A Billionaire For Lexi: Holiday Novella (The Barrington Billionaires, Book 3.5)
Page 22
“I don’t know what you should do,” Nolan admitted. “I don’t have that answer. But I stand by my promise. No matter what, you’re going to be all right.”
“How can you know that?” she asked, a bite of anger in her shaking voice. “I have no marketable skills outside of being a manipulating con artist. I have nothing.”
“I know you’ll be all right because you won’t be alone. You can run from your past, you can run from your mistakes, but I’m not letting you run from me.”
“Since when do you have things all figured out? You were the one spending Christmas alone, trying to decide what level of miserable you wanted to be for the rest of your life.”
“You’re right,” Nolan admitted. “But then I met you, and I started to look beyond the next five minutes. I started to believe I could feel things again that I’d been ignoring.”
“I’m so tired Nolan.” Holly sighed, and he knew she wasn’t just talking about the late hour and the long day they’d had.
“I’m going to wrap you in a towel,” he began, rising up from the tub. “I’m going to pick you up and put you in bed. I’m going to close those blackout curtains and pretend the sun doesn’t exist tomorrow. I’m going to hold you and tell you as often as you need to hear it, that everything is going to be just fine. Your life is going to be amazing.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she choked back her emotions. “Nolan, I’m so glad you brought me along. I’m not sure I’d have made it much farther without this.”
He gave her his hand as she stepped out of the tub and, just like he promised, wrapped her in the plush oversized towel. “Trust me Holly,” he whispered as he scooped her up and moved toward the bed. “If you hadn’t gotten in my car, I’m the one who wouldn’t have made it.”
Chapter Thirteen
The phone by the bed rang and Nolan stirred from the soundest sleep he could remember experiencing in a long time. The hotel room was still completely dark thanks to the blackout curtains pulled tightly closed. He groaned at the incessant ringing of the phone and slapped at the nightstand to try to make it stop.
When the ringing continued, he fumbled for the phone and answered in a groggy voice.
“You’re still sleeping?” Libby asked, sounding concerned. “It’s almost one in the afternoon. You must have had a great time last night.”
“I did,” he said, ready to roll to his side and kiss Holly awake. But the bed was empty and cold. “I . . . uh,” he stuttered as he clicked on the lamp near the bed. “I can’t talk though; I have to go.”
“You know James got some phone calls last night about you,” she said.
“It’s not a great time,” Nolan protested again. “I will call you back.”
“People said you spoke very highly of him and his charity work. That means a lot to me. I really am sorry we couldn’t be together.”
“Libby,” Nolan said directly as he saw no sign of Holly anywhere, “I love you. But I have to go.” He clicked the phone that was mercilessly tethering him to one spot.
“Holly,” he called out, knowing she wouldn’t answer. Last night when her body, warm and silky from the tub, curled against him, he naïvely believed she would give him the chance to help her. The thought that she might run again never crossed his mind. And that was the problem. Idiot.
He grabbed his cell phone and wondered if calling her was even worth the effort. If she didn’t want to be found, she wouldn’t bother picking up. The nightstand no longer held his keys. She’d taken them this time.
Punching his hand into the wall, he growled at his own stupidity. He’d let her slip right out of his arms. The sinking feeling in his gut was taking over as he looked around the room. There was nothing else he could do but pack his stuff, take a shower, and call a cab back to his own car at the rental lot. With any luck Holly would be kind enough to return the rental and not cost his sister the replacement fee of a sports car.
The water in the shower was so hot it reddened his skin and steamed the bathroom to the point he couldn’t see a couple inches in front of him. This was how he’d been living before he met Holly. In pain, unseeing, alone. And now he’d have to return to it.
Lost in thought, he hadn’t noticed the shower door pull open until the rush of steam flowing out gave way to her silhouette.
“Holly?” he asked, reading the sexy curves of her naked body. “You came back?” He was already fully hard, as she silently stepped into the shower, throwing her long hair off her shoulders and closing in on him. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, her cool body pressed against him and pulling the overload of heat off him as she kissed him deeply.
Tipping her head back, she braced against the wall and parted her legs as he wordlessly began to touch every pleasure spot he could get his hands and mouth on. Nolan could sense how his movements screamed the urgency he was feeling to have her, but he didn’t care. Nothing tasted better than her skin, when he’d thought it was out of his reach forever.
Dropping to his knees, the hot water beating against his back, he tasted her core and devoured the shiver that rolled through her body. She responded instantly, sending his tongue into an excited flurry. In only a few moments she was calling his name, begging him not to stop.
With a final shriek of pleasure escaping her sweet lips, she collapsed into his waiting arms. They sat in the steam and pulsing water and stared in disbelief at each other. He knew what had formed his expression, the thought that she’d be gone for good and then returned so suddenly. But he wanted to understand the look of bemused wonder on her face.
“What is it?” he asked, running his thumb along her chin.
“You thought I left?” she asked, her face crumbling some with sadness. “You thought I’d taken off again for good?”
“I woke up and you were gone. So were my keys.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said earnestly as she cupped his face in her hands. “I’m not leaving. Well, I am,” she corrected and his heart sank, “but you’re coming with me.”
“Where?” he asked, having hoped they’d stay barricaded in this hotel room, living on champagne and chocolate dipped fruit for the foreseeable future.
“It’s a surprise. You’ll have to get dressed.”
“Oh,” he groaned, kissing her neck. “I was hoping we’d quit wearing clothes for the rest of our lives.”
“It might make the road trip more fun,” she teased, standing up and stepping out into the cool bathroom. “Hurry up. We need to get on the road soon.”
Nolan rose, braced his hands to the slick tile, and shook his head. Having Holly around had made his life chaotic, unpredictable, but mostly—worth living.
Chapter Fourteen
Holly tossed Nolan the keys and prayed she hadn’t missed the mark this morning with this surprise.
“Where are we going?” he asked, sliding into the driver’s seat and looking at the interior of the car that was loaded with beautifully wrapped presents and festive decorations. It smelled of pastries and hot coffee as Holly handed a cup over to him.
“I thought we should drive to Texas,” she said, placing a red Santa hat on his head. “We should surprise your sister and her husband and celebrate Christmas together.”
“We missed Christmas by a week,” Nolan countered, looking unconvinced.
“I’ve missed Christmas for the last five years. I want to remember what it was like to actually enjoy it with people. I went out this morning and got absolutely every ridiculously cliché thing you can imagine, and we’re going all in.”
She clicked on the radio and pushed a CD in. As a holiday song began to jingle, she danced along in her seat. Pulling on her own hat, a green elf with built in ears, she began to sing.
“Have you lost your mind?” he asked, looking her over and losing the fight he was waging against his smile. The dimple in his cheek grew deep as he laughed at her off-key rendition.
“Yes,” she said loudly over the music. “It’s been lost for a long time. But I
feel like I’m finally finding it. I feel like myself again. Thanks to you.” She slid her hand into his and squeezed tightly.
“Do you know how long of a drive it is from Vermont to Texas? And, I hear there is some bad weather up and down the coast. It’ll take us forever to get down there. I’ve got my internship.”
“Life is short, Nolan. School, the internship, all your plans. They will be there when you get back. But making memories with people you love isn’t something you can play catch-up with. It’s finite and fleeting. Let’s have a do-over.”
“And what about you?” he asked, concern on his brow. “Are you still taking a break from who you are?”
“I haven’t done one unethical thing all year,” she said, beaming. “That’s pretty impressive. I think I’ll keep it up.”
“This year is exactly fourteen hours old,” he said, checking his watch and raising a brow at her.
“A new record for me.” She laughed then let her face fall serious. “I don’t know who I’m going to be or what I’m going to do next. It’s pretty scary not to have that answer. But at least there is one thing I know.”
“And what’s that?” he asked, brushing her hair back.
“At least I know who I’m going to be with as I figure it out.”
“And once you do?” Nolan asked, looking worried as he anticipated her answer.
“I won’t need you anymore,” she said flatly, her serious look breaking quickly into a smile. “But I’ll still want you.”
THE END
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Family Holiday Recipes
Ruth’s Dynamites
Ingredients:
5 large green peppers
3 large onions
6 stalks celery
1 tbls crushed red pepper
1 tsp black pepper
3 lbs lean hamburger
1 10 oz. can tomato paste
¼ tsp salt
Instructions:
Brown hamburger. Add chopped peppers, onions into medium and small pieces to meat and simmer for 2-3 hours stirring often.
Add tomato paste salt, pepper, and crushed pepper. Simmer another ½ hour.
Serve on torpedo rolls
Enjoy a little piece of Rhode Island history.
Jeannette French Meat Pie
Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground steak hamburger
1-lb. ground pork
1-small onion
½ tsp salt
1 tbls. Bells turkey seasoning
1 sleeve of crushed saltine crackers
2 ready-made pie crusts
Instructions:
Cook finely chopped onions and hamburger and ground pork until fully cooked. Drain any excess fat. Add salt and Bells turkey seasoning. Add one sleeve of finely crushed and mix well.
In a ten-inch pie pan, place one crust on the bottom. Fill with the meat mixture and cover with the second crust.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 50 minutes or until golden brown.
Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Many French people enjoy putting ketchup on top. You decide.
Danielle’s Christmas Pie
Ingredients:
1 10 inch graham cracker pie shell in pie pan
Marshmallows-regular size
Walnuts-chopped
1 cup flaked coconut
2 eggs
1 pint milk
½ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Instructions:
Fill the bottom of the pie shell with the marshmallows. Cover with walnuts. Cover with coconut.
Mix the eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla. Pour the mixture over the walnuts and marshmallows.
Bake about one hour in the pre-heated 300 degree oven.
Family Photos
Ruth Cardello, 1971
Ruth Cardello, 1974
Jeannette Winters and Ruth Cardello, 1970
Danielle Stewart