Never Christmas Without You

by Nana Malone

  The metaphor gave Alex a great idea for a painting. Focus on what the girl is asking you.

  “Look, I get what you’re saying, but what was I supposed to do? He is my best friend. And he is as close to family as I’ve got.”

  “So you can just pretend to be his girlfriend and hope he doesn’t notice that, hey, you’re in love with him?”

  “I’m not in love with him. I just—”

  “Sometimes you hold on just a second too long when he gives you a hug. When you think he’s not watching, you inhale deeply just to get a contact high from his cologne. Every time he holds your hand and pulls you close, you imagine being with him and what it would be like if he finally one day turned to you and said ‘Let’s do this. Give it a go?’ I’ve been that girl. A lot. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  Her heart thundered against her chest. If Cassie had seen it, she had no hope being locked in on the island with Justin and all his relatives. He’ll find out. And then your friendship will be over.

  Alex flushed. “Oh no, this is a disaster. What was I thinking?”

  Cassie busied herself. She set another canvas aside, then marked it off her checklist before placing it in its location in the cart. She had a system. When it came to the creative side, that was all Alex, but the organization, the getting pieces to where they needed to be, the customer service, that was all Cassie. She ran everything behind the scenes and Alex would be lost without her.

  “I’m not in love with him. We are best friends. And he is like my family. And I wanted to help him out.” Damn, that sounded lame even to her ears. She was so totally screwed. “Oh my God. Would have I done? How do I get out of it?”

  “Well, honey, I’m not sure you can get out of it. He said his grandma’s really sick, right? You must’ve had a plan when you said yes.”

  “I don’t know. I was sort of gonna do what I’ve always done. You know, pretend it’s not there, bury the feelings deep under years of dirty laundry, where no one should ever go. That was my whole plan. That’s it.”

  Cassie shook her head. “I swear, for someone so bright and intuitive, I’m surprised you really don’t want to do anything about your feelings.”

  “You don’t understand. I’ve only ever had Justin.” And now Alex could see the problem with that. She’d never really had any close girlfriends. She’d never let anyone get close. Except, Cassie was trying to be a friend right now.

  Maybe it was the desperation, maybe it was her spiking blood pressure or the blood roaring to her head that made her think twice. But all she knew was that Cassie was offering some kind of life preserver. And it was nice.

  If you get too close, she could hurt you, too. But before Alex could latch onto that thought, Cassie smiled at her. “Look, I’m here if you want to talk about it. I think you and I could be friends. Besides, one of these days, you might need someone more than Justin for advice and stuff.”

  Cassie had a point. And for once, Alex liked the idea of having someone else to confide in. Because right about now, she needed all the support she could get.

  Chapter 4

  “I don’t get it. Explain to me why I need to buy new clothes?”

  Justin tapped Alex on the nose. She really was adorable. “I think you look awesome. No matter what you wear.” Even now, with her hair up in a messy bun and dressed in a long-sleeved T-shirt and baggy boyfriend jeans, she was cute. Actually stunning, really, bare of any makeup; this was how he liked her. But on closer inspection, there was some paint in her hair. And on her jeans. And also on the hem of the camisole she wore under the long-sleeved T-shirt, which was sticking out. And of course there was paint on her nails. But, well, he was used to that by now.

  “Honey, you’ve got paint all over you.”

  Her eyes went wide. “I do not. I cleaned up well this time.” He subtly pointed out the jeans and the camisole. And she cursed. “Damn it. I swear I put on clean clothes. I don’t know what happens. Between actually getting dressed in the confines of my bedroom from naked to out the door, something goes very wrong. Every time.”

  The moment the word made it past her lips, his brain offered all kinds of visuals and how she would look naked. His favorite was Alex in bed, her dark hair fanning out over the pillow. Paint in all sorts of strategic places that he wanted to kiss. What the hell was that? He shook his head. This was Alex. Why did he want to kiss her? The best part about them was that they were friends. He’d never gone there with her. And he never would. He was not looking to screw that up. Except...that naughty image of Alex wouldn’t go away. And this time the paint was replaced by chocolate. Damn.

  “Okay, fine, I guess I need to get some new clothes.”

  “Honestly, Alex, you always look great to me. Paint and all. But you don’t know them. Martin, his parents. All except Grandma Lucy. They’re a bunch of vipers.”

  She shrugged. “It’s okay, between you and Cassie, I’m getting some truth that I wasn’t ready for over the last couple of days.”

  “What did Cassie have to say?”

  Alex’s brows furrowed, and she took a moment too long to answer the question. “Just that I’m by myself a lot. And it wouldn’t hurt to have more than just one friend.”

  “You have more than one friend. You have lots of them. We were hanging out with a group of them at my house the other night.”

  She shook her head. “Your friends. I go along for the ride because I get to kick it with you, so I tolerate other people.”

  “You’re crazy, everyone likes you.”

  Justin laughed even as he shook his head. She might think she was a loner type but people naturally gravitated toward her. She could be serious, or silly, or just thought provoking. She was so layered. And not just about art. As long as he’d known her, she’d been obsessed with music of all kinds, except country, she liked to say. And books. They were an escape, she’d explained, but painting, painting was life.

  She shrugged again. “Yeah, but you know that saying, ‘Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.’”

  He laughed. “So you’re okay with doing this?”

  “I can be easy, just as long as you’re not trying to replace my entire wardrobe. If it’s just a couple of things, then no big deal.”

  “That’s the spirit.” He took her hand, the zing of electricity coursed up his arms, and he flexed his hand around hers. Dude, get it together. This is Alex. More and more lately, whenever he was around her, the current was too much to contain. It was also getting hard to ignore. He seriously considered cutting down on their hanging out sessions. Problem was he liked being around her too much. “Let’s go shopping.”

  “Fine. Alex Winters reporting for torture.”

  After an hour and a half, his feet hurt, and the more dresses that Alex tried on and came out to show him, the more irritable he got. Not because she looked bad in any of them. Quite the contrary. That was the problem. She modeled dresses that showed a little more skin than he was used to seeing from her. Because she was painting all the time, she kept her wardrobe simple, usually leggings, tank top, T-shirt, occasionally she’d toss on a sundress, but nothing like what she’d been trying on at the upscale boutique he’d taken her to. Everything was short and formfitting or cleavage baring and had a slit up to here that nearly showed all the lady parts. Damn, those were his favorite parts. He didn’t want the world to see them. She came out in another red number, the vermillion shade complementing her café-au-lait skin and dark eyes. His mouth watered.

  With cutouts at the sides, it showed just the right amount of skin, too. And as for length, cocktail. Her legs were mile high.

  He cleared his throat. “That one. That one definitely has to come to Catalina.”

  Alex tortured him some more by twirling in the outfit. “Are you sure? Doesn’t exactly say Christmas.”<
br />
  “It’s red. Red equals Christmas.”

  “But you don’t think it’s too...?”

  “Sexy?”

  She nodded.

  His dick agreed.

  “It’s perfect. You’re getting the dress. Deal with it.”

  Alex wrinkled her nose. “When did you get this bossy? I have my own dresses.”

  “Oh please. When we get back to your place, show me one dress that does not have paint on it.”

  She opened her mouth to argue, but then quickly snapped it shut again. She narrowed her gaze at him, and her lips were twitching.

  After he paid for the red dress, she insisted on paying half for the simple green one. He didn’t want to let her do it, but he knew how important it was to her to pull her weight.

  On the pavement, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She turned her face up at him, her gaze warm and light and happy, and, oh hell, he really wanted to—What in the world was wrong with him?

  “Well, if it isn’t the Siamese twins. I see you didn’t trade up after I left you, Alex.”

  Justin held back a groan as he and Alex turned. Her ex stood on the sidewalk glaring at them. “Brian, still a prick, I see.” He had to fight the overwhelming urge to hit the guy. He’d hurt Alex bad and didn’t deserve to walk the earth.

  Alex was unusually taciturn. She was generally quick with the comebacks. When it came to this guy, it was like she had nothing. He still had no idea how Alex had ever dated him. He only ever thought about himself, and to make matters worse, he didn’t handle his responsibilities with the bills. And Brian was one of those artists who thought his talent was on the same level as hers. He eventually gave up and became an art dealer. He didn’t deserve her. And you do?

  Brian’s smirk morphed into a sneer. “Alex, if you finally dump this loser, you could have a real chance. I might still consider taking you back. You have to get rid of him first, though.”

  That did it. “Listen, you little prick—”

  She put a hand on Justin’s chest and nuzzled close. “Justin, sweetheart, calling him a prick is an insult to all pricks.”

  Justin bit back his chuckle.

  Brian, though, didn’t seem amused. “You know, I was the best thing that ever happened to you, Alex. If you’d just paid a little more attention to me and hadn’t been so selfish—”

  And that was the fundamental problem with Brian. He believed everything he needed had to come first.

  Justin tightened his arm around Alex’s shoulders and pulled her close before kissing her forehead. “Then, Brian, I want to just say, you guys breaking up was the best thing to ever happen to me. Because she realized what a loser you are, and she’s mine now.”

  Brian’s brows shot up. Alex snuggled into his side. And when she tipped up her megawatt smile at him, Justin couldn’t help himself. He told himself it was practice for what they would have to do in a few weeks. The truth was, the membrane between them that was a separation between friendship and something more was getting thinner and thinner these days. He dipped his head and slid his lips over hers.

  With a surprised gasp, Alex parted her lips, and all doubts terminated on Justin’s end.

  All thought. All breath. All basic bodily functions ceased. All that mattered to him, in this moment, was the feel of Alex’s soft lips under his. The slide of her tongue over his. A deep shudder racked his body in the instant his lips touched hers.

  Alex wrapped her arms around his waist, and every nerve cell in his body shouted Yes. He knew they had an audience, so he had to make it good, right? Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. He slid his tongue over hers, tangling and retreating, coaxing her tongue into a dance.

  She made this sexy whimpering noise at the back of her throat, and it was all he could do to not glide his hands over her perfect ass and press her flush against him, into his erection.

  And then the warning bells clanged in his head. This was Alex. But this felt so good. So damn good. Especially when he could feel her nails digging into his back. He pulled away. But still held on to her, for the benefit of Brian.

  Apparently, her ex was not pleased about their new relationship.

  “You told me. You swore to me there was nothing between you two.”

  Alex shrugged, giving Justin that sweet smile again, and he couldn’t help himself—he squeezed her into his side. He needed more of her. He wanted to hold her tighter.

  “What I do with my love life is no longer any of your concern. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Justin and I have somewhere to be.”

  As they walked away, Justin felt her muscles relax marginally. Brian was such a jerk. He’d always treated her like he should be the primary in the relationship. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. He’s just a blowhard. Besides, that was totally worth the look on his face.”

  Her grin was friendly and bright, and he wanted to kiss her again. But that was not going to happen. A simple kiss from her had felt better than anything he’d shared with anybody in months, maybe years.

  Didn’t matter. He was not going there... All he had to do for the week they’d be away was not kiss her again. That couldn’t be that hard to do. Could it? He hoped not. “Yeah, that was totally worth the look on his face.”

  Chapter 5

  “Are you okay with this?”

  As the wind blew Alex’s hair around her face, she tucked the errant strands behind her ears. She’d opted for a straight look today, figuring she didn’t want to scare the Morrisons with her wild curls just yet. Christmas Day she’d introduce the full Afro. “Yeah, fine. Just trying to settle in as Justin Morrison’s girlfriend.”

  Justin laughed. “You realize you’re closer to me than any other girlfriend I’ve ever had in my life?”

  Alex chewed her lip. That was not exactly what she wanted to hear. But whatever. It was too late to back out now. She could do this. Besides, push come to shove, she could always call Cassie for an SOS. An emergency that required her to come home. “You realize that’s not promising to me, right?”

  Justin laughed. “Well, it’s the truth. We Morrison men can be hell on women.”

  “Why do I have a feeling that’s more about you than being a Morrison?”

  He grinned. “Because you know me.”

  That stupid grin got her every time. The butterflies whacked their wings low in her belly, and she would do anything to see that expression again. Yeah, she knew it. She needed help.

  They pulled up into the marina, and she couldn’t help but be struck by the sheer beauty of it. Granted, they lived in San Diego, so a picturesque sunset over a marina was nothing new, but Catalina certainly was breathtaking.

  Justin helped her with their bags and she had no choice but to follow him outside. She expected to see someone. Family, even Grandma Lucy. From what she’d heard about the old lady, she’d have fought tooth and nail to meet Justin at the ferry stop. But there was no one there, save a single chauffeur, holding up a sign that said Morrison. Seriously? Not one person in his family could be bothered to drive over and pick them up? Okay, then. She needed to do a quick mental recalculation on his family and what it meant. Norman Rockwell would not have painted this family.

  As if Justin could read her thoughts, which was, hello, scary, he said, “Don’t bother being surprised that no one came here to meet us. I’m not.”

  That single line told her everything she needed to know. No one besides his grandmother was looking forward to Justin coming home. And no one in the family was deserving of his love and affection. She would just have to take over the caring duties, then.

  The car wound around the island, driving along the coast before finally pulling up to the Morrison estate, which sat behind the Morrison Hotel and had a 1930s F. Scott Fitzgerald glamour to it. Justin opened the door for her. “The p
alace awaits, milady.”

  When they made their way to the front door, it opened and Alex plastered what she hoped was a winning smile on her face.

  Out walked a man who could’ve easily been Justin’s brother. Their frames were similar, but while their eyes were the same shade of brown, Justin’s always looked warm like melting chocolate, and this guy’s were flinty, dark and cold.

  “Well, I would say the prodigal has returned, but no one wanted you home.”

  Alex scowled at the guy. She was trying to be on her best behavior as she waited for Justin to say something. Even better to knock the guy on his ass. But her best friend did nothing. Merely clenched his jaw and ignored the comment.

  Well, she couldn’t stand for that. “Justin, sweetheart, who’s this asshole?”

  The other man cocked his head. “Well, this one is feisty. I do like feisty. Pretty, too. Sweetheart, are you sure you’re supposed to be with this guy? I’ve got more money. Better looking, too. I’m Martin.”

  Alex twitched to slap him. If only Justin would let her hit him. Justin grabbed the last of the bags from the valet and tipped him. Before Alex could open her mouth, he leaned down and whispered, “Remember, we’re here for Grandma Lucy. Ignore him. You’re only succeeding in giving him what he wants.”

  The problem was, ignoring idiots was not her strong suit, except for Brian. Damn. Her big mouth was why Justin liked her. It was also why a lot of other people didn’t. You came for him. She sighed. She had come for him. So she’d have to play his way. “I’m Alex, Justin’s girlfriend.”

  She would just go ahead and ignore that happy buzzing feeling those words gave her.

  Martin grinned at her. It was more leer, really, than grin. “I’m Martin. And I’m CEO of Morrison Hotels.” He said it like he was announcing at some grand ball. She didn’t have the heart to tell him he should wait for someone else to announce him first.