A Christmas Collection: Four Sweet Holiday Romances

by Victorine E. Lieske

  She nodded. She knew kind of what that was like. If her shop didn’t survive, she knew her father would be disappointed. Not in her. Never in her. But he wanted this for her, and she knew he was up in heaven, smiling down on her, cheering her on.

  Chapter 6

  Another fifteen minutes had passed, and Candice was starting to get seriously cold. Her teeth kept wanting to chatter. She didn’t want Liam to know, though, so she decided to mask her frigid state by saying she wanted to walk around and stretch her muscles.

  She paced back and forth in the small space. Liam sat with his knees up, leaning against the wall, his gaze following her movements. She wanted to blow heat onto her hands, but instead, shoved them into her coat pockets.

  “Are you cold?”

  Candice froze. Maybe she wasn’t doing as good of a job as she thought she was. “Why do you ask?”

  His eyes smiled at her. “Come here.”

  She didn’t want him to warm her hands. That was embarrassing. She shook her head. “I’m fine.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Just come here.”

  She took her hands out of her pockets and blew on them. Might as well go all the way since she wasn’t fooling him. “I can warm up my hands.”

  “Why are you so stubborn? Get over here.” He motioned to her.

  She huffed and sat down in front of him. “All right. Here.” She held out her hands.

  “No, turn around.” He twirled his finger.

  “Why do you want me to turn around? What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to warm you. There’s a blizzard outside. The building has no power, which means no heat. The elevator isn’t going to get warmer. It’s only going to get colder. You’ve been frozen from the minute you stepped in here.”

  “I had to run back and forth to get the cupcakes into my van. Then, again here, to get them inside. There was too much snow to stack them on and wheel it in.”

  “Now I get it. Turn around. I’m just going to wrap myself around you and give you some of my body heat.”

  “How completely and utterly embarrassing,” she said under her breath as she did as he told her.

  “Take off your coat.”

  She whirled around to look at him. “What? How’s that going to help?”

  “Just do it. I know what I’m talking about.”

  She thought he was crazy, but she did it, anyway.

  “Now, put it over you like a blanket.” As Liam spoke, he snuggled up against her back and wrapped his arms around her. She immediately felt the warmth of him seeping into her back through her thin sweater.

  She pulled her coat to cover her, and Liam took her hands in his so her arms were crossed over her stomach. He threaded his fingers through hers.

  All of her embarrassment left her as the warmth from him carried through her. Her teeth stopped chattering. She leaned against him, her body melting into his.

  “Better?”

  He spoke in her ear and his warm breath brushed against her skin. He smelled of musky cologne and chocolate, probably from the cupcakes he’d eaten. She managed to nod. “Yeah. That’s better.”

  “So, tell me. Am I the only man you’ve snuggled with in a broken-down elevator?”

  She forced herself to laugh because the mood needed to be lightened. “Hardly. Why, I’ve snuggled with men in elevators at least three times this week. Maybe even four. It’s become a disgusting habit.”

  He pressed even closer to her. “I’m disappointed.”

  Her heart seemed to thump louder as she listened to the low timbre of his voice in her ear. “Why?”

  “Because I thought I was special.”

  Why did that send shivers over her skin? Not shivers of cold. Oh, no, she was no longer cold. Those kind of shivers would have been okay. Expected. No, they were the kind you get when you’re attracted to someone. The kind that makes your heart thump and your skin feel like it’s alive. The kind that were making her think about things she shouldn’t be thinking about. Liam’s strong arms around her sides. His fingers entwined with hers. His cologne…

  Candice closed her eyes and tried to think of something else. Anything else. She couldn’t think of Liam Russell that way. Not only was he a bazillionaire who was probably not at all attracted to her. The man who was going to find out eventually who she was. Who her father was.

  She scoffed at him. “Don’t start getting too cocky.”

  He chuckled in her ear. “All right. I’m not special. I get it.”

  As they sat, his chest pressed up against her back, Candice wondered if he had a girlfriend who might get upset if she learned he’d warmed up another woman in the elevator. He had said something about his ex, so maybe that meant he didn’t have a girlfriend. But she felt weird just assuming.

  Finally, she couldn’t stand it and had to ask. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but—”

  “Hold it. You’re starting like that? Do you know what those words do to a guy?”

  “Uh…no?”

  “Let’s just say nothing good ever followed, ‘Don’t take this the wrong way.’”

  “It’s not bad.”

  “How can I think that? All that’s coming to my mind right now is, ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but did you brush your teeth this morning?’ or ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but what kind of deodorant do you use? Because it’s failing.’”

  “I was just going to ask if you have a girlfriend. Sheesh. I’m not going to say you smell bad or anything.”

  “Oh.” He sat as silence filled the elevator. “Well, I’m glad I don’t smell bad.”

  “Nope. Just the opposite.”

  “You mean I smell good?”

  “Why are you trying to get out of answering the question?”

  He paused. “Why do you want to know if I have a girlfriend?”

  Oh, great. He does have one. She hated herself right now for even getting the smallest hope in her that he was single, and that maybe he was interested in her. Stupid. “Nothing. Never mind. It’s fine. I was just starting to get self-conscious that your girlfriend wouldn’t like me and you…you know…that’s all.”

  “Me and you, you know?” He chuckled. “We’re not doing anything.”

  “No. But this is kind of—intimate—don’t you think?”

  “What exactly are you implying?”

  “Nothing!” She flushed. “I just don’t think your significant other would like you and me in this position right now.”

  “You don’t have to worry.”

  Did that mean what she thought it meant? She wasn’t sure. “Because she’s out of town?”

  “No. Because I don’t have a significant other.”

  “Oh.” This was a weird conversation. And she kind of felt like he was flirting with her, but she wasn’t sure, and she didn’t even want him to be, right? So, she should not be reacting to his almost flirting.

  Liam grazed his thumb over her finger. “So, I guess if I had been sent out by mean Mr. Russell to get mistletoe, I could use it right now.”

  Now Candice was sure he was flirting. No question about it. He was definitely—

  His chin brushed against the sensitive part of her neck and electricity zinged over her skin, derailing her train of thought. Yes, he was flirting. But did she want him to? Why was her stomach full of butterflies right now? Why did she feel like she was in high school, and the captain of the football team had noticed her?

  If she turned, her lips could meet his. A shiver went down her back at the thought. She swallowed. “Too bad you don’t have any,” she said, forcing the words.

  “Yeah. Too bad,” he said softly.

  She needed to change the subject, and quickly, before she found herself turning around and sucking face with the man. He was too good-looking. Too warm. And too charming. “What are you doing for Christmas other than getting together with your cousins and uncles?”

  He chuckled. “You want to know all our weird family traditions?”

  “
You have weird family traditions? Of course, now I want to know. Spill.”

  “Okay, but it only sounds weird to people who don’t know the background.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Tell me. It can’t be that odd.”

  His close proximity was sending an electric current over her skin, but she ignored it. She had to ignore it.

  “In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we buy the largest, ugliest sale shoes we can find at the store. We decorate them, then on Christmas Eve we set them by the fireplace, instead of hanging stockings, for Santa to fill with presents.”

  “Large shoes? Okay, that is odd. Why do you do that?”

  “Because when I was young, I learned about the children in the Netherlands. They put their shoes by the fire to receive gifts, and I thought that was a great idea. My parents indulged me, but they didn’t want to put candy in my smelly sneakers, so they took me to the department store and told me to pick out a pair of shoes.”

  “And you picked a large pair, to get more presents.” She smiled.

  “That kind of evolved over the years. I realized I’d get more if I picked the largest ones. And then my cousins started doing it, too, and it became some kind of weird contest for who could find the oddest-looking pair of size 13 shoes.”

  “And the decorating?”

  “That evolved, too. We used plain shoes for a couple of years, but then I decided they would look better if they were more Christmas-y. So, my mom bought paint and glue, and we went to town.”

  Thinking of a young Liam, painting shoes to set out for Santa, made her smile. “That is a great tradition.”

  “Isn’t it? I think it should catch on. We should all be putting shoes by the fireplace.”

  “What do you do with them after Christmas?”

  “Oh, we save the Christmas shoes. We bring them out each year and use them for decorations. Although I think Mother throws out the especially ugly ones because we suspiciously don’t have as many as we should.”

  “You decorate with them?”

  “Yes. Mother doesn’t love that part, so we kind of have to hide them. During the Christmas season, you can find them all over the house in obscure places.”

  “A Christmas shoe hunt!”

  Liam laughed. “Yeah, it’s kind of like that.”

  “Now I want to go to your house.” She said it before she knew what was coming out of her mouth and she froze. She hadn’t meant it like that, but it totally sounded like she was accepting his invitation to spend Christmas with his family.

  “Good. Show up on Christmas morning and you can hunt all over the house for the shoes. I’ll give you my mother’s address.”

  She didn’t want to lock herself in, so she ignored his invitation. “Did you decorate shoes this year?”

  “Of course. It’s a huge ugly-sweater contest between the cousins. Except we use shoes.”

  She turned to give him a sideways glance. “What about the people who could have bought and used those shoes?”

  He shifted. “We are saving those people from the ugliest shoes. The stores probably would never sell them. If you think about it, we’re actually helping the economy.”

  She laughed. “All right.” She stopped herself from admitting to him a second time that she really wanted to see the shoes now. She didn’t need to commit herself to spending more awkward time with Liam Russell. Not when things were going to end badly between them.

  Chapter 7

  Candice wanted to close her eyes. To melt into Liam’s warmth and fall asleep. But she couldn’t do that. They’d been chatting about nothing in particular while Liam cradled her, and now, after about a half-hour, she could say she was sufficiently warm. She needed to suck it up and move away from him. Even though he smelled good. And it felt nice to be near him.

  She sighed and shifted so he’d let go of her. “Thanks for warming me up. I feel much better now.” She flipped her coat around and slid her arms through as she moved to a more appropriate distance from him.

  “That’s too bad.” He smiled and a flush rushed through her.

  What did he mean by that? She eyed him. “Why?”

  His smile faded. “You don’t like it when I flirt with you, do you?”

  Another surge of heat flowed up to her face. “I’m just being…practical. I don’t see a point to flirting. We’re not ever going to date.”

  His eyebrows shut up and he leaned back on his hands. “We aren’t? Why not?”

  His gaze seemed to look right through her. Like she was invisible, and he could see all the things she was hiding inside. She cleared her throat. “Because you’re just messing around.”

  “Who says I’m messing around?” A challenging look came over him, and he loosened his tie and unbuttoned his top button. It made him look kind of sexy.

  She blinked. He couldn’t be serious. “I’m a nobody. You’re…Liam Russell.” She waved a hand at him. “You’re Stanford.” She swallowed. “I’m just a community college,” she said quietly.

  “So? You think I care where you went to college?”

  She blew out a frustrated breath. It wasn’t about that. But he didn’t understand. He couldn’t understand. He had no idea. She ran a hand through her hair. “Never mind.”

  “No, you don’t get to ‘never mind’ me. We’re stuck in here until the power comes back on or they send a rescue team. You can’t avoid me. You have to answer this one. Why do you think I care where you went to college? Can’t a man like me be interested in a woman like you?”

  He wasn’t going to give up on this. “Fine. You want me to be blunt?”

  He nodded, although she didn’t miss the tiny flinch that crossed his features. “Please do.”

  “I just don’t think we’d work out together. That’s all.”

  He sat up. “So, you’re admitting it’s not me. It’s you.”

  Anything to get him off this train of thought. She mentally crossed her fingers. “Yes. It’s me. I’m the one who wouldn’t work in this equation.”

  “Because you’re a community college.” His lips held back a smile.

  “All right, I admit that was dumb to say.”

  “No. It actually said a lot about you.” He leaned closer to her. “You’re pragmatic.”

  “Yes. I am.”

  “I like pragmatic.”

  Ugh. Why was he so intent on coming on to her? She was tired of his games. She stood up and walked to the other side of the elevator. “Why are you doing this?”

  He stood up, facing her. “Doing what?” He held out his hands. “I’m not doing anything.”

  “Yes, you are. You’re being all flirty and sexy and it’s just not fair.” She folded her arms across her chest.

  He smiled and took a step toward her. “You think I’m sexy?”

  “I think you think you’re sexy.”

  He cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brow. “You didn’t quite answer the question.”

  She watched him come even closer as her heart picked up speed. “I don’t have to.”

  He stopped in front of her. “What are you afraid of, Candice?”

  Her breath hitched. “I’m not afraid of anything.”

  “Then why are you backing away from me?”

  She hadn’t realized she was, but he was right. She was now pressed up against the wall. She sighed. “I just don’t think we’re compatible.”

  “Why not?”

  She didn’t have an answer for him. Mostly because it was a blatant lie. She thought they were very compatible. She liked him. Too much. She didn’t answer.

  He took her hands in his. “You’re warm.”

  Was she? She hadn’t realized she’d warmed up that much. “It must have been you.”

  He stood there for a moment, his thumbs grazing across the backs of her hands. It sent tiny zaps through her. He leaned closer. “I wish I had been sent out to get mistletoe.”

  Her gaze dipped to his lips. She couldn’t help it. Even in the dim lighting, looking at
his lips stirred a fluttering in her belly. She suddenly didn’t know why she was resisting him. She liked the guy. He was kind and had a good heart. She’d said some pretty mean things about him before she knew who he was, and he’d forgiven her outright.

  His reputation around town was that he was a bit stuffy. And she could see that. But he was also a trusting man. He’d opened up to her about his accident. Told her things about his family traditions. He was the kind of man she’d love to get to know better.

  But she was Harold Griffin’s daughter. And as soon as he figured that out, he would not look at her the same way he was right now. She forced herself to look into his eyes. “But you weren’t.”

  “Nope.” His gaze softened. “But maybe you’ll forgive me if I take some liberties.” He dipped his head and kissed her.

  The action surprised her for a split second, but then she closed her eyes and let the kiss happen. His lips were warm. Soft. Seconds ticked by, but it felt like an eternity as his lips danced with hers.

  She never did this. Kissed a man she’d just met. It felt reckless. Slightly dangerous. And completely thrilling.

  Liam wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him, and she slid her hands up his arms. His lips skimmed over hers, sending waves of pleasure through her. She let go of her inhibitions and deepened the kiss.

  She knew in the back of her mind that kissing Liam wasn’t a good idea, but she didn’t care. At this point, all she cared about was that he was everything she wanted in a man, and he wanted her.

  The lights came back on and the elevator jerked to life. Candice was so shocked, she jumped away from Liam, as if the lights uncovered her secret of who she really was. She pressed the back of her hand to her lips. “Oh my gosh, we’re moving again.”

  Great. Another Captain Obvious moment. Gah.

  Liam seemed annoyed. “Yes. Opportune timing.” He shoved his hands into his pockets.

  “Thi-this is good,” she stammered. “We can get out of here.”

  “I wasn’t in any hurry,” he said under his breath as he slipped his shoes on.

  She ignored the comment and grabbed the things she’d tossed from her pockets. By the time the elevator doors opened, they looked all put together, and standing just as two people in an elevator should.