Christmas and Commitment (Omega Mu Alpha Brothers Book 6)

by Kimberly Loth

  Christmas lights and decorations surrounded them, and Mia stopped to admire a tree that had pretty baubles and fake birds. “Why do you love Christmas so much?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. I’ve always loved the family time. We have so many traditions that I look forward to. I was actually pretty ticked that my family abandoned me this year.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We always spend the whole day doing stupid traditions and making memories. Now, I’m here alone. My dad and his new wife are out in the Caribbean, and my sister is in Disney World with her kids and husband’s family. I mean, I don’t even have my own tree this year. It doesn’t feel like Christmas.”

  He stopped and pulled her into his arms. “Then let’s make this a Christmas you won’t forget. We’ll decorate your hotel room, and you can do all the silly traditions you want. Just tell me what they are, and I’ll play along.”

  She wiggled out of his arms. “Maybe we’ll make new traditions this year.”

  “Maybe.”

  They stopped in front of a Thai restaurant, and she studied the foreign writing. “Have you ever been there?” she asked.

  “Thailand? Yeah. A friend of mine lived there for a while.”

  “What’s it like, traveling the world?”

  “Unexplainable. Tell you what. Why don’t we take off after the first of the year, and I’ll take you any place you want to go.”

  “We already talked about this. No talk about the future.”

  His shoulders fell. “How about just two weeks into the new year? Aren’t you on leave from work? It will be fun.”

  She shook her head. “No. If I think of much more than just the next week, I get my hopes all up, unnecessarily. If I have an end date, I won’t get hurt.”

  She’d change her mind. Tristan thought about texting his assistant and having her plan a world trip, but thought better of it. He wanted her to come and stay at his place first anyway. They could travel after that. It was insane that he was already thinking so long term, but being with Mia made him miss the companionship of a spouse.

  They kept walking, and Tristan led her into a pizza parlor made of logs and smelling of wood fire. They sat in a small booth with their knees touching. The place was packed. Instead of pictures of snow and mountains like most of the other places around Breckenridge, this one had movie stars. A huge mural covered the entire wall across from their booth, including Marilyn Monroe in her famous grate scene and James Dean leaning against a car. Shelves on the walls had pictures autographed by music and movie stars. She looked around, eyes wide.

  “So maybe I can’t take you on a trip around the world, but I can make sure you have a good Christmas. We’ll get a small tree on the way back tonight and put it in your living room.”

  The white haired waitress came up to them wearing a Santa hat. “What can I get for you, dears?” she asked.

  “I want an iced tea, you?” Tristan asked.

  “Just water, thanks.”

  “You cuties on a date?” she asked.

  Mia blushed, and Tristan nodded. They ordered, and not long after, the waitress returned with a pizza shaped like a heart. Mia giggled. Tristan dug out his phone and handed it to the waitress. “Can you take a picture of us, please?”

  The woman grinned, and they both leaned over the pizza. At the last minute, he kissed Mia on the cheek.

  She laughed. “Adam would be proud.”

  “You’ve only spent two days with him, and you already know he’s obsessed with the camera?”

  “How many pictures did he take? Like fifty.”

  “Yeah. But Adam will only be proud of us if we post it on Instagram.”

  Ice skating was a bit of a disaster. Mia couldn’t stay up on the skates to save her life, so they only spent about thirty minutes on the ice. The ice skating rink was inside, but they’d decorated it to make it look like they were outside. Around the rink there were snow-covered trees, and the fake snow even coated the ground. The dome above looked like the night sky, and she felt like they were outside skating on a pond.

  She was nervous about the way he was talking. He was the one who swore he could never do a real relationship again, and here he was telling her that he wanted her to come visit. She couldn’t do that. She had just gotten comfortable with the idea of a Christmas romance, but everything got muddy after that.

  Tristan rubbed his forehead. “Sorry,” she said as she laced up her boots.

  “For what?” he asked.

  “Uh, almost giving you another concussion.”

  Tristan laughed. “Hardly. But I might’ve bruised my tailbone.”

  Mia cringed. Her balance on the skates was less than stellar.

  “It’s no big deal. We’ll just do some shopping.”

  They wandered among the shops. Mia slipped her hand into the crook of Tristan’s elbow and laid her head on his shoulder. He felt nice and safe, which was dangerous, because Tristan was anything but safe.

  They walked into a little shop that had all kinds of ornaments and a Christmas train that made its way around the top of the whole shop. It had a small Santa in the caboose, and white cotton balls made hills of snow all around. She picked up a snow-covered tiny log cabin. It would remind her of her trip. She held it for Tristan to see.

  “Cute. Hang on.”

  He came back with a basket.

  “I’m only getting one ornament.”

  “I’ll admit I haven’t done this in a while, but don’t we have a whole tree to decorate?”

  “Sure, but these are expensive. We’ll get some at Walmart.”

  Tristan waved his hand. “The ornaments here are better. Pick whatever you want.”

  “Tristan, no. This is too much.” She hated that he insisted on spending money on her. It made her feel so inadequate.

  “Fine, I’ll pick them.”

  He examined the wall of birds and took off a cardinal. “What do you think of this?”

  “It’s pretty, but I like the peacock more.”

  He set the cardinal carefully in the basket and took the peacock off as well.

  “Any other birds catch your fancy?”

  She shook her head.

  “Okay, moving on.” He stopped at another tree decorated in red ornaments and picked three more without looking at the price. “You want anything?”

  She sighed and chose a pretty sleigh and a Santa hat.

  “Don’t you like to shop?” he asked.

  “No. I don’t. I never have. Shopping is a necessity, not something to do for fun.”

  His mouth dropped. “Oh dear. I think this relationship is doomed.”

  “Why?” she asked. She should’ve seen this coming.

  “Because I love to shop.”

  “Well, if you have money, it might be fun, but I just find it stressful.” She supported both her and her father for so long. Extra money for fun shopping was not in the cards.

  “Okay, pretend you aren’t spending any money here. You’re in your attic, and you are choosing the ornaments for the tree.”

  She didn’t want to ruin the fun for him, so she didn’t think about cost and started picking out various ornaments. Tristan put his own in there as well and handed her the basket.

  “Keep going, I’ll be right back.”

  She made her way to the back wall covered in various snowflakes and other white ornaments. She picked out a few sparkly icicles and studied the rest of the display.

  Tristan put a hand around her back and pulled her into him. He rested his chin on her shoulder like they did this all the time. If anyone was watching them, it would look like they’d been in love forever. He held an ornament in front of her, two penguins sitting on a heart. Their names were scrawled on the hats, and “Our First Christmas” was on the heart. Her stomach swooped. He was still acting like they were for real, like this wasn’t just a holiday romance.

  “Like it?” His voice was deep and rumbly in her ear.

  “Um, yeah. It’s cute.�
� She didn’t like where this was going though. She was on a one-way street to heartbreakville.

  He glanced at her basket. “Think that’s enough for the tree?”

  “Yeah. We need lights and things though.”

  He paid for all the ornaments, and Mia wandered the store so she didn’t see the final price. They left the shop with a tinkling of the door.

  “Oh, bookstore,” Mia said.

  Tristan pushed the door open and waved Mia in. She roamed the aisles and picked up a book.

  “Look good?” Tristan asked.

  “Oh yeah, it’s part of a series that I love.” It just hadn’t made it into her library yet.

  “But you haven’t read it yet?”

  “No.”

  She set it on the shelf, and he picked it back up.

  “Tristan. It’s fine. I’ll order it when I get back.” She nearly swallowed her words. Under normal circumstances, she would just order it for her library. Her students loved the books as well. But now she wasn’t even sure she’d be going back to that library.

  “But then you have to wait.”

  “Waiting isn’t always a bad thing.”

  “Whatever. Any other books that you want to read and haven’t yet.”

  “Pretty sure that would bankrupt even you.”

  He chuckled. “Pick out a couple more.”

  “You don’t have to buy me things.” She wasn’t really irritated, but she didn’t know how to handle this. She wasn’t used to people spoiling her like this.

  “I know. I just like shopping. Especially for other people. Come on, indulge me.”

  She didn’t want to, but then again, maybe she did. This was what holiday romances were, right? Then she would have a reminder of her time. She took a deep breath.

  “Okay.” She found two more books she’d been looking forward to reading and handed them to him.

  “Thank you for indulging me,” he said with a grin.

  They went in four more shops, and Tristan wouldn’t leave until she found something she liked, and he bought it for her.

  “See, shopping is fun,” he said.

  She rolled her eyes. “Sure.”

  They walked past a jewelry store, and Tristan didn’t even bother to see if she was following. He opened the door and waited for her.

  “Uh, no.”

  “Why not? All women love sparkly things. Get in, I’m letting the heat out.”

  Mia took a deep breath and went through the door. “I’m not really all that crazy about sparkly things.”

  “Let’s see about that.” Tristan took the lead. The saleslady approached him.

  “We’re just looking. We’ll let you know if we need any help.”

  To Mia’s surprise, the woman backed off. Part of the reason Mia hated these kinds of stores was because they were so pushy. She looked around the store, which was decorated in gold and silver. Appropriate for a jewelry store. One small Christmas tree sat on the cabinet and was literally dripping with diamonds. She could only imagine how much that Christmas tree was worth.

  “What catches your eye?” he asked.

  Mia studied the pretty jewels under the glass. It was mostly rings, and without even realizing it, she was examining the diamond rings.

  “Little early for that, don’t you think?” Tristan asked.

  Mia flushed. “Yep. I just threw one of these away.”

  “For real?”

  “Pretty much. I tried to pawn it, but found out it was basically a $20 cubic zirconia ring from Amazon.”

  Tristan cringed.

  Mia had been embarrassed and practically ran out of the pawn shop. She left the ring behind.

  “Would you like to know how to tell the difference? Well, sort of, it’s not a perfect test, but it’s a fast way to test.”

  “Sure.”

  Tristan waved the woman over.

  “We’d like to see two rings. Both around one carat. One with a white sapphire and one with a real diamond. A round stone would be best. Wait. What ring size are you?” Tristan dropped his gaze to Mia.

  “Six.”

  “Okay, make them both a six.”

  The woman walked over to a couple of different counters and came back. She handed both rings to Tristan. He took Mia’s hand and slid both rings on her left ring finger. She wasn’t lost to the implication.

  “Now, I don’t know which one is which. Well, I’m fairly certain I know, but we’ll see. I’m going to blow on both rings, and we’ll see which one fogs up. The diamond won’t.”

  Tristan brought her hand close to his mouth and huffed on the stones. His breath was warm on her fingers. Mia looked. The ring on the front was foggy and the one behind it was not.

  “I had no idea they could do that.”

  “Now you know.” He didn’t take his eyes off of hers. “How much for the rings?” The question was not meant for her.

  “Fifteen for the real diamond, two-fifty for the white sapphire,” the saleswoman said.

  Mia creased her eyebrows. “I thought diamonds were more expensive.”

  Tristan chuckled. “Fifteen thousand.”

  Mia jerked her hand out of his and ripped the rings off her fingers. She dropped them onto the black mat in front of the saleslady.

  She left them standing at the counter and perused the necklaces instead. “You okay?” Tristan asked.

  “That’s a lot of money. I’m not sure I ever want fifteen thousand dollars on one of my fingers.”

  “Okay. Noted. When the time comes, I won’t tell you how much your ring costs.” He said it so matter-of-factly.

  Mia spun and stomped her foot. “Tristan, you’ve got to stop talking about the future like that.”

  He stared at her for a full thirty seconds. Then he blinked and looked under the glass at the necklaces she’d been looking at. “Anything catch your eye?” He moved on like nothing more had been said, and Mia wasn’t sure what to think.

  She shook her head. But as she stepped further down the counter, she spotted a necklace with a fine, silver chain and a Christmas tree made from diamonds and emeralds. She hesitated for a moment too long.

  “Which one?” Tristan asked.

  “Nothing. It’s fine.”

  But he’d already figured it out. He waved the saleswoman over. “We’ll take the Christmas tree necklace.”

  He handed the woman his credit card, and Mia sighed. This was absurd. He already knew her too well. The lines were getting too blurred.

  “I don’t need that necklace.”

  “Need is irrelevant. You want it.”

  Before Mia knew it, the necklace was in a fancy jewelry box and in a bag in her hands. Tristan took her hand, and she let him. This had been a magical night.

  The streets were clearing out, and the shops were closing. Mia stopped in front of one with blue icicle lights and a window display with blue snowflakes. It was exquisite. She pulled herself away and kept walking, looking at the decorations.

  Sappy eighties music played from outdoor speakers at one shop. Tristan extracted himself from her and took off his gloves and dropped them on the ground. Then he held out his hand to Mia. “Dance with me?”

  His eyes sparkled. She took his hand, and he pulled her close to him, wrapping his other hand around her back as the ridiculously romantic music played in the background.

  They spun in a slow circle. She looked up into his face, and he smiled down at her.

  “Thanks for giving me a concussion. You’ve made this vacation the best one ever.”

  She blushed. “It really was an accident.”

  “I don’t remember the accident, but I do remember the angel rescuing me. You truly are gorgeous, and I’m not just saying that because you dressed up tonight. You look just as good without all the makeup.”

  The heat filled her cheeks again. “This has been nice.”

  He dipped his head down and whispered in her ear. “Just nice?” Then he trailed his lips along her jaw and pressed his mouth lightly agains
t hers. At first, she didn’t react. She wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but then she leaned into the kiss and laced her arms around his neck.

  Their lips moved slowly against each other, and after what seemed like forever, but at the same time, an instant, he moved away.

  “You were saying?” he asked.

  She grinned at him. “That was unforgettable.”

  “I’m counting on that.”

  He let got of her and picked up his gloves and tugged them on. They took a long meandering path to the car, stopping to kiss under the eaves of the cute shops.

  And before they got inside, Tristan pressed Mia up against the door. “You know, you’re unforgettable. You need to move to Florida so I can keep you close, always.”

  He kissed her forehead, then her nose, and then he teased her lips with his tongue and she let him in. She wanted to argue with him about the future again, but his lips were too distracting.

  Chapter Twenty

  They stopped at Walmart to pick up a tree and lights. There were so many to choose from, and she looked between a white and green one. Tristan came up and grabbed her arm.

  “What about this one?” He pointed to a bright pink tree with red tips. She’d honestly never seen an uglier Christmas tree.

  “You can’t be serious,” she said with a laugh.

  “I think it looks like you,” he said, but he was grinning. “We could decorate it with some beer cans and dog collars.”

  “Your idea of what looks like me is scary,” she said.

  After a few more minutes of deliberation, she went with a traditional green tree.

  Tristan helped Mia carry the tree and all the decorations up to her room, and she dumped them in a corner.

  “Should we put up the tree right now?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “No. The tree doesn’t go up until Christmas Eve.”

  “Why?”

  “That’s the tradition.”

  He pulled her close, and her breath caught. She would never get used to him. Though they only had a week left, she didn’t have time to get used to him. He kept talking about their future, but she knew that was ridiculous. She wouldn’t even let herself think about the future.