by Noelle Adams
“I can’t believe you found something so perfect.” He reached over to give the girl a hug. “Thank you so much. I’ll wear it on Sunday.”
“Oh, and you have to open this now too,” Lydia said, handing him a small box.
Gabe gave her a curious look, and she was barely holding back laughter as he opened it with raised eyebrows.
Inside was a tie clip with a sculpted pile of books on it.
Ellie squealed with delight. “It’s perfect! It goes with the tie!”
Gabe burst into laughter as Ellie moved over to hug Lydia, and Lydia decided her present was a resounding success.
After a while, Ellie brought her hoard of books upstairs to organize them on her bookshelves, and Lydia scooted over toward Gabe on the couch. His eyes were soft when he looked at her.
“I have another present for you,” she murmured huskily.
He arched his eyebrows. “And when do I get it?”
“Tonight. It’s not fit for mixed company.”
A certain smolder ignited in his eyes. “I see.”
“I have something for you to wear and something for me, but they’re both presents for you.”
“I have a feeling I’m going to like yours better than mine.”
She laughed and kissed him, just to the side of his mouth. “You probably will.”
“I don’t suppose there’s any chance of a nap some time earlier today,” he said, stroking down her back toward her hip.
“I doubt it, between visits to your parents and mine. We’ll have to wait.”
He made a guttural sound. “Now I’m going to be thinking about it all day.”
“Not around your parents, surely.”
“Hopefully not.”
“Well, I can’t wait to see you in your present. And you know that patience isn’t my virtue.”
“When it comes to you,” he said, meeting her eyes with a deep, hot look, “It’s not my virtue either.”
He pulled her into a kiss, and they were still kissing when a voice came from the entrance to the room. “Are you kissing again?”
“Maybe a little,” Gabe said, pulling away from Lydia’s mouth and smiling toward his daughter. “But she’s my wife, so I’m allowed.”
“I guess so. But this isn’t kissing time. This is family time. Isn’t it?” Ellie didn’t look upset or grouchy as she came over to the couch to sit with them. She looked like she was laughing.
“Yes, it’s family time,” Gabe agreed. “But a few kisses are allowed during family time.”
Gabe and Ellie continued on with an extended conversation about how much kissing was acceptable during family time, but Lydia was only half listening.
Mostly she was thinking that this morning was the first time in her marriage when she felt like she was part of this family—wholly, completely, no more questions or hesitations. She was theirs as much as they were hers.
***
If you haven’t already read them, the first two Willow Park books are already available. Married for Christmas is Daniel and Jessica’s book, and A Baby for Easter is Micah and Alice’s book. The fourth Willow Park book, called Reconciled for Easter (about Thomas and Abigail) will be released in March.
If you enjoyed A Family for Christmas, you might check out the excerpt from Bittersweet, another of my books, on the next pages.
Excerpt from Bittersweet
“What British novelist also invented the mailbox?”
Zoe had been eating her salad, but at this question she set down her fork. “Wait, I know this one. My professor talked about it in lit class last year.”
She’d been trying for cool indifference—as if knowing the answer to Adam’s trivia question was second nature to her—but her voice reflected obvious excitement.
She couldn’t help it. Adam had been asking her random trivia questions for two months, and this was the first one she actually might know.
Adam wasn’t smiling, but his eyes—such a dark brown they were almost black—warmed in amusement. “I’ll clarify that we’re talking about the red pillar mailboxes in England.”
“Yeah. I know this.”
“So who is it?”
“It’s Thackeray. No, wait, that’s wrong. That wasn’t my answer.” She racked her mind, searching for the name she remembered hearing in class last year.
Zoe always did fine in school—getting B’s without straining too much—but she’d never been academically inclined and certainly didn’t collect various snippets of knowledge for the sole purpose of knowing them the way Adam did.
“I’m waiting,” he said, an irresistible edge of teasing in his voice.
“I know this.” She stared down at the strawberries and pecans on her salad. “We didn’t actually read this guy’s books—my professor just mentioned it in passing. When he was talking about Dickens, I think. I know it.”
“If you know, then you’d better tell me.”
She curled her lip to show she wasn’t pleased with being rushed, but was soon distracted by searching her memory. “Wait, I know. Tramp…trollop…Trollope!”
Adam laughed uninhibitedly—the sound washing over her and giving her a distinct kind of pleasure. “Right. It was a strange way to get there, but you got there.”
Zoe threw her hands in the air. “Ha. Victory!”
The other diners in the café turned around at her outburst, but Zoe didn’t care about the attention she’d drawn. Getting one of Adam’s trivia questions correct was worthy of a celebratory gesture.
Zoe was an assistant department manager at the upscale department store next door, and she always came to the café for her lunch break when she was scheduled to work midday hours.
A couple of months ago, she’d noticed a brown-haired guy had started to show up to eat lunch at the same time. He was always reading or working on a laptop, and he was just slightly geeky with his impressive array of camp shirts and his intent focus on his thick books—just geeky enough to be adorable.
One day, he’d come over to ask if he could have the salt from her table.
The next day, he came over to ask her for the salt again.
The third day, she asked him why he hadn’t grabbed the salt before he sat down.
They’d started having lunch together after that.
At first, Zoe assumed he was interested in her and would be asking her out. He wasn’t really her type. She’d always dated athletes when she was in high school and college.
But, from the first time she’d talked to him, she was awed by how smart he was. Plus, he was funny and very attractive with his amazing dark eyes, lighter brown hair, and very fine shoulders. He also seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say, which wasn’t always her experience with guys.
She didn’t think he was her destined soul mate or anything, but if he’d asked her out, she definitely would have said yes.
He never did, so more than a month ago he’d moved in her mind from “potential date” to “casual lunch buddy.”
Still reveling in her trivia victory, Zoe picked up her fork to finish her salad.
“How did your history midterm go?” Adam asked, after finishing off the last of his sandwich.
She nodded until she swallowed her bite. “It was fine, I think. I didn’t do great, but I’m pretty sure I passed.”
She’d been working at the department store since she was a freshman in college in order to make some extra money to buy the clothes and shoes she wanted. A few months ago, the store had wanted to promote her. She hadn’t yet graduated, but—after long conversations with her parents and her friends—she’d decided to take the job with its longer hours and finish college part-time.
She actually liked working retail. She loved designer clothes—loved them—and she was really good at working with customers and keeping her department running smoothly.
It was a good job, and there was a lot of potential for her to advance in the store chain. She hadn’t lived on campus since her freshman year, so her social
life wasn’t affected by the transition. She didn’t mind taking classes in the evening, but she didn’t always study as much as she should.
“If you’d told me the exam was coming up earlier,” Adam said, “I could have helped you study over lunch.”
She laughed. “You just want any excuse to show off.”
His dark eyes warmed again in that way he had—which made it seem like he was smiling even when he wasn’t. “Now what could I possibly want to show off?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe your freakish knowledge of all areas of history. I thought you were working on your MBA. How do you know so much history anyway?”
He glanced away, looking slightly diffident. “I read a lot. Plus, I got a Master’s in history before I started the MBA.”
Zoe’s eyes widened. Adam didn’t share much personal information with her, but she’d put together the facts she knew into a rough timeline to estimate his age. She’d been thinking he was around twenty-four, three years older than she was. But she now bumped it up to twenty-six.
“If you’re such a history buff, why are you doing the MBA?” It was a personal question—more personal than anything she’d asked him before.
For a moment, she was nervous, wondering if their casual relationship would allow it.
He didn’t hesitate before he answered. “History was for me. The MBA is for my family.”
“Oh. That’s a pretty big thing to do, just because your family wants you to.”
“Yeah, I guess. My dad always wanted me to do it. He died a couple of years ago, so I thought…”
He trailed off, but Zoe understood anyway. He’d gone against his family’s wishes by going into history, and the MBA was a gesture of loyalty now that his father was dead.
For some reason, it touched her. That Adam loved his family so much. For the first time, she looked at him with something more than amusement and interest—with something deeper.
“What does your mom think?” she asked, hoping she wasn’t intruding on his privacy but wanting to know more.
“She died too. Same time as my dad.” When she gasped, he added in explanation, “It was a boating accident.”
Details clicked in Zoe’s mind then. A boating accident. Two years ago. “Is your…is your last name Peterson?”
Adam let out a textured sigh and leaned back in his chair. He didn’t look upset by her discovery. Just slightly rueful. “Guilty.”
Zoe had heard about the Petersons. Everyone who spent any time in the area had heard about the Petersons. They were a kind of First Family for the city, with a long history in business development and local politics. Harold Peterson, who must be Adam’s grandfather, had spent decades as the mayor.
“Wow,” she breathed. “I had no idea.”
“Yeah. I know you didn’t.”
When she just looked at him, trying to reconcile her lunch buddy with this local dynasty, he gave a half-shrug. “It’s really not that big a deal.”
She realized she was making him uncomfortable, so she pulled it together. “I’m sorry about your parents.”
His expression changed, softened. “Thanks. They were great. I still miss them.”
Both of Zoe’s parents were still alive, and she was really close with both of them, so her heart went out to him. “Your grandfather is still alive, right?”
“Yeah. He’s thrilled about the MBA. I’m sure he has visions of my becoming a pillar of society and maybe going into local politics.”
“Is that what you want?”
“I don’t know. Not the politics thing, no. But the MBA has actually been rather helpful. My cousin and I have started a company.”
“Really? What’s that?”
He looked a little sheepish—like he was really proud of something and slightly self-conscious because of it. But he pulled something up on his laptop and moved it over so she could see.
She looked at the screen and saw what appeared to be a video game.
Adam explained, “Josh, my cousin, is a tech guy, so he did all the coding. We’ve already started to launch it, and so far it’s going pretty well. It’s called Light Switch.”
Zoe clicked a few times, just to see what happened. Her eyebrows arched as a question popped up on the screen.
“It’s a trivia-based game,” he added.
She started to laugh. “It looks great. Very cool.”
“I can send it to you, so you can try it out, if you want.”
Her eyes rested on him, and she felt a strange surge of fondness, kinship. He looked so pleased with himself but was trying to play it cool—just the way she’d felt when the store had wanted to promote her.
“Yeah. I’d like that.”
“I’ll need your email address.”
She gave it to him. “It’s nice you could partner with your cousin.”
“Yeah.” Adam finished typing her email address and put the laptop away. “He’s actually supposed to come by in a few minutes so we can do some work on Light Switch plans.”
“I’ve got loads of cousins, but I only talk to them maybe once a year. How great that you two are friends.”
“I don’t know if we’re really friends yet. I don’t know him as well as I’d like. His mom cut ties with us—the rest of the family, I mean—so I didn’t know him at all growing up. He’s been kind of hard to get to know. I think maybe he resents that he had a harder time growing up—since she wouldn’t accept any help from the family. He always says he’s not a ‘real’ Peterson. But it’s getting better now. He likes the idea of the game, and he did a really good job with it.”
“I can’t believe you invented a game and set up your own company. I’m pretty impressed.”
“We’re actually having a get-together on Saturday night for everyone who worked on it to celebrate the launch. Maybe—”
His eyes slanted over to the door to the café and he cut off what he was starting to say. Zoe turned automatically to see what had diverted him.
When she saw the young man who entered, she realized it must be Adam’s cousin.
He was the best-looking guy she’d ever seen in real life.
As he approached, she did a quick assessment of her appearance. She wore a cashmere twin set and pencil skirt that she thought were flattering. She wasn’t as tall as she’d like, so she always wore high heels to compensate, and her shoes today were new.
She smoothed down her fair hair—even though it was ruler-straight and had never shown the slightest tendency to wave or curl in her life.
Deciding she looked as good as she could for the moment, she turned to be introduced to Adam’s gorgeous cousin.
Adam was obviously not interested in her romantically—having not made any sort of move in two months—but that didn’t mean his cousin wouldn’t be.
He grinned as he approached their table, his smile absolutely breathtaking.
“Well, hello,” he said, his hazel eyes resting on her face with obvious interest. “I’m Josh.”
***
You can find out more about Bittersweet here.
About Noelle Adams
Noelle handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she teaches English, reads any book she can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.
She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances. For more information, please check out her website: noelle-adams.com.
Other Books by Noelle Adams
One Hot Night: Three Contemporary Romance Novellas
A Negotiated Marriage
Listed
Bittersweet
Missing
Revival
Seducing the Enemy
Playing the Playboy
Holiday Heat
> Married for Christmas
Salvation
Engaging the Boss
Excavated
A Baby for Easter
Duty Bound
Overexposed
Honor Bound
Road Tripping
One Night with her Boss
Stripping the Billionaire
Forever Bound
A Family for Christmas
