Christmas with the Billionaire (Holiday Encounters Book 1)
Page 10
Guess he didn’t mind humoring me with my Christmas traditions.
His condo came as a bit of a surprise. The address overlooking the park didn’t come as a shock. But the fact that it was comfortable and lived in and, while spacious, not humongous did. I loved it. It suited him and wasn’t at all the modern, streamlined, oversized penthouse his billionaire status had me expecting.
It was also decked out from top to bottom in Christmas decorations.
“You told me you didn’t do Christmas,” I said.
And for the first time since I met him, he looked a little embarrassed. My mouth dropped. Seriously, I swear the tips of his ears got a little pink.
“But you do Christmas,” he said quietly.
I twirled and took in the lights and the garlands, the stockings on the mantel, and the tall Christmas tree with its pile of presents underneath.
“You don’t do this every year?”
The expression he turned on me could best be described as a grimace. “No, I don’t do this. Ever.”
“So where did all this…” I gestured around the room, and words failed me as I took it all in.
“My staff helped me with it.”
I turned to him and tears prickled behind my eyes. “You did all this…” I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Too afraid to hope it could be true.
“For you,” he said. “I did all this for you.”
I froze for an instant. But then I dropped my bags and raced across the room to throw myself into his arms. It took us a little while after that to get to putting away the things I’d brought.
Later, he helped me bake Christmas cookies. And by helped, I mean he sat at the kitchen bar and taste tested cookie dough as I made it. That too had ended up with me in his arms. Or more precisely, us on the floor covered in flour with a batch of sugar cookies burning to a crisp in the oven.
Christmas morning had brought its own surprises. Turned out most of the brightly wrapped gifts under the tree were for me. Though I’d managed to sneak a few of my own under there when Nate wasn’t looking.
I’d be lying if I said many of those boxes for me didn’t contain sexy lingerie. I didn’t mind. It thrilled me that Nate saw me that way. For the first time in my life, I felt sexy and desirable. I couldn’t wait to try them on.
But there were some other things in there, too. He’d given me a pair of red plaid pajama bottoms with an oversized matching sweatshirt.
“For the nights we can’t spend together,” he’d told me.
And my breath left my lungs when I unwrapped a small blue box with a white ribbon. Inside I found a snowflake pendant of diamonds and platinum. I wanted to say it was too much. That he shouldn’t be spending money like that on me. But my throat clogged with tears at the sight of the beautiful piece of jewelry that would forever remind me of this day and of the moment we met in the hotel bar decked out to look like a winter wonderland.
Before I found my voice, he had the necklace clasped around my neck. All I could say was “Thank you.”
My own gifts felt like nothing in comparison, mostly in keeping with the magic of Christmas theme. But he seemed genuinely pleased with the snow globe of Manhattan during Christmas and the ornament from the Hotel Wynter. I’d also stuffed his stocking full of silly things—chocolates and puzzle books, funny socks and a booklet of sex coupons.
But his favorite gift from me was one I almost hadn’t given him. I’d debated a long time before I wrapped it up.
He’d opened the box I placed it in and looked up at me in question. I reached over and pulled the pile of pages out. “I wrote it for you,” I explained. “It’s our story. Of the night we met. But for your eyes only. And I didn’t give Brandi credit for this one.”
He looked at me for several long moments and then down at the pages in his hand. I held my breath as he read, afraid he’d be pissed or think I broke my promise about never writing about him.
But when he turned his gaze on me, I knew I had nothing to fear. His beautiful eyes had turned a dark amber, the green barely visible. Before I knew what he planned, he had me pinned to the floor surrounded by piles of wrapping paper. He stripped me of my red silky robe and matching nighty and worked hard at recreating the night we met.
The rest of the day we spent making love, cuddling and nibbling the munchies and the Christmas dinner his staff had left prepared for us.
And now, I was happy to lie under the tree, the Christmas lights the only light in the room. Nate’s hand absently sifted through my hair while I traced patterns over his chest with my finger.
“Merry Christmas,” I whispered.
He tightened his hold on me and used his hand in my hair to turn my face up to his for a long, slow kiss. “Merry Christmas.”
“Do you feel the magic yet?” I couldn’t help but ask.
He smiled down at me. “I might have to admit the last two days were a little bit magical. But I think it had more to do with you than Christmas.”
My heartbeat picked up speed and I stretched up to leave a line of kisses along his jaw. I let him believe what he wanted, but I knew the truth—the magic of Christmas had delivered this man to me.
I squeezed my eyes tight and sent one more Christmas wish out into the universe—please, please let me have many more Christmases with Nate.
THE END
***
A Note From Amy
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading Christmas with the Billionaire.
I hope you love Nate and Emma as much as I do. I have a feeling Nate has something in his past that makes it hard for him to appreciate all the magic of the Christmas season. So it’s a good thing he has Emma to help show him the way. And I can’t wait for you to read how the bet turns out for Katelyn, Jade, and Paige!
To find all my available titles, you can visit my author page here: Amazon Author Page. And if you have the time, and would like to share what you thought of the book, reviews are always appreciated.
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And you can always drop me an email at amy@amylamont.com. I love hearing from readers!
Until next time,
Amy Lamont
Table of Contents
The Bet
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
A Note From Amy