The Christmas Letter (Davidson Center, Colorado Book 1)

by April Zyon

  It had taken her several minutes before she was finally able to speak. “Hi. You probably don’t remember me.” She was breathing hard now and chewed her lower lip as she spoke. “I’m Noelle Henry. Samantha and I went to school together.” She had to get through this, especially now that she saw the pain that crossed his face.

  “I remember you,” he said and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans while rocking back on his heels, watching her with his piercing green eyes. “You and Sammy did get into a bit of trouble from time to time but not too much. What can I do for you and why have you been following me around?”

  Shit on a stick! So he had noticed her following her around. Before she could even stop her mouth from giving away her secrets, they were starting to spill before her brain could catch up. “I work at Macy’s, reading the letters from the kids who sent them when I got a letter from a child I knew. I have never gotten one from someone I knew before.” Oh, crap she knew her whole face was turning as red as a Christmas ornament, but she couldn’t stop now.

  “The letter was from Molly. I love that little girl. I’ve only seen her a half dozen times, but she leaves such an impression.” She was speaking in a rush of words now and trying to breath at the same time. “She wanted a couple things, I can’t give her one of the things because that’s like so out of my realm of things I can give, but I can give her one thing.” She held out the bag to him. “This is for Molly. Will you make sure that it’s put under the tree and she doesn’t see it until Christmas morning so that her illusions of Santa are held for at least another year?” She couldn’t and wouldn’t tell him what the little girls other wish was. It was far too embarrassing.

  He looked at her while she spoke and she could see what seemed like confusion in his gaze until he finally spoke. “So you are the one who wrote her the letter that she wouldn’t let me see?” he asked and rocked back on his heels.

  “I did. I don’t know why she wouldn’t let you read it, however. Just.” She gulped. “Just keep Santa alive for her as long as you can? She’s lost too much, and I know that this is such a hard time for her and for you as well. This is such a small thing, but it’s a magical thing for her so please, keep it alive for her? This is the only thing she asked for for herself, so keep it hidden from her so that on Christmas morning she will be able to open it? It’s also wrapped in something that I’m certain isn’t anywhere in your home which is good because it will help hold the illusion even more. She’s so young and giving her these little things is exactly what she needs.”

  “Why do you care?” His eyes glittered as he asked her, the sun catching his eyes just right, which utterly fascinated her and made her want to step in closer to him. Holy crap he was big, and he made her want to touch him. She never wanted to just simply reach out and touch people. Christ, what the hell was wrong with her?

  “Samantha was a friend and when I read Molly’s letter, it broke my heart. She’s a small child, but she’s like an adult in so many ways as well. The baby is one of those real-life babies. I think she wanted it because she wants a family. In fact, I know she does.” Taking another deep breath, Noelle continued, “She misses her parents, so much, Molly misses having a mother and father figure. She adores you. Loves that you have stepped into her life and knows that you gave up so much to be her guardian but she”—Noelle hesitated, and then chewing her lower lip, hesitated for only a moment and then went for broke—“she wishes that you had someone in your life. She wishes you had a girl in your life because she wants a mother-type of figure as well. She misses her mom so much, and while you are doing so much for her, there are some things she can’t talk to you about.”

  “I see.” Dante looked down at the bag in his hands, in what she assumed was confusion, and then back up at her. “And what are you doing for Christmas?”

  “Same thing I do every year.”

  “Doesn’t tell me a lot.” He stepped in closer to her. No, she had to be imagining things. There was no way in the world that Dante Davidson would step in a step closer to her. She was no one and nothing. He was a fifteen on a scale of one to ten, and she was a five on a good day. Today wasn’t a good day. Today she had been slinking around watching him, and she was cold and windblown, likely had a red nose and red-tipped ears. Jesus.

  “I have hot chocolate, a ham or turkey sandwich, and that’s it,” she admitted so quietly that the sound probably barely carried to him. “I haven’t had a family for years. I’ve been alone since my mother died six years ago. I know what Molly is going through because I’ve been alone for a long time, but I didn’t have an Uncle Dante to be there to catch me. Then again, I was grown up,” she said with a smile that she hoped wasn’t as sad as she felt inside.

  “Doesn’t seem very happy to me,” he said to her and watched her with those all-too-knowing green eyes, eyes that Samantha had as well. Samantha had been able to tell when Noelle had been sad or scared just by looking at her, and it seemed that this man could too. How?

  “Well, it is my life, so you can only do with it what you can, right? You take what life gives you and deal with it. Period. Really that’s all that you can do.” Noelle accepted her life because she wasn’t the sort of woman who would go to a bar to pick up some random man in the hopes that he would be her happily for now or whatever. She also wouldn’t do online dating because all that had caused her was a case of severe abuse. She had been there and done that and wouldn’t go there again. She still fought to try to keep the man who had nearly beat her to death in jail for the full ten to fifteen years that he had been sentenced.

  She shook her head. “No, not going to think about that,” she whispered.

  “Sorry, what was that?” Dante asked as he reached out to touch her, brushing her hair behind her ear.

  “Nothing. Sorry, ignore me.” She smiled up at him and hoped that it came out sunny and hopeful and not filled with the horror of the past she lived through. “We live the lives we are given. Look at you, look at all you are doing to give Molly an amazing life. I heard you took the Sheriff up on the job as Deputy Sheriff.”

  “I did. I was made to protect and serve just as it seems you were made to ensure that little girls’ dreams come true. Thank you,” he said with a smile and then added. “Christmas breakfast is at seven AM, lunch at one PM, and dinner at seven PM. I expect you to spend the day with us since you are making her dream come true. The least that you can do is spend the day with us because something tells me that this baby that you got her is going to be over my head.”

  She snickered because he was so right. “Okay.” He didn’t have to talk her into it because truth be known, she wanted to be with him and Molly on Christmas. She didn’t know why, but something had shifted when she read that child’s letter and she wanted to know what that something was.

  “You mean I’m not going to have to twist your arm?” His lips tilted up in a half smirk, revealing a dimple in one cheek that had her panties dripping. Holy ship, could any man get any hotter?

  “Nope, not at all. You are offering to feed me three meals, and you are so right, that baby is so far out of your league that you are going to need a woman there to help you out in showing her how to use all of the features. I will confess, though, I cheated. I read the online guide since I bought it. You, however, can’t since you don’t know what kind it is.”

  Holy fuck, the man moved in even closer to her! She felt a slight bead of sweat skim down her back from just how good it felt to have anyone giving her this sort of attention. She bit her lower lip as she looked up at him when he spoke to her.

  “Well, you could always tell me.” Again his hand lifted, only this time he ran his rough thumb over her trembling lower lip like a lover would. Why? He didn’t know her. She was freaked out.

  Noelle stepped back from him then, she had to because he was so close to her and she wanted so much to step in closer to him as well. God, she never wanted to step so close to another being in all of her life before. Not even him. “I could tell
you, but I won’t,” she teased right back. “I will see you Christmas morning,” she told him with a nod and then looked over his shoulder. “Looks like your fan club is looking for you.”

  He always had some woman in the community trying to catch his attention now that he was back in town. Who could blame them? He was seriously fucking hot. The man could make her panties drop for him with a blink of an eye. That was all it would take from him, and she had sworn off of men.

  He groaned and let his chin drop to his chest. Taking a deep breath, he nodded. “Yeah. I guess I should go. Sara has, cornered me into taking her for lunch today. I don’t know how I got talked into that one, but I did. Don’t forget, Christmas. I’m assuming that you know where I live?”

  “No, I didn’t take your address down. I mean I know where Samantha lived. Did you and Molly stay there or did you move her into another house?”

  “We are in their old house. The child shrink said that it would be less traumatic to move Molly.”

  “I just hope that she doesn’t hurt in the long run over it as well,” Noelle added.

  The woman, Sara, came over finally and slid herself in between Noelle and Dante. She put her hand possessively on Dante’s chest and looked up at him. “We have a lunch date, Dante, and then a little more if you are very, very good to me.” She ran her blood-red nails over his chest and leaned into him as if to kiss him. Jesus, the woman was a weirdo.

  Chapter Five

  Dante had been having the best conversation with a woman who hadn’t wanted to do anything more than make his niece’s life better when Sara Betterman had to come up and ruin it. What was more, she reached back and pushed Noelle back, uttering, “Move it, you ugly bitch, don’t you see he’s got someone who’s worth his fucking time?” That’s when he really became angry.

  Dante placed himself between Sara and Noelle, and he wasn’t sure which woman was more surprised when he reached for Noelle’s hand and said, “Actually, I was just about to take Noelle for lunch. You see, she and I have rekindled a friendship that I think will go further.” It damn well would if he had any say so. From the second he saw her watching him five days earlier he had been interested.

  Dante had been running, and he had happened to see her in the picture window of what he assumed was her home. She was perfect. She looked rumpled and was drinking something out of an oversized mug that had big red lips on it. Noelle had the body of a goddess. She had an hourglass figure, but not the kind of today’s fascination. More like Marilyn Monroe with a lot more boob and butt, which turned him the hell on even more. He certain remembered her from her days of running around with Samantha, which was likely part of why he was such a dick most of their childhood life.

  “We have?” He heard suddenly from Noelle.

  “Yes, we certainly have. You were just going to let me take you to lunch so that you could tell me about our gift to Molly.”

  “Oh.” Just seeing her light pink lips making an O made him harder than fucking hell. Jesus, this woman had no God damn clue the effect she had on people, on him.

  “Yes, oh.” He even went so far as to wrap his arm around her to get his point across.

  Sara’s frown was downright ugly. It actually reminded Dante of some of the insurgents that he had gone up against in the sandbox overseas. “Well, when you get tired of Miss Piggy, I might or might not be available. If you are really fucking good, I might give you a pitty fuck.” She turned on her four-inch heels and flipped her icy-blonde hair over her shoulder so that it hit Noelle in the face and him across the shoulder. As she walked away, she flipped them both off.

  “Wow, you have some seriously mature friends,” Noelle said with a small chuckle that dissolved into giggles. “Can you imagine what she would have wanted from you for taking her out for lunch? Holy crap, she would have made you take her for a lot more than lunch.” She looked up at him and thank the fucking gods she hadn’t moved from his arms. She had stayed, and he did a mental fist pump on that one. She trusted him enough to stay there in his arms, and that was a huge accomplishment for just a short conversation.

  There was something there, a connection that Dante had never felt before, and it was one that he wanted to explore with Noelle. Dante never sensed anything like this with anyone before and especially not with someone that he hadn’t spent a lot of time with. He had dated before in his life, he wasn’t a saint for fuck’s sake, but what he was feeling for Noelle was deep and intense. It was incredible and something that he wanted to know more about. “Well, I’m working on getting more maturity in my life. It started with Molly, and now I have you.” He gave her a side squeeze and looked down at her, into her blue eyes, eyes so blue they were almost violet. He brushed his hand down her long, straight dark black hair and smiled. “Will you give me a chance, Noelle?”

  When she nodded, he wanted to lean in and kiss her, but he felt that might be too much too soon. “I will.” She finally voiced aloud. “How about lunch first and then maybe we will start to see where it goes from there?”

  “I like that idea.” Dante leaned down and put his forehead to hers and smiled, he couldn’t help it. “I like that idea a great deal.”

  “We don’t have a lot of days before Christmas. I wouldn’t mind spending them with you and even Molly if you wouldn’t mind?” The woman was a goddess, and she was giving him a chance like this? Holy shit, this woman was incredible, and he was going to take it!

  “I would like that. I have days I work of course, but we could get together at nights or at lunches. Give me your number at lunch, and we will figure things out?”

  “I would like that, a lot.”

  “I would too,” he confessed and then before he could stop himself, leaned in and brushed his lips just very lightly over her lips. He didn’t take it further, but damn he wanted to. “Now, let’s go and get lunch. What do you want?”

  “Anything at all sounds good to me.” The woman appeared more than a little dazed. He had no idea what that look meant, but he liked the look on her face, the dazed appearance and the impression of need as well.

  “Okay, then we will go for soups and sandwiches so that we can chill and talk for a while. I like that idea. I have time to take this home and hide it before picking up Molly as well, so that’s something we will need to keep in mind. Otherwise you will need to take it home with you and keep it hidden until it’s time for Christmas morning.”

  “You are only saying that to make sure that I show up on Christmas morning.”

  “Maybe,” Dante said with a grin. “Would that really be so bad?”

  “No, I don’t think it would be such a bad thing at all.” Noelle laughed as she spoke. Holy fuck, this woman’s laugh got him in the gut just as much as Molly’s. What was with that?

  “Well then, come on, Noelle, let’s get food,” Dante said and led her toward one of the cafés where they could sit, eat, and have a bit of privacy to chat and get to know each other.

  Chapter Six

  The next night when Noelle’s phone rang and she saw Dante’s phone number, she had the same knee-jerk reaction she had every single time she had thought about him. It was gut clenching and had her heart beating so fast she was certain it was going to beat out of her chest. She had taken several deep breaths before she answered so that she wasn’t panting when she answered her phone. “Hello?”

  “Hey, sunshine.” Dante’s voice was like husky whiskey, and if he talked enough to her, it was enough to make her drunk and made her happy.

  “Hey, yourself. So what happened to you today?” she asked him as she lay back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. She rocked her legs back and forth and wanted to have him closer to him. God help her, she wanted to be closer to him. It happened so fast, she didn’t understand how something could happen in the blink of an eye, but feelings happened just in touch, and over the lunch, she had with him after he turned Sara away. She didn’t get it, but she accepted it.

  “Had to arrest a couple teens because they thought tha
t spray painting the high school was the coolest thing ever to do.” He had changed the pitch of his voice which made her laugh. He had made it so that he sounded like a teenaged boy who was talking smack to his friends.

  “Oh come on, Dante, you know you did crazy stuff like that when you were that age as well.”

  “Not that crazy. I never did anything to get myself arrested,” Dante replied with a snort and then, “No, Molls.” She heard some retorts back and forth between Molly and Dante which had her giggling. “Oh shush it, Noelle,” Dante said with a laugh when he came back to the phone. “Molly is going over to her friend’s house for the night. I was calling in hopes that I could pick you up to perhaps take you on a date?”

  That had Noelle sitting up quickly in her bed and looking at the clock. “It’s eight thirty. What in the world would you want to do at this time of the night?” She was all for going out on another date with him.

  “After I drop Molly off, I will come and pick you up and then I thought I would bring you back here and cook for you. Before you groan or moan, I’m not a bad cook. I’ve cooked for myself and Molly for the past little while, and I haven’t gotten either of us sick, thank you very much.” The way he acted so affronted had her giggling and snickering. God, she adored that man a great deal.

  “Okay, and what would be on the menu for the two of us?” She barely held back her laughter as she asked him. “Because you have to keep in mind that you are feeding me for the first time here.”

  “Well, I think for our first meal I would make you my world famous chicken fingers and fries. Before you ask, no, they aren’t from bags, but I make them from hand,” Dante assured her.

  “Sounds good. What time do you think you will be here?”

  “I should be at your place in about half hour. Will that give you enough time to get ready?”