Home For The Holidays

by Elena Aitken

  The thing was, although doubts poked their way into my thoughts, it did feel right with him. Once I’d gotten over my initial anxiety, the comfort and familiarity we had once before fell into place. That, and the fierce desire that only seemed to grow over time with him.

  I pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw. “Merry Christmas,” I said as I lifted my head.

  “It’s not Christmas yet. You’re staying tonight, right?”

  I debated whether to torture him by telling him I wanted him to take me back to my mother’s house. Since it was the holidays, I’d made sure to spend some time with her and had spent the last few nights at her house. Caden returned to Alaska several days behind me as he was tying up loose ends on some recording with his band.

  I didn’t bother to torture him. “Yes.”

  Then we were kissing, and I forgot that he’d eaten most of the popcorn.

  Epilogue

  Caden

  Christmas Eve one year later – Seattle

  “This song is for my girl,” I said into the microphone.

  The crowd cheered, and I glanced to the side of the stage. The glare of the lights made it impossible for me to see Brynn waiting there. It didn’t matter because I knew she was there.

  We launched into a song that I had, in fact, written about Brynn before I found that card. Maybe I hadn’t done anything about it sooner, but I’d thought about her often. I supposed it was the job of a songwriter to write at least one song about his first love.

  It was Christmas Eve, and we were in Seattle. We ended up spending more time here than any city because it was the easiest gateway to Alaska. We belted out the song, and the crowd went wild. As I made my way off the stage, a lacy bra hit me in the face, and Wes laughed from where he walked at my side. Wes was solid again, and all felt right in my world.

  I cuffed him lightly on the shoulder. “Go get your girl,” he said with a grin.

  So I did. Brynn turned and smiled when I said her name.

  Then she kissed me, and I forgot my crazy life. She was my touchstone, my port in every storm. I finally got one thing right in this life. I would be there for her forever.

  We had a flight to catch, because I wanted to wake up on Christmas morning at our place in Alaska. The plane didn’t land until an hour before midnight, and we were exhausted by the time we got to Willow Brook. Brynn’s mother had stopped by the house to make sure the heat was on, and I dragged Brynn out into the snow after we dropped our bags in the house.

  “We are putting lights on this before morning,” I announced.

  “Bossy much?” she teased.

  She helped me, though, because she was that kind of girl. It didn’t take long before that tall tree was glittering in the darkness. It was like magic, at least for me.

  When we walked back inside and kicked the snow off our boots, I looked at the clock above the stove in the kitchen. “Merry Christmas,” I said as I looked over at her.

  Her eyes flicked up to the clock, a slow smile spreading. “We made it.”

  “I told you we would.”

  “You did.”

  I caught her hand and reeled her close to me, just because I needed to feel her. Sometimes I still couldn’t believe she was mine.

  “Please tell me you didn’t get me something big for Christmas,” she said, looking worried as she glanced around.

  I shook my head. “I forgot.”

  She laughed. “Good thing because I forgot your gift too.”

  “No, you didn’t,” I murmured against her lips.

  She leaned back, peering up at me. “Pretty sure I did. It’s hard to remember things when you’re touring.”

  “That’s true, but I had one wish, and you’re it.”

  Thank you for reading Wishes & Kisses - I hope you loved Brynn & Caden’s story!

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  About the author

  USA Today Bestselling Author J. H. Croix lives in a small town in the historical farmlands of Maine with her husband and two spoiled dogs. Croix writes swoon-worthy contemporary romance with sassy women and alpha men who aren't afraid to show some emotion. Her love for quirky small-towns and the characters that inhabit them shines through in her writing. Take a walk on the wild side of romance with her bestselling novels!

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  Come Away With Me

  Erika Kelly

  Can the handsome loner win the heart of the single mom? He's about to find out on their Las Vegas road trip.

  Single mom Skylar James is absolutely not interested in the broody, inked artist who works in her brother’s motorcycle repair shop. She’s focused on her four-year-old son and her thriving business as an image consultant. But when he asks her to work her magic on his widowed mom, how can she say no? She’s in—even if it means a road trip with the man who can’t take a hint.

  When Jinx Costello rolled into Calamity, Wyoming, he met the woman who owned him heart and soul. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to convince her about their destiny. She won’t even go on a date with him. But when he sees her in action with a client, he puts his own needs aside to ask for help with his mom.

  Away from her family and business, Skylar finally lets down her guard and realizes why she’s been fighting Jinx so hard: she’s wildly attracted to him. Which makes it hard to uphold her vow not to date while her son’s little.

  Jinx can’t believe the woman of his dreams is finally giving him a chance. But is she just letting loose on a Vegas road trip?

  Because this is it for him. She’s it.

  And now he just has to prove it to her.

  COME AWAY WITH ME

  Erika Kelly

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9992585-1-4

  Copyright 2020 EK Publishing, LLC

  All rights reserved

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are used fictitiously or are a product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover design and Formatting by Serendipity Formatting

  Editing by Kristy Stalter deBoer

  Created with Vellum

  Prologu
e

  One arm across her waist, Skylar James paced the length of the guest cottage. Oh, my God.

  Where are you Eddie? She checked her phone for the millionth time in three days.

  Still nothing.

  Who walks away after getting news like that?

  And what did it mean?

  It’s the middle of the semester. He can’t just leave school, can he? He had to come back. We have classes.

  She paced back to the window. Are you serious right now?

  Who cares about classes?

  “Skylar?” her mom called. “Where are you? Get back here and help us string up these lights.” And then to someone else, she muttered, “I don’t know what’s gotten into her lately.”

  “She’s twenty,” her aunt said. “Hormones.”

  With tears blurring her vision, Skylar quietly shut the window. She wanted to help her mom, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t think, couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep…

  And she couldn’t tell anyone why. Not until she talked to Eddie and came up with a plan.

  Her phone vibrated.

  Eddie?

  Her hopes crashed when she saw her dad’s name on the screen.

  Dad: Chef showed up in ladybug crocs. You’re going to pee your pants.

  Another one came in. Her brother.

  Griffin: Did you take my iPad? Give it back or I’ll hunt you down.

  The words hit her brain like raindrops splattering on a windshield. Nothing registered, nothing got in.

  She needed her boyfriend.

  They’d been together five years. They loved each other. The longer he stayed away, the easier it was for him to make a decision without her. She needed to tell him they could do this.

  We’ll be fine.

  She threw herself onto the bed, the down comforter and pillows swallowing her up.

  With every second that passed, the anxiety grew bigger.

  He’s not abandoning me. He wouldn’t do that. God. She yanked the pillow out from under her head and covered her face with it. She breathed in the lavender housekeeping sprayed on the linens.

  A sudden wave of nausea rolled through her. She shot off the bed and ran into the bathroom. Of course, at that exact moment, her phone pinged with another text.

  Fighting back the bile, she willed herself to not throw up. Not now. On unsteady feet, she hurried back into the main room and picked up her phone.

  The sight of his name on the screen sent a rush of relief through her.

  Eddie: Where are you?

  Skylar: Guest room ten.

  Eddie: Here.

  What does that mean? Here, as in their hometown of Calamity, Wyoming? Here, as in The Homesteader Inn, her family’s lodge? But she didn’t bother asking. She couldn’t. Instead, she raced back into the bathroom and knelt.

  Once she’d emptied her stomach, she rinsed her mouth with handfuls of cold water and then scraped her fingers through her hair. He couldn’t see her looking a wreck and smelling like puke.

  A rap at the door had her skipping the towel and drying her hands on her leggings instead. On her way, fear spilled into her bloodstream, swelling under her skin. When she’d first told him, he’d been so angry. He’d have calmed down by now, though. Accepted the reality of the situation. God, I hope so.

  But what if he was breaking up with her? No, that made no sense.

  You don’t bail on the woman you love at a time like this.

  Of course not. He’d just needed some time to figure things out.

  This is huge. He had to wrap his head around it, and now he’s back with a plan.

  Well, good. She had one, too. Which meant, between them, they’d be okay.

  We got this.

  His shadow fell across the windowpanes on the side of the door. That rocking motion meant he was anxious, transferring his weight from one foot to the other.

  She opened it, wanting more than anything to jump into his arms and wrap her legs around his hips. Thank God you’re back.

  But everything in her came to a screeching halt. Because that man on the doorstep was not Eddie. Her boyfriend was energetic, full of ideas. Her boyfriend loved her. Wanted her all the time.

  This man was stern, angry, shut down. This man was a stranger.

  “Where’ve you been?” She whispered it so her family, probably still stringing lights in the courtyard, wouldn’t hear her.

  Eddie didn’t answer, just slipped in around her—arching away so he wouldn’t make contact—and stood in the middle of the room. He gave a chin nod to the door, and she shut it.

  “Do you still insist on having this baby?”

  Insist? He sounded so cold, so…mean. “Yes…of course.” What kind of question is that?

  “And you agree I’ve made myself clear that I don’t want it. I don’t want to be a father. Right?”

  He had. When she’d told him the results of the pregnancy test, he’d flipped out. Holding both sides of his head, he’d shouted at her to “just get rid of it.” She’d told him she couldn’t do that. This was their baby.

  “Yeah? So? It’s not about what we want. It’s about what’s happening. Ready or not, we’re having a baby.” She read his eyes, his expression, looking for the softening. Eddie often came down hard on an issue, but she’d always been able to tease and flirt and get him to come around. Because he loved her. And he liked to make her happy.

  But she saw no love in him at all. Her pulse jackhammered, and her skin went clammy.

  He pulled something out of his back pocket. An envelope. Handed it to her.

  Fear squeezed her lungs so hard she went dizzy. Her trembling hands had a hard time unfolding the letter. The words jumped on the page. “What is this?” The language was stilted, formal. “Did you talk to a lawyer?”

  “No, I don’t need anyone to tell me I have rights. It’s your body, so I can’t stop you from going through with this, but you don’t get to make decisions that affect my entire life.”

  “Okay, I don’t know what you’re talking about right now, but like it or not we’re having a baby.”

  “No, you are.” He waved at the paper. “I’ve signed away my rights. I don’t want to be a father. I told you that, and you insist on doing it anyway. Well, that’s bullshit.” His voice rose. “You can make the decision for yourself, but you can’t make it for me.”

  “Shh.” Her stomach wrenched. What if her parents heard? Her dad was in the kitchen, but her mom was out there somewhere.

  He drew in a breath to calm himself down. “You’ve made your choice, and I’ve made mine.” He pointed to the letter. “It’s signed and notarized by Jeff.”

  Notarized? By his drummer? “Eddie, stop it. You’re scared. I get that. I’m terrified. But we’ve got this. Our parents will be disappointed, but you know they’ll help us.” Where are you, Eddie? This cold, detached stranger was freaking her out. She stepped closer to him. “We love each other.”

  He backed away. “If you loved me, you’d get rid of it. Look, we had a verbal contract. After we graduated college, we were moving to Los Angeles, so I could play in clubs and get discovered and you could be a stylist to movie stars. That’s what we agreed on.”

  “We can still do that. We can have a baby and still reach our dreams. Our families will help us while we finish college, and then when we move, we’ll take turns watching the baby. You can watch her during the day, and I’ll watch her at night while you’re gigging.”

  “No.” He shook his head. “That’s a clear breach of our contract.”

  “What is the matter with you? You sound like an idiot right now. You’re not a lawyer, you’re my boyfriend. There’s no contract. We’re just two people who had dreams…and a lot of sex and sometimes forgot to use condoms.”

  “You’re supposed to be on the pill.”

  “And yet, after finals, you surprised me with a camping trip and didn’t think to pack my pills.”

  He got wild-eyed. “This is not my fault. And, more importantly, there’
s a simple solution. It’s only a few weeks old. It’s not a baby. It’s not anything. It’s just a ball of cells.”

  “It’s our ball of cells, you jackass. And if you think for one second I’m going to kill a baby we made out of love, then you’re not the guy I thought you were.” She had to calm down. Bring Eddie back—not push him away. But she couldn’t take a full breath. Her mind was fogged over, and she couldn’t form a single, clear thought. “Look, this is the scariest thing in the world. I get that. But we can do this. We love each other, and we’ll be good parents. We’ll have both our families helping us. Listen to me, Eddie, we can do this.”

  He turned to stone. “I’m dropping out of college, and I’m heading to LA on Saturday. Me and Jeff are going together.”

  A hail of darts rained down on her, piercing her skin. If she looked down, she’d see blood trickling down her body. “You’re leaving me behind?” No. No, no, no. She couldn’t do this on her own.

  “You did this. Not me. I told you to terminate the pregnancy. I told you what I wanted, and you ignored me. If you insist on doing this without my consent, then you’re doing it alone.” He started for the door.

  “It doesn’t work like that. You can’t just walk away from me. From your baby.” But he kept going, and when his hand touched the doorknob, she lost it. “You can’t just leave. You have to help me. I can’t do this alone.” Her voice hit the walls, bounced back, and battered her.