Mistletoe Daddy

by Deb Kastner

  Without him having to ask, Vivian positioned herself next to the sack of gifts and handed carefully wrapped gifts to him one at a time, allowing him to have the fun of passing them out to the seniors.

  “That’s a lot of wrapping,” he commented to Viv as he pressed a package into an old woman’s hands.

  “You’re telling me,” Vivian said with a laugh. “It took Alexis and me an entire day to get them all done.”

  “You and Alexis wrapped all these gifts?”

  She sniffed. “Don’t sound so surprised. I am capable of wrapping Christmas presents, you know.”

  “I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant that it’s incredible that you put that much effort into it.”

  She smiled softly. “It’s worth it. Look at all these happy faces.”

  And there were. The seniors were reveling in their visit from Santa and the small gifts each of them had been given.

  When a nurse helped Uncle James approach the sleigh to receive his gift, Nick got a little choked up at how frail the old man had become. James hadn’t recognized Nick the last couple of times he’d visited, but now he looked Nick right in the eye, his gaze sparkling with recognition.

  “You are Saint Nick,” he said with a solemn nod.

  Nick reached for his uncle’s feeble hands. “It’s Santa to my friends.”

  When all of the gifts had been given out, Nick posed for a few pictures, all taken by his helper elf Vivian.

  He was relieved when she took his hand and announced that Santa had other places he needed to visit. He smiled and waved and ho, ho, ho’d until he was completely clear of the commons room, and then he blew out a big breath that made his snowy-white beard lift right off his chin. His shoulders sagged with relief.

  He was thoroughly exhausted, not only physically but mentally and emotionally, as well. Playing one of the world’s most recognized characters took a lot out of a guy.

  Vivian turned and beamed up at him. “You were absolutely wonderful out there.”

  “Please don’t ever let me agree to do anything like that again,” he begged, scratching at a particularly itchy spot on his right shoulder. “I’m more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy.”

  “Well, I think it was nice that you did it, especially because I know it wasn’t easy for you. It was a true loving sacrifice, and I don’t think you’ll ever know how many people you touched today.”

  “Really?”

  She nodded fervently. “Really. I know I personally got a little teary-eyed when you read the nativity story.”

  He scoffed softly, not knowing what to do with the compliment. “Flakes of that fake snow probably got in your eyes.”

  “I’m serious,” she countered. “And what’s more, I think you deserve a reward for all your hard work.”

  “A reward?” he echoed.

  She just smiled and pointed up.

  He tilted his head.

  Mistletoe.

  They were standing directly under a sprig of mistletoe. Had she maneuvered him here on purpose?

  Before he could react, she reached up on tiptoe and brushed a soft kiss across his white-bearded cheek.

  “Oh,” she murmured, clapping a hand over her mouth. “I—I can’t believe I did that.”

  Without another word, she darted off down the hall and then ducked back into the commons area. She knew he couldn’t follow her there. Not while he was still dressed in the silly red suit. Clearly she didn’t want to be alone with him.

  And yet, she’d just kissed him.

  He covered his cheek, as if trying to imprint the feel of her lips against his skin. Even if her lips had technically never touched his skin.

  Was she sorry she’d kissed him?

  He wasn’t.

  He wanted to kiss her again, a real, lips-on-lips kiss this time.

  He mentally poked at the tentative feeling. He’d failed so many times before in his attempts at a relationship. He didn’t want to make the same mistakes with Vivian.

  He couldn’t. It wasn’t only his heart he had to consider—or even Vivian’s. It was her baby’s.

  If he were to become invested in Vivian’s life—and that was a big if—he had to do it right, and he had to mean it. Or not do it at all.

  But first he needed to get out of this itchy Santa suit and find the woman.

  Chapter Eight

  What had she been thinking?

  Kissing Nick?

  She was an idiot. She’d always been impulsive, giving in to whatever felt right at the moment, but this one took the whole cookie.

  That kiss was going to change the entire tenor of their working relationship and the timing couldn’t have been worse. With the salon’s grand opening less than a week away, she needed to be at a hundred and ten percent, and that wasn’t going to happen if she was constantly daydreaming about mistletoe every time she saw Nick’s face.

  And worse, she had no idea what he was thinking. They’d met with the building inspector yesterday and Nick wouldn’t even make eye contact with her. After more than an hour of avoiding her gaze and keeping his full attention on the inspector, he’d left without speaking a word to Viv.

  Thankfully, the building had checked out. Finally, it seemed like everything careerwise was starting to come together.

  Tranquility.

  Not that she knew anything about that anymore. She hadn’t had a serene moment since the second she’d moved back to Serendipity.

  She wondered how Nick would like the name. She hadn’t shared it with him yet. She was fairly certain he was still iffy about her beauty salon being successful in a town as small as Serendipity, but at least he’d stopped voicing his qualms out loud.

  At the moment, she needed his help more than ever. It was time to let everyone know the date of her grand opening, and that meant posting flyers all over town, talking to other local business owners—especially Jo Spencer, whom Vivian counted on to be a walking, talking commercial for her spa. Viv needed to spread the good news any way she could. She’d just expected Nick to be by her side.

  Except Nick hadn’t shown up since the building inspection and she wasn’t keen on having to be the one to reach out to him.

  She was quite finished humiliating herself, thank you very much. She was afraid to find out what he thought of her now.

  She didn’t even know what to think of her actions. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe she just had a thing for men in Santa suits.

  No. That wasn’t it. She could avoid the truth all she wanted and tell herself any number of fibs, but she’d kissed him because he’d opened up his heart and she’d liked what she’d seen.

  A man who purposely tried to stay out of the public eye set his personal fears and doubts aside for the elderly residents of the senior center. He’d showed them the dignity and respect they deserved and he had made them feel special. He’d brought them joy and Christmas spirit.

  So she’d gotten caught up in the moment and had been carried away by a stray sprig of mistletoe. Who could blame her?

  She’d just have to let it go and hope Nick would do the same.

  In the meantime, there were flyers to hang up all over town, and if Nick wasn’t here to help her then she’d have to do it all by herself.

  She started stapling her advertisements to every telephone pole on Main Street. When she got to the end of one side of the town, she crossed the street and moved back toward where she’d started. Afterward she planned to talk to all the neighborhood business owners. Hopefully she’d be able to talk a few into hanging her flyer in their windows or on their community bulletin boards.

  Last, she would hit the park, the church and the high school. She had the notion that there were more than a few teenage girls who would want to avail themselves of her services, to get their hair
and nails done for a Christmas party or for Serendipity’s annual New Year’s Eve bash.

  Finished with all of the telephone poles, she said hello to the three old men killing time in front of Emerson’s Hardware and then ducked into the store.

  “Hey, Eddie,” she said, greeting the young man behind the counter. “I just wanted you to know that the grand opening of my beauty salon and spa is this weekend.” She pressed a flyer into his hand. “I’m calling it Tranquility. Can I count on your support?”

  He chuckled. “I’ve already heard about your grand opening from Nick.” He scratched his buzz-cut hair. “I don’t think I’ll be needing any of the services you offer. Sorry I can’t be of more help to you.”

  Vivian scrunched her brow in confusion. “Nick has already been by here?”

  “Yeah. He came by earlier this morning. He made it sound like he was hitting all the businesses in the area. Trying to strong-arm people into coming for opening day, I think.” Eddie chuckled.

  Nick had already been by? Her heart started warming until the rest of Eddie’s words sank in. What was Nick doing? Forcing people to agree to attend her grand opening?

  She couldn’t even imagine why he thought it was a good idea to compel people to become customers. Surely that would backfire and make folks not want to attend at all.

  How could he not know that?

  She felt a twinge on her lower back. The baby must be moving about more than normal. She sighed quietly and rubbed the spot with her fingers.

  “You’re welcome to put up a flyer on our community bulletin board if you’d like.”

  Vivian offered her thanks, pinned up her advertisement and moved on to the next shop. As she visited business after business, it became apparent that Nick was definitely ahead of her. Everywhere she went, Nick had already been. And it sounded as if he was using the same strong-arm tactics with everyone. At this rate she wouldn’t have a single customer who wanted to be there of her own accord.

  Maybe that was why the clipboard she’d brought along to sign folks up for services on the day of her grand opening remained empty. Everyone she spoke to seemed to have a reason why they couldn’t commit.

  Her grand opening was officially going to be a disaster. From the looks of it, she would be standing in an empty beauty parlor on opening day with nothing to do but twiddle her pinkies, while outside people would pass by and gawk at her pathetic little excuse for a spa.

  Maybe Nick had been right all along. Maybe Serendipity didn’t need what she had to offer.

  Had she put all of her time, effort and money into her business for nothing?

  By the end of the day, she was bone weary and completely discouraged. And as if that wasn’t enough, Baby G was evidently trying out for some kind of Olympic tournament. Vivian had been having cramps and spasms all day.

  She ended up back at her shop, intending to drop off her empty clipboard and what was left of her flyers and call it a night. Instead, not even bothering to turn on the lights to the building, she slumped into one of her styling chairs, leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

  She didn’t even hear Nick enter the building until he spoke, causing her to leap halfway out of her chair. She felt like a cartoon cat with its claws stuck in the ceiling and its fur ruffled in fright.

  “I see you’ve got your flyers tacked up all over town.” Nick sat in the styling chair next to hers and spun it around with his boots.

  She covered her face with her hands. “Don’t. Just don’t, okay?”

  “Don’t what?”

  “Don’t say, ‘I told you so.’”

  “Okay. I won’t. But I’m curious—what did I tell you that I’m not supposed to say I told you about?”

  She slid her palms down her cheeks and met Nick’s gaze. “Not one. Not one single solitary person signed up to get services on the day of my grand opening. Or any other day, for that matter.”

  “Hmm.” Nick didn’t look surprised. Why would he? He’d been calling the salon a failure from day one. Nothing that happened now would be any great shock to him.

  “Well, you can sign my mom up for a haircut or something. Jo Spencer, too, I would imagine. And don’t forget about Alexis. She’s your twin. She has to be there.”

  Peachy.

  While she was grateful for their support, that was three women out of a whole town—one of whom, as Nick had said, would feel she had to be there because she was Vivian’s sister. And while Serendipity was small, the fact remained that over half its residents were women—women who were going elsewhere for their salon services.

  “Maybe I should just call the whole thing off.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Uh—because no one is coming.”

  No paying customers, at any rate.

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Empty clipboard, Nick.”

  His brow lowered. “This isn’t like you. Where’s the sunny personality, the-glass-is-always-half-full woman that I’m used to seeing?”

  “Right now, I’m feeling partly cloudy with a good chance of showers.” She sniffled. She had no intention of crying, not in front of Nick, but despite her best efforts to the contrary, the showers were coming hard and fast.

  “Hey.” He stood and reached for her hands, drawing her to her feet and into his embrace. He held her tightly, protectively, with one arm around her shoulders and the other spanning her waist—almost as if he were embracing her son, as well.

  She breathed deeply of his warm leather and spice scent. She burrowed her head against his chest, reveling in the rumble of his breath and the steady beat of his heart.

  She could forget everything when she was in his arms, even her own doubts. She felt safe there. Sheltered. As if nothing bad could touch her, or her baby.

  A sound emerged from Nick’s throat, somewhere between a growl and a groan. He slid his hand into the hair at the nape of her neck and tilted her head so she had no choice but to look up at him. Even in the meager light, she could see that his gaze had turned dark, the deep blue of the midnight sky.

  Vivian couldn’t move, or breath, and she couldn’t look away from the longing, the silent plea brewing in his eyes.

  She should turn away. This—whatever was happening between them now—could be nothing more than chemistry. Hadn’t he been the one reminding her over and over of the ways he’d failed in his past relationships? Hadn’t he said that he wasn’t capable of giving his heart away?

  But even so...it had been so long since she’d been held in a man’s arms, and she’d never experienced anything quite like the emotions tumbling through her now.

  Despite Nick’s size, his embrace was extraordinarily gentle, the work-roughened hands he used to frame her face tender. Under her palms, she could feel his shoulder muscles quivering with tension and instinctively knew he was holding himself back, struggling for self-control. He knew her past and was clearly being sensitive to it.

  With an unspoken question radiating from his gaze, he gave her more than enough time to react, to pull away, but she could no sooner change what was happening between them than she could stop the world from spinning on its axis.

  She would probably regret it. In some ways, she already did. And yet—

  She slid her hands from his shoulders down to his biceps and tipped up her chin.

  His gaze dropped to her mouth. She trembled as he lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers. His beard was prickly, not anything like the cotton-soft, snowy-white beard he’d been wearing at the senior center, but his lips were gentle as he tentatively explored hers.

  She didn’t know how she’d come to this point with Nick. They were opposites in every conceivable way. She was an optimist. He was the world’s worst pessimist, always considering the bad before the good. She was the owner of a soon-to-open
beauty salon and spa. Nick looked like a mountain man.

  But as he bent his head and deepened the kiss, none of it seemed to matter. Not their clashes in personality, or their arguments, or even their trust issues.

  Tomorrow was soon enough to sort out her emotions. Tonight she needed the comfort Nick was offering her. Being held in his strong arms quickened her pulse. Warmth welled in her chest and spilled out to every corner of her being.

  She’d been fighting her feelings for Nick ever since the first day back at the auction. She’d been fighting her fear of being hurt, of heartbreak.

  And it wasn’t an empty or unreasonable fear—she might get hurt again.

  But for tonight, she was going to believe the best about Nick, that his fear of commitment could be overcome, that they could make a relationship work.

  Maybe she’d been wrong all along.

  Maybe Nick did care.

  * * *

  At first, Nick had taken a dispirited and disheartened Vivian into his arms with no more than the overwhelming need to comfort and protect her, but somewhere along the way, his entire world had shifted.

  Maybe it was the sweet, full softness of her lips. Or maybe it was the spring-flower scent of her perfume, or the electricity pulsing across his nerves as her fingers trailed across his biceps. Maybe it was the moment he’d lost himself in the liquid blue warmth of her gaze before he’d kissed her.

  But whatever the reason, what had started out as one friend comforting another had quickly sparked into a life of its own, and instead of dousing the flame, he’d stoked it into a raging bonfire that was quickly growing out of control.

  It wasn’t just the chemistry between them, the way his heart expanded with warmth when Vivian was in his arms.

  No—it was so much more than that. He wanted to protect her from the trials she was facing, wipe away her tears, lift her up so she could enjoy the success she’d worked so hard for, the triumph she so richly deserved.

  He wanted her to trust him—and he wanted to be worthy of that trust. Was it possible that she could ever trust him with her heart, and maybe even, eventually, with her child?