by Ostrow, Lexi
“Well, we’re all here now, let’s open gifts!” Anna exclaimed, bouncing over to the pile under the tree.
He walked next to Tasha and slid his arm around her. He had done it for the image, but he rather liked the way she fit against him. Leena eyed him and smiled. Of course, she smiled. She’s not interested in you, and it’s time you realized that. Tasha might be a fake girlfriend, but she’s a wonderful opportunity to forget Leena. Just see what she thinks.
“Nick?” Jake looked at him sideways. “You all in there?”
Nick shook his head, clearing thoughts of Leena and Tasha from his mind. “Sorry.” He took the package Jake had stretched out to him and set it down on the couch, so he could lean down and grab his gifts.
Guilt tore through him when he realized every person but Tasha had a gift from everyone else. She had a rather large looking gift bag, he assumed from Leena, but that was all. He couldn’t have known, but it still felt wrong that she only had the one. It was easy enough to fix though, and it would give him and Tasha some alone time to drop the charade.
“One more moment,” Leena said and rose off the couch edge she was perched on. She walked into the kitchen, and when she came back, she was holding a sterling silver platter with seven ceramic mugs covered in so much whipped cream it was sliding off some. “In honor of my joining the family, Elaine let me pick a tradition. And I picked Christmas hot cocoa while we open gifts.”
“And I picked eggnog. You can see how this marriage is going to work.” Jake umphed as Leena elbowed him as he grabbed a mug of his own.
Nick felt a pang as he watched the interaction. Jake and Leena were right for each other. He’d pretended as if he’d accepted it at some point in the past year, but it wasn’t until he saw them in that moment that he realized it was true. Leena was carefree when she was with Jake. Even when she’d let loose with him, she had been guarded. With Jake, her blue eyes lit up all the time, not just when she was speaking about certain things.
He swallowed hard as the realization washed over him. He might never feel so peaceful toward the pair again. Wasn’t the first step to admit something and then work on getting over it?
“Before Anna has a coronary on us, I just wanted to see if Tasha would accompany me into town tomorrow. You were a gift in and of itself when you slipped on the ice and pretended I helped you out. I want to get you a gift. Wherever this relationship takes us, for the moment, it’s Christmas and we are together.”
Tasha squeezed the arm she had wrapped around him, her eyes glaring, seeming to remind him they’d discussed she wasn’t going to play a damsel in distress. He smiled down at her, but Leena was the one that had the reaction he’d half expected Tasha to have. She was grinning from ear to ear and released a breathless sigh that he assumed was happiness at the sweet gesture.
Hot cocoa in hand, they sat on the floor, and he set his mug off to the side, Tasha doing the same.
“For someone who doesn’t like Christmas, that was very holiday of you, Nick,” Leena said enthusiastically, smiling brightly.
He turned his head back to Tasha, “What do you say? It will give us a little alone time.”
“That, I couldn’t be more grateful for that. So, yes, I’d be happy too. Though I don’t celebrate Christmas, don’t forget.”
“Okay, so now that it’s taken care of, can I go back to acting like a child and say let’s hurry up?” Anna asked, a twinkle in her eye.
Nick kissed Tasha on the top of the head out of impulse before laughing at his sister. “Sure thing, Anna, go for it.”
Anna grinned and dug her hand into the first gift, pulling out a D&G bag. Grinning at her parents, she kept going. Three gifts down, she flew off the chair and hugged everyone, even Tasha for taking pity on Nick.
The morning continued on, and by the time it was finally his turn to open gifts, his hands shook. He had one from his parents, one from Anna and a joint one from Leena and Jake. Of course it’s a joint present. He sucked in a deep breath. Slowly, he pulled the perfectly tied white ribbon. His eyes were locked onto the ridiculous colored ornament wrapping paper as he slid his finger under the tape and tore it off. Flipping open the box lid, he couldn’t help the gasp of shock.
He pulled out the bottle of Mendis Coconut Brandy. Peter gave a low whistle when the bottle was fully out of the carton, and Nick raised his eyes to stare at his brother and Leena.
“This is a million dollar bottle of brandy.” He practically sputtered the words.
Leena smiled at him. “Well, I thought it was about time you upgraded your spirits,” she said with a wink. “And Jake paid for it, so he is the one who lost his mind.”
Jake offered him a lopsided grin and shrugged. “Consider it part gift, part thanks and part apology.”
“Jake, after the gloves last year, this is too much,” Nick said, his eyes shifting between them and the bottle. “I also don’t want a pity gift.”
Every fiber of his being was shouting at him to storm out. While even Nick couldn’t deny his attraction to Leena had dwindled over the year, the situation was more about anger and betrayal than pining over a woman. His brother was constantly belittling him as if he weren’t the more successful man.
“Nick, it wasn’t — ”Leena started.
“I don’t think it was meant that way,” Tasha said softly, placing her hand on his knee, almost anchoring him to the floor he was sitting on. “Look, Leena went absolutely nuts with mine too.”
Nick watched as Tasha pulled out a Chanel handbag that he swore, by the texture, was alligator based. He heard Anna croon next to him, and even Tasha’s eyes seemed glazed over with desire. Over a fucking purse.
“I don’t get it?” Nick said confused.
“You dummy, that is a one in two hundred turquoise blue Chanel alligator bags. AKA, about twenty thousand dollars,” Anna practically shouted from her spot above him on the couch.
Nick felt sick at the price, but he figured Leena wanted to make sure Tasha had a great Christmas, since, unless he was mistaken, no one else had known she was coming. Tasha gently stroked a hand down the side of the bag, and Nick felt his dick suddenly stir. He apparently wasn’t as able to ignore what had happened between them as he’d thought.
“Leena, I shouldn’t even like an animal made bag. I really shouldn’t,” Tasha said right before grinning and crushing the purse to her chest. “But I do. We’ll call it the movie star in me.” She squealed excitedly and popped up to give Leena, and then, Jake a hug.”
“Well…I guess me taking you into the small little town of shops to get you a gift is pretty underwhelming right about now.” Nick wrapped his arm around Tasha as she sat back down.
“Oh, no. Not a chance, Mr. CEO. I hear you give the worst gifts, and if we’re dating, I need to be subjected to that.” Tasha teased.
“Hey!” he whipped his head up to glare at Leena.
“What? She’s my best friend, and you do suck at it,” Leena said innocently.
As Tasha leaned against him, and Leena joked with him, he felt some of the anger over Jake’s comment subside. He wasn’t ready to forgive his brother, or Leena, for what had happened. However, he couldn’t deny that Tasha was someone he was becoming more and more attracted to—even if they were only behaving that way under false pretenses. So many different parts of him wanted to accept what had happened, but the small part of him that was still so angry, wasn’t ready to let it go.
“Well then, if we are all done with gifts, who is picking the movie?” Elaine asked as she was rising to pick up the trash already.
A soft knock on the door caused all their heads to turn before answering the question. Nick was the closest to the door, so he pushed up off the floor and paused.
“Ah, anyone with a shirt want to get that?”
He almost flushed at the laughter that followed. He wasn’t terribly used to being laughed at. He moved to sit back on the ground and didn’t hesitate to let Tasha lean on him. Careful DeMarco, or you’re going to forget
that none of this is real and walk away with another giant woman-sized hole in your chest this Christmas. He shifted away just a little. They had sold their fake relationship enough that he felt he could. Instead, he took her hand, kissed the top of it and met her eyes with a look that he hoped conveyed this would still be enough to convince his family, and set both their hands on his leg.
“Sure thing, but next time, let this be a lesson,” Peter joked as he walked past Nick and opened the door. “Marshall! What a pleasant surprise. You haven’t chopped down another tree for us, have you?”
Marshall’s deep laughed filled the open space as he stomped the snow off his boots and walked in. Nick smirked, thinking that Anna was really going to have to give Marshall another chance, the guy seemed like he meant business.
“Not at all, sir. I missed Anna last Christmas, had a gift for her, and figured I’d better give it to her this year instead.” He shook the small silver wrapped box around for everyone to see.
Nick saw his sister turn nearly as red as her hair and bit his lip not to laugh. As Marshall was going toward Anna, his eyes landed on Tasha.
“Oh, oh holy shit. You’re Tasha Morningstar. The Tasha Morningstar,” he stammered and jerked his beanie off his head. “My apologies for ruining your first event up here.” Marshall’s eyes shifted to the way Tasha’s hand was on Nick’s thigh and smiled. “Way to go Nick!” he shouted and flushed. “I mean, sorry about that.”
Tasha laughed and Nick noticed just how musical the sound was. Not like tinkling bells, more like the deep bong of a drum. And she laughed with pure abandon. He smiled. The more he spent time with her, the easier the rest of the week was proving to be. At this rate, he’d likely miss her when it was all said done.
“It’s quite all right. Nick and I met in what one might call a Christmas collision. He was in a hurry to get inside, and I was wandering around staring at the beautiful snow covered trees. To say he ran me down and then picked me up would be an understatement.”
She extended her hand and Marshall shook it vigorously.
“I knew I’d get the how out of you sooner or later,” Leena said, sounding rather triumphant.
Nick kissed her ear and whispered, “Very nice. Actress and playwright, color me impressed.”
“Well, I, ah, won’t intrude any longer.” Marshall set the box down on the end table next to a giant glittering pink ornament. “Merry Christmas, everyone. I’ll see you the last day of the year to help clean.” He gave a little wave as he walked back to the front door and let himself out.
“Anna, you really need to have a talk with that boy,” Elaine said, trying to suppress a chuckle.
Anna essentially jumped over Nick and Tasha and snagged the box. “Not happening, Mom. That was ten years ago. I’ll just take this in my room while everyone decides what movie to watch.” She slunk off, gripping the tiny silver box as if it were the most precious thing in the world.
“You know, they’re going to end up married with like five kids,” Jake joked from the other side of the room.
They all laughed, and Anna shouted something incomprehensible from behind the door, which only made them laugh more. Elaine looked as if she were going to talk to Anna, but instead, walked toward the kitchen, vanishing inside. When she returned, she was holding a DVD case in her hand that made Tasha groan.
“Oh please, please no.” Tasha said exasperated. “I’m just a normal old guest, don’t torment yourself with that.”
“I can’t think of a better Christmas movie!” Leena exclaimed and snuggled closer to Jake. “She doesn’t like people knowing this, but Christmas at the Hamptons is the movie that launched her career.” Leena grinned impishly.
“I was eighteen and played a spoiled rich girl, can’t say it wasn’t worth it to become a spoiled rich girl,” she said with a laugh.
“I haven’t seen it,” Nick admitted without thinking.
“What?” Tasha turned, not quite glaring at him, but close.
“Son, you’d better get to watching her old movies, if you’re going to date her, she’s going to quiz you on them.” Peter grinned and took a sip of his hot cocoa, leaving whipped cream all over his lips.
“You wouldn’t do that, you’ve always seemed so low key,” Nick said, hoping it was the truth.
Tasha pressed her lips to his, and he tried to ignore the spark of lust the small action generated. “When I’m your girlfriend, I’m going to be as high maintenance as the biggest bitch client at your firm.”
He groaned, but everyone else laughed. “I guess you’d better turn that movie on. And someone find me the rest of them. I’m expecting a New Year’s kiss. I can’t piss her off after like twenty hours.”
Tasha smirked at him and took a sip of her cocoa. He wouldn’t admit it, but he didn’t think the big action movies were what Tasha was made for. She was sexy enough for sure, but she had a humbleness to her that he thought was so much better for the romantic comedies and dramas he’d seen her in over the years. While he hadn’t seen Christmas at the Hamptons, he had seen most of her more recent movies, a fan himself.
“So this is how we will spend Christmas…Christmas at the DeMarcos’ has a much nicer ring to it than Christmas at the Hamptons, doesn’t it?” Tasha joked.
“Shh, it’s movie time,” Elaine said.
Everyone hushed, and the day passed rather uneventfully. A perfectly calm Christmas, a perfect Christmas for someone like Nick, who had no need to make a big fuss.
Tasha couldn’t hold back the yawn as she stretched. Brilliant white morning light flooded into the room. She’d always been an early riser, and working in Hollywood had only added to it. She loved nothing more than waking up to the warm caress of the sun. It reminded her of the many times she and her father had spent the night outside with nature. Tasha had turned her back on many things when she’d left the reservation, but she’d never stopped loving mother earth. She led a charity dedicated to helping all those on reservations and often would go back to Pine Ridge and see faces she’d long since moved away from.
“Wonderful, early-morning, post-Christmas bliss thoughts there,” she said as she rolled out of bed.
Her phone vibrated on the nightstand, and when her eyes saw her agent, she couldn’t help but snatch at the phone. She’d been waiting on a role, and Jamie calling during the holidays had to be good news.
“Did I get it?” she asked by way of greeting.
Her agent chuckled. “Pack your bags. You’re going to the wonderful city of Toronto first thing in 2016.”
Tasha squealed, jumped a little off the ground and composed herself. The last thing she wanted was one of the DeMarcos coming in to find her jumping around like a kid.
“You are the best, Jamie.”
She laughed, “Well your little holiday getaway with the DeMarcos might have helped woo the producers. Big money and a big star, the premiere will be crazy.”
Tasha almost dropped the phone, swallowing hard. “What do you mean, my holiday? How is that public news?”
“Oh, Tasha, sometimes I think you’re still living back on the reservation in your little head. Someone in the area snapped a picture of you and Nikolas DeMarco hanging out outside that winter house they pretend is just a cabin.”
Tasha felt a little sick, and not because her fake relationship with Nick now required a lot of public time. “So, I got the part because of my connection?”
Jamie sighed audibly. “Tasha, you were likely going to get it anyway. Don’t read too far into it. Go finish your holiday, and then you’ll have to tell me how a trip to plan wedding details turned into something romantic.” Jamie hung up without another word.
She dropped the phone on the bed and breathed deeply. She’d been waiting a lifetime to play Scarlett in Gone with the Wind, and a remake where the character was Native American had been utterly perfect. Ever since she’d been approached while grabbing shakes with Leena in the mall, she’d dreamed of playing the iconic character, even if she would never fit the
type. Now, she had a spin-off role, in a sense, and she couldn’t even be certain if they wanted her.
“Well, they’re getting me without Nick in a few more days. So the joke’s on them.” She jerked her chin out as if telling her reflection in the mirror off.
“Tasha?” Nick’s voice called through the door. “I wanted to try to sneak off before everyone decides that a day of skiing and snowboarding isn’t enough for them.”
She shook her head and turned toward the chest of drawers. “Let me get dressed. I had a call from my agent, and it was so exciting, I forgot to get out of my pjs!”
She heard the door open, followed by, “My, you wear the sexiest things to bed, don’t you?” Nick smirked at her as he propped himself up against the doorframe.
Tasha felt her mouth go dry as she let her eyes roam over him. His broad figure was defined underneath a fitted white wool sweater. Jeans clung to his thighs, and she could only imagine what his ass looked like in them. The sexiest part, the part that drew her to him, was the way his eyes never left hers. She moved her gaze, and he followed it. Tasha felt herself growing more and more attracted to him every second, and the sensual way he was looking at her was doing nothing to stop her emotions.
“Tasha! I heard you through the wall, well partially through the wall, Jake scolded me,” Leena said as she practically shoved Nick out of the way.
“Congrats! You’re going to take the world by storm in this one.” Leena’s excitement was infectious.
Tasha could feel her self-satisfaction, and the grin on her face, growing as Leena praised her. “I’m not as shocked as my squeals probably indicated.” Tasha laughed and then realized that Leena might have overheard the part about Nick. “Did you hear why they finally picked me?”
Leena dropped down on the bed and gave Nick a small wave as if she’d just noticed he was even in the room. “No, like I said, Jake gave me a lecture…and a very quick distraction.”
