The Billionaire’s Christmas Miracle: The Billionaires’ Christmas Gifts Romance

by Hale, Chelsea

  “Dear Hailey,

  I’m sorry for the way things turned out between us. I want to make things better. I can explain everything now. I’m sorry I couldn’t earlier. Can we talk in person when you come back to Red Oaks? - Troy”

  Janelle glanced at the card, steering Hailey toward the elevators. “Yep, definitely time for some chocolate.”

  * * *

  “Spill it,” Janelle said when they’d gotten up to Hailey’s room. Room service came with hot fudge sundaes.

  Hailey poured out the entire story of her time with Troy, from mistaking him as an employee of the moving company to their fake kiss under the mistletoe to their real kiss in the mountains, and all of the moments in between that had her remembering the giddy sensations she’d felt. Then she told Janelle about their breakup in the hallway, and hiring a different Santa, and pushing Troy away from the Forest Festival. She showed Janelle the notecard, his desire to explain everything.

  Janelle took Hailey’s phone off the table, shoving it into her hands. “He wants to talk, so talk to him.”

  Hailey shook her head. “I can’t.”

  Janelle rolled her eyes, her spoon clattering as it dropped to the table. “Why not? From everything you’ve told me about him, he seems great. And he says he can explain. So let him explain.”

  “But it’s all the things. I don’t even know if his explanation will hold water when I listen to it.” She bit the inside part of her lip, then shook her head.

  “You said he’s texting you still?”

  “It’s been slowing down. He’s been trying to get a hold of me—to explain, but I just can’t, er, haven’t wanted to hear the explanation.”

  “Why not?” Janelle asked.

  “What if the explanation is just an excuse? I don’t think I could handle that.”

  Janelle picked up her spoon, swirling it in her ice cream. “I suppose that’s a valid fear.”

  “That’s not the biggest fear. What if his explanation is brilliantly thought through? He’s had over a week to think of something really good. I can’t take anymore secrets.”

  “And what if he just tells you the plain truth?”

  Hailey wanted to be brave, wanted to hear the plain truth. But something inside of her hesitated. “That’s even scarier. Because then I’d probably have to leap.”

  “You keep mentioning secrets, but surely you haven’t told him everything about your life? You must have some secrets, too?”

  “Just because we haven’t discussed every aspect of my life, doesn’t mean that I’m keeping a secret from him though,” she said.

  “Maybe he had the same thoughts.”

  “But these were really big things.”

  Janelle nodded. “Again a valid point, but I’m going to be the voice of reason here. They were big to you. Perhaps they weren’t a big deal to him. Maybe he just saw things differently.”

  Hailey took in a deep breath, considering Janelle’s words. She opened the box, pulling out the ornament and looping the ribbon through her fingers, letting it spin. “Maybe that’s one of the problems. We don’t see things the same way. He’s used to getting his way, and he has the net worth to make anything happen.”

  “That amount doesn’t seem to matter to you.”

  “It doesn’t, not really.” She kept her eyes trained on the ornament, the way it caught in the light.

  “Why did he choose that particular ornament?” Janelle asked.

  Hailey looked toward her, only to see that her gaze was fixed on the spinning crystal. “What do you mean?”

  Janelle shrugged. “You mentioned his net worth, that he’s a billionaire used to getting his way. You know he could shower you with gifts. Why would he choose that when the sky is the limit on what he could give you?”

  “On the day of the first snow, we spent the day in Red Oaks looking through the small shops. The antique shop had all their Christmas decorations out. We originally went in to see the tree the antique shop was donating. He asked what I liked, wanting to get my opinions and figure out my Christmas style when it was just me, and not me decorating for someone else. This was the one that caught my eye in the store when we first walked in.

  “I told him how much I liked it. We went into the back of the store, where the antique shop had stored their Forest Festival donations. We were back there maybe ten minutes, possibly a little longer. I was so enthralled by the entire place, but I was determined to buy that first ornament I’d seen. When I came back up to the front of the counter it was gone. He must have found another one like it, and he remembered.” The memory caught hold of her.

  “It sounds like he knows you.” Janelle held out a hand. “May I?”

  She handed it over to her, and Janelle studied the ornament. “If you saw this at an antique store, he didn’t just find another one of these.”

  Understanding dawned. “He must have bought it that day then?”

  Janelle shrugged, giving the ornament back to her. “Either that or he has some amazing online shopping skills.”

  Hailey placed it in the box. “He could have given me anything in the world,” she said softly.

  “Would anything else have been as meaningful?” Janelle asked.

  Hailey sighed. “That’s beside the point. I know Troy and I had a connection and chemistry and all of that, but that’s not what’s up for debate. The fact is I just don’t know if I can trust him. He kept things from me. He wouldn’t explain things. That’s not the way to have a relationship with someone, to build a life with someone. Honesty and trust are important to me.”

  “But he says he can explain now. Give him a chance.”

  Hailey bit her lip, not willing to commit to Janelle’s suggestion yet. “How did this present even find me here? There’s no address. It didn’t come through the mail.”

  Janelle shrugged. “Who knows. Maybe Santa brought it.”

  Hailey snapped her fingers. “I’ll ask him about that tomorrow.”

  “I don’t see how that answers anything.”

  “I can get more information. Maybe Santa can tell me more so I can be prepared, when … if I talk to Troy.”

  Janelle rolled her eyes. “Santa is great and all, and don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love his costume, but don’t you find it a little incongruent that you’re even going to ask Santa about it?”

  Hailey tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, Hailey. You want trust and honesty from people and I get that, but why would you assume you could trust Santa more than you could Troy? You don’t even know who Santa is.”

  “Of course I know who Santa is. He’s Santa.” The words felt hollow even to her own ears.

  Janelle smirked. “You know that doesn’t hold water, right? Besides. Santa is keeping his identity a secret from even you. He didn’t tell you who he was, before or after the publicity.”

  “So?”

  “So, you’ll allow Santa to keep the secret of his identity, but you’re unwilling to let Troy actually explain himself?”

  “It’s not the same,” Hailey countered.

  “Agreed. Santa hasn’t once given you anything to go off of to trust him, except to don a custom-made suit. At least with Troy you had some history. You relied on him for weeks. He had to have given you at least a few reasons to trust him during that time, right?”

  A lightbulb turned on in Hailey’s brain. Janelle was right. Hailey had been unhappy with the timing, but he had offered multiple times to explain things to her, even though the explanation was immediate like she’d wanted. She rubbed at her forehead. “I think I’ve made a huge mistake.”

  “Lucky for you, he still wants to talk.” Janelle held up the card.

  He wanted to talk in person. She’d allow him that.

  She texted Troy. I think we need to talk.

  His reply came almost immediately. I’d like that.

  In person.

  Agreed.

  Chapter 27

  The bitter cold hit Hail
ey as soon as she left her rental car. She hurried along the freshly shoveled walk of the Red Oaks real estate office, snow piled high on both sides. She stamped her feet off at the mat and let herself inside.

  She pulled out her phone, realizing that she’d never confirmed details about meeting with Troy in person, though she’d told him she was coming back to Red Oaks. If his explanation could solve this thing between them, he’d be worth the drive into the City. She texted him. I’m in New York, in Red Oaks. When I finish closing on the house, could we meet in the City?

  His response came immediately. I’m actually not in the City right now, but I do want to talk in person.

  Hailey’s heart stuttered. She’d missed Troy. Had he gone home for Christmas? She frowned at his text that he wasn’t around. It would be fine. They’d figure things out. Maybe it wouldn’t be this trip after all.

  “Ms. Waters,” the realtor said.

  We’ll find another time. Hailey pressed send on her response. She looked up from her phone that she’d been staring at and smiled at her realtor. “Hi. Sorry about that.”

  “Not a problem. We’re just about ready for you. If you want to wait in the conference room, the buyer is already there.”

  “I half expect Santa to be here in his suit,” Hailey said, laughing.

  The realtor nodded. “He was adamant about not drawing attention from the press during closing, so I think he wanted to be in Cognito.”

  Hailey raised an eyebrow, convinced that Santa would come as Santa. “I’ll go introduce myself,” she said.

  “He wanted to talk to you before we finalize the details of the sale.” He gestured toward the conference room. “I’ll be in in a few minutes with the documents, and we can get started.”

  Hailey was almost ready to slide her phone into her purse when she saw a text from Troy. She clicked into it.

  I hear The Pancake Tower is a great place to get breakfast food at any time of the day. We should go for lunch there sometime.

  She closed her eyes, letting beautiful memories dance across her consciousness. As much as she wanted to pick up where they’d left off a few weeks ago, she needed answers before she could open her heart again. She needed to hear his explanation. We need to talk first.

  He responded as she walked through the conference room. Agreed.

  Dropping her phone into her purse, she closed the conference room door behind her. It was time to put Troy out of her mind for the next hour while she focused on closing on her house with Santa.

  Santa sat in the far corner of the room, his back to her as he looked out the window where snow was still blowing around in the wind. The only thing she could see was his Santa hat.

  “Hi Santa,” Hailey said.

  “Hi Hailey,” Santa said, still turned away from her.

  “My realtor said you wanted to talk with me before we closed,” she said it confidently enough, but she hoped with everything in her that he wasn’t changing his mind.

  “I did,” he said, still not turning around.

  It felt strange to talk to the back of his head, and she moved farther into the room. “I hope there’s not a problem with the deal.”

  “There might be.”

  “I don’t understand,” she said moving closer to him. “What’s wrong, Santa?”

  “You’re not going to like this,” he said slowly.

  Fears rose up in her. Had he only pretended to want the property for so much? Would they be renegotiating right before closing? She shouldn’t even be in his closing, but he’d asked her to be here. Was this why? “You don’t really have three million for this deal?” she guessed.

  “What? No, that’s not it. The money was donated at the Forest Festival. I’d never dream of backing out.”

  She breathed easier. “Well it can’t be that bad then,” she said.

  “It’s worse. You may not want me to buy the property when you find out.”

  She stood only a few feet away from him, but still he didn’t turn around. She wished she could talk to him face to face, look him in the eye, read his expression—something. “When I find out what?”

  “When you find out who wants to buy the property.”

  “Okay. You’re buying the property, I don’t underst—”

  Santa spun around, taking off the Santa hat that had hidden his dark hair. “I wanted to explain this before we got to closing.”

  Hailey blinked several times before her brain believed her eyes that she was looking at Troy and not Santa. Troy was dressed in regular clothes. “Troy? Why are you here?”

  Troy blew out a breath. “I have a lot to tell you.” He motioned to the chair next to his, and she sat down.

  “Did you ask Santa to bid for you?” she asked, her brain trying to figure out how he would know the exact time of the closing if Santa hadn’t told him. She’d been vague at best about her travel plans when she’d texted Troy.

  Troy smiled. “No. I bid on the house.”

  She swallowed. “I don’t believe this,” she said. How was Troy the Mystery Santa? She was stunned. “You’re … Santa? But I met Santa when I was waiting for you.”

  Troy rubbed the side of his jaw. “And I was waiting exactly where I said I was going to be, and you assumed that I was late.”

  “The whole time? You didn’t just pay off the Mystery Santa to buy the house?”

  “I wanted to tell you when you first met Santa, but I thought you’d caught on that it was me, until you walked away. I could tell how impressed you were with the Santa, and I wanted it to be a surprise when I showed up at the Forest Festival.”

  She gave him a half smile. “I suppose that would have been a great surprise.”

  “I didn’t mean for it to continue on past then, but then, before the Forest Festival—I just didn’t want to cause you pain, and I didn’t really think that you’d call up the other Santa you had met to fill in for me.”

  Her brain tried to follow everything, trying to reconcile the last couple of weeks. “Then why not tell me in Seattle?” she asked.

  “And ruin your parties by having you upset at Santa? I couldn’t do that. You’d booked the Seattle events with my assistant earlier than the Forest Festival, so I figured before Seattle you would have known it was me, and we could have spent the weekend sightseeing or something.” Troy’s eyes pleaded with her. “It all kind of backfired and blew up in my face.”

  “And the present?” she asked.

  “Santa was the only way I could think of to get it to you, and then I didn’t want to jeopardize the next day’s party, so I left it at the front desk,” he said.

  “None of this explains your bet about me and how we even got into this mess in the first place,” she said, wanting to get back on topic.

  Santa, er, Troy nodded. “The bet was never about you,” Troy clarified. “A few months ago I was with my college roommates, and one of the guys who has a huge charity foundation gave the rest of us the challenge to try something different for our Christmas giving this year. We could only spend $10,000 to help the charity of our choice, and we needed to spend a significant amount of time working on it.”

  “That was the bet?” she asked.

  Troy nodded. “There were lots of stipulations to go along with it. Each of the three billionaires who were challenged gave Kyle a million dollars. The winner of the challenge would get the three million to donate to their charity of choice.”

  “So, why not just explain that to me? I already knew you were a billionaire. The money didn’t surprise me.”

  Troy exhaled loudly. “One of the rules of the competition was that I couldn’t tell anyone about it. But after it became a sticking point, I tried to get out of the competition completely. That didn’t work, so I stuck it out. I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t when you asked me.”

  She sucked in a breath. Relief washed over her. The bet hadn’t been about her. “So where does that leave us?”

  “With me madly in love with you.”

  “Af
ter all I put you through?”

  “It doesn’t change how I feel.”

  She nodded. “And you really want to buy this house?”

  He nodded.

  “You’re not going to live here though?” she asked.

  “Me? No, not full time. But Santa needs a place.” He shrugged, putting his hat back on. “Technically, Santa is buying it. I have the company set up for it and everything.”

  Hailey nodded. “It won’t be a secret where Santa’s summer home is.”

  “I don’t think I need secrets anymore.” He stood, moving closer to her. “Can you forgive me, for everything?”

  She nodded. “I already have,” she said.

  He kissed her, and she wanted to melt into the kiss, but the realtor’s throat clearing separated them quickly.

  “Looks like we have some business to take care of,” Troy said, nodding toward the realtor. “Rain check?”

  * * *

  Hailey kept her fingers threaded through Troy’s. Snow clung to her boots as they navigated the powdery snow, circling Santa’s new property. The whirlwind of paperwork was finalized in record time.

  “Santa said he was buying this house for someone,” Hailey said thoughtfully, still trying to reconcile all of the moments that Troy had played Santa. “I suppose that was your cover when you played Santa?”

  He handed her the house deed. “It’s a late present, I know.”

  She blinked. “You bought the house from me, to give back to me?”

  He shrugged. “I thought we could create your aunt’s dream together. Turn it into a place to help families with hospitalized children.”

  Moisture pooled in her eyes, attracting the cold, so she blinked them back. “I like that idea,” she whispered.

  They walked around the entire property, stopping once they reached the front porch again. “We have a lot of work to do to make that happen,” she said.