The Billionaire's Lessons in Christmas

by Holly Rayner

  His joy was infectious, and Annabelle found that her own smile was just as genuine. Will offered to stop by her house before they walked the couple of blocks to the party, and she agreed. When she dressed up for the night, she picked a little black dress, not favoring red anymore.

  ***

  Will was at the door exactly when he’d said he would be, ever the reliable one. He held out his elbow, and Annabelle laced her arm around his as they headed to the event. They danced and laughed with people far older than they were, and Annabelle found it nice to have at least one person there who got her jokes.

  As midnight approached, people began to huddle around the bar televisions as they watched the last minute of the year tick down, the promise of a better one only seconds away. Annabelle had been drinking fairly liberally, and she felt carefree and daring. As they entered the final ten seconds of the year, she met Wills’ gaze and beamed as they counted down together.

  When he bent down to kiss her, she didn’t resist, but while the sensation was pleasant, there was still something missing.

  “We could make this work, Belle. I know we can,” Will said, his cheeks rosy with drink, his words just slightly slurred.

  Annabelle smiled tipsily at him. “You’re right, Will. Let’s give us a try, and see what happens.”

  Will looked at her as if she had just accepted his marriage proposal. He twirled her around, and she wrapped her arms around him.

  She did her best to put Chase Frost out of her mind, this time for good.

  NINETEEN

  Six Months Later

  “If you look out to my left, here, you’ll see a log cabin built by some of the first settlers to make it to Bluewater.”

  Annabelle gestured to the dilapidated structure, perched precariously along a cliff side. A few tourists leaned against the railing of the boat as they squinted their eyes to better see the cabin.

  “Life out here was hard back then, to say the least. People were starving, freezing, and battling all the elements of Washington that we know and love today, with just a tiny bit less enthusiasm.”

  A few people chuckled at her joke, and Annabelle smiled at her crowd.

  In the six months since making her deal with Chase, Bluewater had undergone a complete transformation. If anything, the town was more popular with tourists now than it had ever been before. She’d landed her old job back as a tour guide on the Craggy Maiden, and they had people waiting on the docks for the next round day in and day out.

  In a nutshell, it was a huge relief.

  Annabelle had watched quietly as the Frost Energy rig came down, and she often thought of Chase, much to her chagrin. Glancing over to where the rig had once been, she lost focus for a moment until an elderly woman asked her a direct question.

  “What year was the cabin built? Do you know who lived there?”

  Annabelle turned to the woman, turning her tour guide persona back on and fixing her grin back in place.

  “An old pioneer by the name of Thomas Jones, though around these parts he was better known as Beardy. Strange, really, since everyone had beards, but apparently his was the longest. He built the cabin with his bare hands in the summer of 1852, and he died there not four years later of pneumonia. You have to understand how utterly alone these people were, and how little medical help they received. While a few were able to get help from local tribes, distrust of the settlers soon eliminated that option.”

  The tour went on as it usually did, with Annabelle fielding the typical questions, at least one person looking seasick, and two teenagers making out in the back. When they got back to port, Annabelle was happy to see no other lines for their rounds. With it being the end of the day, they would have had to turn them down anyway.

  She bid her passengers farewell as they dismounted, the young man with a green complexion looking especially relieved to get his feet back on solid land.

  Martha came out from behind the boat’s steering wheel and patted Annabelle on the back. The weather was mild, and a cool breeze danced across the boat as they looked toward town.

  “Well done, Belle. That was quite the busy day.”

  Annabelle nodded. “One of the busiest we’ve had so far, I’d say.”

  Alex came out then, his salt and pepper hair ruffling in the breeze. “Absolutely. We took in about twenty more people today than yesterday. This month has been a record breaker all the way around!”

  “Do you have somewhere to be, Belle?” Martha asked.

  Annabelle glanced back in the direction of Main Street, but when she turned back to Martha, she shook her head. “Nowhere is more important that with my crew. What’s up?”

  She hadn’t realized that Alex was holding something behind his back, and when he pulled his hand to the front, she realized he was holding a bottle of champagne.

  “We just wanted to have a quick toast. This time last year we were devastated, barely making it by. Now we’ve more than made back everything we lost. It’s important to celebrate these victories,” Alex said, popping the cork as Martha proffered three plastic flutes, and her husband poured each of them a drink.

  Holding up his glass, Alex tilted it toward the middle of their small circle. “To the Craggy Maiden. We may never know why Frost Energy pulled out of this town, but we shall always be grateful that they did. May we continue to meet with success in the form of plenty of curious strangers, looking to learn a little more about our interesting little home.”

  “Hear, hear!” Martha said.

  Annabelle smiled, though she said nothing. She had opted to keep her part in that deal a secret, for several reasons, firstly because she hadn’t really ever found a good moment to tell her family she’d spent a night with the most hated man in town. She also didn’t want to be the center of attention for doing what she did. She almost wished she had been able to get through to him on a more business-like level, protestor to tycoon. Instead, she had actively worked to get visions of him from her mind, which were extremely inconvenient, given her current relationship status.

  She enjoyed her champagne and her colleagues’ easy banter as the sun began drifting lazily towards the horizon. Once her drink was finished, Annabelle set it down and bid her friends farewell, heading back towards her apartment, which she had been able to rent again.

  She stepped inside and took a breath, leaning her back against the door. Her life had filled out in the past few months, and her family and friends had begun to see prosperity again. It was all she could ask for, and more.

  So why did she still feel like something was missing?

  Glancing at the clock, Annabelle forced her thoughts to turn toward the task at hand, and she opened her fridge, removing everything she needed for dinner that night. As her chili began to boil, a knock at the door reminded her of her guest.

  She unlocked the door, and Will didn’t wait to walk right in.

  “Since when do you lock your door?’ he asked, placing an affectionate kiss on her cheek. The stubble from his beard irritated her skin.

  Annabelle shrugged. “Lots of tourists in town these days. One never knows what might happen.”

  “You’re being paranoid, Belle. Still, it reminded me that I don’t yet have a key to your apartment.”

  Annabelle held back a flinch at his words. The truth was, she had taken it incredibly slow with Will, and he had been patience personified.

  “You’re right,” she said, walking over to a side table and opening a drawer. She pulled out a silver key and held it out to him. “This is yours now. You have free access to my cable any time you’d like.”

  “Ah, if only I enjoyed television.”

  “Your loss,” she quipped, heading back to the stove and stirring her chili.

  Will came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, settling his head on her shoulder and nuzzling her neck.

  “Hey there,” Annabelle said brightly. “You had a good day, I take it?”

  Since the rig had come down and Will no longer had an
ything to protest, he had landed a job as a teller at the local bank. He’d dealt with a bit of a learning curve, but he was supporting himself, and, as he’d mentioned many times, he was saving for a nice house for a family someday.

  “I did. I managed to help everyone I came across, and it was great. How about you?”

  “Good,” she said. That was how couples bonded, right? By talking about the mundane things that happened through the course of the day while they were apart? “We had the highest number of tourists we’ve ever had. Alex and Martha were beside themselves with joy.”

  Will kissed her neck before walking over to the small wine rack and pulling a bottle of red from the top. He pulled the cork from the neck and poured them each a glass as the oven timer beeped.

  The two of them ate in companionable silence, as two old friends can, speaking at interludes of nothing in particular. Will complimented her profusely on the food, and Annabelle smiled and thanked him for his kind praise.

  “You really should think about becoming a chef, Belle. You could expand the bakery—serve lunches and dinners, too. You’d make a fortune.”

  Annabelle took a sip of wine, shaking her head. “Just because I’m good at cooking doesn’t mean I want to make a living out of it,” she said.

  “Fair enough,” he agreed. “Now what do we do with the rest of our evening?”

  “Movie night?” she suggested, but Will shook his head.

  “I’ve got something else in mind. Why don’t we head back to my place, and I’ll show you?”

  Annabelle quirked her eyebrow in suspicion, but Will refused to say anything more on the matter. She slid into a light sweatshirt as Will cleaned up the kitchen, and the two of them walked the couple of blocks to his apartment.

  When he opened the door, Annabelle glanced inside, expecting to see something over the top, since Will had been nothing if not extravagant in the six months they’d been together.

  To her surprise, the apartment looked the same as it always did, with masculine, navy blue furniture and few other homey touches.

  Annabelle looked at Will with a curious expression. “I don’t get it. Where’s the surprise party brigade?”

  “No massive group tonight. Just you and me, and a decision to make.” With that, he grabbed her hand and began to pull her towards his bedroom.

  Annabelle’s stomach squirmed uncomfortably. This was starting to feel a little too serious, and she had been hoping for quite some time not to be put a position where she would have to break Will’s heart.

  Somehow, a part of her always knew that day would come. As Will pulled her into his bedroom, nothing seemed out of the ordinary until he walked her to his closet, and turned on the light.

  His clothing had all been moved to one side, clearly making space for another person. Annabelle slowly processed what he was trying to tell her, and she looked up at him with furrowed brows.

  “You want me to move in with you?”

  He nodded, still holding her hand. “I do. We’ve been together six months now, Belle, and you just handed me the key to your apartment. I know you want to take it slow, but things are going so great with us, why don’t we try taking the next step, and see where it leads?”

  His eyes were lit up with hope. Everything in Annabelle screamed that this was wrong, that she wasn’t ready. That she might not ever be ready.

  She blinked a few times, hesitating on her answer. “I…” she began, but Will cut her off.

  “I know it’s a lot to ask, and I never expected you to say yes right away. You don’t have to give me an answer today or tomorrow or even next month, but I want you to know that this door is open to you, whenever you’re ready to walk in.”

  Annabelle’s hand felt clammy as she pulled it from his. “Thank you, Will. I’d like to take a little time, if that’s all right with you.”

  Will’s eyes were full of understanding. “Of course. While we’re at it, though…”

  He pulled out a key of his own and handed it to her.

  With numb fingers, Annabelle accepted the key and placed it in her pocket. It felt much heavier than it really was.

  “Thank you,” she said, her smile as natural as she could make it.

  Will didn’t seem to notice anything amiss, and he wrapped her in a hug that enveloped her completely.

  “I’d better get back home,” she said quickly.

  Will’s face fell. “Seriously? You really can’t stay the night?”

  She shook her head. “I’ve got a long day tomorrow. First tours are starting at eight in the morning. I don’t want to be overtired.”

  Will sighed. “I understand. Just text me that you got home safe, okay?”

  “You got it,” she said, trying her best not to look like she was running away as she bolted out the door.

  Annabelle half-jogged back to her apartment, desperate to close herself in so she could think. The truth was, she had enjoyed being with Will the past few months, but she had liked the way they were: leading separate lives, complementing each other in a more casual way.

  Clearly, that wasn’t enough for him.

  When she got home she headed straight to her freezer, where she procured a pint of cookie dough ice cream. Grabbing a spoon, she plopped down on her couch and stared out into nothing as she lifted spoonful after spoonful to her lips.

  She tried to think of any possible reason why moving in with Will would be a bad idea. Of course, she couldn’t think of one. He was kind and considerate, they had all the same tastes in everything, from music to movies, to politics and all the majorly important things couples needed to agree on.

  But somehow, her heart refused to listen to reason.

  Annabelle realized, then, that she needed to end her relationship with Will, and she frowned into her ice cream. The last thing she had wanted was to hurt her lifelong friend. She was also aware that doing so in a small town meant that everyone was likely to hate her after the fact, with gossip spreading like wildfire. After all, the people of Bluewater had been banking on her marriage to Will for quite some time. She wouldn’t just be crushing his dreams; she’d be crushing theirs, too.

  And she would have to see him every day, watching as his face fell when he saw her, their friendship destroyed.

  Still, there was nothing to say for it. She had done everything in her power to try and force feelings for a man that wasn’t right for her, no matter how perfect he was on paper.

  No matter how hard she tried, the spark wasn’t bright enough to last a lifetime.

  TWENTY

  After a night of fitful sleep and guilt-ridden dreams, Annabelle was up before the sunrise. She decided to head to her parents’ house for a cup of tea, and perhaps a little insight into her troubles.

  Zipping up a light jacket, she dug her hands into her pockets as she walked the short distance to her parents’ bakery and stepped inside, heading back into their small family kitchen. Deborah was just taking the kettle off the stove, and she looked up in surprise.

  “Belle! What brings you here so early?”

  Annabelle couldn’t lie to her mother, not about this. She plopped down into a kitchen chair as tears sprang up in her eyes, unshed for far too long.

  Deborah was instantly by her daughter’s side, concern etched in the wrinkles of her face. “Oh, Belle! What is it? What’s happened?”

  After taking a moment to collect herself, Annabelle took a deep breath, and spoke her truth.

  “I don’t love Will. I have to break it off.”

  Deborah sat back, taken completely by surprise by this bit of news. Taking the seat next to her daughter, she continued to stroke her hand. “Where is this coming from, Belle? I thought you two were happy together.”

  Annabelle sniffed, staring down at the worn surface of the table. “We were…we are. It’s just…he asked me to move in with him last night, and just before that, he asked for a key to my apartment. He’s moving so fast, but it’s more than that. When I try and picture a future with him, I s
imply can’t. I keep trying. I know it’s what everyone expects of us. I just can’t!”

  Annabelle’s hand flew to her face as she cried out months of repressed emotions. It felt so good to finally say it out loud. Her mother let her cry for a while before stroking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

  “Annabelle, listen to me,” she said, her voice gentle. “You shouldn’t be with someone just because you think it’s expected of you. That’s insane! Everyone will understand that if the feeling isn’t there, it just isn’t. You can’t force love.”