Copyright © 2017 Winter Travers
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
For questions or comments about this book, please contact the author at [email protected]
Silas – A Scrooged Christmas is part of a collaborated collection by ten authors themed around a scrooged Christmas. Check out the blurbs at the end of this book for the following correlated authors: BSM Stoneking CP Smith, FG Adams, Jennifer Domenico, Jessika Klide, Julia Goda, Mayra Statham, Regina Frame, and Tracie Douglas.
Braxton
BSM Stoneking
Brendan
Jennifer Domenico
Daxton
Julia Goda
Grayson
Regina Frame
Luke
CP Smith
Michael
FG Adams
Silas
Winter Travers
Travis
Tracie Douglas
Zaiden
Mayra Statham
Zane
Jessika Klide
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Gambler’s Longshot
Keeping Meg
Fighting Demon
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Skid Row Kings Series:
DownShift
PowerShift
BangShift
Powerhouse M.A. Series:
Dropkick My Heart
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Black Belt in Love
Black Belt Knockout (Coming January 2018)
Fallen Lords MC Series:
Nickel
Pipe
Maniac (Coming March 2018)
Blurb
Silas Warlack doesn't have time for anything other than running a multi-million dollar business thousands of miles away from his hometown. He especially doesn’t have time for frivolous things like the holidays and family. Too bad his mother doesn’t understand that.
Ainsley Crowne finally has everything she ever dreamed of in her life; Amazing friends, and a successful flower shop all in her hometown. A blast from the past comes blowing back into town and her best friend’s wedding just before Christmas, remind her of the one thing missing in her life: Love.
Will Ainsley and Silas realize what they once had was once in a lifetime or will they be too stubborn and let the holiday miracle in their midst, pass them by?
Acknowledgements
My boys. I do it all for you two.
Dedication
Always jingle all the way.
Nobody likes a half-assed jingler.
Chapter 1
Silas
“Janine, I’m going to need you to cancel my three o’clock and reschedule it for four. I have a feeling the Maxwell meeting is going to run over and I don’t want to have to rush them out the door.” I released the intercom button and sat back in my chair.
“Yes, sir. I’ll get right on that. Your mother called while you were at lunch. Would you like me to get her back on the line for you?”
Dammit. I knew why my mom was calling. She called every year this time asking me the same thing. You would think after eight years of getting the same answer, she would just stop asking.
Might as well get this shit over. “Yes. Please remind me of my schedule in five minutes.”
“But sir, if I put your mother on the phone, won’t I be inter—”
“Yes, Janine, that’s exactly what you’ll be doing.” I would be on the phone for an hour if my mother had her way.
I spun around, faced the huge window behind me, and looked down on all of the people scurrying around below. From the twenty-third floor, it was amazing the things you could watch.
The homeless man on the corner who begged from one to six pm. A man in a well-pressed suit, who like clockwork, every day walked across the street and got in a taxi. Three attractive women who walked to the coffee cart and then down around the corner every morning at eight thirty.
“Your mother is on line three,” Janine beeped in.
I slowly spun back around to my desk and stared at the phone. Janine was far too efficient. I needed at least five more minutes before I had this conversation. I loved my mother, but she didn’t understand my life. To her, hopping on a plane and visiting for a couple of days wasn’t a big deal. When in reality, it took a week of planning and rescheduling a shit ton of meetings. Not to mention, heading back to Mills Grove ranked right up there with a root canal. Not fun at all.
I picked up the phone and took a deep breath. “Hello, Mother.”
“Si, I really wish you would call me mom. You sound so stuffy when you call me mother.”
I rolled my eyes and turned back to the window. “And I wish that you would call me Silas. After all, you are the one who gave me the name, Mother.”
She sighed heavily. “I really don’t know where you got this stuffy attitude from. Your dad and I are so laid back while you’re a complete stick in the mud.”
“I’m not a stick in the mud.”
It was as if I could hear my mother roll her eyes. “The only people who say that are the people who are sticks in the mud.”
I leaned back in my chair and scrubbed my hand down my face. “Is this what you called me for, Mother?”
“As if, Si. You know damn well what I called for. It’s December seventeenth. I want to know what day you’ll be here.”
“And you know damn well what my answer is going to be. I can’t get off work.”
“Silas Franklin Warlack, you own the damn company. You should have a pile of minions doing all of your bidding for you. I see no reason why you think you need to be the only one in that big ol’ tower over the holidays.” I heard the crinkling of a wrapper on her end. “Your dad and I haven’t seen you since May. It’s time you come home,” she said with her mouthful.
“And we had such a good visit in May. I think you and Dad should come here for Christmas.” If they flew in the twenty-fourth and were gone by the twenty-fifth, I wouldn’t miss much work and could do most things from home.
“I can’t believe you even suggested that. You live in a place where it’s sunny and warm all year long. I don’t even know how people get in the holiday spirit while wearing tank tops and flip flops. It’s downright ridiculous to see a Santa Claus walking around in a Bermuda shirt while carrying a surfboard.”
I rolled my eyes. “Mother, I don’t even know what you are talking about. I’ve been in L.A. for almost nine years, and have never seen that.”
“That’s because you get to the office before the sun rises and leave well after it sets. All you see are the four walls of your office or your apartment.”
“I don’t know what else to tell you, Mother. You either come here, or we won’t see each other for Christmas.”
She sighed heavily, and I felt the mood change over the phone. “You need to come home, Sil
as. There are things going on, and I don’t want to discuss them over the phone.”
I sat up straight. “What? What do you mean? Is it money? You know all you need to do is ask and I’ll have the money to you in minutes.”
“Silas, this isn’t something you can throw your money at. Be here by the twenty-third, or you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life.”
“Mother?” I called. The dial tone greeted my ear, and I held the phone out to look at it.
What in the hell was that? My mother had just hung up on me. Never in my life had I heard her sound more demanding, and quite honestly, it scared me.
“Sir, would you like to go over your schedule?” Janine beeped in.
I spun around to my desk and hung up the phone. “Come in here, Janine. We have to rework my schedule for next week. It appears I’ll be going home for Christmas this year.”
*
Chapter 2
Ainsley
“Did you see the Lexus sitting in the Warlack’s driveway?”
“A Lexus?”
“Yeah. Pitch black, sleek, and expensive.”
I laughed and grabbed an empty bucket off the floor. “You think Hank is going through a midlife crisis?”
Melonie grabbed the bucket from me and pointed across the street. “Hank just walked into the hardware store. I don’t think it’s his.”
“Prep all the roses, and then we’ll work on unpacking the last of the poinsettias.”
“Do you think you could stop thinking about flowers for two minutes and discuss why the Warlack’s have a Lexus?”
I leaned against the workbench and crossed my arms over my chest. “You think you could say Lexus one more time? I didn’t hear you the first two times.”
“Lexus. Hear me now?”
I rolled my eyes. “I hear ya. What I don’t understand is why you’re so hung up on it.”
“Because I want to know who it is,” she whined.
“Maybe the Warlack’s got it for you as a wedding gift?”
Melonie’s eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands together. “I know you are completely wrong, but I’m still hopeful you’re right. It wasn’t on our registry, but I will gladly take it.”
“Pretty sure people don’t do their wedding registries at car dealerships,” I laughed.
“Well, I think that needs to become a thing,” she huffed. Melanie moved to the huge front window and stared across the street. “You would think if Hank got a new car, he would be driving it. Not have it sit in the driveway.”
I grabbed the last two buckets of roses and set them on the workbench. Melonie wasn’t going to be any help until she figured out who was driving the mysterious luxury sedan. “Maybe it’s a salesman or something.”
“Maybe,” she murmured. “Oh, here comes Hank, and he’s got another guy with him. I’ve never seen him before.” She pressed her nose against the glass, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh my, he’s handsome. Come look and see,” she called.
“I’m only coming to look so I can get you back to work.” Wiping my hands on my black apron we walked to the window. “I can’t see his face.” Hank was facing the flower shop and the guy Melonie was trying to figure out had his back to the shop. “I don’t know how you thought he was good looking just by his back.”
She elbowed me and splayed her hand on the glass. “I saw him walk out of the store before he turned around. He is gorgeous with a capital G.”
“You’re about to get married in two days, you might want to bring down your excitement over the mystery man a bit.”
“Corey is gorgeous, but there is something about a man in a suit that can melt any woman’s panties.”
Rolling my eyes so hard, I was sure I saw the back of my head. “Yeah, until the guy opens his mouth and all you want to do is run in the other direction.”
“Shh, you’re ruining the fantasy.”
I leaned against the window and kept my eyes trained on Hank and the mysterious stranger. “He’s probably some insurance salesman.”
“But why would Hank bring him to the hardware store?”
Because Hank was crazy. The good kind of crazy, but still crazy. “He probably convinced the guy to help him string up hi—” My words died in my throat and everything got hazy except for the mysterious stranger who turned around.
“Poof, there went my panties,” Melonie whispered.
My panties were still intact, but I couldn’t say the same about my heart.
Silas Warlack.
The prodigal son had returned.
Oh joy.
*
Silas
The old man was losing it.
Not even ten minutes after I had arrived at the house, he had insisted we needed to go to the hardware store to get more lights for the front yard.
To me, it was a waste of time because Christmas was three days away, and he would just be taking them down in a week anyway.
“Let’s run over to the flower shop and see if they have a poinsettia for your mom. You know how much she likes them.”
Like them? Hell, I was pretty sure she had at least ten of them in the kitchen alone.
Dad dropped the bag full of Christmas lights in the backseat and motioned across the street. “I bet you didn’t know we have a flower shop now, did you?”
I pulled my coat tight around me and shook my head. “Nope, wasn’t here before.”
Dad shook his head then looked left and right before crossing the street. “If you would come home more often, everything wouldn’t seem so different. The flower shop has been opened for six years. It’s one of your mom’s favorite places to go.”
A flower shop? I had no idea that people actually went to them other than Valentine’s Day. “I’ll just wait in the car, Dad.” I had a few emails I needed to check, and I told Janine I would check in before the end of the day.
“Nonsense,” he called. “Put that damn phone back in your pocket and come pick out some flowers for your mom. She would love knowing you were the one who picked them out.”
I rolled my eyes but shoved my phone in my pocket. “I’m sure she’d be happy with you picking them out,” I grumbled. We crossed the street, and my gaze fell on the dark brick building with a bright sign hanging over the door with the words “Crowne Floral” splashed on it.
Dad pulled open the door, stepped through, and held it open for me. “Hurry up, Si; you’re letting the heat out.”
I jogged the final steps into the shop and pulled the door shut behind me.
“Hello, Melonie and Ainsley!”
Ainsley? Holy shit.
This was a trap.
A familiar voice that I still heard in my dreams floated around me.
“Hey, Hank.”
I turned to my right and was face to face with Ainsley Crowne. The girl who, eight years ago, had wrecked my world and walked away without a care in the world.
“Hello, Silas,” she said quietly.
She looked the same. Dark red hair, perfectly plump and kissable lips. Crystal blue eyes that swear to God, could see right through me, and long legs I could still feel tangled with mine as we watched the fireworks every year.
How in the fuck was that possible?
I hadn’t seen this woman in over eight years, and yet, it felt like just yesterday she was mine.
I cleared my throat. “Hello, Ainsley.”
Something flashed in her eyes, but I couldn’t pinpoint what it was. Whether or not she was surprised to see me, I couldn’t tell.
I was surprised to see her. Hell, I was shocked.
“I’m Melonie. Minion extraordinaire.” The short woman next to Ainsley stepped forward and held her hand out to me.
I removed one of my leather gloves and gently shook her hand. “Silas,” I mumbled.
“Yeah, I figured that out,” she said with a wink of her eye.
Dad clapped his hands together and did a slow circle with his arms outstretched. “I need more flowers, A,” he called.
Dad laughed and moved around the overflowing pots of flowers to the back of the store. “Have anything with gold in it? I think that would make June happy. Something to go with all the red.”
“I’ll help you, Hank.” Melonie followed my dad and disappeared behind a huge rack in the back.
I took off my other glove and tucked them into the pocket of my jacket. “I didn’t know you worked here.” If I had, I would have never came in.
“I own it.”
I nodded. “I guess that really shouldn’t be a surprise. You always did have your hands in the dirt and your head in the clouds.”
Ainsley scoffed. “And you always had a stick up your ass. It’s nice to see some things never change.”
I laughed and turned to look at the flowers next to me. “Mother told me the same thing the other day.”
“You actually talked to your mother? I’m surprised.”
I looked over my shoulder. “I don’t know why that would surprise you.”
“Because she always complains about how she never talks to you.”
“I heard you see my mother often.”
A small smile touched her lips. “More than you.”
That was a cheap shot. “I’m a very busy man, Ainsley. If I spent all of my time on the phone, I would never get anything done.”
She nodded and sighed. “Then I better not keep you.” She untied her apron and tossed it on the window sill. “I’m taking a break, Melonie,” she called.
Melonie peeked her head around the shelf and smiled. “Um, okay,” she replied, confused.
Ainsley grabbed her purse from behind the counter and disappeared out the door.
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