Home For The Holidays

by Elena Aitken

  Jeremy turned around so he could face all his friends. “Here it is.” He grinned widely for them all and raised his glass. “Merry Christmas, everyone. I’m really glad you are all—”

  “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.”

  He froze, his glass in midair.

  There was only one voice that sounded like an angel.

  Bella.

  His friends, the noise, the room full of people faded away as Jeremy turned slowly to see Bella on the stage, the microphone in her hand, as though she were born to be there. She was absolutely stunning in a fitted red dress that hugged every one of her curves and sparkled under the Christmas lights that hung over the stage. Her long, dark hair hung in soft waves over her shoulders and her piercing green eyes looked directly at him as she sang the lyrics to the familiar Christmas song. Just as she had days earlier at Ever After Ranch.

  Despite being surrounded by almost a hundred of his friends and neighbors, this performance was dramatically more intimate. Everyone else fell away and it was just the two of them. She sang directly to him. The familiar lyrics of his favorite carol had never sounded so romantic, so special, and so completely perfect.

  It wasn’t until the last chorus that Jeremy even realized he was up and out of his seat. He made his way through the crowd until he was on the stage standing next to Bella as she sang the last line, “Although it’s been said many times, many ways…Merry Christmas, to you.”

  She reached out her hand and he took it. The crowd erupted in applause as he pulled her to him and kissed her, long and slow.

  He could have kissed her forever, and he planned to. But first, there was something he needed to say. “Bella, I—”

  “Jeremy, I’m so—”

  He silenced her with a gentle finger to her lips. She had a lot of explaining to do, of that there was no doubt. But there would be time for that.

  “Later,” he whispered. “Right now, the only thing that matters is that you’re here and I’m here with you in my arms. I don’t know if it’s the magic of the season or what, but what I do know, Bella Burton, is that I’m falling in love with you.”

  Her smile was the sweetest and sexiest thing he’d ever seen all at once, but when she spoke, he knew he was gone for good. Bella bit her lower lip. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that, Jeremy, because I’ve already fallen. Completely and totally. I love you.”

  Jeremy didn’t care that everyone was watching and even that the applause had turned into cheering as he kissed her again, this time deeper. He didn’t care because the only thing that mattered was that she was there. She was in his arms, she felt the same way he did, and his Christmas wish had come true.

  Chapter 12

  When Bella woke up with Jeremy’s arm snuggled around her, holding her close against his hard chest, she contemplated pinching herself to see whether it was true. Because how could it be?

  She’d made such a mess of things. To the point that she wasn’t sure she could salvage things. But not only had she, but…it had been the most perfect night.

  When she’d walked into the firehall the night before, she hadn’t seen him among the crowd, and her stomach had dropped. She’d missed him. But then she saw Santa with that familiar twinkle in his eye, and she went to him.

  Bella didn’t dare to hug him, lest she fall apart right there in front of the entire town. Instead, she sat next to Papa and took his white gloved hand in hers. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t do it.”

  “It wasn’t right, Bella.”

  She looked at him and tried to read his eyes. How could he know what the situation was? She hadn’t said a word except to lie to him about how great the band was and how awesome Kyle was. She regretted that now. Like so many other things.

  “But it will be.” He squeezed her hand. “Fate had other plans for you this Christmas.”

  She narrowed her eyes in question.

  “Perhaps it wasn’t right this time because you had more important things to take care of right here?”

  “But you told me to follow my dreams.”

  He smiled, his beard twitching up. “I also told you that there’s always more than one path to get where you’re going, and if you aren’t paying attention you could miss the path that will change everything, remember? Sometimes life has a way of working out that you wouldn’t expect and that you’d never experience if you didn’t keep your eyes and your heart open to it.”

  She thought about what he’d said for a moment.

  “But what if it’s too late?” It was too late. Jeremy was gone already, and she hadn’t had the chance to tell him how she really felt.

  Papa winked and nodded his head to the right. Bella followed his gaze as he said, “It’s never too late.”

  And it hadn’t been. The band was more than happy to help her out with her song choice. The moment she stepped out there with the microphone in her hand and started singing directly to Jeremy, she poured everything she had into the performance that was just for him.

  The rest of the night had gone by in a blur. There had been hugs and well wishes, Merry Christmases and even a few congratulations, but through it all, Jeremy had been right there at her side and that was all that mattered.

  He was there. She was there. And they loved each other.

  She looked over her shoulder. He was still asleep. As much as she didn’t want to leave the warmth of his embrace, she was also very aware that it was Christmas morning and Papa would be up soon. As quietly as she could, she tried to slip from the bed.

  Jeremy’s arm tightened in response. “Where do you think you’re going?” He pulled her back into his embrace and kissed her neck.

  A small sigh slipped from her lips, but she needed to be strong. “I need to get up. It’s Christmas.”

  “More the reason to stay in bed.” He flipped around and was over top her, framing her with his strong arms so quickly, she didn’t have time to react. “I want to give you your Christmas present.” He dipped his head and started to kiss her chest, working his way down her body.

  The temptation was strong.

  “You gave me my present last night.” His head popped up over top her once again. “And I enjoyed it very much.”

  “As did I.” His grin was wicked. “So much so, it’s time for another.”

  She laughed. “Later. I want to get breakfast started for Papa. It’s Christmas.”

  His eyes grew wide. “You’re cooking?”

  She narrowed her eyes.

  “In that case, I better get suited up with a fire extinguisher. I mean, I’ve seen what you can do to an innocent lasagna.”

  She smacked his chest lightly, rolled out from under him, and swung her bare legs over the edge of the bed. “It’s a good thing I did burn that lasagna,” she said as she reached back to pull her hair into a ponytail. “Or we might not have met again.”

  She moved to stand, but before she could, Jeremy’s strong arms were pulling her back down to the bed and into his lap, where he kissed her hard. “Babe, our paths would have crossed no matter what you burned.” He kissed her again. “You were my Christmas wish, after all.”

  It had been the best Christmas Jeremy could remember. After an easy breakfast—where no one burnt anything—they’d video chatted with Jeremy’s parents and sister. They were all thrilled to meet Bella virtually and were excited to meet her properly when they returned from their trip. They hadn’t discussed what their next step was, or whether Bella would be returning to the city right away, but this time Jeremy knew they would talk about it and whatever they decided, they would decide together. There were sure to be some hard decisions, but Jeremy was confident they could face anything life threw at them as long as they did it together.

  They opened the few presents there were, and spent a lazy afternoon working on jigsaw puzzles and watching Christmas movies. Roy even let them discuss the seniors homes he’d consider moving into, and Jeremy happily agreed to help out by taking him on any tours or visits if Bella or her
mom couldn’t make it. Jeremy could tell that the older man didn’t want to admit it, but he looked more than a little excited about the prospect of moving. Especially considering they’d just heard that his next-door neighbor, Lydia Arthur, was also considering a move. The twinkle in Roy’s eye when he got the news confirmed what Jeremy had long suspected—there was more than a neighborly interest there.

  Bella had just started to drift off, her head on his shoulder, when Roy stood up from his easy chair and announced it was time to get ready.

  “For what?” Bella sat up, awake again.

  “Dinner.” Roy looked at her as though she were crazy. “It’s Christmas. We have to have dinner.”

  “Papa, I’m sorry. I didn’t even think of dinner.” Bella shook her head. “I didn’t prepare anything. I don’t even know if we have—”

  “Nonsense. We’re not cooking.” Roy laughed, clearly happy to have fooled his granddaughter. “We were invited to the Langdon ranch for dinner. Well, I was, anyway. But I assume that invitation will be extended.”

  Jeremy wiggled his eyebrows at the old man, who only chuckled.

  “Debbie Langdon is young enough to be my daughter. We’re old friends is all. And she’s a nice lady who took pity on an old man alone on Christmas.” He shook his head and muttered as he shuffled from the room to get ready. “Damn kids, thinking everything is more than it is.”

  As soon as he left, Bella looked up at him with tired eyes. “I’m so exhausted,” she said. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

  He hugged her tight, afraid she might actually cry from exhaustion. “We don’t have to go,” he said in her ear. “I’ll drive Roy over and come back and make us grilled cheese. It’s Christmas. We don’t have to—”

  “Exactly. It’s Christmas.” She forced a smile. “They’re your friends.”

  “And yours.” He kissed her gently. “Which is why they’ll understand, Bella. It’s okay. We just saw them last night. It’ll be fine. I promise.”

  Jeremy wasn’t surprised when, forty minutes later, after he’d deposited Roy on the Langdon ranch, gave everyone his best wishes and made his apologies for him and Bella and finally returned to Roy’s place, the house was quiet. Bella was fast asleep on the couch. He pulled an afghan over her and went to the kitchen to, as quietly as he could, prepare a grilled cheese holiday feast.

  The smell of the toasting bread must have woken her because as Jeremy was setting the table, Bella appeared in the doorway. She yawned widely and grinned. “It smells amazing in here.”

  He held out the platter of sandwiches with a flourish. “Nothing but the best for our first Christmas together.”

  “It’s absolutely perfect.” Bella sat at the table. “I hope they weren’t too upset about us bailing on dinner.”

  “Not even a little bit. They totally understood. But Stephanie sent a card home for you. Hold on.”

  He grabbed the card for her to read while he continued to set the table. It was only after he’d opened the bottle of wine that he realized Bella hadn’t said anything for a few minutes. He turned to see her holding the Christmas card in one hand, a business card in the other, her mouth wide open.

  “What is it? Is everything okay?”

  She nodded slowly but still didn’t speak, so Jeremy took the card from her and read:

  Bella,

  You have the most amazing voice I’ve heard in a very long time and I know you will be absolutely perfect for this script I’m reading. This is my agent’s card. He’s expecting your call and after I sent him the video I recorded last night, even more excited about your future than I am.

  Merry Christmas.

  Steph

  “Holy shit.” Jeremy finished reading the card and looked at Bella, who had tears streaming down her face. “Right?”

  She nodded. “I don’t know what to say. Why is this happening?”

  Christmas feast forgotten, Jeremy wrapped her up in his arms and spun her around the kitchen. “You don’t have to say anything, Bella. You deserve this and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s all just the magic of Christmas at work.”

  That made her laugh. “You’re a crazy man.”

  “Maybe so.” He kissed her. “But I’m your crazy man. Merry Christmas, Bella.”

  Thank you so much for reading We Wish You A Happily Ever After!

  I hope you loved meeting Bella and Jeremy. But their story is far from over…Keeping Happily Ever After is next in the series. You can read a sneak peek of Chapter One HERE.

  And if you’re new to the Ever After series, catch up with the gang of Glacier Falls starting with Choosing Happily Ever After which you can read for FREE right now!

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  One Perfect Night

  Bella Andre

  ONE PERFECT NIGHT guest stars Mia Sullivan and Rafe Sullivan from Bella Andre’s bestselling series about The Sullivans.

  Can he convince her they are destined to be together in one perfect night?

  One touch...One kiss

  The first time Noah Bryant meets Colbie Michaels, they collide at the top of a snowy mountain in California and sparks fly. Swamped by sudden emotion—and a desire she can’t control—Colbie panics. Before he can get her phone number or last name, she’s gone. When they end up serendipitously meeting in Seattle one week later, Noah is certain Colbie is his destiny, and he can’t make the mistake of losing her again.

  One night...One forever love

  Colbie wants to believe in a happily-ever-after, but experience tells her falling for Noah is more likely to lead to a broken heart. Only, how can she resist him as he sets out to prove that they’re destined to be together? Especially when he’s intent on fulfilling every last one of her secret desires and he’s willing to keep proving it to her every day...and every sweet and sinful night.

  NOTE FROM BELLA: If this is your first time reading about the Sullivans, you can easily read each book as a stand-alone—and there is a Sullivan family tree available on my website (http://bellaandre.com/sullivan-family-tree/) so you can see how the books connect together!

  ONE PERFECT NIGHT

  ~ The Sullivans ~

  Colbie & Noah

  Copyright © 2020 Bella Andre

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  Chapter 1

  Lake Tahoe, California

  As the chair lift climbed higher and higher, Colbie Michaels tried to ignore the way her heart beat faster and faster with every foot the lift cleared. If only she could find a way to stop thinking about how long a fall it would be if the chain holding up the chair lift snapped and she and her best friend plummeted to the snow below.

  "Earth to Colbie."

  Mia Sullivan’s voice finally made it through to her brain, as did the fact that her friend’s legs swinging back and forth were making the whole chair rock.

  "Sorry, I’ll stop," Mia said, clearly reading her mind. "I know how you are about heights. I should never have let you ride the lift."

  "You know I had to do this." At the moment Colbie could barely remember why she’d been so hell-bent on riding the chair lift, just that it had something to do with challenging herself and facing her fears down one by one. In any case, it didn’t really matter what her reasons were anymore...she couldn’t exactly get off now, could she? "I’m doing okay up here," she lied.

  Her friend looked down at her white knuckles where she was gripping the arm rest for dear life with both hands. "No, you’re not. Tell me what I can do to help and I’ll do it."

  Before Colbie could answer, the lift came to a crashing halt. "What’s happening? Is it broken? Are they going to have to airlift us off of here?"

  Mia couldn’t keep from rolling her eyes. "I’m sure it’s just someone needing a little extra time getting on or off."

  But Colbie barely heard her friend’s answer,
because she was having trouble breathing and all she could hear was her heart pounding in her ears. Even though she knew better than to look down, she couldn’t stop herself from taking a quick peek.

  Mia poked her leg—hard—to get her attention. "Stop freaking out."

  The uncharacteristically stern tone of her friend’s voice momentarily broke through the scene-by-scene playback of her life flashing before her eyes.

  "Right." Colbie gasped in a lungful of air. "Good idea."

  Mia grinned. "Pretty good dominatrix voice, don’t you think?"

  Colbie’s eyebrows went up. "Is that what that was?"

  Her friend nodded, looking tremendously pleased with herself. "I would make a great domme, wouldn’t I?"

  "The best," she agreed with her first real smile since getting on the lift. No one else could have done as good a job of distracting her. Only her best friend.

  As the only girl in a family with four boys, Mia Sullivan had learned to speak up early in life to make sure she didn’t get lost in the shuffle of fists and stinky socks and football helmets. Colbie had been lucky enough to grow up only a block away from the Sullivan house, a rambling Craftsman on the shores of Lake Washington. She’d spent half her childhood with the Sullivans, and might even have had a teeny-tiny crush on each of Mia’s brothers growing up.

  Then again, who hadn’t?

  Other people might make fun of Colbie’s fear of heights, but not the woman she’d been friends with for more than twenty years. She still remembered the first time she’d seen Mia. They’d been five years old and brand-new kindergarteners. Everyone else in Mrs. Tillman’s class had been suitably nervous about being away from home for the first time and having to sit still on the braided rug in a circle and follow instructions and practice writing their names. But worst of all had been recess, because what if she never made any friends?