A Christmas Collection: Four Sweet Holiday Romances

by Victorine E. Lieske

  “You must know someone with celiac.”

  “My mother.” He reached out and grabbed another cupcake. “How did you know it wasn’t me?”

  “Because when you thought you were eating a gluten-filled cupcake, you didn’t spit it out.”

  He laughed. “You’re right. And perceptive.” He took a bite of the cupcake. When he had swallowed, he pointed to her. “What about you? Do you have celiac?”

  “Nope. My best friend growing up had it.”

  “That’s interesting. No one in your family?”

  Candice shook her head. “Nope.”

  He studied her. “And now you run a gluten-free bakery.”

  “I saw a need and tried to fill it. When I was growing up, I watched Kristen struggle with what she could eat. At birthday parties, everyone would be eating cake. Except Kristen. And then there was the year I asked my dad to make a gluten-free cake.” Candice made a face, remembering how bad it was. “It tasted awful.”

  Liam chuckled. “Must have been from a mix.”

  “Yes! I was appalled. So, I decided I was going to make a gluten-free cake that didn’t taste like it belonged in the garbage. I played around with different recipes, read a lot, and figured out a combination that was good. And then I did the same thing with brownies. And cookies. And by the time I had graduated college, my dream to open up an entire gluten-free bakery was born.”

  He paused, his cupcake halfway to his mouth. He swallowed. “Don’t tell me you’re fresh out of college.”

  She laughed. “No. Unfortunately, my dream had to wait until I had capital. But I’m thinking I should be offended at that question.”

  He held up a hand, his face turning red. “I didn’t mean…you just seemed to be…”

  Oh, the poor guy looked really uncomfortable. She should put him out of his misery. “Relax. You’re fine. I know I don’t look like a twenty-something. As long as you don’t think I look like a forty-something, we’re good.” She raised one eyebrow at him.

  “No. Definitely not a forty-something.” He finished eating his cupcake. “Are you going to eat another? Because I might start to feel self-conscious if I’m the only one eating these like they’re potato chips.” He picked up a third.

  She smiled at him. “Go ahead. You’re paying for them. Might as well eat them. I think I’ve had my fill, for the time being. If we’re still in here tomorrow morning, I’ll probably have eaten my way through a box or two, though.”

  “Oh, I hope we’re not stuck in here until tomorrow.” He paused, then seemed to think about what he said. “Not that sitting here talking to you isn’t enjoyable.”

  “I know what you mean. I’m trying really hard not to think of what would happen if we’re trapped here for an extended period of time.” And not to think about the business she’d lose if she weren’t able to get to work tomorrow.

  “Let’s get our minds off the fact that we’re trapped.” He finished the cupcake and closed the box, sliding it onto the cart. As he leaned on his knee, he winced and shifted his weight. “Let’s play a game.”

  “A game?” Candice wasn’t sure what to think about that. Maybe this man wasn’t as stuffy as she’d originally thought.

  “Yeah. Let’s play…” He put his hand in his pocket. “What’s in your pocket?”

  She held back a laugh. “That’s a game?”

  “Sure. It can be. I have some things in my pockets. And I think you probably do, too. Let’s try to guess what’s in each other’s pockets.”

  What a strange thing for a CEO to want to do. But she was up for the challenge. She already knew he had stuck his cupcake wrappers in there. “All right. I have a guess.”

  “Already?”

  “Yep.”

  He rubbed his hands together. “Okay. You can go first. What do you think is in my pocket?”

  “Cupcake wrappers.”

  He laughed and pulled the three wrappers out that he’d stuck in there. “Okay, cheater. I’ll give you a point even though you watched me put them in.”

  She spread her hands out. “Hey, you’re the one who wanted to play.”

  “You’re right. Now it’s my turn.” His gaze traveled over her red pea coat. He squinted at her. “You have a tissue in your pocket.”

  Candice reached in and pulled one out. Luckily, it was clean. She would have been mortified if it hadn’t been. “How did you do that?”

  He chuckled. “My mother always has tissues. Especially in the winter.”

  “All right. Do I get another guess, then?”

  “Yep.”

  She looked him over. It was a nice suit. Tailored. His shoes were expensive, she could tell, now that she was examining them close up. What would he have in his pocket? Then her gaze landed on his lapel pocket. “A handkerchief.”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  She pointed, unable to keep the smug smile from her face. “Yes, you have one right there.”

  He looked down at the tuft of purple coming from his lapel pocket. He snorted. “Cheating again.”

  “It’s a pocket! You didn’t say it had to be a certain kind of pocket.”

  He rolled his eyes. “All right. Two points against one point. But this time I’m going to blow you away.” He gave her a sideways glance. “You have…a piece of gum in your pocket.”

  She shook her head. “Nope. You lose.”

  “What? No gum? How about a mint?”

  “Are you trying to get more food out of me?”

  “You didn’t answer the question.”

  She fished around in her coat pocket and pulled out a mint. “All right, I have a mint, but you originally said gum.”

  “And your guesses haven’t been true guesses.”

  She huffed and tossed the mint at him. “Okay. I’ll give you the point.”

  His grin stretched across his face. “Now, your turn. You have to really guess this time.”

  She made a face, then settled in on trying to figure out what a guy would have in his pocket. A wallet? Would he be carrying one around at work, though? Maybe car keys. He was just coming in from outside. He must have keys of some kind on him. She bit her lower lip and took the plunge. “Keys?”

  “Good guess.” His grin widened. “But no.”

  “What?” She didn’t believe him. “How did you get here if you didn’t drive?”

  “Who says I didn’t drive?”

  “Well, you have to have car keys if you drove.”

  He held his palms up. “Some cars are keyless.”

  She huffed. “You have a key FOB in your pocket, then.”

  He pulled one out and tossed it on the floor between them. “Yes, I do. But it’s not keys, so no point.”

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake. It’s called a key FOB. Key is in the name. It’s probably got a key inside it. You have to count it.”

  “Wait.” He put up a hand. “A key inside it?”

  “Yes. Many of them have keys.”

  He gave her a skeptical look. “Why would there be a key inside it?”

  “As a backup. If the battery goes out.”

  He stared at her, as if he couldn’t figure out if she was pulling his leg or not. “Show me.”

  She rolled her eyes and grabbed the key FOB. “My ex had a keyless car. He showed me how to get the emergency key out.” She turned over the FOB and looked for the seam. “Here. We just have to pry it open.”

  “Uh, huh.”

  She started to lose confidence as he sat and stared at her like she had three heads. But she pried open the FOB, anyway, and a triumphant, “Ha!” came out as she showed him the key inside.

  His mouth popped open. “Where do you put it? I don’t have a key on the ignition.”

  “There’s usually a place somewhere on the steering wheel.” Candice gave him a cocky grin. “So, another point for me.”

  He groaned. “All right. I’ll count it, but you’re cheating through this entire game. You must make it up to me.”

  She wasn’t sure
what he meant by that. “How?”

  “If we ever get out of here, you must show me how to make those delicious cupcakes.”

  Candice’s heart sped up. Was he asking for a date? Like, a baking date? She wasn’t sure, but he did look like he was flirting a little bit. She swallowed, then mentally shook sense into her head.

  It couldn’t be anything. He wasn’t coming on to her. She was reading way too much into it. He was a powerful CEO, and she was a baker, for heaven’s sake. He just wanted to know how to make the cupcakes for his mother. She nodded. “All right. Deal.”

  Chapter 5

  Candice lay on her back, her legs up and resting on the wall. Liam lay beside her in the same position. He said it was some kind of yoga pose that would relieve stress, and surprisingly, it felt like it was working.

  They now had been trapped for an hour. “Do you think your employees are still partying upstairs? Or did they all tromp down sixty-eight flights of stairs?”

  “My mother said everyone was staying put until the power comes back on.”

  “Did you have booze?”

  He looked at her. “Of course.”

  “Then, yeah. They’re going to stay put.” She smirked at him, and he laughed. It grew silent for a moment.

  Liam stared up at the ceiling. “So, tell me more about yourself, Candice. All I know is that you own a gluten-free bakery because your friend had celiac.”

  “What do you want to know? You can ask anything, but I’ll warn you, I’m pretty boring.”

  He smiled and turned to her. “Are you seeing anyone?”

  Whoa. That was a loaded question. She wasn’t sure what to think about him asking that. He couldn’t be asking because he was interested in her. That seemed odd. But yet, why else would he ask? “No,” she said quietly.

  “Sore subject?”

  He was preceptive. She swallowed, trying not to think too much about Daniel. The last thing she wanted to do was start crying in front of Liam. “I just found out today that my ex got engaged to another woman.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah. And to make it worse, today is the anniversary of the day we met.”

  Liam winced. “You are having a bad day, aren’t you?”

  She forced a laugh. “You could say that.”

  “We’ll just have to try to make it a better day from here on out.”

  She gave him a funny look. “We’re trapped in an elevator.”

  “I know. But maybe this is a good thing. Would you have taken a moment to relax, put your feet up, and center yourself at home?”

  “No. I’d be curled up on the couch with a hot beverage and a movie going. And that sounds pretty perfect to me.” She smiled. “But thanks for trying.”

  “What are your plans for Christmas?”

  Candice had been pushing all thoughts of the day away. She couldn’t forget it altogether, not with everyone ordering decorated cupcakes and cookies, but she’d steeled herself for her first holiday that she’d truly be alone. She steepled her fingers. “I’m going to enjoy the day off.”

  “Do you have family here in the city?”

  Her gut twisted. “No.”

  A sadness entered his eyes. “You’re spending Christmas alone?”

  She tried to ignore the stinging feeling in her throat. “It will be nice,” she said, probably more to convince herself than him. “No shop to open. I can stay in my pajamas and be lazy. I’ll curl up in a blanket and not have to shovel snow.”

  Liam looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t. Instead, he quit the yoga pose. He stood up for a moment, walked around a little, then sat back down. She sat up as well and crossed her legs.

  Liam slid his shoes off. “I hope you don’t mind. These shoes hurt my feet.” He tossed them in the corner of the elevator.

  “I don’t mind.”

  Liam smiled. “So, you don’t have family in the city. Where do they live?”

  Candice wanted to get off the subject of her being alone in the world. “I don’t have family,” she said simply. “What about you? Do you have a big family get-together planned for Sunday?”

  He paused, his gaze softening, before he nodded. “I have four uncles. And even though I’m an only child, I have a ton of cousins. Our Christmas celebration stretches out for three days.”

  She gasped. “Holy cow. Three days? Like, you open presents for three days?”

  He laughed and shook his head. “No. We cook, play family games, watch Christmas movies, and generally stuff ourselves silly.”

  “Sounds lovely.”

  He hesitated, then met her gaze. “You should join us.”

  Embarrassment heated her face. She didn’t need a pity invite. Plus, there was no way she was going to spend the holidays with the family who had sucked money from her father for practically her whole life. She scoffed. “No, you don’t want a stranger there, getting in the way.”

  He genuinely looked hurt. “You’re not a stranger. We’ve been talking for over two hours. You still think of me as a stranger?”

  “I don’t know anything about you.”

  He slowly nodded. “You’re right. I should remedy that.” He held out his hand. “I’m Liam.”

  Feeling stupid, she rolled her eyes. “I know.”

  “Just shake my hand.”

  His lips tugged, like he wanted to smile, but was holding back. He looked at her and even in the dark she could see he had brown eyes. They were smiling at her. It would be rude to leave him hanging, she supposed. She reached out and grasped his hand. “Man, your hand is warm.”

  “And you’re freezing.” He placed his other hand around hers, and the heat traveled up her arm. And tingles. What was wrong with her?

  “Thanks,” she said after a second of him warming up her hand. “It’s better now.” She pulled back and he let go.

  “Give me your other one.”

  She did as he said, holding back a gasp as his touch affected her skin once again. He scooted a bit closer to her, continuing to hold her hand. “Okay. Since you know nothing about me, I’ll start with my childhood.”

  She was concentrating too much on not letting him see how his touch was making her feel, that she just nodded.

  “I was born here in Chicago. I was an only child, but never alone, with lots of cousins around. But you already know that part.”

  She smiled at him. “Mm, hmm.”

  “When I was twelve, I was in a car accident.”

  Her heart stopped and her mouth went dry. Was this the same accident her father was involved in? Was he going to brag about all the money his family made from suing her father? She felt sick, but he probably didn’t notice, as he kept talking.

  “A car ran a stoplight, and my side of the vehicle was hit.”

  Candice’s vision blurred. Her father had never told her details about the accident. He’d never wanted to talk about it. He was at fault?

  Liam’s gaze fell to the floor. “I was pinned in. They had to use the jaws of life to get me out. My right leg was broken in so many places, it was practically shattered.”

  She sucked in a breath. “Dear heavens.”

  “I was in the hospital for eight months. I had multiple surgeries on my leg. The doctors didn’t think I would ever walk again.”

  Candice swallowed and pulled her hand back from him. She couldn’t take the contact anymore. Her father had done this to him. She’d resented Liam Russell her whole life because she had thought he had taken what didn’t belong to him. A stroke of good fortune, and he’d taken advantage, like those people who trip in front of a store and sue to get a million dollars. She had no idea what he’d gone through. “That’s horrible,” she whispered.

  “I proved them wrong,” he said quietly.

  “It must have hurt.”

  “Every second of every day.” He glanced down at his leg. “Still does.”

  “How long did it take to walk again?”

  He met her gaze. “Two years.”

  “Yo
u must have been very determined.”

  “If I learned one thing from my father, it was how to be determined.”

  It seemed like there was a story behind that one, but Candice let it go. She stared down at her hands. “I bet all that time in the hospital cost a lot of money.”

  Liam nodded. “We had a lot we had to pay out of pocket because my father was self-employed and didn’t have great medical insurance.”

  Guilt weighed heavy in her gut. She’d misjudged the situation. And blamed him for something he had no control over. “I’m sure that was hard.”

  “I was young. I didn’t understand any of it. All I knew was I couldn’t play outside with my friends because some man named Harold Griffin ran a red light.”

  She bit her lip hard and then tasted blood. No one had ever said her father’s name like that to her before. He was a kind man. Well liked. No one spoke of him with what sounded like disdain. What would he say if he found out Harold Griffin was her father? She decided changing the subject was the best thing she could do. She couldn’t take hearing any more about the accident. “Where did you go to college?”

  “Stanford. What about you?”

  “I went to the community college in Palatine.”

  “What did you study?”

  “I took some business classes.” How did the conversation swing back to her? She was tired of talking about herself. Plus, she only went for two years. Her college experience was very different than his, she was sure of it. “So, after college you started working for LSR Industries?”

  “Not right away. I kind of wanted to make my own mark on the world, you know?” He smoothed the fabric of his dress pants. “But after working for a different company for a few years, my father got sick and pleaded with me to come work for him. To learn the company so I could eventually take over.”

  “That must have been hard.”

  He looked at her. “It was. But it was a blessing as well. I had six years working closely with my father before he passed on. Those years wouldn’t have happened if I had been stubborn and insisted on going my own way.”

  “Do you love your job?”

  Liam seemed to study the question. “I do in some ways. In other ways, it’s a strain.”

  “How so?”

  “Big shoes to fill.”