Wrapped Around My Heart

by Kelly Collins

  “Oh my God, I thought it was a fender bender. Are you okay?” Jess’s mom went straight into caretaker mode—something I wasn’t accustomed to experiencing. I did have a nanny like that once, but my father accused her of making me too soft and fired her. So my next nanny came straight out of central casting for villains. Even her name sounded mean: Ms. Killkyd. She was the devil in white loafers.

  “Yes, I’m fine.” Jess gave her mom a hug. “My head is the least of our problems.” She looked at me to finish the story.

  “I’m afraid she’s right. We left the car locked but came back to find the windows punched out and our bags gone.”

  Bethany bolted up straight. “Someone stole my present?”

  “No. Yours was in my purse.”

  “Thank God.” Bethany fell back into the sofa.

  “Bethany, sometimes you’re too much.” Jess’s mom stood and shook her head, then turned in our direction. “Show Mark his room. I’ll see if I can scrounge up some clothes for you both.”

  “Ready for the tour?” Jess walked toward the stairs, and I followed right behind. There was no way I was staying in the same room as her sister. I’d rather be flayed and doused in rubbing alcohol.

  At the top of the stairs, Jess pointed to the two rooms at the end of hallway and said the one on the right was Bethany’s, and the one on the left was her parent’s. She turned into the first room and said, “This is your room.” Jess walked into the room decorated in plaid and pine cones. She pointed to a door to the left. “That's the bathroom. My room is on the other side.”

  As soon as we cleared the door, I shut it. Two steps and she was in my arms. My mouth covered her lips. My hands covered her ass, and for the first time in hours, I felt like my world wasn’t crashing around me. I whispered against her soft full lips, “You’re the only thing that makes sense today.”

  She cupped my face. “It’s been a total shit storm, hasn’t it?”

  “Storm … yes. Shit … no.” Her mouth opened to reply, and my tongue slipped inside. She tasted like icing and sexiness. My lips pressed so tightly against hers that our teeth touched. “I want you so bad, Jess. Last night wasn’t enough. This morning wasn’t enough. It will never be enough.”

  She leaned into me until her chest pressed against mine. I could feel her heartbeat race to catch mine, or was that mine racing to catch hers?

  Her hands pressed against my chest to push me away, but her fingers gripped my shirt so I couldn’t go too far. “We can’t. Not here. Not now. My parents …”

  She was right. It was disrespectful to her parents who offered me shelter from the storm. “When the snow clears, come to Aspen with me. I need you.” I wanted her under me and over me, but I wanted something more. I wanted inside her heart as well as her body, and that was new to me.

  She laid her head on my chest, and we both took deep breaths. “I won’t leave my family on Christmas.”

  I had no right to expect her to choose me. Her devotion to family was in line with all the qualities that I admired about her.

  For nearly a year, I’d gotten to know Jess the assistant, but the past two days, I had gotten to know Jess the woman, and she was everything I wasn’t. She was patient, and measured, and wise beyond her years. She was forgiving and graceful. She was the half I was missing, and once I closed this deal, I intended to prove to her that I could be more than her boss.

  If I were honest with myself, Jess could rule my entire world if I allowed it, but could I let myself be that vulnerable? Trust hadn’t been a word in my vocabulary since my own father stole what was mine.

  The door vibrated with a knock, and Jess jumped back and disappeared into the connecting bathroom. I adjusted the bulge in my pants and answered.

  Jess’s mom looked behind me as if she expected her daughter to be in my room. In her arms was a pile of clothes ranging from pants to sweaters to boots. “Give these a try. Jim is a bit more healthy around the middle, but you’re roughly the same height.” She looked down at the boots that were nearly new. “He didn’t like these. Said they were too modern. If you can fit in an eleven, they’re yours.”

  “Thank you, ma’am, an eleven is perfect.” It was, and modern wasn’t what I’d call the Doc Martens. Timeless was more like it.

  “Call me Amy. It looks like we’re adopting you for a day or two. Go ahead and relax for a bit. We’re having roasted chicken for dinner in about an hour.” She turned around and walked out. I peeked out the door and watched her pick up another stack of clothes and go two doors down to where I assumed Jess was staying.

  When I heard voices, I walked into the bathroom to make sure Jess wasn’t still hiding in there.

  “Your sister generously offered a few of her things. I added a few of my own,” her mother said.

  I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping, but the minute generous and Bethany came out in the same sentence, I was hooked. It was like watching a soap opera unfold one scene at a time.

  “Come on, Mom, what did you have to threaten her with to give up a pair of her jeans?” The sound of rustling fabric floated under the closed bathroom door.

  “Nothing. I swear.” There was a moment of complete silence, and I was about to turn around and walk into my room, until Amy finally continued, “Okay, I told her she could open the first Christmas present if she showed some Christmas spirit.”

  I could almost see Jess roll her eyes.

  “Mom, are you sure she wasn’t switched at birth? I mean she isn’t like the rest of us.”

  “Oh, honey, Bethany has her own charm.”

  I leaned against the door and heard Jess growl. It wasn’t the same gravelly sound she made just before she came, but rather the sound of frustration mixed with disbelief.

  “I’d like to be a recipient of some of that charm.”

  Her mom dismissed the last sentence. “Come downstairs and help me with dinner. I want to know more about that handsome boss of yours.”

  Chapter 13

  Jess

  When Mom left the room, I sank onto my bed next to the borrowed clothes. I pulled the jeans Bethany donated from the pile.

  “Generous, my ass,” I said out loud. The jeans she donated were ones she’d left behind when she went off to college. Clothes she’d discarded at least eight years ago, but that my mom couldn’t seem to let go.

  The bathroom door creaked open, and Mark slipped into my room. He looked odd standing amongst my track trophies and Leonardo DiCaprio posters. Another blast from the past that my mother couldn’t relinquish. We’d always be her little girls, and she was safeguarding all the keepsakes to prove it.

  “Your ass is perfect and will look amazing in anything you wear.” He took the jeans and held them up. “Very retro.”

  I swiped them from his grip. “That’s a nice word for old.”

  “Where were we?” He leaned in and brushed his lips across mine. He fell to his knees in front of me and threaded his fingers through the back of my hair. “I think we were here.” His scent enveloped me like a hug.

  Every year I came home to the same thing; every year I left with the pledge that the next year would be different, and yet it was always the same. This year it wasn’t. I had Mark, and although I didn’t have him as my significant other, he lent me his strength with his words and his touch and his kisses.

  “We weren’t really here.” I palmed the scruff of his face, letting my fingers brush the two-day-growth of his beard. “We were in your room, and I was telling you how much I wanted you, but I couldn’t have you.”

  He pressed me back onto my bed and covered me with his body. “I don’t remember hearing how much you want me. Can you tell me again?”

  “Oh, Mr. Cantwell, your ego needs no boosting. Besides, my parents think you’re my boss.”

  He ground his hardness against me, and I groaned. “I am your boss, and you’re probably right. But I love every word that comes from your lips except no.” He looked at me with longing. “Staying away from you will be hard.�
��

  I snaked my hand between our bodies and rubbed my palm up and down his length. “Staying with me appears to create a harder situation.”

  He lifted from my body. “Now you’re being cruel.” He dipped in and bit my lower lip, letting it pop from between his lips. “As much as it pains me, I’ll respect your wishes.” He looked over his shoulder toward the bathroom and his room. “You know where I am if you change your mind.”

  He pushed off the bed and left me lying there wanting and wishing for something more. I closed my eyes to remember the moment he entered me for the first time. It was magical. He’d already drawn out the tension in my body. All there had been left to do was enjoy, and I’d done just that—every thrusting inch of him. How the hell was I supposed to get through two nights without him much less a lifetime?

  I pulled the snow globe from my purse and set it on my nightstand. I had it and the sweet ache between my thighs to remind me of the best night of my life.

  “Jess, come down and help me,” Mom’s voice rose from downstairs.

  “Coming,” I said. I passed Mark’s door and felt a twinge of regret that we couldn’t have more.

  Mom was in the kitchen with her hand up a chicken’s patooty. Another victim sat next to the first waiting for her assault. “Grab the salt and pepper, honey.”

  I sprinkled the birds liberally with salt and pepper while Mom shoved citrus fruit and rosemary into the empty cavities.

  “Tell me why this boss of yours has you working over the holidays.” She arranged the birds in a roasting pan and placed them into the heated oven.

  Without being asked, I started cleaning the green beans by snipping off the ends and breaking them into bite-sized pieces. Mom and I always worked in tandem seamlessly.

  “It’s a deal that could only happen now. Mark and the seller need the transaction to be complete before New Year for tax reasons.”

  “There’s a whole week between Christmas and New Year. The poor man is chasing after a deal and will miss the holidays with his family.”

  I gathered the green beans and put them in a frying pan. They would be wonderful when cooked with garlic and butter.

  “He doesn’t have family. He doesn’t celebrate Christmas.” As I said that out loud, I felt a deep sense of sadness for Mark. All these years he’d been missing out.

  “Well, we’ll be his adopted family, and he’ll celebrate with us in this house.” Mom looked down at the jeans Bethany gave me and shook her head.

  They made perfect clam diggers. More suited for a walk on the beach than a trek in the snow but they would do. At least they hugged my ass.

  Dad came in from the back deck. He ruffled the flakes out of his hair and blew a brr sound from his lips. “Where’s that boss of yours?”

  “Right here, sir.” Trudging down the stairs was none other than Mark, but he wasn’t the man who showed up in custom suits and designer ties. This guy was straight out of a paper towel commercial. Dad’s old blue jeans hung low on his hips. The red plaid flannel hung open to reveal a black T-shirt stretched tight across his chest. On his feet were a pair of Doc Martens. The man was a chameleon.

  “I thought while the girls prepared dinner, you and I could chop some wood. It’s going to be a cold one tonight.” Dad handed Mark a pair of work gloves and a knit cap.

  There was no stopping the laughter that burst from my lips. Everyone looked at me like I’d lost my mind, but the thought of Mark chopping wood didn’t compute.

  “What?” Mark pulled the cap on his head.

  “Nothing. I just …”

  “You just what, Jess?” Dad asked as he shoved a spare coat into Mark’s hands.

  “Nothing.” The suppressed laughter shook my shoulders. “Mark’s not really the outdoor type. He’s more Armani than ax.”

  “He’s a man, and ax swinging will come as naturally to a man as …” All eyes went to Dad as his sentence trailed off into silence.

  “As what, Dad?” I lifted my brow, waiting for him to complete the sentence more suited for a man cave than the family kitchen.

  “Bossing and breeding,” Bethany said, walking in with Ben’s hand in hers.

  Relief washed over Dad when he saw his grandson. “Hey, buddy. Ask your mom to put you in a coat. Mark and I will teach you how to do man stuff.” Ben was probably the best thing Bethany ever gave them. He was definitely the best thing she’d ever given me.

  “Aunt Jess!” The little imp raced toward me and flung himself into my arms.

  I tousled his hair. “Hey, squirt, you want to do man things?” He wiggled down my body and raced for his boots and coat.

  “I am a man.” He fisted his hands to his sides and puffed out his chest. The only things he was missing were a cape and a breastplate with a big S.

  I nodded my head. “I know, and since Mr. Cantwell is new to this caveman behavior, maybe you can teach him a thing or two.”

  When I looked up, Mark gave me an expression that screamed, you’re in big trouble.

  Too bad that trip to Aspen together wasn’t going to happen because I would’ve loved to see where that look could lead.

  “You want to chop the salad or make the dressing?” I didn’t give Bethany an option to say no. “I realize you have people to do everything normally, but surely you can help prepare dinner here.”

  She reached for the bowl of freshly washed lettuce and tore the leaves into bite-sized pieces while I mixed the salad dressing.

  “Your boss seems nice enough.” She stared out the window where Mark and Ben stood watching Dad give a safety lesson. “Mom says you two had to sleep together last night.”

  “Oh Bethany, that is not what I said.” Mom sliced a loaf of French bread in half and slathered it with butter and garlic. “I said they were stranded together.”

  “Same thing,” Bethany said with a shrug.

  “How did Matt get stuck with Christmas rounds this year? He has seniority, right? Surely, he could have delegated to someone else.”

  Bethany swallowed hard. She wiped her hands on a towel and reached for Dad’s bottle of scotch. Generally, she wasn’t much of a hard liquor drinker. She preferred drinks that were pink and came with umbrellas, so the action told me what her mouth refused to say: There was trouble in paradise.

  “My husband, unlike your boss, is considerate and took the shift so others could spend the holiday with their families.”

  I snatched the tumbler from her hand and stole a drink. “I’m here, aren’t I?” I wanted to defend Mark, but I couldn’t, without betraying his confidences. He didn’t understand what Christmas meant because he’d never experienced it.

  “Yes, you are,” Mom said with more exuberance than warranted. “I love it when you all come home.” Mom glanced out the window at Dad. “It’s a good thing Mark is here. At least Dad will have someone else to bond with.”

  While Bethany made the salad and Mom peeled the potatoes. I leaned against the back door and watched as Mark swung the ax. His brute strength severed the log in one swing. As if he felt me watching, he looked up at me and smiled as if to say, take that.

  Watching the three of them together was heartwarming. They both took turns helping Ben chop the wood. My sister’s son seemed to grow taller under their words of encouragement. I thought back to Mark commenting on his nannies and wondered whether Ben was better off because he had one. Like Mark’s father, my sister wasn’t the warmest person, so I hoped the little guy had someone who filled in the holes.

  They loaded up their arms and carried the wood inside.

  “Hey, Jess, your dad says you make the best hot chocolate. What are the chances we can bribe you to make us some?” Mark said teasingly while Ben put on that sad little face I couldn’t resist, the one that pleaded with his father’s baby blue eyes.

  “Hot chocolate coming up.” I walked to Mark and plucked the knit cap off his head. His hair stuck out in every direction, just like it had this morning when I’d finished riding him. “You want a dose of adult i
n yours?”

  He looked at my sister and nodded. He caught on fast. The only way to survive in her presence was to drink yourself numb.

  Chapter 14

  Mark

  She was simply stunning. It didn’t matter that the snowman sweater with the plastic moving eyes was ridiculous. Nor did it matter that the jeans her sister gave her were from an era gone by. Jess wore them with confidence and grace, and she was beautiful.

  I could have stood there and watched her all day, but Jim insisted we watch football. I sensed he was on a mission to test my manliness.

  I helped Ben out of his jacket and lifted him to my shoulders. He squealed with delight. It was so easy to please a kid. A knot formed in my stomach when I thought about my father and how little effort he put into me. Never once had I taken a ride on his shoulders.

  I looked up into Ben’s eyes so full of wonder. “Your grandfather wants to watch football. How about it, champ?”

  He wiggled around, and I held tight. “Can we have cookies?”

  I looked toward the women who were all shaking their heads. “Nope. Too close to dinner.”

  He hung his head. “Dang it.”

  “After dinner?” I looked back at the women who now nodded their heads in agreement. I was catching on fast. My respect for Jim grew.

  Jim fell into his throne, a leather recliner set at a perfect angle to the big-screen television, and turned on the Broncos-Jets game. I flopped into the corner of the couch where Ben climbed down from my shoulders and snuggled up to my side. I had no experience with kids, but I liked this one. He seemed to have come out unscathed by his mother’s bad attitude thus far.

  Ben tugged on my plaid shirt. “Tomorrow we get to cut down the Christmas tree. I’m old enough this year.”

  “That’s exciting.”