Christmas with the Billionaire ; A Tiara for Christmas

by Niobia Bryant

  “Have you been following my story?” Kimber asked.

  “I’m all about the pageant news,” said Kenzie. “Who isn’t?”

  Bewildered, Kimber looked between them. “Huh?”

  “Some reporter you are,” Amelia said. Even though her aunt said it with a playful smile, a twinge of hurt tapped into Kimber’s veins. “How long has it been since you’ve updated your page?”

  Kimber blinked and thought for a moment. Not since that Wednesday when she’d started a post and Dario distracted her. “Well, ah, you see...”

  “Oh, leave her alone, Amelia, she’s been hiding under a rock with Dario Crowne,” chuckled Kenzie.

  Amelia raised a brow at Kimber. “Is this true?”

  “Well...” The line moved again, and this time they were up for an order. Kimber put in for two beers. Kenzie and Amelia suspiciously declined the alcohol.

  “Kimber,” said Amelia, “I don’t want to be the wet blanket on your parade but wasn’t hanging out with Dario last year what caused you to miss the once in a lifetime internship invitation?”

  Kimber wanted to add that initially it had been a once in a lifetime chance for someone else. She’d known late in the month that she wasn’t the company’s first choice. Kimber chewed her bottom lip for a moment and avoided Amelia’s motherly glare.

  “I get that you and Dario are close, but are you close enough that you’re willing to risk your chance to work for MET again?”

  “Maybe MET isn’t her dream job,” Kenzie provided. “I mean, you do both. You run a successful ice cream parlor here and you still go off on assignment. Can’t Kimber have the same thing?”

  Kimber nodded. “The thing is, Amelia always comes back. I never wanted to come back to Southwood.” The people near them hissed in shock. She swore it became silent for ten feet around her in every direction. “Kidding, kidding,” she said to the crowd of onlookers. “I love Southwood, that’s why I’m back for the holidays.”

  “Key phrase is for the holidays,” Amelia added. “She’s getting out of this town and going places,” she told everyone before wrapping her free arm around Kimber’s shoulders. “Don’t let them bother you. If you want to come back to Southwood later on, do like I did. Go live out your dream while you’re young and ambitious.”

  The crowd began to talk again and everyone went about their business. Kimber let Amelia’s words sink in. She needed the reminder to keep on track.

  “Everything okay?” Dario asked when she returned with their drinks.

  “Mmm-hmm,” she mumbled. Kimber cuddled close against Dario again. He turned her so her back was braced against his right arm. The night sky framed his head; stars swirled around him. She gave a soft sigh at his narrowed, questioning look. “Everything is fine, I promise. Did Ramon talk you into staying in Southwood?”

  The rest of her family sat adjacent to their blanket and the second feature started. Maverick waddled between his parents and Amelia and Nate. Kimber always wondered if Amelia and Nate hadn’t wanted children or if they’d been too busy with life. Kimber loved Amelia but she also knew Uncle Nate spent a lot of holidays alone because of Amelia’s job.

  Kimber thought about the women in her life, from her mother to Lexi and Amelia. Her mother had been a stay-at-home mom. Kimber wanted none of that lifestyle. She didn’t like seeing her mom making sure dinner was ready by six. Lexi worked. Amelia traveled. And even though Kimber had vowed to never live in Southwood as a grownup, she was certain she’d be able to hold an even balance of motherhood and a career as long as she had the right partner.

  Just then, Dario wrapped his arms around her body and kissed the top of the head. Kimber cuddled closer, knowing if she ever decided to settle down, he’d be the perfect guy.

  * * *

  The kid-friendly music played at the elementary school became a joke between Kimber and her friends. They’d spent the afternoon baking and decorating cookies with all the kids. Kimber still smelled like sugar and was sure she had cookie crumbs down the off-the-shoulder sweatshirt she wore. The girls had agreed to dress up in eighties-style clothing. Kimber’s attire was a tribute to Madonna and to Jennifer Beals from the movie Flashdance. Black rubber bands crowded her wrists while three belts wrapped around the waist of her black leather miniskirt. Just like in high school, Maureen and Johnetta had managed to take over the dance floor in the gym and perform the latest dances right alongside the kids. Being away for a year prevented Kimber from knowing some of the ridiculous moves but that didn’t stop her from having fun.

  “I think I made up for a year of no exercise,” Kimber said later, as they sat at a round table at Southern Charm, one of Southwood’s few nightclubs. Another booming song came on over the speakers. Maureen wasn’t tired and headed off to the dance floor leaving Kimber with Johnetta and Nicolette.

  “I plan on being that active in a few weeks,” said Nicolette, rubbing her belly. “I’ve gained, like, sixty pounds.”

  “You needed it,” teased Johnetta. “You were all skin and bones before. You have a killer rack now.”

  Kimber hid her laugh by sipping her drink while Nicolette proudly shook her boobs at the table. A waiter coming over turned beet red. “She’s just taking these things on a test drive,” Johnetta explained.

  The girls sobered up and put in an order for wings and more drinks. Talk turned into what Kimber had missed over the last year while in Dubai. She hated missing out but she had dreams. Instead of attending last year’s weddings, she’d interviewed international beauty queens. She’d missed the opening of her friend Beth’s homemade jewelry shop as well as the summer fair and Southwood’s own beauty pageant. If she got a job in Atlanta or someplace closer, she could commute just like she had when she was in college. If she discovered a huge story behind the designer of the tiaras, she might be able to choose where she worked from. MET had satellite studios all over the East Coast.

  “Hey, Kimber,” Nicolette said, fiddling with the umbrella in her drink. “Were you excited to find out Vin was behind the tiaras? I think it’s so romantic.” She blinked her long lashes.

  Johnetta rolled her eyes. “He didn’t do them,” she said. “My cousin did.”

  Kimber rolled her tall glass of Long Island Iced Tea between her hands. “I am surprised both of them stepped up for it.”

  “You sound more disappointed,” noted Johnetta. “I thought you’d be excited. Philip has never gotten over losing you.”

  “Whatever,” Kimber sighed. “I hadn’t heard from him since he graduated and now I’m supposed to believe that a year ago he decided, out of the kindness of his heart, he wanted to anonymously design tiaras? Vin too?” Neither lady had an answer. “Don’t you think it’s odd that neither one of them told me about it when it happened?”

  “Well...” they chorused.

  Kimber finished her drink. “Exactly. But we’ll see. Whoever delivers the tiara on Christmas Eve will be the one telling the truth.”

  Nicolette played with the fork on the table. “And what happens then?”

  “I know you’re not asking her if she’s going to start dating one of them when the truth comes out,” Johnetta said.

  “She’s seeing Dario,” said Maureen coming up at the tail end of the conversation. “Didn’t you guys see the two of them at the park together?” Maureen bumped her shoulder against Kimber’s.

  Kimber mouthed a silent thank you to her friend.

  “Wasn’t that y’alls official debut? They were so adorable,” Maureen told the other ladies. “Everyone thinks it’s cute the way the two of you, of all people, found each other.”

  “Everyone who?” Kimber turned to ask. “I haven’t heard anything.”

  “Again, you’ve been busy with Dario.”

  “The pageant,” Kimber corrected.

  Maureen rolled her eyes and giggled. “Mmm-okay sure.” She pulled out a chair to sit
next to her friend. “It’s okay. We all think it’s cute that the two most unattainable single people in Southwood are seeing each other.”

  A nervous chuckle escaped Kimber’s throat. “What?”

  “The folks aren’t wrong. You and Dario were the biggest players in town,” said Nicolette. “But I do approve of you two as a couple.”

  Kimber pressed her hand against her chest. “I was never a player. I honestly don’t understand where that’s coming from.”

  “Philip,” Johnetta said.

  “The three college boyfriends you had between your freshman and sophomore years at FAMU,” Maureen added. She’d spent those first two years at school with Kimber before finishing up at Georgia State. “Each time you got mad at one you dropped him.”

  “Life is too short to sit and argue when you don’t see eye to eye,” Nicolette said. “That said, if I were to leave every time Jackson and I got into a fight I’d be one lonely mama.” She rubbed her belly. “But if I were you, I’d be careful around Lilly Stringer and all the other single ladies. I see them whispering in Dario’s ears when you’re not around.”

  For the first time in her life, Kimber felt a twinge of jealousy. Maybe even remorse over her actions. Distancing herself from Dario had kept them apart for almost a year. A year of lonely nights in bed. Damn. Kimber wondered what he was doing now. When she’d asked if he’d wanted to come to the dance he’d declined—saying she should hang out with her friends if she planned on leaving after the holidays. A twinge shocked her heart. Leaving after the holidays meant she was leaving him too. Didn’t he care?

  Over the last few days, Dario had been close with Kimber, yet distant at the same time. They got the condo decorated and kidproofed. They didn’t have to spend every second of the day together. When they weren’t by each other’s sides, Dario was off at the ranch or helping Darren get in shape, as if he were training for a boxing match or something.

  Though he’d been known to date two women at the same time Kimber didn’t believe that was the case now. When they were out and about, women did wink at him, but so did the men, as if there was some big inside joke going on. Each time she asked him about it, he avoided the question. Realizing just how many times it had happened, Kimber took back any feeling of regret for what happened between them last year.

  She squared her shoulders and listened to her friends chide her about her notorious dating record. It was true, she didn’t end relationships well. Maybe there was a string of brokenhearted men. And, sure, one fight or disagreement wasn’t a reason for a breakup, but the difference between her and her girlfriends was that they still lived in Southwood. With Kimber’s traveling lifestyle, she didn’t have to stay with a man she didn’t get along with. She didn’t have to force herself to stick around like her mother did.

  At the end of the evening, Nicolette dropped Kimber off at the front door of her apartment. It took all she had to not go over to Dario’s place. He’d wanted her to have fun tonight—so he could have his own fun.

  Inside the quiet of her apartment, she set her cell phone on the coffee table in front of her and curled up on the couch. The lights on the Christmas tree Dario bought her last week brightened up the room just enough to keep it from spinning. The infamous drinks had a way of sneaking up her.

  Leaving the banana clip in her side ponytail, Kimber lay down on the couch in a way that would not break the clip and fell asleep, trying desperately to keep from thinking about Dario. She’d always sworn to herself she wasn’t the type to settle down. She’d hightailed it out of relationships at the first spark of trouble.

  There’d been at least two, three if she counted the conversations Dario had with the single ladies when they were out on the town, times when she’d felt some type of way with Dario. Him ordering her to not answer her phone. Him ordering her to not post her business on social media. She hadn’t left yet. There was still a draw to him. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him. This had been the best time with him yet. Her heart felt full of warmth when he was around. A void appeared when they were apart. She counted down the minutes to when she’d see him again. Whatever the reason, it was on the tip of her tongue.

  At some point in the middle of the night she felt a set of strong arms lift her up off the couch. Through half-closed eyes she saw Dario’s wink.

  “Shh,” he urged her. “Go back to sleep.”

  Weary, Kimber couldn’t keep her eyes open. Dario pulled her against his chest and the next thing she realized, he’d set her on the cushions of her bed. The smell was different, though, more masculine, and her bed had turned into a four-poster. Not her bed. She was at his place. Kimber turned over and was met with Dario’s hard body. He pulled her against his warmth and wrapped her up close in his arms. And she went to sleep, pushing all the worked-up fake anger away. This was where she belonged.

  “I love you, Kimber,” Dario whispered.

  “I love you too.”

  Chapter 9

  “So you broke into her apartment and kidnapped her?” Darren stood in one corner of the boxing ring in the gym attached to Crowne’s Garage, mocking his brother’s actions of the previous night.

  Wise of his brother to be so far out of reach, Dario thought from his corner. He punched his gloved hands together and stretched his neck, rocking his head from side to side. “Watch it,” he said through his mouth guard. “Put your hands up and your protective gear in.”

  Darren stretched his arms over the ropes. “Nah, I’m good.”

  In the few weeks they’d had to work together, Dario had seen a definite transition in Darren’s frame. The abs were back and there were more defined muscles in his arms. “We have a few more days until Christmas Chaos, Darren. Your punches aren’t going to hurt a wet napkin.”

  “Oh ye of little faith.” Darren pushed away from the ropes. “I’m planning on using mind control over my opponents.”

  Boxing Around the Christmas Ring was the most violent event of the night. It was meant to get rid of the holiday aggression of everyone who needed more than cookie crunching or a javelin throw.

  “Well, I need to work something out,” Dario said, jabbing his fists in the air toward his brother.

  At least the move got Darren off the ropes and into the center of the ring to escape Dario’s reach. “Worried about those guys stealing your thunder, huh?”

  “No,” Dario said. “They can’t come up with a replica of what I can do.”

  “All this is your fault. If only you’d just told Kimber from the beginning that it was you. Tell me something, is part of this anonymity because of Pops?”

  Dario took a swing and caught his brother in the shoulder. “What?”

  “Well, you know how he used to stop us from playing with dolls.”

  “I never played with dolls,” Dario corrected. “I needed to grab Alisha’s dolls to size them up when I made the dream house for her. The first time I did it he beat the crap out of me for it.”

  Darren stood still. His taunting smile disappeared. “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “I’m good,” Dario said, mentally shrugging off the memory of his father’s beatings. The physical blows Dario had taken were one thing. Bruises didn’t last. The taunting did. John Crowne, rest his soul now, had not been a nice man. Growing up like that had shaped Dario’s mind.

  “There’s nothing wrong with you making the tiaras. Why are you letting them take the credit for it?” Darren asked, sidestepping another blow. “Given the fact Kimber didn’t press charges after you took her from her place, I think you’re golden with her.”

  “First of all,” Dario said, sending an uppercut toward Darren’s chin, “I have a key. I’ve had a key ever since last year when Charlotte and Richard got engaged.” Darren closed his eyes in anticipation of the blow. But Dario didn’t want to hurt him for real, not even for speaking the truth.

  “Ohhh.” Darren perked up,
rolling his fists around. “What’s the next step? Marriage?”

  “Kimber is far too freaked out by the idea of marriage. She has her eyes on a career away from here.”

  Darren shrugged his shoulders. “Well, it’s not like you guys didn’t have a long-distance relationship before.”

  “We weren’t together before,” Dario reminded him.

  “So after you bought all those tickets that summer when she manned the kissing booth, you were still seeing other women when she went back to school?”

  Dario stopped shuffling his feet. “We... I...”

  “We... I...” Darren mocked him.

  Dario threw a punch and it landed on his brother’s chin. “My bad.”

  Outside light spilled into the garage and stopped their sparring. Breathing heavily, they faced the door, their arms on the ropes. Heels clicked on the cement floor. Once the door closed, a curvy frame came into view. Kimber, in a green sweater dress and thigh-high brown boots, folded her arms across her chest. “The door was unlocked,” she explained. “I’ve been calling out for you guys for a minute or two.”

  “Sorry,” Darren said. “I meant to turn the sign to Closed. Your boyfriend here dragged me off to whip me into shape.”

  “Is that true?” Kimber asked, feeding into Darren’s search for sympathy.

  Dario shook his head and laughed. “If someone robbed the place, Darren wouldn’t be in shape to run after them.”

  For the first time that morning Darren threw a punch, landing it on Dario’s left cheek. Kimber covered her mouth with her hands to stifle a horrified scream. “Oh my God. You guys are so rough.”

  “It didn’t hurt,” Dario assured her. “He punches like a girl.”

  That comment got Kimber’s hands on her hips. “I’m a girl. Want me to hop into the ring and go a few rounds?”

  “Depends.” Dario offered her a lopsided smile. “Rounds of what?”

  “Y’all need to take your dirty talk someplace else.” Darren attempted to get out of the ring but Dario swept out with his leg, catching his twin’s foot and bringing him down to the ground.