'Tis the Season for Romance

by Kristen Proby

  “But that was . . .” Her forehead furrowed. The beginning. I’d been in love with her from the beginning. “All this time?”

  I nodded, bringing a hand to cup her cheek. There was no use pretending. We were in this together now, vulnerabilities and all. “I need this job with your father. My team, my family, they depend on me. It was easier in a lot of ways to just stay away from you. Pretend it would go away. But it never did. And now there’s no pretending. I’m not giving you up.”

  “I’m not giving you up either.” Cleo brushed her fingers through my hair, letting them drop and curve around the shell of my ear.

  Her touch was electric. My cock stirred beneath the sheet and I stretched for her, but she spun off the bed before I could pin her to the mattress, taking the sheet and leaving me stark naked. The quilt was somewhere on the floor.

  She swiped her phone from the nightstand and started punching at the screen. Then it flew to her ear as she spun around, realizing that I was naked.

  Working out was a regular part of my life and I worked hard to keep my body in shape, mostly for the job but also because exercise helped me sort shit in my head. Cleo’s appreciation was a nice bonus.

  Her eyes widened as they drifted down my flat stomach to my growing arousal.

  I smirked.

  “Hi, Dad.”

  My smirk dropped and I leapt off the bed, rounding the end and grabbing her towel from where we’d dropped it earlier. Then I wrapped it around my waist because there was no way I could be naked in the same room as Cleo while she was talking to Ray.

  He said something on the other end of the line that made her roll her eyes.

  “I understand you’re upset. Get over it.”

  I blinked, surprised by the sharpness in her tone. I’d never heard Cleo speak to Ray with that kind of defiance.

  Good for her.

  “I’ll be back tomorrow. But there’s something important I need to speak to you about and it can’t wait.”

  “Cleo—” I started, but she shot me a look and held up a finger, so I shut up.

  Ray was lecturing on the other end of the line. Whatever he was saying, Cleo wasn’t listening.

  “Dad,” she barked. “Shush.”

  Ray’s voice grew louder, his frustration coming through loud and clear.

  Cleo ripped the phone away from her ear and ended the call. “Grr. I just wanted—”

  The phone rang in her hand and she answered it immediately. No doubt it was Ray. “I’m going to hang up on you again unless you can promise to be quiet and listen to me until I’m done.”

  There was a long pause, then Cleo’s shoulders relaxed. “Thank you. Like I was saying, I have something important to tell you.”

  My stomach knotted.

  I was about to get fired.

  No matter what Cleo said to Ray, it was inevitable. I’d lose my job and we’d scramble at Garrison. I’d cut my salary and take on any job I could get to make sure the guys had work, even if that meant adding celebrities to my client list. I hated their drama and the goddamn paparazzi, but I wasn’t about to sink my company. Channing might have to take some loans out for school but it wasn’t the end of the world.

  I held my breath, waiting.

  Cleo turned to me, the phone pressed to her ear, and smiled. “I’m in love with Austin.”

  Her words hit me square in the heart. No matter what happened, hearing those words was worth it. Job be damned. She was all I really needed.

  I reached out a hand and took hers.

  She laced her fingers through mine and her smile stretched wider. “I love him, Dad. And I have for a long time. I’m going to be with Austin.”

  For the rest of her life, if I had anything to say about it. We weren’t there yet. This was hours old, though years in the making. But soon. I’d waited long enough. It was time to throw myself into her life, full force.

  “I know this is unexpected, but please—” She pulled the phone away from her ear and gritted her teeth. “He hung up on me.”

  My phone on my nightstand buzzed.

  “It’s him.” She sighed.

  “Yeah.” I dropped her hand and went to the other side of the bed and answered Ray’s call.

  “How long have you been screwing my daughter?”

  “That’s not any of your business.”

  “It sure as hell is my business. I pay you to protect her, not to—”

  “I quit.”

  Cleo gasped and slapped a hand to her mouth.

  “Goodbye, Ray.” I ended the call and tossed my phone aside.

  Fuck. That had deteriorated quickly.

  “Oh my God, I shouldn’t have called him.” Cleo’s hands dove into her hair as she paced beside the bed. “I’m so sorry. Austin, I’m so sorry. We could have kept it a secret and he wouldn’t have known.”

  “I’m not keeping this a secret.”

  “But—”

  “No more secrets, baby.”

  Her hands fell and she faced me. “Okay.”

  “We’ll be fine.”

  The phone rang in her hand and she looked at the screen. She hesitated, taking a long moment before accepting the call. “Yes?”

  Ray’s voice echoed as he launched into another lecture. I didn’t catch it all but he was basically calling into question her life choices.

  She closed her eyes, her frame tensing with every passing second. The fingers on her free hand curled into a fist. “Stop! Just stop. When did you become this person? When did you stop hearing me? I know you love me and want what’s best for me, but this is my decision. I love Austin. This wasn’t something we’ve been hiding from you for years. We haven’t been sneaking around your back. This trip to Montana brought us together and I’m not going to apologize. I love him. And if you accept his resignation, you might as well accept mine too. I quit as your daughter.”

  I fought a grin. Cleo loved Ray, despite their differences. She might have quit Christmas, but she’d never quit as his daughter. The threat was made, but we all knew it wasn’t going to last.

  Just like I knew Ray was about to cave.

  He loved Cleo more than life.

  His reply was muffled, but when her fingers uncurled and her shoulders dropped from her ears, I knew he’d heard her.

  “Yes, we can discuss it later,” she said. “But not tomorrow. We’re coming home and then I’m going to the bakery to make Austin some cupcakes. We’ll come for dinner the night after that.”

  Fuck, but I loved her.

  “Okay. Bye, Dad. Merry Christmas.” She ended the call, set the phone aside and shrugged. “Neither of us are allowed to quit.”

  I threw my head back and laughed, then rounded the bed and took her into my arms. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” Cleo wrapped her arms around my waist, pressing her ear to my heart. “Want me to order room service?”

  “Not yet.” I gripped the sheet draped around her body and tugged it away before doing the same for my towel. “Merry Christmas, Cleo.”

  She stood on her toes, smiling against my lips as she ran her hand up my thigh. “Merry Christmas, Austin.”

  It was one we’d never forget.

  “I think we should come back here,” Cleo said, glancing around the lobby of The Eloise Inn. The smile on her face had been there all morning. As we’d showered together. As we’d packed. As we’d checked out of room 410. And now as we waited for the hotel’s shuttle to drive us to the airport.

  “I like Quincy.” She leaned her head against my shoulder. “Maybe we could make it an annual thing. We could come here every Christmas.”

  “Every third.”

  “Every other,” she countered.

  I’d come here every winter and freeze my ass off if that was what she wanted. “Every fourth.”

  “That’s not how compromise works.”

  I chuckled. “I’ll give you every third Christmas with summer trips in between.”

  She held out her hand. “Agreed.”
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  I took her hand and brought her knuckles to my lips just as the shuttle pulled up. We’d come back to Quincy, of that I had no doubt.

  I owed this town, this hotel, my future.

  I owed Quincy for Cleo.

  Epilogue

  Cleo

  Two years later . . .

  “That is not what we agreed on, Austin.”

  “Yes, it is.” He had his hands on his hips as he stood across from me in the bakery’s kitchen.

  “No, it isn’t.” I bounced our son on my hip and took a calming breath. “You said chocolate.”

  “I said vanilla.”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  “I did, baby. I said vanilla.”

  He took one of my chocolate cupcakes from the box and swiped his finger through the frosting. A slow grin spread across his face as he licked it off. “But I’ll take these to the office. The guys will eat them.”

  “You lying—” I stretched for the rag on the counter, ready to throw it at his face, but Austin was faster. He snatched it away before I could nab it.

  Shaun cooed before shoving his fist into his mouth, coating his knuckles with drool.

  I marched to the fridge and flung the door open, taking out one of his teething rings. He wasn’t teething yet, but he loved to put things in his mouth and I preferred the sanitized toys to his chubby fingers. I handed it to him and dried off his fist.

  While I took care of our son, Austin inhaled a cupcake, one I’d made specifically for his mother.

  She was working on Christmas Day and Austin had wanted to bring her something sweet tonight. Sweet was where I shined so I’d promised to take care of it with a half dozen chocolate cupcakes, minus sprinkles or filling. That’s what he’d asked for, something I recalled with clarity because those were his favorite cupcakes. I should have known he’d been up to something to score extra cupcakes. We’d been so busy preparing for the holidays, I hadn’t brought any of his favorites home for the past two weeks.

  The door to the kitchen opened and Brynne breezed in. “Phew. I just flipped the sign and locked the door.”

  “Thank you.” I gave her a smile. “Today was crazy.”

  The Christmas Eve rush we’d expected had kept us busy all day. We’d nearly run out of everything in the display case, though luckily, there were plenty of vanilla cupcakes out there for me to steal for Austin’s mom. My husband would hoard the chocolate for himself because there was no way he’d share those with his team. The man would run an extra two miles every day this week just to eat all six cupcakes.

  “Would you mind putting together a box of six vanilla before you go home?” I asked Brynne.

  “Not at all.” She came closer and tickled Shaun’s foot.

  I could get the cupcakes myself, but I didn’t want to let Shaun go yet. He’d been home with Austin all day while I’d been at work and I’d missed him.

  At three months old, Shaun was already a miniature version of Austin. They had the same dark hair and coffee-brown eyes. Shaun’s nose looked more like mine, but he was little and who knew how he’d change as he grew.

  “How was he today?” I asked Austin.

  “Good.” He licked the last bit of frosting from his thumb, then threw the cupcake wrapper in the trash. “We didn’t do much. He played in his Jumperoo while I did a workout. Then we took a nap. He’s kind of been fussy today and his nose is runny. Maybe he’s getting a cold.”

  “Poor baby.” I kissed the top of his head. “Let’s use it as an excuse to duck out of the party early.”

  “Fine by me.”

  We were going to my father’s house tonight for his annual Christmas Eve celebration. The last thing I wanted to do was get dressed up after being at the bakery since four, but Dad had begged for us to come.

  Austin’s mom was coming to our house to spend the evening babysitting Shaun, then tomorrow, we were having a quiet Christmas morning at our house before everyone came over for dinner to celebrate the baby’s first Christmas.

  The only thing I was looking forward to tonight was seeing Austin in a suit. The man was gorgeous in whatever he wore, but in his black suit, I’d struggle to keep my hands off him until we were home.

  It had been the same on our wedding day. We’d had a quickie on the drive from the church to the reception in the back of our limo, hidden by the privacy screen from the driver, because I hadn’t been able to resist.

  We’d gotten married last year, a week before Christmas. The ceremony had been simple and elegant. My stepmother had, of course, wanted an extravagant party, but we’d kept the ceremony and reception small. Then we’d escaped all the holiday madness because Austin had whisked me away to Quincy for our honeymoon. We’d asked to stay in the same room and had ordered room service for five days straight, rarely leaving the bed.

  He’d knocked me up in that room.

  I rounded the table and came to Austin’s side.

  He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a hug. “Tired?”

  I nodded and hummed, leaning into his broad chest. “Yeah. I really don’t want to go to this party tonight. Next year, let’s go somewhere.”

  “Actually . . .” He reached into the diaper bag on the table, fishing around the front pocket until he came out with a piece of paper.

  A receipt.

  For a room at The Eloise Inn.

  “What is this?”

  “Your Christmas Eve gift. We’re leaving the day after Christmas for Quincy.”

  “Really?”

  He nodded. “Your dad offered up the plane. My mom has to work anyway so we agreed to celebrate when we get home. Channing is spending the week at his girlfriend’s place. So we’re escaping.”

  It sounded perfect.

  We’d been so busy lately, with work and life, a break, just the three of us, was long overdue.

  Austin had quit working for my father after all. It had become a conflict of interest and he’d decided it was best to keep his business separate from my family. Of course, Dad completely disagreed, but given the fact that I was living with my own personal bodyguard, he’d eventually realized it was the right move.

  Replacing Dad’s income hadn’t been any trouble for Austin after all. Thanks to a couple of glowing referrals from my father, Garrison had taken on several large clients and was poised to have its biggest year yet. In the past two years, Austin’s team had doubled and he’d scrambled to expand to meet his growing client list. He’d put in a lot of long hours over the past twenty-four months, but we were finally settling into a routine. We were finally in a good place to take this vacation.

  Brynne poked her head inside the door. “Did you tell her?”

  “Yep.” Austin grinned.

  “Good.” She walked in with the box of vanilla cupcakes. “I almost blurted it out today. Twice. I suck at keeping secrets.”

  “You knew?”

  She nodded. “You need a vacation. I’ve got this place covered.”

  “Thank you.” I tipped my head up to Austin. “And thank you.”

  He dropped his lips to mine. “Love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Shaun threw his teething ring on the floor and took a chunk of my hair in his fist.

  “What do you think, buddy?” Austin unwound his fingers. “Ready to go to Montana?”

  Our son let out a loud coo before opening his mouth as wide as possible and inserting his fist.

  Austin kissed his hair, then did the same to mine before letting us go. We loaded up the diaper bag and locked the bakery doors.

  Then we went home to pack for another Christmas in Quincy.

  Want more of Quincy and the Eden family? The Eden series continues with Indigo Ridge.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you for reading Christmas in Quincy! Stay tuned for more stories set in this charming town. Special thanks to my editing and proofreading team: Elizabeth Nover, Julie Deaton, and Judy Zweifel. And thank you to Sarah Hansen for the beautiful cover.


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  Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

  About the Author

  Devney is a USA Today bestselling author who lives in Washington with her husband and two sons. Born and raised in Montana, she loves writing books set in her treasured home state. After working in the technology industry for nearly a decade, she abandoned conference calls and project schedules to enjoy a slower pace at home with her family. Writing one book, let alone many, was not something she ever expected to do. But now that she’s discovered her true passion for writing romance, she has no plans to ever stop.

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  Copyright © 2020 by Kristen Proby

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