by Erica Penrod
“You can’t think of it like that.” Hilary paused in front of a shorter than average but stout tree. “Christmas is what you make it.”
“I don’t know if I can take advice from you on this subject. I think you’re biased since you study holidays for a living.”
She grinned. “That might be true—not the ‘make a living’ part, but the world is full of incredible cultures and traditions. I’ve been doing some research on Christmas in France, and Advent calendars are a huge part of their celebration. I’m making one for my next episode.”
“Aren’t you a little late? We’re already into the first week of December.”
She swatted the air. “Doesn’t matter. Just means I get to eat several days’ treats at once.” Hilary bumped him with her shoulder. “See, it’s all how you look at it.”
“If you say so.” He liked the feel of her beside him.
“Do you have lights and ornaments for the tree?” She glanced up at him. Her breath whirled in the air around him.
He hadn’t thought about decorations. “I guess I’ll just stop by the store and grab some.”
Hilary pulled down on his arm. “Don’t do that.”
Griff raised a brow.
“I mean, don’t buy the ornaments. We can make some.” The cadence of her voice quickened.
“No.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t be a Grinch. It’ll be fun.” Her eyes pleaded with him as they widened.
The woman was impossible to resist. “I don’t think Sam Wentworth would like us hanging out very much.”
“Sam and I are friends, and maybe not even that. I’ve been talking to him about my channel.” She let go of his arm, and he immediately noticed the absence. “He wants to sponsor my show.”
Griff nodded, but he hadn’t missed the way Sam looked at Hilary that night in the department store. Business might have been on her mind, but Sam’s was somewhere else.
“Anyway, forget about Sam. Let’s pick a tree and you can take it home, but don’t deliver it until we get some ornaments made. Why don’t you come over to my place tomorrow night, and I’ll have everything ready? You won’t have to worry about anything.”
“It’ll be easier to just buy some.”
“Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?” She winked at him and his knees went weak. “Please come over. Plus, I can use the ornaments for another episode. Since it’s Christmas, I’m trying to do a couple extra this month.”
He opened his mouth to argue but trapped the rebuttal between his lips. What was the point? The woman had said please. Griff made a lot of mistakes in his life, but none so lovely as this. Too much time with Hilary was not good for him, and he knew it. “Alright, you win.”
She squealed and hugged him. Griff tightened, fear pulsing throughout his body as he realized the power Hilary had over him. “Sweet, it’s a date.” She let go and smiled. “Now let’s go get a tree.”
Chapter Thirteen
Hilary spread the supplies across the counter. Her fingers shook as she pushed the jingle bells and sparkling pipe cleaners into piles. Griff would arrive at any moment, and she’d run out of time to pull herself together. She glanced at the drawer to her right containing the latest additions to her charm collection.
Someone had left another package for her on the doorstep when she’d gotten back from the tree lot last night. Like the previous two packages, inside was a small box containing two charms: a Christmas tree and a star. If Cupid got mixed up with some mischievous Christmas elves and decided he’d have a little fun pulling some holiday pranks, Hilary would skip a Valentine’s episode altogether. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about falling in love, but with every charm and every moment she’d spent with Griff, she’d taken another step towards the edge.
The doorbell rang, and her heart fluttered like a hummingbird’s wings. She wiped her palms on her pants, smoothed her shirt, and put her hand on the door handle. Her lungs expanded as she took a big gulp of air. Hilary opened the door, and her breath caught.
Griff stood there in a brown leather jacket and jeans. His cologne teased her senses; the woods-and-spice aroma sang to her and danced along her skin, while her mind saw a night sky lit up beneath the light of a winter moon. His face was clean shaven, and his hair was shorter than the previous night. Griff’s eyes darted between hers and the ground. Somehow, this calmed her.
“Hi.” She stepped back and beckoned him inside. “I’m glad you came.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t?” He stepped inside. Hilary took in the way his jeans fit the frame of his body and appreciated his athletic build.
“I never know with you.” She settled on honesty. “You tend to change your opinion about me every hour or so.” Hilary grinned, and Griff shook his head.
“Maybe I deserve that.” He lifted his hand and revealed a sack. “I know you said not to buy ornaments, but I thought we would need this.” Griff opened the bag and pulled out a beautiful tree topper.
“A gold star.” The words came out in an airy breath. Her head spun, and she leaned against the door.
“Are you okay?” Griff reached for her. “I know you said not to buy anything, but I didn’t expect this reaction.”
His touch steadied her. But she didn’t mention the charms, not wanting to freak the guy out. Oh, by the way, presents keep appearing on my doorstep, and they all seem to be about you.
Hilary smiled as her face heated. “Sorry. Just a dizzy spell.” She turned and closed the door. “The star is perfect.” And a little frightening at the same time. “I hadn’t thought about that. I did pick up some lights, though.”
“Oh, so you can go shopping—” Griff put the sack on the table. “—but I can’t.” His mouth curved into a smile. “I see how things are.” He moved closer to her, and the connection between them became palpable. Griff watched her as she fumbled for the right words, or the right movement. He seemed so solid while she was tripping all over inside. His eyes left hers and his sight settled on her lips.
Hilary swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’ve got a surprise for you.” She headed for the safety of the kitchen. If Griff was going to kiss her, she couldn’t hold her heart back for long, and if she’d misread the situation, she just saved herself a year’s worth of embarrassment. Hilary picked up her camera. “Remember how I told you I wanted to do an episode with the ornaments? I thought maybe we could make one tonight. Would you mind costarring with me?”
Griff’s color faded and he braced his hands against the counter. “Um, no thank you.”
“Please. I promise it won’t be hard, and you won’t have to say much. I’ll show you what to do, and basically we’ll just be doing what we were going to do anyway, but I’ll record it.”
“No way.”
“Come on, it’ll be fun.” She tilted her head and met his gaze.
Griff took off his jacket. “Do you always get what you want?” He hung it on the barstool.
“No, not always.” Hilary positioned the camera. “So, is that a yes?”
“I guess.” Griff rolled his eyes. “But I’m not saying anything, and I’m not wearing makeup.”
Hilary laughed. “Maybe just a couple words and a little bit of blush.”
“Then I’m out of here.”
“How about a compromise?” She looked up. “Maybe just one or two words and no blush.”
Griff’s pallor still hadn’t returned to normal.
“And I promise you can see the episode before I post it, and anything you don’t like I promise to take out.”
He eyed her cautiously as the color came back to his face. “Okay, but anything I don’t like you’ll edit out.”
“Of course.” She motioned for him to stand beside her, and she smiled from the inside out when he did. “All right, let me show you what I’ve got planned.”
* * *
The first five minutes were torture for Griff. The harder he tried to act natural on camera, the more he looked like the Tin Man in need of some grease.
“This is a special episode for me, because tonight I’ve got a cohost. This is Griff, who kindly agreed to help me. We’re going to make some fun ornaments a little later, but first I wanted to share with you a few fun facts I’ve collected this past week.” Hilary held up eucalyptus leaves in one hand and some seashells in another. “In Australia, these beautiful natural elements are used as decorations on the tree.” She set them aside and reached for three small paper lanterns: two red and one gold. “In China, gorgeous lanterns are hung from the boughs.” Hilary spun them around before she placed them next to the leaves and the shells. “And this is one of my favorite ornaments, believed to have originated in Ukraine.”
Hilary mesmerized Griff. He narrowed his gaze in on the ornaments, but she distracted him in ways he’d never known were possible: the shape of her lips as she enunciated the words, the rebellious strand of hair she absentmindedly brushed behind her ear more than once, and the delicate shape of her fingers as she displayed the objects.
She held up a beautiful glass spider, suspended from a red ribbon. “I’m sure many of you are familiar with the Christmas Spider, and there are several different stories out there, but the most familiar one I came across was the one believed to have originated in Ukraine.” Hilary gingerly placed the spider on the counter. “The legend says there was a poor widow woman with two small children who lived in a hut in the woods. On Christmas Eve, they cut a small tree from the forest and brought it in the house. The children went to bed, and the widow cried, wishing she had more for her children.” She glanced up at Griff, her eyes filled with emotion. “The spiders who lived in the corners of the hut heard the woman’s plea and climbed down from their webs. Christmas morning, when the family woke and saw their humble tree, they gasped in surprise. Intricate webs, glistening in the morning sunlight, were strung about the tree in a beautiful display. The woman’s heart was so touched, she remembered all she had to be grateful for.”
Griff crossed his arms as he swallowed the lump in his throat.
“So now, whenever you see a Christmas Spider, it’s supposed to remind you of gratitude and bring you good luck for the coming year.” Hilary reached for a bowl of jingle bells. “I love my glass spider, but it’s a little impractical to try to make and I thought this might be a fun story for children, so I decided on a jingle bell spider.” She smiled at Griff. “What do you say, Griff? Would you like to make a jingle bell spider?”
His eyes darted from hers to the camera as his lips quivered into a smile. “Sure.” Hilary grinned; her enthusiasm was infectious. Griff exhaled and took the bell she offered him. “Let’s see if this architect can put this together.”
Griff listened intently to Hilary, following her every move in the construction of his Christmas Spider. Somewhere in the background of his mind, an old Alan Jackson song Lucinda loved to listen to played through this mind. “I only want you for Christmas, baby; I don’t want nothing else. I only want you for Christmas, baby; tie a ribbon ’round yourself. Oh, tie a ribbon ’round yourself.” Her hand touched his as she helped him with a dab of glue, sending little hot pulses racing through his body. Their eyes met, and Griff believed Alan Jackson had the right idea: he only wanted her for Christmas.
* * *
Hilary hummed to the music playing in the background as she and Griff finished up the spider ornaments—one for each member of the family Griff wanted to take the tree to. “This was so much fun. If you ever get tired of architecture, you make a good cohost.” She tied the bows as Griff arranged the pipe cleaner legs.
“I didn’t do much.” He took the last spider from her. “I don’t think I said more than five words.”
She chuckled. “I know. All you have to do is stand there and look pretty. My ratings are sure to go up. Most of my audience is female.”
“Very funny.” His face flushed and the corners of his mouth twitched, but he held back the smile.
Hilary got the impression Griff had no idea how handsome he was. Not like Sam Wentworth, who knew exactly what he was doing with his good looks. Griff had an unpretentious simplicity that Hilary found she quite liked. “I’m serious.” She raised her brows and nodded as she looked him up and down. “I could exploit you, if you’d allow me to.”
“Knock it off, and let’s get these ornaments finished up.” The gruffness of his voice didn’t fool her. His eyes twinkled and his cheeks were nearly the same shade as the ribbon.
“You got it.” She walked over and scooped up a tote she’d arranged earlier. “Here.” She held up the box. “We can put the ornaments in here.”
“Isn’t that a little overkill since we only have a handful of ornaments?”
Hilary cleared a spot on the counter with one arm and then set the tote down. She lifted the lid, revealing several bags of ornaments and a box of lights. “I knew we couldn’t make enough ornaments in one night for the tree, and then I remembered I had all these I’ve made over the last couple years. I still have plenty for my own tree.”
Griff looked in the box and then at her. “Are you sure?”
“Of course.” She dug through the piles until she located what she was looking for. “And I had a few of these I’d picked up on the after-Christmas sales.” Hilary held up packages of DIY ornaments. “I thought if the family wanted to, they could make some of their own.”
“I was just going to take them a tree.” Griff touched the bag. “You sure are thorough.”
“Well, holidays are kind of my thing.” She winked at him. “Oh, and one more thing.” Hilary put the packages back and turned to the drawer. “I found this cute book online about the legend of the Christmas Spider when I was researching, and I thought we could wrap this up separate with the spiders.”
Griff scratched his forehead. “I’ve got to tell you, you’re kind of scaring me.”
“Sometimes I have that effect on people.” She began tidying up the space to make room for some wrapping paper. Griff helped her place the book and the spiders in a smaller box. From there, she covered the gift with a frolicking snowmen print and finished up with a fancy bow. “Look, how cute!” Hilary extended the box towards him.
“I don’t know if cute is the word I’d use.” Griff turned to her.
“Of course it is.” Something was wrong with the man. The present looked lovely. “How can you say—”
Griff stared into her eyes and touched the ends of her hair. “I wasn’t talking about the present.”
Hilary swallowed the knot in her throat as nervous bubbles floated through her system. The intensity in his eyes trapped her, even though part of her knew she should try and escape. Griff complicated her decision, and if what she believed was about to happen did happen, then what? Hilary didn’t know, but she wanted to kiss and find out.
Chapter Fourteen
Hilary kept her eyes locked on Griff’s as she set the present down. He reached up and tilted her chin with his fingertips. Griff leaned in, and her heart pounded like a drum as she closed her eyes. His lips pressed against hers with tender desire. The intentional kiss defined the moment. The purposeful placement and the lingering touch told her that this meant something to him. Griff retreated, and she opened her eyes as eagerness nearly consumed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and grinned when she saw his eyes widen. Hilary waited until the moment their lips met again before she closed her eyes. This time, she led the way as her mouth moved against his, and he followed.
The feel of his hair in her fingertips and his possessive hands on her waist fostered an unfamiliar sensation, a need to belong to someone. The scent of his skin infused the air around her, and the flavor of his mouth gave her an insatiable appetite. Emotions swelled within her, taking the kiss to a place she’d never been before, where words weren’t needed to convey the message from her heart. Forced to stop for air, she searched his eyes, knowing she’d see her own happiness reflected there.
He smiled and drew her against him. She molded herself to him, feeling his muscled chest beneath he
r. Worry didn’t plague her mind in that moment. Hilary found a refuge from the world around her, and for now, there wasn’t a choice to make.
* * *
“Shopping?” Griff cradled Hilary in his arms as they sat on the couch making plans. “Aren’t the tree and ornaments enough?” His simple gesture was turning into a major event, but Hilary seemed to have that power over him. He didn’t know a kiss could feel like that.
“For now.” Hilary laced her fingers with his. “But wouldn’t it be fun to get some gifts and leave them on the doorstep on Christmas Eve?”
“I hope you’re talking about online shopping.”
“Yeah, we can order some, but I’d love to go pick out some clothes and toys downtown.”
Griff’s chest tightened and he took a breath. “Haven’t I explained to you how I feel about too many people in a crowded space? Kids screaming and ornery store clerks and customers willing to push and shove?” He shivered. “No, thank you.”
Hilary giggled, and he breathed easy. “That was before.”
“Before what?”
She angled her head so he could see her face. “Before us.”
A smile crept across his lips. “Oh, I see.” He imagined her hand in his as they maneuvered the holiday madhouse, and she was right: it didn’t sound terrible. “I didn’t know there was an us.”
He felt her body tense, and her eyes dimmed. “Oh, I thought …” She struggled against his embrace.
“I’m kidding.” He kissed her nose. “Of course there’s an us.”
Hilary gave him a playful elbow to the rib. “That wasn’t funny,” she said, but her eyes twinkled. “And just for that, we’re going to walk through the park after we drop the tree off tomorrow night and enjoy the festivities.”
“Max will think I’ve abandoned him if I’m gone two nights in a row.”
“Let’s bring him with us. He can go to the park.” Her forehead creased. “But you’re the pooper scooper for the evening.”
