We make out most of the night, and I’m just going to put it out there—kissing him is my new favorite hobby. He makes me laugh with his jokes and sometimes his accent that I’m still getting used to. He makes me melt with his kisses.
The next morning, we take a walk before we go to work. Our hands are linked together, and I know that this is all going to end as soon as Christmas is over. I try not to overthink it. Every single night, we get lost in each other, and when Christmas Eve comes, I’m shaky, knowing our bubble is going to be popped the minute my brother gets back into town.
“You’re quiet,” Brett says to me from his side of the bar when we are an hour into the shift. “You okay?”
I want to tell him I’m not okay. I want to tell him that I’ve gone and fallen for him without even knowing. I want to tell him all this, but the second I open my mouth, the door opens, and my brother comes running in. “Holy shit, Leah, you’re here.”
I turn and run to him as he takes me into his arms. “Finally, you’re back.” He spins me around, and I laugh.
“When did you get in?” he asks me.
“Last week,” I tell him, and he looks at me, shocked. “It’s a long story.” He nods his head at me, and then I feel a hand on my lower back.
“B.” He calls him using his nickname. He walks to him, grabbing his hand in his, and pulls him into a side hug. “What time is everyone getting here?” he asks, looking around at the empty bar.
“Tree should be here any minute,” Brett says. “Your mom should be here at the same time to start cooking.”
“Good,” he says, shrugging off his jacket and then turning to look back at us. “So what’s new?” he asks, putting his hands on his hips.
We don’t have time to answer him because the door opens, and my mother comes in. She runs over to me and grabs me in a hug, and the tree guy shows up to deliver the tree. The whole afternoon it’s a whirlwind with people coming in and out—my mother in the back cooking and calling me every seven seconds. My brother and Brett are getting all the tables set up.
I’m stocking the bar when I feel him behind me. “Hey,” he says softly.
“Hi.” I turn and see him with one hand on the bar, and he’s suddenly too far away from me. “Are you guys done?” I look over to see the tables all put against the wall.
He reaches for my hand and pulls me to the back of the offices. He drags me in and closes the door with my back to it. “Do you know this is the longest that we’ve gone without kissing?” he says, bending his head and kissing me.
“Were you blocking the door?” Charlie asks, coming in and looking at us. “You okay?” He looks at us.
“Yeah,” I say, trying to put my hair down. “We were just …”
“We were getting the glasses,” Brett says to Charlie.
“We were getting glasses,” I tell Charlie, grabbing a box of glasses and rushing out.
The sound of music fills the room now, and there are about twenty people now as the door opens again, and people come in.
My mother comes out of the kitchen and keeps pulling me to her to introduce me to people I haven’t seen in a long time. I try to listen to them when they talk to me, but my eyes roam back to Brett, who is now behind the bar with Charlie as they sling drinks and sing songs.
I slowly make my way back behind the bar, and my brother just looks at me. “What are you doing behind the bar?”
I shake my head. “Who do you think picked up the slack for you when you were gone?” Brett says, coming over to me and putting his arm around my shoulder. “I might replace you,” he says, and my brother just laughs and slaps his hands together when someone calls his name.
“My turn to hang my ornament,” he says, walking out from around the bar now.
Brett doesn’t move his hand from around my shoulder, his thumb now rubbing up and down softly. “We need to talk,” I tell him softly just as the door opens, and we both turn to look over. “Alan?” I say, almost confused.
My brother glares at him as he brushes the snow off his jacket. “Leah,” he says when he spots me, and I feel Brett’s arm slip from my shoulders.
Chapter 12
Brett
She’s going to leave. I was waiting for tomorrow to have a talk with her. I was waiting to give her my gift on Christmas morning before taking the biggest leap of my life. And just like that, it feels like it’s ripped away from me.
“Leah.” He says her name again, and I clench my hands beside me. She takes a step forward, and I want to snatch her back. She turns to walk around the bar and stops in front of him. “I’ve missed you so much.” He hugs her, and the only thing that makes me feel just a bit better is that her arms stay by her side.
“You shouldn’t have come,” she says to him, and he looks down and then up at her again.
“We need to talk,” he tells her. The whole bar is just watching this play out, and I just can’t do it. I bend my head and turn to walk out of the room toward the office.
“Brett.” She calls my name, and I stop. “Don’t you dare walk out of this room.” I turn and look at her. “You stay there.” She points at me. “You.” She turns back at Alan. “You can go and fuck my best friend.” The whole pub gasps out in shock.
“It was a mistake,” he says, hissing now.
Leah laughs now. “For four years?” She shakes her head. “This.” She holds up her hand. “Coming here was a mistake.” She then looks at me. “This week was not a mistake.” She walks to me, and everyone’s eyes are on me and then fly to her. “This week was not a mistake.” She says softly in front of me. Her hands wringing together now, and she looks down, and all I can do is step closer to her.
“hey.” I whisper to her, and she looks up, “it’s just me.”
“Yeah, and all those people.” She points with her thumb behind her, and I reach forward and grab her hand, bringing her to the back room.
“What is going on?” Charlie says, halting us from walking to the back.
“I’m in love with your sister,” I tell him, and he rolls his eyes.
“Tell me something that I didn’t know.” Charlie laughs.
“I kinda like him also,” she says, and now my eyes got big. “Don’t act so surprised.”
“But …” Alan says. “But.”
“But nothing.” Charlie says, “it’s time for you to go.” He points at Alan. “And why is the music turned off? This is a party,” he says, and the music starts back again, and he nods at us.
I grab her hand and pull her into the back room, closing the door behind me and locking it. “Leah,” I start to say, and she holds up her hand.
“I like you a lot,” she says, “I should have added that.”
I laugh now, walking over to the desk and taking out the envelope I put there yesterday, “I got this for you.” I hold it in my hand to hand it to her. I hold my breath while she opens it and take out the ticket, “I have to go to Ireland to meet with a couple of vendors and was thinking that maybe you might want to come with me.” She has one tear rolling down her face. “I want to show you where I grew up of sorts.”
“Oh, my god,” she says, putting her hand to her mouth. “You want me to come with you?”
“Yeah,” I say, walking to her and finally grabbing her face in my hands. “I want to show you everything.” I kiss her lips softly, and she kisses me back.
My hands go to her hair now as the kiss deepens, and there is a knock on the door. “Let me in,” Charlie says, and I let go of her and walk to the door.
“Hey,” Charlie says, and I move aside, “he’s gone.”
“Good,” I say, walking back over to Leah and putting my arm around her shoulder.
“So, what is going on with this?” he points at us.
“Well,” Leah starts to say, “I lost my job, came home, and then found Alan in bed with.” She looks at Charlie and then looks at me. “Fast-forward to me coming here, and well, I thought you were here, but you weren’t, and then I didn’t know
that Brett was actually Brett.”
“He fooled you with the accent.” He laughs. “And the contacts.”
“I’m still me.” I throw my hands in the air, and they both laugh.
“Anyway,” Leah says, “he kisses me.” She starts to say nervously, “And I kissed him back. A lot.” Charlie laughs now.
“She took over the bar with me while you were gone,” I tell Charlie, who nods.
“Good. It makes this next announcement makes me feel a bit less guilty,” he says, looking at us. “I’m moving.”
“Wait, what?” Leah asks, and Charlie looks down.
“This is perfect. You can take over for me here and then.”
I nod my head and smile. “That sounds like we are killing two birds with one stone.”
Chapter 13
Leah
I don’t have a chance to say anything before my mother comes in and calls us to come out and eat. He slips his hand in mine, and for the night, he stays by my side. His hand slips into mine when we are talking to people. He finds reasons to touch me as we laugh with old stories from different people. The dancing kicks off, and when someone grabs me to dance, he pulls me back to him and puts his arm over my shoulder. “If you want to dance, you dance with me.” He smirks at me, and I shake my head.
We sing carols next to each other, and he holds me in his arms when the songs become slower, and people start leaving. Charlie slips out with my parents, telling us he’ll be back in the morning.
“I need a shower,” I tell him as he kisses my neck, and we say goodbye to the last people walking out. The Christmas tree lights up the whole room with the colored lights.
“Before you do that,” he says, walking over to the radio and putting on a slow song, “I want one more dance with you.”
He takes me in his arms. “I didn’t get you a gift,” I tell him, suddenly feeling bad that I didn’t even get him a card.
“You,” he says softly, bringing me closer to him, “being here in my arms is better than any other gift.” He leans his head down and kisses me again. “well, there is one thing you can give me.”
I laugh. “Is that what you want?” I wink at him, and he laughs.
“I meant come with me to Ireland,” he says. “I would like that second gift, but …” He looks down now, nervously. “But I want you to get to know me.” And I just tilt my head. “The new me then.”
“There is nothing more I want than to get to know you,” I tell him, leaning my head back and waiting for him to kiss me, “and the other thing also.” He laughs, and I spend the rest of the song with my head against his chest.
We slowly slip apart and turn to walk out when he stops me in the middle of the doorway. I turn to look up at him and see him pointing at the mistletoe hanging, “I think it’s bad luck if I don’t kiss you.” He bends his head and kisses me.
“Merry Christmas,” I tell him softly, and if you had told me last week that my whole life was going to be turned upside down, but I’d end up being even happier than I have ever been, I would have told you that you were lying.
I look down and then look back up to see him smiling at me. “Merry Christmas, Leah.”
Books By Natasha Madison
The Only One Series
Only One Kiss
Only One Chance
Only One Night
Only One Touch
Southern Series
Southern Chance
Southern Comfort
Southern Storm
Southern Sunrise
Southern Heart
Southern Heat
Southern Secrets
Southern Sunshine
* * *
This Is Series
This is Crazy
This Is Wild
This Is Love
This Is Forever
Hollywood Royalty Series
Hollywood Playboy
Hollywood Princess
Hollywood Prince
* * *
Something So Series
Something So Right
Something So Perfect
Something So Irresistible
Something So Unscripted
* * *
The Tempt Series
Tempt The Boss
Tempt The Playboy
Tempt The Ex
Tempt The Hookup
* * *
Heaven & Hell Series
Hell And Back
Pieces Of Heaven
* * *
The Love Series
Perfect Love Story
Unexpected Love Story
Broken Love Story
* * *
Faux Pas
Mixed Up Love
Until Brandon
Blind Date
Monica Murphy
Copyright © 2020 by Monica Murphy
* * *
All rights reserved.
* * *
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
* * *
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
Editor: Mackenzie Walton
Chapter 1
Amelia
Silver Bells…
* * *
I frown as I climb out of my car, automatically disapproving of the traditional Christmas music blasting from the unseen speakers.
Silver Bells…
Slamming the car door, I huff out a long, aggravated breath as my boots crunch across the gravel parking lot.
It’s Christmas time in the city…
God, I despise Christmas music. It doesn’t help that they start playing it in October. That they start showing holiday commercials earlier and earlier every year. But with the season brings brisk business, and since I work at my family’s fine jewelry store, that means we’re extra busy for the last three months of the year.
This also means I have to deal with listening to a lot of Christmas music during those three months.
My parents live for the holiday season. My father and older brother Palmer make marketing plans years in advance. My mother enjoys decorating the store and creating special boutique shopping hours for our VIP customers. Palmer also loves nothing more than to come striding into the store every morning in one of his expensive, custom suits, acting like a big shot. As if he owns the place. Someday, he will. So will I. Our parents are splitting it between us, fifty-fifty, which not so secretly infuriates my brother.
Me? I just show up every day and do my job, all while keeping my complaining to an absolute minimum and pray my mother doesn’t try to set me up with some bachelor who wanders into the store, desperate to find a gift for his mother/nanna/aunt/whatever. My prayers never work.
Mother is always trying to set me up.
Grumpiness has become my everyday mood ever since I finally broke it off for good with my ex-boyfriend. He whose name shall never be mentioned. I refuse to say it out loud, or even think it. He caused a lot of trauma in my life over the years. He was gorgeous. Sweet—when I first got together with him. Possessive. Obsessive. Angry. We had outrageous fights and outrageous makeup sex. Seriously, when I was furious at him, he could make me come like no other.
Weird right? Twisted and messed up, if I’m being honest.
I’m beyond that now. I’d rather be alone than feeling on edge all the time. It’s taken me a while to get over him. Get over the extra-bitter taste he left in my mouth. My mood has been so foul lately, my parents try to come up with any reason to get me out of the store, even if only for a few hours.
So today, they sent me on a mission. To Sullivan’s Christmas Tree Farm to find a tree for the store.
Funny that they send the grouchiest, anti-holiday person they k
now to pick out a Christmas tree. I’m tempted to choose a pink-flocked tree just to make them angry.
But I won’t. There is one thing I will never do on purpose, and that’s disappoint my parents. I accidentally do that enough as it is.
Supposedly, customers are complaining about my unusually snappy responses. I tried to fake it when Dad came to me, his voice gentle as he explained. And when I say fake it, I mean I acted extremely surprised when he revealed the customer complaint(s) about me. Like I had no idea I was so grumpy.
Lies. All lies. I’ve reveled in my grumpiness for almost two months now. I guess I need to get over myself and paste on my best smile. Fake it till you make it!
Ugh. Shoot me.
My friend Candice and the very, very near future Mrs. Charlie Sullivan said she’d meet me here at her fiancé’s family tree farm, but I don’t see her anywhere. There are people milling about, mostly families with young children who are hyped up on the free candy canes that are available somewhere. They’ve all got them hanging out their mouths as they run around through the rows and rows of towering trees, and I’m worried they might trip over their own feet and jab the back of their throats with those things.
Okay, that’s a gruesome thought. One I need to forget about completely.
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