Never Christmas Without You

by Nana Malone

  “Well, you must be very proud of yourself.” It was the nicest thing she could think of to say. Because what she really wanted to say was high on the not-appropriate list.

  Behind Martin someone put a hand on his arm and tapped him out of the way. When he stumbled to the side, a diminutive woman with a shock of white hair, aviator sunglasses and a wide grin said, “I’ve been waiting for you two to show up.” Considering she’d been in the hospital, Grandma Lucy was spry enough to stride over to her grandson and wrap her thin arms around him, squeezing tight.

  Now, this... This was what Alex wanted from his family. The love and devotion were clear and glowing on Lucy’s face. The old woman stepped back and took a proper look at her grandson. “You look like you haven’t been sleeping. I certainly hope it’s not because you’re worried about me,” she said to him.

  Justin shifted on his feet and avoided her gaze. “It’s good to see you, Grandma. This is Alex.”

  Grandma Lucy turned and scrutinized her. “I do like it when my grandson exceeds expectations.” She reached out and gave Alex a tight hug.

  Damn. Wasn’t this woman supposed to be sick?

  Grandma Lucy stepped back and nodded her approval. “Oh yes, you’ll do just fine.” Then she turned to her grandson. “Alex? Haven’t you been telling me for years about your best friend, Alex?”

  Justin scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, Alex is my best friend. She’s just also my girlfriend.”

  Grandma Lucy nodded. “I approve. Now, let’s get on inside. There’s cooking to be done and rooms to be assigned. Martin, stop standing around and come get their bags. Take them up to their rooms.”

  Martin sputtered. “But we have valets for that.”

  Grandma Lucy leveled a look on her other grandson that made him jump. Martin hopped to it, took the bags from Justin. She gave Martin a satisfied nod as he lugged them inside. She leaned in and said to Alex, “Sometimes you just need to know how to handle men.”

  Alex fought a grin. She liked Grandma Lucy. Maybe this Christmas wasn’t going to be so terrible after all.

  “Now, Justin, I put you and Alex in the blue room. South facing so you’ll get plenty of light. And you’ll be able to see the shore from there.”

  Alex frowned. The blue room? As in one room? “Um, Miss Lucy. I know how traditional you must be—I wouldn’t dream of spending the night in the same room as Justin.” She sent Justin a beseeching glance, silently pleading with him to do something. Justin, come on. Come through for me.

  Justin shook his head. “Grandma Lucy. Since when have you been down for cohabitation? With Martin’s girlfriend, you railed about how it wasn’t respectful under your roof. Now you’re sticking me and Alex in the same room?”

  Grandma Lucy just waved him off. “I was saying that because I didn’t like the girl. She was a gold-digging wh—”

  “Grandma Lucy,” he said with the faintest hint of warning in his voice.

  His grandmother shrugged then took Alex’s hand. “Well, I call a spade a spade. And that’s what she was. And that’s why I didn’t want her digging her claws any more into my grandson. But of course Martin doesn’t listen to me. And that, one day, will bite him in the ass.” She led the way to the foyer, then turned around and smiled at both of them. “Go on, now, Justin, kiss your girlfriend.”

  Alex froze. What the hell? There was no way she could endure another kiss from Justin. The other day when they were shopping, it was one thing to make Brian jealous. But she couldn’t possibly kiss him just because. Her heart couldn’t take it. Neither could her libido. Incinerating in the Morrison home was not a way to impress, for sure.

  Justin shifted from foot to foot. Then leaned in and gave Alex a kiss on the cheek. “Grandma, is there mistletoe all over this house?”

  Grandma Lucy giggled. “Just because your grandfather is long gone doesn’t mean I can’t feel the romantic spirit of Christmas.”

  “I never thought of Christmas as particularly romantic,” Alex said.

  Grandma Lucy patted her hand. “That’s because you never had someone special to spend it with. Now you have my grandson. And, Justin, if you hope to keep a woman, you have to kiss her better than that. Do it again and this time put your back into it.”

  Alex couldn’t help it. She sputtered, and the laugh broke free, echoing around the expanse of the high-ceilinged foyer. Yeah, you keep laughing—he’s about to kiss you in a minute, and you two need to make it look real. Damn. She turned to face Justin and licked her lips. His gaze was pinned to her tongue as if his entire focus was on how she might taste. When Justin leaned over, he gently mouthed, Make it look real. And Alex swallowed hard.

  When his lips brushed over hers and his hands moved around her waist to pull her close, her mind reeled. As the blood rushed in her skull, her knees felt too weak to support her weight. Right there in the front of Justin’s grandmother, Alex was melting. Into a pool of hormones and need and—But before she could even settle in and enjoy herself, it was over too soon. He pulled back and then brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. All Alex could do was blink in confusion and wonder and—Oh right. Grandma Lucy was saying something to her.

  “Now, see, that was a kiss. Justin, honey, you better learn to do that all the time if you’re to keep this beauty.”

  “Grandma, no antics. Alex is shy. She doesn’t like flaunting our relationship in front of everyone.”

  Yes. That was exactly what they’d discussed. Alex wanting to keep her private life private. As a reason for not showing too much affection to each other. But screw that plan. Alex was now all about demonstrating passion. She might slip Grandma Lucy a five under the table to suggest that she kiss Justin again.

  Grandma Lucy just shook her head. “Nonsense. When you love your man, don’t you worry about who’s watching you. Love with your whole heart, honey. Now, you two get upstairs, freshen up and come to the kitchen.”

  Justin groaned. “Grandma, I thought the whole point was you were supposed to be relaxing.”

  “Oh good Lord, boy, you talk too much, and you worry even more. I have help in the kitchen. I’m just there to supervise, and eat chocolate-chip cookies.”

  Justin’s stomach rumbled. Alex shook her head. The man could literally be controlled by his food. “Chocolate-chip cookies?”

  Grandma Lucy grinned as she went down the hall. “You two just get settled, then come on down. You can have as many as you can eat.”

  Justin took Alex’s hand and squeezed gently. “I’m sorry. My family can be—”

  “It’s not your fault. But you know what? I like your grandma. She’s fun.”

  “Yeah, but you have a lot of other things to handle. My crazy relatives are not what you should be dealing with right now.”

  “It’s fine. So what are we doing with our shared-room situation?”

  “Don’t worry about it. From what I remember, that room’s a decent size since it was originally designed as a suite. We’ve got plenty of space and I’ll sleep on the pullout couch.” They reached their room door and found their bags neatly stacked outside. Perfect.

  She turned the knob and pushed to open the door, then froze in the doorway. Behind her, Justin groaned. “Alex, what are you doing?”

  “Justin, you need to see this.”

  Justin leaned around her and peered into the room. There was an enormous king-size bed against the far wall, and a sitting area for reading. The bright, bold colors spoke to her. She loved everything in it. Except for the one little problem. That couch that Justin had been talking about, it was gone. And the floors were not carpeted; they were hardwood. It looked like she and Justin would probably be sharing a bed tonight.

  Chapter 6

  Justin stewed all the way through dinner. As his grandmother chatted excitedly with Alex, and the rest of his family aske
d her about her paintings, her career and her upcoming gallery show, he was too busy trying to think of a way out of this predicament.

  Martin leaned over. “What’s got your panties in a twist?”

  “For once in your life, Martin, shut the hell up,” Justin muttered.

  Grandma Lucy looked up. “Justin, honey, are you okay? You barely touched your roast.”

  Alex was quick on the defense. They’d been covering each other’s asses for so long, she knew exactly when he needed her. “Um, Grandma Lucy, we did have a really big lunch. And you know Justin when he sees something he wants—he has to have more than one helping.”

  Justin bit back a groan. For once, Alex was not helping the situation.

  Martin chuckled next to him. “I’m the same way,” he said to Alex with a smirk. Then when no one was listening, he leaned over to Justin. “I think now that I’ve gotten to know Alex, I can see the temptation to go back for seconds on that.”

  Justin knew Martin was deliberately attempting to get under his skin. He would not bite. He would not bite. He could not bite. But damned if he didn’t want to hit that smug expression off his cousin’s face.

  Across the table, Martin’s parents chatted amicably with Alex. And interestingly enough, not one of them commented on the fact that she wasn’t the usual socialite blonde that they would’ve expected. Thank God for small favors. Although, his aunt and uncle did occasionally toss out some privileged comment about who would dare send their child to public school, and boarding school was really best for children. Alex just ignored their pretentiousness.

  His cousins Jason and Mack wouldn’t be in town until tomorrow, so at least tonight’s dinner was a small group. He didn’t have to pretend for too many people.

  He was so good at putting on a show. Depending on the situation. In particular with his family. He deliberately wore that air of being unfazed. He was really good at that one. He’d been practicing it for years. And he was exactly who they needed him to be. The loser underdog. He knew some of the relatives disregarded his father’s marriage, and in turn he felt their attitude toward him was dismissive. Which was fine by him because his boutique hotel was already in the black. He was proving them wrong. Just by existing. Just by having tried and not crumbling under the pressure.

  After the plates were clear of the dinner, Scotch was passed around, along with the bread pudding. Alex yawned next to him, which caught his grandmother’s attention. “Alex, honey, you look exhausted. Given that you and Justin were traveling from San Diego, then had to contend with the traffic and the ferry, why don’t you two get up to bed? I’m headed in that direction myself. Doctor’s orders and all that. Can you imagine she told me I need to be in bed by nine every night?” Grandma Lucy shook her head.

  Alex laughed. “Yeah, just with this gallery opening, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends. I need to do some hard-core relaxing.”

  Martin was there with a comeback. “I can help you relax.” And just when Justin was about to stand and knock him flat on his ass, he added, “A lot of sightseeing to do on the island, all very chill. I can make sure you have the best tour of the city.” He flashed Justin a grin. The jerk was doing it on purpose.

  With good-nights said, Justin had no option but to follow Alex up the stairs. The staircase wound from the south around to the east in a gentle curve until they reached the top. With every step Alex took, her heels clacked against the granite. It was funny, he’d never imagined himself coming home, and never with Alex. But somehow they both looked like they belonged. Usually Alex was in something casual, but in her classic A-line dress and her stilettos, she looked the part. More than you do. He shoved that errant thought to the back of his head. He didn’t have time for that right now. Right now, he needed to figure out how he was going to sleep in the same room as Alex for several days and keep his hands to himself.

  This all should have been easy. But instead, they were facing the dilemma of “hey, where can we sleep?” If he didn’t know better, he would’ve sworn his grandmother did this on purpose.

  When they reached the threshold, Alex put her hand on his arm. “Look, before you start saying crazy things and offering to sleep sitting up on the chair or on the hard floor, we’ll just share the bed, okay?”

  His dick twitched as if to say Hell yes, I’m so down with that plan. Justin cleared his throat. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea.”

  Alex’s brows furrowed. “Why not? We’ve passed out on the couch together a hundred times. This is no different. It’s totally fine. Unless of course you sleep naked?”

  Yes, that was one problem. He usually did sleep naked. But he could toss on pajama bottoms. Although, what if he couldn’t resist giving in to that crackle between them? “Why? Do you want me to sleep naked?”

  Even under the soft brown of her skin, he saw her cheeks flush. “I—I—You can sleep how you like. I’m sure me sleeping naked would only make you uncomfortable. So I ask you not to do the same.”

  She was right. The idea of her sleeping naked made him all kinds of uncomfortable—in his jeans. “Relax, I’m teasing. You’re right. We’ve done this dozens of times. This is no big deal. Get ready for bed, hit the sack. I swear, I am capable of being a perfect gentleman.”

  There was something in her eyes that told him she wanted to ask him something, or tell him something, maybe? But as quickly as it appeared it was gone again. As she was headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth, his stomach fisted then loosened and then fisted again. And Heaven help him, his hands twitched a little.

  He changed quickly for bed, checking his clothes and tossing on some pajama bottoms. He was always too hot and liked to sleep with the window open, but he knew that Alex was almost always too cold. So the best he could compromise was to sleep with his shirt off, to at least regulate his body temperature a little bit. When she came out of the bathroom, she was humming, but stopped short when she took one look at him. “Where’s your T-shirt?”

  “I get too hot, remember?”

  Alex opened her mouth to say something, then shut it again. Then tried one more time, but got the same guppy routine.

  “Something you want to say, Alex?” Even as the question rolled off his tongue, his dick stirred and he ground his teeth to keep from groaning. He needed to get to the bathroom quickly before she noticed what was happening south of his waistband. “I’m just going to go brush my teeth.”

  “Yeah, you do that.”

  As Justin locked himself in the bathroom, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. How in the world was he going to make it through the night sleeping next to her? He was terrified his own inappropriate thoughts were going to soon turn into questionable actions. And Alex was too important to him for that.

  Chapter 7

  Alex sank deeper into the warmth. When was the last time she’d slept like this? She was usually on the go so much that it wasn’t uncommon for her to get about five, maybe six, hours of sleep a night. Especially when she was prepping for something like a gallery opening or showing.

  She nuzzled farther into the warmth then froze. One of her hands encountered something hard, hot... Oh no. Justin. Her first instinct was to jump back, pretend the breach hadn’t happened. The thing she knew her hand had encountered—abs. Rock-hard abs. And yes, she’d seen him shirtless dozens of times. Never lost its impact, though. He was beautiful. And he knew it.

  Last night when they’d gone to bed, she’d picked a spot on the ceiling and focused on that, willing sleep to come. Because if she hadn’t done that, she would’ve stared.

  Justin breathed deep and rolled over, slinging an arm across her waist. Oh God. Alex could smell the faint hint of his shower gel from the night before.

  Okay, no more torturing herself, out of bed. She was going to be productive today. At the very least, she could hop the ferry to Los Angeles and check on the gall
ery opening and the delivery of her pieces. Yes, nice and focused. And so much better than ogling Justin.

  She hated leaving him alone with his family, but a little space would do her some good. The last thing she wanted was for this little venture to be a stressor on their relationship.

  She slid out from under his arm, and was in the bathroom in seconds. She snatched up her shower cap out of her toiletry bag and carefully tucked her straight hair underneath it. In and out of the shower in five minutes, she was dressed even faster. By the time she tiptoed out of the bedroom, Justin was still sleeping.

  She skipped down the stairs, figuring she’d grab something quick in the kitchen and hit the first ferry for nine o’clock. But she skidded to a stop when she found Grandma Lucy in the kitchen puttering around.

  “Good morning, do you need help getting anything? I can help you.”

  Grandma Lucy turned around, put her hand on her hip, cocking it slightly. “Honey, this is my kitchen. Nothing you could help me find that I didn’t put there myself.”

  “Oh, I know, ma’am, just thought I’d get something for you so you don’t exert yourself.”

  The old lady grinned at her. “Ma’am? A long time since anyone called me that. Just call me Grandma Lucy.”

  Alex nodded. “Okay. Can I help you get anything before I head out?”

  Lucy frowned at her. “Where are you going?”

  “Oh, I was going to head into LA and check on the gallery pieces. They were supposed to be delivered today, so I’d like to be there to check things out. Make sure everything’s okay.”

  Grandma Lucy suddenly held on to the counter, wobbled slightly. Alex was on her in a flash, scooting a stool underneath her. “You have to sit down. I’ll get Justin. Then call your doctor.”

  “Oh stop it. I don’t need a doctor. I was hoping you could help me in the kitchen this morning.”

  Alex wavered. “Oh, Grandma Lucy, you should probably be warned, I ruined more of your recipes than I should confess. Even with precise directions, I managed to screw up.”