Welcome Home for Christmas

by Annie Rains

  Troy cleared his throat. “This is Allison Carmichael. She runs the Veterans’ Center in Seaside.”

  Allison stood and shook Jess’s hand. “Hi.”

  “I’m Jessica. Nice to meet you, Allison,” Jess said, as her son skated off. “Don’t let this guy break your heart,” she warned teasingly, glancing back at Troy. He was glad to see she could laugh about it now.

  “Oh, no. We’re not…” Allison started to say, but Troy stepped up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She stiffened under his hold.

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said. He didn’t want to leave Jess with the impression that he was still that guy who didn’t believe in forever. That he was still lost in the jungle and swinging from tree to tree.

  Even if it was true.

  Jess smiled. “Things really do work out the way they’re supposed to, don’t they?” The corners of her eyes crinkled as she looked at them—the happy couple for all outward appearances. “Good seeing you, Bullet.” She waved and skated away.

  Allison quickly peeled his arm from around her shoulders. “What was that, Bullet?”

  He scrubbed a hand over his face. “An ex of mine. And if you get to use me to make yourself look good, then I get to use you, too.”

  Allison’s brow lifted. “I paid for that privilege. And, you think I make you look good?” Her voice softened on that last question.

  “You’re gorgeous. Hell yeah, you make me look good.” He studied her. “You really don’t know that you’re hot?”

  “I’m not hot,” she argued, lowering her head.

  “Smoking,” he confirmed, loving the blush of her cheeks. “I guess fair is fair. I used you so I’ll buy an hour. Hell, for the kids at Mercy’s Place, I’ll buy ten. Might need to use you again before this is all over with.”

  “That would be great. To donate more money for Mercy’s kids, I mean. I really want to make this a good holiday for them.”

  Troy studied the woman beside him. She was right. This place really was romantic. The chilled air, the bench, the holiday music circulating around them. He suddenly wanted to pull Allison back into his arms, and not for show. He wanted to lean in toward her ear and whisper more things that would make her cheeks turn rosy.

  “So how serious was your relationship with Jessica?” she asked.

  He tore his gaze from hers and shook his head. “She thought it was more serious than I did. I was always just having fun. Jess, on the other hand, was dreaming of wedding dresses and babies.” He swallowed and looked at Allison, whose demeanor was suddenly rigid. She looked upset. Or angry.

  “Well, this has certainly been fun, but I think it’s time I get home.” She took a small step away from him. “That’s enough research for us tonight.”

  “Okay. Did I say something wrong?”

  “No. Not at all. You said exactly what I needed to hear.” She started walking back toward his truck.

  “You’re going to have to get better at pretending if you want to fool your parents at that Christmas party,” he said, climbing into the driver’s seat beside her a moment later.

  She glanced over. “What do you mean?”

  “You’re mad at me and pretending like you’re not.” He cranked the engine. “That’s okay because this is all pretend. And if we’re pretending, I’m taking you back to your place to kiss and make up.” He winked as she punched his arm.

  “In your dreams, Bullet. I don’t even want to ask where that nickname came from.”

  He laughed out loud. “No, you probably don’t. And if you ever find out, that means we’ve advanced well past pretending.”

  “Guess I’ll never know then,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her.

  Something about that filled him with regret, too. In a way, Allison reminded him of Jess. She was beautiful and sweet, and deserved a lot better than a guy like him. He never wanted to see her in tears over a guy, much less over himself.

  “All of your exes were fools,” he said, his gaze sliding across the seat as he headed down the road back to her place.

  “What?”

  “They had to be fools to let you slip away.” From the corner of his eye, he saw her relax into the seat of his truck.

  “Thanks for saying that.”

  “I mean it.”

  “You barely know me.”

  “I know enough to fool your mother and all your relatives at this family party of yours. And I know you’re not only beautiful on the outside.” He glanced over. “Your mom is right. You should give dating another shot. Dating someone for real. You’ve got me to kick the next guy’s ass if he gets out of line.”

  Allison laughed.

  Nothing sexier than a woman’s laughter. Her laughter.

  “I’ll think about that,” she said.

  Chapter 5

  Allison held up a hand as Troy pulled into her driveway. “You’re not walking me to my door.” Her stern voice fell away into a smile. “There’s no one to pretend for and we’re not ‘kissing and making up,’ as you put it.”

  He nodded. “I see. So you’re afraid that I’ll try to kiss you good night?”

  She turned to look at him, suddenly wondering if he would. But this wasn’t a real date, so of course he wouldn’t.

  “And maybe you’re a little scared that you’ll want me to kiss you,” he said, watching her.

  She scoffed a little. “Do you flirt with every woman so shamelessly?”

  “No.”

  His answer surprised her. “No?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not flirting right now. I’m calling it like I see it. And, for your information, I wouldn’t kiss you.”

  Rejection punctured through her. She hadn’t even opened herself up to being rejected and yet Troy was turning her away anyway.

  He touched her arm. “Hey. The reason I wouldn’t kiss you is not because I wouldn’t want to. I would. I’d be a fool not to.” He paused. “The reason I wouldn’t kiss you is because I would never do something you didn’t one hundred percent want. That’s not who I am.”

  She swallowed as her heart floated up into her throat. “Okay. Got it.” She reached for the truck’s door handle and scooted out. “I’ll, uh, talk to you later then.”

  “You have my number. Call me anytime if you want to do more ‘research’ before the big event.”

  Allison nodded, closed the passenger door, and hurried toward her town house. She didn’t breathe again until she was locked inside. Then she took several deep breaths and patted her racing heart. Troy had done that to her. It’d been a long time since she’d gotten close enough to a guy to let him play with her hormones this way. That’s all this was, pesky little hormones. Because falling even a little bit for him was not a good idea. In fact, maybe this whole farce was a bad idea. Maybe she should call the whole thing off right now. At the rate she and Troy were going, another few hours in close proximity to him and he’d charm the pants right off her. Her mind momentarily entertained that thought and her body went into full-force need.

  Still haven’t bought those damn double As, she thought, cursing under her breath as she walked to her answering machine. She pushed Play and leaned against the wall as she listened to her messages.

  “Allison,” her mother’s voice said. “I’m so excited about you bringing your boyfriend home for Christmas. The whole family can’t wait to meet him. I was just calling to see if he had any specific dietary needs. I can cook whatever it takes to keep this guy of yours around. Okay, call me tomorrow!”

  The line went dead. So did that little idea about canceling her arrangement with Troy. My mother told the whole family already? Oh, God. This is getting real.

  She blew out a frazzled breath. Good thing she hadn’t gotten to talk to her mother tonight because, while she now knew that Troy liked steak and cheesecake, she had no idea if he had dietary restrictions. He could be allergic to strawberries for all she knew. She didn’t know half of what she needed to know about her pretend boyfriend yet. What sh
e did know, however, was that he would never turn into the real thing. She repeated that truth to herself. “Troy Matthews is not the real thing. Not the real thing.”

  Heading down the hall, she walked into her bedroom, grabbed her favorite flannel pajamas, and looked longingly at the drawer that held something else that was definitely not the real thing. Tucking herself into bed, she grabbed her cellphone on the nightstand and made another memo into her dictation app. “Buy double A batteries. Before seeing Troy again.”

  The next morning, after attending Sunday service at Seaside Chapel where her good friend Val’s dad was the preacher, Allison ventured to Seaside Drive for a little last-minute holiday shopping. She purchased her mother another scarf for her collection, her stepfather a soft rock CD—the man had been listening to Journey ever since she could remember—and her aunt Darla a bottle of flowery-scented hand lotion, mainly to offset the smell of her excessive holiday drinking. The Christmas party the year before last had threatened to turn into a family intervention. It probably would’ve if Darla hadn’t passed out before dessert was served. And, if not for Troy, this year’s party would turn into an intervention to get Allison back into the dating game. Not necessary.

  As she walked along the sidewalk that connected numerous shops, her mother’s words haunted her: The whole family can’t wait to meet him.

  She shook her head. They were going to flock poor Troy as soon as he got through the front door. Heck, they might even meet him at his truck and start the interrogation there.

  Allison stopped walking as her cellphone beeped with an incoming text. She shifted her shopping bags and pulled her phone from her purse. It was from Troy.

  If you had a boyfriend, he’d probably be happy to carry your bags for you.

  She blinked, then whirled and sucked in a startled breath to find him standing right behind her. “Are you following me?”

  He grinned. “Only for a block or two. I’m doing a little shopping of my own.”

  She ran her gaze over him, which was a mistake because he looked good in those jeans he was wearing. He seemed to have an endless supply of fitted, butt-hugging jeans. “Okay, so where are your bags?” she asked suspiciously.

  “I dropped them off at my truck already.”

  “And you’re still out here walking around?”

  “I spotted you and thought I’d say hi, seeing that we’re dating and all.” He winked. “And I’d be a jerk of a boyfriend if I didn’t carry those bags for you.”

  “You’re not shopping with me,” she protested.

  “Why not? Were you going to get my gift next?” His brown eyes were twinkling when she looked at him.

  “Your gift is that I won’t kill you before this is all over with.” Her shoulders sagged and she heaved her shopping bags at him. “Fine. A little help would be great, actually.”

  He pretended to be loaded down with the weight of the bags as he took hold of them. “Damn, baby. What the hell did you buy?”

  Allison shook her head, but couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you ever serious?”

  He straightened and walked normally beside her. “Sometimes.”

  “Good, because next Saturday I’ll need you to be serious.” Allison veered into a little toy shop. She wanted to get Kat and Micah’s children, Ben and Ella, something. Kat brought the children to the Veterans’ Center routinely to help out with things. Baby Ella mainly helped by lifting everyone’s spirits. Ben did the same, but he also got along great with the visitors and often helped out with Julie’s yoga class even though he was confined to a wheelchair.

  She walked straight back to the Lego section and grabbed a kit for Ben. Even with his cerebral palsy and limited use of one arm, he was a master at constructing these things. She grabbed a bear for baby Ella.

  Troy grabbed a bear, too.

  Allison turned to him. “Who’s that for?”

  “I have a niece. She’d like this.”

  Allison nodded. “Why aren’t you going home for Christmas?” she asked again.

  “I told you, my mom is coming here.”

  “That’s not the answer to my question.” She waited for his answer. People didn’t live less than a half-hour drive from their family and not go home for Christmas. It didn’t make sense.

  “My brother David and I don’t see eye to eye these days, all right? We fight like cats and dogs, and my mother deserves a peaceful holiday. So do I,” he said finally.

  Her mouth opened to ask another question.

  “And that’s the end of this conversation. I don’t think this’ll be on your mother’s pop quiz next weekend.”

  Allison followed him to the register. “Actually, she probably will want to know if you’re going home for Christmas and where home is. I should warn you, my mother can seem like she’s interrogating people sometimes.”

  Troy laughed. “I know how to handle an interrogation, although I’m usually the one asking the questions. I can handle her. I promise.” He gave the cashier his credit card and lifted the toys from Allison’s hands. “I’ll get these, too.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” Allison argued, trying to snatch them back off the counter.

  He blocked her. “I want to.” He looked at her. “I’m not the one likely to screw up this farce at your parents’ house next weekend. You are.”

  Her mouth fell open.

  He took the bagged toys from the cashier and smiled at her, then tilted his head for Allison to follow him back outside.

  “What do you mean by that?” she asked.

  “You want me to be serious for your family. Fine. But you need to relax. A woman in love doesn’t act like every act of kindness is a crime.”

  “I don’t act like that.”

  Troy stopped walking and faced her.

  She stiffened as he leaned in toward her. Her heart pounded in her chest. “What are you doing?” she asked, a little breathless at the close proximity.

  He continued to lean. Then he lifted his hand and brushed a flyaway hair off her cheek, slowly, so slowly that she forgot to breathe as she waited for him to pull back.

  “This is what I mean. A woman in love wants to be touched. If your mother notices anything, it’ll be the way you freeze when I draw close.”

  He didn’t move away.

  She swallowed. “You could be right.”

  “Excuse me? Did you just say I was right?” He pulled back finally and started walking again, seeming to know exactly where she’d parked her car.

  “It’ll be busy at the party, though. My mother will be running around like a headless chicken. And then she’ll interrogate you.”

  Allison noticed that his truck was parked behind her car. “You knew I was here?”

  He shrugged. “Saw your car and decided to find you.”

  “Why?”

  He lifted her keys and unlocked her passenger door, heaving the bags inside. “Maybe I just wanted to see you again.”

  —

  Okay, he admitted that he’d been driving around Seaside on a Sunday morning, as he sometimes did to get coffee and just run thoughts through his head, and looking for Allison’s blue sedan. Not consciously or in a stalker kind of way. But he’d been looking, hoping to run into her. And usually if he went looking for something, or someone, he found them.

  Allison turned to him outside her car. “Thanks for carrying my bags.”

  “Anytime.”

  She waved and got inside her car to drive away. He was tempted to ask when they’d see each other again. She’d told him she wanted to know each other well enough to fool her family next weekend. He was sure he could do that—he’d pulled off a lot more difficult operations in his line of work. And, if he was honest with himself, he wouldn’t mind getting to know Allison Carmichael a little better. Not that he needed the kind of complication that knowing a beautiful woman like her better could bring. Aside from the rift between him and his brother, life was relatively smooth right now. He wanted to keep it that way.

&nb
sp; He got inside his truck and drove over to the base to take Bear for a run. Afterward, he headed to Shelby Summers’s home to look at her security needs as promised. With Shelby’s husband deployed, she needed a little extra protection, especially with the recent break-ins. Allison lived around the corner from Shelby. He hoped she was taking necessary precautions, too. Not that Allison was his to worry about.

  He pulled into Shelby’s driveway and grabbed his supplies. These jobs had never been money makers for him. He just enjoyed making people feel secure in their own homes. There was a satisfaction in knowing he’d helped out a neighbor.

  Shelby opened her front door and, if he wasn’t mistaken, she looked a lot more pregnant than the last time he’d seen her.

  “Do you need me to take you to the hospital instead?” he teased.

  She patted her tight, round belly and laughed breathlessly. “This baby is waiting for my husband to get home.” She looked down at her stomach. “Hear that, baby? Stay put for another week.”

  Troy shook his head. “I’m so glad God made me a man. I don’t think I could handle something living inside me.”

  Shelby smiled as she opened her front door wider for him to enter. “It’s amazing. Which is why we’re on our fourth.”

  Troy wiped his feet and looked around Shelby’s living room. Then he turned to the front door and inspected the current lock system. “I have the basic home security alarm that I can put in today. This one will just notify you if someone is breaking in, but not the police. If you want the one that alerts law enforcement, I can get it, but it won’t be put in today.”

  Shelby nodded. “There was another break-in last night. Did you hear?”

  “No. Everyone okay?” he asked.

  “Yes, but all of the Mavericks’ Christmas gifts were taken. And their flat screen TV…No, I want the alarm system tonight. If it alerts me, then I can call nine-one-one myself.”

  Troy patted the black bag hanging over his shoulder. “Give me an hour and you’ll be secure.”

  “Thank you. Robert told me to thank you as well.”

  “Oh, yeah? How’s he doing over there?”

  “He hates the desert and never wants to see sand again once he gets home. Not even on the beach.”