“Yeah.” She couldn’t help but grin back. “So what are we doing here?”
“I noticed you didn’t have a tree, thought we’d get one for you.”
She cocked her head to look at him. “And how do you purpose we get it back to my house? Drag it behind your bike?”
“Don’t sass me, woman,” he growled. “I’m sure I can find someone who can deliver it to your door.” His expression grew more serious and perhaps even held a note of concern. “That’s not the Holly Berry I knew. You loved Christmas. Why don’t you have a tree?”
She grimaced, her smile dying. “I still love Christmas, but I’m a grown woman now, Nick. Sometimes life takes priority. It’s been so busy this year, trying to keep the city in the black, I just haven’t had time. Besides, the decorations on Main Street are really spectacular, even if I do say so myself. Anyway, when I need a Christmas fix, I can always go over to Mom’s.”
“How is your mom?”
Holly’s father had passed away during their junior year in high school. Her mother hadn’t taken the loss of her long-term spouse very well, relying on her daughter more and more. Nick always had the feeling that was one of the reasons she’d refused to leave with him.
“She’s much better.” The smile on Holly’s face told him more than her words ever could. “In fact, she probably has a more active social life than I do.”
“I find that impossible to believe unless the men of Silver Falls have gone blind as well as dumb.”
The warm, rumbling of his seductive voice was enough to have Holly’s insides stirring to life once again. Oh, if only it was true. Not that she’d want any of the men in town. They were all so…not Nick. She sighed silently, admitting only to herself that her mother really was getting more action than she. It had taken seeing him the flesh once again to realize she had been subconsciously comparing every man who had taken an interest in her to the bad boy from her past.
He looked down at her, his eyes searching her face. “You deserve a family of your own, Holly.”
She returned his look, searching his eyes now. Was he trying to tell her something? Or was it just wishful thinking on her part?
“Maybe I’ll have that one day.” She stood up on her tiptoes and pressed a lingering kiss on his cheek. “Thanks for bringing me here.” She grabbed his hand and started towards the front entrance. “Now, how about that Christmas tree?” Even though it was daylight, the Christmas lights were on. And, as if out of a scene in a Hallmark Christmas movie, it began to snow. Nick stopped, looking up at the white flakes as if he’d never seen them before. She looked back at him and laughed. “Come on slow poke, before someone gets my tree.”
Nick couldn’t help but grin back at Holly as she dragged him behind her. This was the girl he’d missed. The happy-go-lucky, up for anything free spirit. He was happy to see life’s priorities hadn’t completely obscured that part of her.
They talked as they stood in line waiting to buy a ticket and get a saw to cut down their tree. Holly caught him up on the local gossip—who had married whom, had children, left town and, unfortunately, passed away.
“So now that you know about everyone else, what have you been up to?”
Nick watched her expression as she asked, biting her lip as if she was worried about what he was going to say. “I turned my passion for motorcycles into a business.” He wanted to tell her more, but some of the doubts that still haunted him made him hesitate about telling her everything. He’d left town a young, arrogant man determined to take on the world and have some fun while doing it. He’d made his mark on the world and found out just how manipulative and fake some women could be. Finding out that some wanted him only for his bank balance hadn’t shattered his ego, but it had put a strain on his trust.
He wanted Holly back, but he didn’t want her to come to him because of his wealth. The fortune he’d made over the years was both a blessing and a curse.
“Passion?” She laughed again, the sound so sweet and clear it reveled the sound of the occasional sleigh bells filling the air. “Try obsession.”
Nick rubbed his chin, drinking in the happy expression on her face. “I wouldn’t say that.”
“Oh, I would, especially since it was me who had to crawl through all those old junk yards.” She bumped him with her shoulder.
“But you were so good at it, Holly Jolly.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. They stood like that, wrapped in each other’s arms before moving up in line. Soon they were on their way to the snow-covered acres behind the big building, hunting for a Christmas tree and laughing like little children.
It took them more than an hour to find ‘the one’. Nick had to admit it was the best hour he’d spent in a very long time. By the time they were done, Holly’s cheeks were bright red, and he no longer saw the shadows that had been haunting her green eyes. “Are you sure this is the one you want?” He looked at the tree that couldn’t have been more than five feet tall. The branches were also a little lopsided. It was far from the perfect tree.
“Absolutely.” She stood beside him admiring it as anyone else would have the one in Rockefeller Center.
“Okay.” Although puzzled by her choice, he knelt by the tree and set to work. Cutting down a Christmas tree—even one as small as this—was more time consuming than the movies let on. The young tree was full of sap and sawing through the trunk was a lesson in frustration. But that wasn’t the worst part. Every time he shook the tree, more snow fell down on him, making him wet and grumpy.
“Oh, Nick, I’m so sorry.” Once the tree had fallen, Holly stepped forward, brushing the snow from his hair and shoulders.
He laid down the saw and wrapped his arms around her. “Really? Because I’m pretty sure that I distinctly heard the sound of giggling every time snow jumped down my collar.”
She blinked up at him, her beautiful eyes wide and innocent looking. “Oh, that wasn’t me. I think another family must have passed by.”
Nick made a show of looking around. “Think again, honey. We’re completely alone out here.”
She stepped forward, the look in her eyes going from innocent to seductive. She put her arms around his neck. “So we are. Want me to warm you up?”
“Holly, I…” He stopped, knowing this wasn’t the time or place to say what he wanted to say.
“Yes, Nick.”
Or, he thought, looking at her red lips, parted and ready for his, maybe it was the perfect time.
“Holly, I…” A second later he was pulling away from her, cursing at the feel of snow on the back of his neck. He lifted his hand, brushing it away quickly. “Why, you little devil, you.”
She stood before him, her mitten-covered hands over her mouth as she tried to hold back her laughter. His eyes narrowed, and hers widened. She knew retribution was coming and started to back away. “Now, Nick, let’s not do anything too hasty.”
He thought of what he had been about to do and wondered if she had any inkling why he had returned to Silver Falls. She’d know soon enough. Right now, it was time for a little fun. He stalked forward. “Oh, there’s going to be nothing hasty about what I’m going to do you, Holly Berry.”
As he’d planned, she let out a small squeal and turned to run. He bent down and formed a large snowball. Before she could scramble out of range, he let it fly, hitting her squarely in the back. She jerked, but kept on running. He followed. When she zigged behind a tree, he stopped, wondering what she was up to. The tree was in no way going provide protection. He had his answer when a white missile came at him. He barely avoided the thing.
“I see your aim has improved, Holly Jolly.”
“Yes, yes it has,” she called back, another snowball flying through the air. This one he didn’t manage to dodge in time. It hit him in the middle of the chest, and her laughter filled the air once again. Damn, but that light-hearted sound made him happy, he thought. But there was something else that would make him even happier. He swiped at his snow encru
sted front and marched forward, determined to get a taste of those sweet Holly Berry lips.
“Come here, woman.” He wasn’t surprised when she didn’t try to run away this time or lob another snowball his way. He knew she felt the same sexual tension he did. The same need to taste him as he felt to taste her. Together they had always been combustible. Time hadn’t changed a thing.
“Nick,” she whispered, her lips parting. It was all the opening he needed. His hands cupped her face, and his mouth came down on hers, devouring the sweet red lips. Perfection. He wondered how he’d gone so many years without tasting her. That summer after graduation, he’d become addicted to her taste. Hell, he’d become addicted to her.
Their lips met and mated over and over again, the heat between them growing so hot he was afraid they were in danger of melting the snow beneath their feet. “Holly, I need you,” he whispered against the curve of her throat. Her hands were tangled in his hair, keeping him close, as if she never wanted to let him go. He knew the feeling.
“Nick, we, I...” She started to speak, but her words failed as he sucked on the delicate white skin at the base of her throat. He slipped his hands beneath her coat and sweater, finding the full weight of her breasts. He plunged his hand beneath the silk cup of her bra, finding the turgid tip of the center. He squeezed it between his thumb and forefinger drawing a deep, needy moan from the back of her throat.
“Holly, let me love you, baby. Please.”
Nick’s words were as sobering as a snowball in the face. Immediately, Holly’s body went rigid, and she tried to draw away.
“What’s wrong?” Nick looked down at her, his hand still cupping her breast.
“We can’t do this.”
“Well, I didn’t mean right here, honey. Let me take you back to my room where it’s warm, and there’s a nice, soft bed.” He wiggled his eyebrows, trying to make her laugh.
When she didn’t, he eased his hands from beneath her coat, dropping them both to her waist.
“Holly, what’s wrong? I know you want me.”
There words weren’t said arrogantly, just factually, and Holly couldn’t take offense. “I do, Nick. But I want—need—other things too. Things you still don’t want.”
“No, Holly you’re wrong about that.” Nick cursed as she shook her head, denying his words. “Let me show you.”
“There’s no need. We’ve been here before, Nick.”
Nick sighed, knowing he wasn’t about to convince her of anything. Not yet. “You really are prickly as a branch of holly, aren’t you?”
“If I am, you made me this way.”
“Me? I’ve been out of your life for ten years.” Exasperation coated his voice along with a good dose of frustration. He was dying here, dying for her.
“Exactly.”
“Oh, Holly,” he whispered, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead, “there’s so much...”
She pushed away from him, using all her strength and determination to leave the warmth of his arms. “That’s water under the bridge now.”
He let his arms fall to his sides, and she stepped away. “Apparently, it’s not. This isn’t you Holly.”
She laughed without humor. “Oh, it is me, Nick. I’m no longer the free-spirited girl willing to do anything for the lo—”
His eyes narrowed, the bright blue of his eyes turning dark and stormy. “The what? Are you finally going to admit what I meant to you? What we meant to each other?”
“Only if you are.” Her chin rose pugnaciously.
“Holly,” Nick’s sigh carried on the cold mountain air, “you have to know that what I felt for you—what I still feel—was and is more than mere physical attraction.”
She turned her back on him, staring out across the mountainside. Snow was falling thickly now, turning the world into a mystical, magical sight that Holly had always loved. A time when it seemed that Christmas wishes just might come true.
“I want to believe that, Nick, but I don’t think I can.” She gave him a sad little smile, then pulled away completely. “Now, I suggest we try and figure out how to get this tree back home before we’re trapped up here with it.”
Getting the tree to Holly’s house was easier than getting her to talk to him, Nick discovered. After their kiss, she’d clammed up. He’d made arrangements to have her tree delivered later that afternoon, and she’d insisted she needed to go back to the office to prepare for that night’s town hall meeting. He’d spent the rest of the afternoon walking around town. It had stirred up old memories—good and bad. He hadn’t had the best of childhoods, but he’d always been loved. His father had passed away when he was a toddler, and his mother had never remarried. She’d struggled to raise him as a single mother and there hadn’t been much money. Still, she’d managed to keep a sometimes leaky roof over their heads and food on the table. The fact that his mother worked hard hadn’t kept some of the people from talking about them. They were poor white trash and he’d resented like hell being looked down upon for a situation beyond his mother’s—and his—control.
That more than anything had made him want to shake the dust of this small town off his shoes as soon as he could. The drive to make more, do more. He saw most families struggling to make it on the minimum wage salary the factory paid. He’d wanted more. His only regret was that Holly hadn’t gone with him.
But now, he could come back to her. She was wrong to think that he didn’t want the same things she did. Granted, at eighteen he hadn’t. He’d wanted a fun time, he couldn’t deny it. But, he’d also wanted to succeed, and he hadn’t been afraid to work hard.
Now he was just afraid he’d lost his one true chance at happiness.
He hadn’t planned on attending the town hall meeting, but he found himself in front of the old brick building ten minutes before the meeting was to start.
“Well, I didn’t expect to see you still around.”
Nick didn’t even try to keep the look of disdain off his face as Sam walked down the hallway towards him.
“I told you, Sam,” he drew the man’s first name out. Holly had told him how the older man disliked his former students using his first name. “I’m here to see Holly.”
“Right, our good mayor who is about to get the boot.”
Nick could almost see the older man mentally rubbing his hands together in glee “When they announce the factory closing tonight, she’ll be sure to be impeached.”
“And how do you know that announcement is going to be made tonight, Sam?” Nick’s eyes narrowed, and those that knew him well would have backed off. Not Sam Jones. He practically crowed his elation.
“Because I’ve been negotiating with the company that owns the factory and Holly doesn’t stand a chance of saving it.” He puffed his chest out like a canary.
“You’ve been negotiating with the Hollister Conglomerate who’s about to move the biggest employer in this town to Mexico?”
He must have realized what he’d given away because he backtracked quickly in an attempt to cover up his mistake. “No, no of course not. I wouldn’t harm this town just to…”
“Get back at Holly.” Nick took an aggressive step forward. “Yes, you would. And I’ll make damn sure you pay for it.”
“You can’t.”
“Oh, I can and I will,” Nick promised, his voice deceptively soft. “So I suggest, Councilman Jones, that when the announcement of the closing is made tonight that you hand in your resignation as well. If not, I’ll be making some calls of my own and you won’t like what happens.”
“You can’t threaten me.” The other man almost tripped over his own feet in his haste to get away from Nick.
“Damn, damn, damn,” Nick cursed, wishing he had knocked the smarmy little man on his ass. If Holly got the boot…He took a deep breath, pushing away how this would affect his plans. He needed to concentrate on what was best for Holly. His mind raced with thoughts, tossing aside one scenario after another. He kept coming back to what was really the only answer. An
answer that had presented itself the moment he heard the small town was in trouble. Pulling his cell phone from his pocket, he punched in a familiar number.
Chapter Four
Holly sat behind her large oak desk wondering if it would be the last time she did so as mayor. She looked at the report lying in front of her. It wasn’t good news. When the plant left town, the city wouldn’t have enough money to keep the doors open. This afternoon, she’d accepted the fact that the plant closing was a done deal, despite the talks she’d had with the owners over the past six months. The city could offer no more tax incentives, and the workers couldn’t take any more wage and benefit cuts.
Seemed like she’d had to accept a lot of things these last few days. Underneath the report was an envelope that contained her letter of resignation.
And that brought her to her most pressing dilemma. If she could call it a dilemma. Ever since she’d signed the resignation letter, it felt as if the chains had been lifted from her. For the first time in her life, she felt absolutely free.
And that was partly thanks to Nick.
Had he really come back to town to be with her after all these years? Things like that only happened in romance novels and the movies. But couldn’t it happen in real life, too? She’d always thought the connection she had with Nick was rare. The real question was, could she leave Silver Falls, give up the life she’d always wanted to follow Nick wherever the road took them?
More than a tendril of excitement skirted through her. She got up and headed for the door. For the first time since she’d become mayor, her thoughts were focused on something else besides what she could do to help the town. For once, she was thinking about what she could do to make herself happy. Happier than she’d ever been before.
As she expected, the room where the council meetings were held was overflowing. She realized belatedly she probably should have held the meeting in the high school’s auditorium. Most everyone in town was here, many having to stand in the back of the room. She wasn’t at all surprised to see a big smile on Sam Jones’s face as she approached the table where the council members sat. The man was just waiting for her downfall so he could swoop in and save the day. She only wished she’d been able to prove he’d not only encouraged the factory to leave town but had been taking kickbacks the last several years.
Whispers of Winter: A Limited Edition Collection of Winter Romances Page 129
