She folded her hands on her lap with carefully crafted composure. “Frankly, Holls, it was you who turned my family’s generous offer into a debt. You never owed us a dime. You can pack your things and leave right now if you like, and you still wouldn’t have to pay us a thing, and”—her mouth pulled into a small smile—“I will always check up on you every now and then. I don’t have many friends in my life, but I always felt as though you were one of the few.”
We stared at each other for a few beats. Perhaps she was looking for signs of whether or not I believed her. And I was assessing her credibility.
I cracked a tiny smile. “Okay. Score one for you.”
“Then you believe me?” she asked.
“Yes, I do.”
She sighed with relief. “Good for me, because it’s really hard to get one in the goal with you as an opponent.”
We laughed.
“But I wanted to tell you about my experience with Amelia,” she said after our laughter simmered.
I crossed my legs, settling into my seat. “I’m listening.”
Bryn’s shoulders slumped as she rubbed her palms across her thighs. “Unlike you, I believe in ghosts but not in the paranormal sense.” She pointed at the bed where I would be sleeping. “I was right there when Amelia took her last breath, sitting at her bedside. When I asked if she was going to apologize for being a shitty mother, she said, ‘I have nothing to be sorry for,’ and then looked away.”
What a gripping memory. The feeling of what that moment must’ve been like for Bryn coursed through me. “And you didn’t press her to explain what she meant?” I asked.
She pursed her lips as she shook her head.
“Wow. I’m sorry to hear that. What do you think she meant by that?”
Bryn raised a hand, signaling me to stop pushing. Her eyes were watery. She had never been a crier. I suspected that hadn’t changed. But I gave her a moment to let the sadness pass.
Finally, she smiled, and I took it as a sign that she was ready for us to move our conversation forward.
“What about your brother Jasper?” I asked. Just saying his name made my heart flutter. I wished I knew why he had such an effect on me.
Her eyebrows furrowed. “What about him?”
“He warned me to stay out of your family affairs.”
She twisted her mouth, showcasing enough anxiety to make me feel worried.
“Am I going to end up at the bottom of the ocean or something?”
“I’m not going to downplay his bark; it does have a bite. But Jasper is very cautious about who he sinks his molars into.”
I stretched my mouth squeamishly. “Yikes. That sounds like it hurts.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Yeah, he crushes bears. But I will say that he will never hurt me. I’m your safety net, Holls. That’s why we have to wait until dinner before I let you know what I want from you exactly. Ace needs to know you’re not here because you have your own agenda.”
I frowned intensely. “Ace?”
“Oh.” She rolled her eyes. “That’s what we call Jasper sometimes.” Bryn smirked. “He’s always been a jack of all trades and the ace of spades. He’s behind the curtain, pulling all the strings.”
I grunted thoughtfully, unable to get the image of Ace crushing bears with his molars out of my head. I could feel the strain on my face as I frowned while pondering if the risk was worth it. Bryn had already given me an out. I would not have to repay the Christmases for all they had done for me. But I had never taken unearned free rides, and I wasn’t going to start now. No, I would not let Jasper’s sharp teeth scare me. Whatever Bryn wanted, I would do it and fulfill my obligation to the best of my ability.
“What’s Jasper’s story anyway? Is he married? Does he have a girlfriend?”
Bryn leaned toward me, which let me know she was about to whisper again. “I’ve never seen him with a woman.”
I sat up straight, feeling my hopes thwarted. “Is he gay?”
“I don’t know. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was.” She thumbed toward the ceiling. “Our dad is upstairs in his sickbed. Jasper probably won’t come out of the closet until the axis of evil is dead, buried, and tucked safely away in hell.”
I raised my eyebrows. “So there’s still no love lost between you and your father?”
Her eyes turned cold. “Not an ounce.”
I cleared my throat, trying not to let the hate emanating from her affect my questioning. “I take it your dad’s health isn’t getting any better?”
“Nope.” She pressed her lips together. Suddenly, Bryn became antsy, twisting and turning, then she rose to her feet. “Why don’t you take a bath or shower or whatever and decompress before dinner? I would like for you to do what you do best, Holls.”
I stood. “And what’s that?”
“Read the table. Read everyone who’s present, even my brother’s girlfriend.”
Reading people was what I did best. I nodded firmly. “You got it.”
Chapter Three
There was no way I wasn’t going to take advantage of the large, deep bathtub. I lay in the warm water, surrounded by bubbles and the sweet scent of vanilla cream from the soap I was using. My eyes were closed, but all I could see was Jasper’s manly figure walking in front of me as I followed him up the path while driving in my car. Goodness, I was turned on by him. He had the most kissable mouth ever. I gnawed on my bottom lip then ran my tongue across it, thinking about how making out with him would feel. My finger found the sensitive spot on the edge of my clit and rubbed… and rubbed. I released a sigh as my pussy began to spark. It wasn’t real. It was Jasper doing that to me. Jasper would never do that to me. Something was totally off about him for sure. Perhaps he was merely an object of my issues in regard to desiring unavailable men. Bryn had never been the most observant individual, but she could be right about her brother being gay. My finger abruptly stopped, and all sensations subsided.
As soon as I let go of my fantasy starring Jasper “Ace” Christmas, I recalled a conversation I’d had with a colleague named Kylie Roberson nearly a week after Amelia Christmas’s death five years ago.
We had been in a bar at the airport—how cliché, a bar at the airport—just two reporters chatting it up during a layover. Kylie had been determined to make her career off the Christmases’ demise. She knew Bryn was my roommate for one year in college and wondered if I knew how old Bryn’s mother was. Apparently, no one could obtain the accurate age of Amelia Rainier Christmas.
“Isn’t that strange?” she asked me.
I couldn’t deny that it was. Randolph Wesley was older than the average father. He’d been seventy when Amelia gave birth to Bryn and was now ninety-seven. I used to sense Bryn’s impatience with him, as if all she wanted was for him to hurry up and die.
However, Kylie told me this crazy thing she had done following Amelia’s death. She’d gotten in touch with the coroner in charge of Mrs. Christmas’s body and had convinced him to give her a tissue sample. However, her plan hadn’t worked out. The coroner had gotten arrested for selling body parts and healthy organs on the black market on the morning he was supposed to extract the sample. Just a few hours after that, Amelia Rainier Christmas’s body had been cremated. Kylie and I agreed it was more than a coincidence that the two had happened on the same day.
After heeding Bryn’s warning about her brother’s bite, I was convinced Jasper may have had something to do with the cremation and had covered his tracks so well that Kylie couldn’t implicate him.
I opened my eyes. The warm water was making me sweat. Or perhaps it was the stress of being attracted to a dangerous and mysterious Christmas man. I had to get ahold of myself, keep my head in the game, and more importantly, maintain a safe distance from the ace of spades.
I got out of the bathtub, dried off, and rubbed creamy lotion all over my body. Then I dug deep into the part of my purse where lost items resided and located the pheromone perfume my former boss Rachael Givens had given me as
a parting gift when I decided to become an independent reporter.
She had handed me the wrapped box and said, “One day, you will care about attracting a man. When that happens, wear this.”
When I’d gotten home and opened it, I found the perfume. I kept it in my purse because I’d never had many friends, but Rachael was one of them. Keeping her gift with me reminded me that I knew someone who cared about me. But never in a million years had I thought what I’d considered a gag gift would come in handy.
I dotted the cool liquid on my right then left collarbone. The scent was even driving me wild. For some reason, I felt beautiful as I sauntered naked around the room. I’d brought plenty of nice clothes to wear for dinners and days spent at the Christmases’. Ultra-wealthy people like them always had lavish meals. I wore my black cashmere dress with a deep V-neck. The material slid across my curves like a gentle kiss on my body. As I looked at myself in the standing mirror, I approved of what I saw. However, the admiration was fleeting. I’d been told I was pretty, but it was hard to feel that way most of the time.
There was a knock at the door.
“Yes,” I called.
“It’s I, Ms. Henderson. William, your butler.”
A knot formed in my chest. “Please, come in.”
The door opened, and William stood in the doorway, his tall frame taking up a lot of space. “Dinner will be served in ten minutes. Please step out when you’re ready, and I will escort you to the den for predinner drinks.”
Suddenly, I was so nervous that my breaths became uneven. The time was near. Not only would I see Jasper Christmas again, but I would be sitting down to dine with one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in the country. And it was not for work. I closed my eyes and sighed. Actually, it was for work.
“I’m ready now,” I said.
William stepped into the hallway then pointed his hand, guiding me to a certain direction.
The loudest noise between William and me was my heels beating against the marble. He had already trained me not to expect him to engage in small talk, but idle chitchat was my forte. It often led to the uncovering of information I had no idea I was looking for. Something told me that William knew secrets about the Christmas family that would blow my head right off my neck. The butler would be a hard nut to crack, and it would take me some time to figure out how to do that.
Walking through the Christmas mansion felt like shuffling down the corridors of Independence Hall or any other building that held its charm from another century. We passed the obligatory portraits of dead men on the wall. People like the Christmases loved showing off their ancestors. After all, without the first entrepreneur from the Gilded Age, they would be dirt poor. If I remembered correctly, the Christmases had made their money from steam trains and railroads first, aircraft service second, then finally technology and investing aggressively in hedge funds and commercial real estate. They were loaded and would be for the rest of their lives.
We walked down another flight of curved steps then another cold hallway until I could see an open door. Soft orange light spilled into the corridor from the room. I expected to hear the chatter of voices. After all, it was cocktail hour. William stopped in the doorway. It was wide enough for me to walk past him and into the room. My gaze remained fastened on a familiar figure standing in front of the large window. It was night out, but decorative white lights sprayed in from the darkness. I presumed something outside had been dressed with holiday lights.
I quickly turned after hearing the door close behind me. Perhaps it was not a cocktail hour.
“Miss Henderson,” Jasper said.
I felt trapped like a hamster in a cage. I gulped, making sure my gaze was calm, before I settled it back on Jasper. “What’s this about?”
“Please have a seat,” he said, still staring out into the darkness.
Chairs and lounge furniture adorned the room. It was definitely a den. William hadn’t lied to me about that. But I was quite sure no one else was going to join Jasper and me.
“I prefer standing,” I said.
Finally, he turned. When our glares met, my heart skipped a beat. I reminded myself to get a grip. He was not the kind of guy I fell in love or lust with, even though looking at him was like taking in a towering hunk of manhood.
“Why did my sister ask you to come here?” he asked.
He was good. He was reading my face and my body and waiting attentively to hear my words. I was pretty sure Jasper knew he was dealing with a professional, so I kept my body loose.
“Bryn learned about my father and knew I’d be spending Christmas alone, so she invited me to be with her family.”
“I didn’t know you were in touch with my sister,” he said.
“I wasn’t.” I figured that was something I didn’t have to lie about. Actually, in my line of work, I’d learned the less I lied, the further I could get with my subjects.
“And you called to tell her about your father?” he asked.
At least, I thought that was a question. “No. That’s not how it happened.”
He waited for me to clarify.
I folded my arms. “May I ask why I’m being interrogated by you?”
His eyes narrowed, widened, and tapered again. Finally, he walked over to the bar. “What do you like to drink?”
“Tonic water with lemon.”
He stopped pouring himself something stronger and looked at me. “For what reason do you need to keep a sober head?”
I rolled my eyes and walked over to him. “Jasper, I’m not here to investigate your family.” I narrowed an eye. “Unless there’s something you’re hiding.”
All of a sudden, he looked as if he were chewing on an Alka-Seltzer tablet.
I cracked a smile. “Just kidding. Goodness, do you ever lighten up?”
“Red wine?” he asked.
“What about red wine?”
“We don’t have tonic water. Will red wine do?”
I was a lightweight, barely able to handle one glass of anything alcoholic, but I couldn’t deny him. The way those blue-green eyes burned right through me set my panties on fire, and I wasn’t wearing underwear; it was my pussy that was all hot and bothered.
I cleared my throat. “Sure,” I croaked.
Jasper ripped his eyes off my face and poured two glasses of red wine. “So, Miss Henderson…”
“Please call me Holly,” I nearly begged.
Once again, he studied me curiously. “Don’t you like your last name?”
“Not really.” Boy, was that the truth. Perhaps I was wrong to feel that way. Everyone should love herself. But my parents had made that virtually impossible for a very long time. Then one success had led to another. One friend had told me how amazing I was, then another and another, until I’d heard it from many more. Then one day, I had some real self-esteem, which had nothing to do with my parents and everything to do with the people fate had brought into my life.
Jasper’s glower made my heart skip a beat. He was a thinker, the sexy, brooding kind of man with rivers of angst raging deep inside him.
“I only call my friends by their first names, Miss Henderson.”
It felt as if I were having an out-of-body experience. No, we were not friends. I wanted to be his friend. I wanted to be something to him—to mean something to him. I closed my eyes and shook my head. What in the world was happening to me? Don’t cry, Holly. Don’t cry.
“Your skin is so soft,” he whispered.
I opened my eyes. “What did you say?” I asked, even though I’d heard him clearly.
He put his fist over his mouth and coughed. “I have something for you to sign.” Jasper walked behind the bar and pulled out what was clearly a nondisclosure agreement.
“No,” I said bluntly. “I’m not signing that.” I had probably never been so damn offended in my life. “I am your sister’s houseguest. If you want me to sign a nondisclosure agreement, then you better have her ask me to do it, not you.” I stormed ri
ght past him, but he grabbed my arm and tugged me against his chest. The fronts of our bodies collided. I couldn’t believe what I was feeling, on the inside and outside. Jasper Christmas was as hard as steel, his chest and his cock.
“Why the fuck did you show up here?” he asked, breathing heavily.
My mouth was stuck open. I didn’t know how to respond to what he’d said or the lust racing through me. I gulped. “Why did I show up?”
Jasper released me as though he’d found his common sense again. My head flinched back slightly. Is this happening in real life?
Without another word, he snatched the NDA off the bar top and stormed out of the room. What had just happened seemed so surreal. He’d left the door open, and I could hear voices mingling somewhere nearby.
I took a deep breath and pressed my hand against my stomach as I steadied my posture. One, two, three, four. I was ready to join the Christmases for dinner.
Chapter Four
I couldn’t get being near Jasper and his rock-star hard-on off my mind. Had he really wanted me that much? Perhaps I’d felt an object in his pocket or something.
When I arrived in the dining room, I found five people already seated at the table. I sat next to Bryn. Asher was sitting beside his girlfriend. Her neck-length hair was platinum blond, and her lipstick was bright red. It was by no mistake that her whole style resembled Marilyn Monroe’s. She wore a tight dress with a deep V-neck that put her voluptuous bosom on display.
The other brother, Spencer, couldn’t keep his eyes off her big tits. He was also gorgeous, but neither he nor Asher could hold a candle to Jasper. The eldest brother had not yet made it to the table, even though a place was set for him.
“He doesn’t feel so fucking important if we’re not all sitting out here, waiting for him,” Spencer said as soon as he ripped his lascivious gaze away from Asher’s girlfriend’s breasts. He snapped his fingers at a man in a black suit, standing near a door. “Serve the dinner!”
Intrigued: The Dark Christmases Page 3