded. “I’m beginning to think procreation with him may not be the best idea after all.”

  Roman flashed a grin. “Uh-huh. Tell yourself what you want, milaya."

  Sadie’s expression turned soft like it always did when he used the Russian endearment. Shit. Anna had officially lost her ally.

  “Where are you?” Heather screeched, throwing open the door only to pause and gape at her husband tied to the water heater while everyone else milled about.

  “We’re right here,” Jase said, moving his chin from side to side. “I could use an un-tie, sugar.”

  Heather scowled and marched straight toward him, undoing the knots with scary precision. “They’re bidding on Drake. Somebody needs to get out there and buy him before Babushka wins the auction.”

  “We have tons of time,” Anna assured. That’s what the chairwoman had said.

  Heather pulled at the ropes holding Jase, freeing him. “They started early.”

  Oh no. No. No.

  Drake bolted down the hallway like the athlete he was. Anna followed like the athlete she was not. Drake slid through the door to the ballroom just as “Going once… Going twice… Sold!” was broadcasted over the loudspeaker.

  Anna slid right into the back of him, huffing and puffing. She raised her hand to shout that she’d pay a dollar more, but between the girdle, the dress, and the running, she couldn’t get the words out.

  The room went silent as all eyes turned to Drake.

  6

  Drake

  The room sat in a silent shock. But no one was more shocked than Drake as Jackson Medford caught Drake’s eyes and smiled.

  The man had the ecstatic look of a guy who had just signed his first draft pick and felt like the world was filled with sunny hope.

  Babushka grinned wryly from beside Medford as the spotlight moved to bathe Drake in its glow.

  Jackson Medford stepped toward him, holding out a hand and clapping him on the back. “I understand you and I have some business to discuss.”

  The smile Drake used at these events slid into place—the one that gave the illusion of being totally comfortable in the public eye even though he wasn’t.

  “Your agent asked me to make a purchase for him.” Medford smiled. “But I’m hoping it might lead to a prolonged stay in Denver for you. Turns out the team is looking for a new quarterback.”

  “I, uh…” Drake ignored the blood pounding in his ears. “I’m looking to come back home. To Denver. I’d love to be considered for the position.”

  Medford studied him for a long beat before saying, “Sometimes things just fall into place. I think we can make this work.”

  “Yes, sir. I think we can.”

  “Let’s chat this week.” Medford held out his hand to Drake.

  Drake shook it.

  Everything he’d been working toward stood before him in that handshake. When Anna slipped her arm around his waist, he understood fully that, yes, the team would bring him to Denver, but they weren’t his future.

  His future was Anna.

  “Welcome to the team,” Medford said with a final firm shake before they turned to let the cameras click.

  Medford on one side, Anna on the other, and the future before him.

  Drake was ready.

  “Yay,” Anna whispered in his ear.

  Yay, indeed. He was absolutely going to make it work in Denver. Not because of the job, but because of Anna.

  Also by Christina Hovland

  The Mile High Matched Series

  Rock Hard Cowboy, A Mile High Matched Novella

  Going Down on One Knee, A Mile High Matched Novel, Book 1

  Blow Me Away, A Mile High Matched Novel, Book 2

  Take It Off the Menu, A Mile High Matched Novel, Book 3

  Do Me a Favor, A Mile High Matched Novel, Book 4

  From Entangled Publishing

  The Honeymoon Trap

  About Christina Hovland

  Christina Hovland lives her own version of a fairy tale—an artisan chocolatier by day and romance writer by night. Born in Colorado, Christina received a degree in journalism from Colorado State University. Before opening her chocolate company, Christina’s career spanned from the television newsroom to managing an award-winning public relations firm. She’s a recovering overachiever and perfectionist with a love of cupcakes and dinner she doesn’t have to cook herself. A 2017 Golden Heart® finalist, she lives in Colorado with her first-boyfriend-turned-husband, four children, and the sassiest dogs around.

  Click here to learn more about Christina and her stories.

  Part VII

  Coldcocked by Saint Nick

  By Melonie Johnson

  About… Coldcocked by Saint Nick

  She never saw it coming…

  Classic holiday story of boy meets girl,

  boy knocks girl out with his giant candy-cane,

  boy falls for girl and they live happily ever after.

  Well, not exactly. But it’s a start.

  As the pop culture liaison for Chicago’s biggest morning talk show, Tiffany Hunt spends her December covering celebrations, performances, and charity functions. Which is how she winds up onstage as a volunteer host of the annual Jingle Ball, a fundraiser supporting a testicular cancer awareness nonprofit. Her packed schedule of holiday events might seem glamorous, but the stressful days often leave Tiffany with a headache—sometimes literally—like when one of the performers accidentally beans her in the back of the skull with a giant plastic candy cane.

  The wielder of this oversized peppermint prop turned weapon of destruction is Nick Santos, an occupational therapist who moonlights as a caroling crooner in an a cappella group. When Nick insists on keeping Tiffany company for the evening to make sure she’s feeling all right after bonking her on the head, she’s unable to resist. How can she refuse a doctor’s orders? Besides, she is feeling a little woozy, especially when said hot doctor lays his hands on her…

  Oh, she’s going to be on the naughty list for sure this year.

  1

  OH HOLY EFFING NIGHT

  Tiffany Hunt watched the dancing line of caroling men in bowties with a mix of mild distaste and reluctant amusement. She despised campy cheesy Christmas stuff, and the all-male a cappella group performing right now was heavy on both. Known as the Bucking Hams, she’d cringed when she’d announced the group’s name as the final act of the evening. Despite being cringey, she had to give them credit for choosing an apt name. Aside from the nod to a Chicago landmark, considering their uncoordinated dance moves and the silly jokes woven into their lyrics, the singers all qualified as a bunch of hams.

  However, they were also rather adorable in an overgrown boyish way as they bounced around the stage like a boy band on a reunion tour. That’s what these guys reminded her of. A boy band circa the late nineties or early two-thousands. One singer in particular really had that vibe. Thick blond hair that fell into his brilliant blue eyes and a dazzling smile that likely earned him gold stars at every dentist visit, he was the kind of guy Tiffany had been enamored with when she was just turning double digits. The kind whose face had pl
astered the walls of her pre-teen bedroom.

  She’d be entering her third decade on earth soon and wasn’t quite as excited to celebrate this current milestone as she’d been the first time around. Tiffany frowned, thinking of her upcoming thirtieth birthday. She actually didn’t mind turning thirty. The number didn’t bother her. Not really. It was all the expectations that came with it. The assumptions. The excuse it would give her mother to ramp up her campaign to see her last remaining single daughter married and shooting out babies like her sisters. Tiffany held back a grimace. Call her a grinch, but the only thing she liked less than Christmas crap was babies.

  The group launched into another song, now adding giant prop candy canes to the number. Tiffany wanted to roll her eyes but instead she forced her lips back into her on-camera smile. The resident pop culture correspondent for Chicago’s leading morning talk show, ChiChat, she had plenty of practice keeping that smile glued in place. This event wasn’t being filmed for the show, but as emcee, she was still onstage in front of several hundred people.

  From her spot in one corner of the stage, her job was to look pretty and announce each act, thanking them for contributing to the evening’s entertainment. It was a charity fundraiser, so everyone—including her—was volunteering their time. She wasn’t getting paid for her appearance, but it was good publicity for ChiChat and would provide her with content to discuss in upcoming episodes. During the holiday season, Tiffany did so many of these kind of soirees, they all started to blend together.

  Tonight’s gala was the Jingle Ball, an annual event to support a testicular cancer awareness nonprofit. Yep, she was at a ball for balls. After the entertainment portion, there would be drinks, hors d'oeuvres, and a silent auction. But she didn’t care about any of that, because as soon as the Bucking Hams wrapped their set, she could give her last spiel to the crowd and make a polite, but hasty exit.