Christmas Kisses & Mistletoe Wishes: A Holiday Romance Boxset (Duet)

by Kate Kisset

  She nodded.

  “You told me I need to start making new memories. So here.” His eyes threw a million sparks. “Open it.”

  Laughing, Monique beamed back at Trace. She pulled the card from the sleeve and smiled at the beautiful couple dancing under mistletoe on the cover. When she turned the flap, the music startled her.

  She glanced up him and then read the message: Trace loves Monique. I hope she loves me too. And a little band inside the card played “What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?”

  The End

  Kissing Mr. Mistletoe is a companion novel in Kate Kisset’s Love in the Vineyards Series. Read book one: Love at Last, or continue to the next story One Wish.

  One Wish Synopsis

  Blend a sexy tight end with a bad reputation and a gorgeous computer geek who doesn’t date.

  Mix a make-out scene in a hotel linen closet and a pet rescue fundraiser.

  Toss in two matchmaking grannies who have only ONE WISH and get ready for a happily ever after!

  Lilly Martelli’s first vacation in over a year has her on a mission to support her two busybody relatives in St. Helena. Helping the grannies bake stinky fruitcakes for their Christmas bake sale is bad enough, but being forced to co-host the fund-raiser with Mr.-Fun-in-the-pants Brett Benning might be too hot to handle.

  Brett had hoped retiring from football, becoming a firefighter, and moving back to Napa Valley would be enough to repair his reputation. But he’s sick to death of the tiny town gossip, and tired of dating in the shallow end of the pool. He’s looking to score The One.

  What are the odds he’d find her while helping with the annual bake sale? His smart and sexy co-chair has him eating out of her hands and asking for seconds of her grandmother’s nasty fruitcake. For the first time in his life, Brett might be in over his head.

  ONE WISH IS A STANDALONE, sweet with heat romcom. (The love scenes happen behind closed doors.) Although you don’t have to read any of Kate’s other stories to enjoy this one, Love in the Vineyards fans will love seeing their favorite characters from other stories, as they get to know the Santino brothers’ lovable grandmother, Mimi, their quirky great-aunt Cha-Cha, and all their gorgeous cousins.

  One Wish Chapter One

  Liliana Martelli balanced cellophane-wrapped loaves of smelly fruitcake on her arms and tucked them under the crafts table. Cinnamon, anisette, and peppermint candy smells flooded the St. Helena Ladies’ Meeting Hall, along with fifty or so blue-haired shoppers angling for deals.

  Her cousins Nico and Luca, who arrived at the crack of dawn to help set up, were kissing their grandmother Mimi, goodbye.

  She scanned past her cousins and eyeballed the entrance, still hoping her new friend would come through the door. Her Sweet Paws Crafts Fair, Bake Sale, and More co-chair, Shae Hayes—who promised to be there at seven—was a no-show.

  Since it was approaching eleven, Lilly was getting more worried than ticked off. Shae wasn’t a flake. The firefighter was far from it. Shae was the bravest, most kick-ass woman Lilly knew, and despite her demanding job, she hadn’t left Lilly in the lurch once during the Craft Fair’s planning stages. In fact, Shae beat Lilly there yesterday. Why hasn’t she called?

  Brushing her chocolate brown hair off her shoulders, Lilly crouched again and shoved a few more cakes under the table. Co-chairing and working her nonna and great aunt’s booth hadn’t seemed like a bad idea months ago when they cornered her. It was impossible to refuse her great aunt Mimi Santino, St. Helena’s matriarch, and her grandmother Cha-Cha, queen of the Cha-Cha pasta empire—especially when they ganged up on her.

  But ten minutes ago, the grannies tottered over and informed Lilly that they expected her to sell out of their famous fruitcakes again. What was Lilly supposed to do now? Pull a Christmas miracle out of her hat? There was no way she’d ever sell out of those smelly cakes. Not a chance.

  Lilly had already deceived the grannies by sneaking thirty-five of their unsold loaves out of the hall yesterday. They were still hidden in the trunk of her car. Lilly didn’t know what she’d do with them, but didn’t have the heart to confess that their fruitcakes were not only not famous, they were infamous for their ability to function as weapons of mass gastronomic destruction.

  Ugh. Proceeds from the fair were going to the Sweet Paws Animal rescue, and Dominique Hudson’s family needed the funds. But who would want these for Christmas? Why couldn’t the grannies make something she could sell, like truffles, cupcakes, cookies, anything other than these icky cakes?

  Muttering under her breath, and chuckling about how complicated smuggling fruitcake into her car was, Lilly plunked another block on top of the stack. Worst case scenario, she’d buy all the fruitcakes. Even though they didn’t come cheap.

  She scooted out from under the table, hoping Mimi and Cha-Cha wouldn’t check their sales again, a standard procedure they’d started at nine and continued every half hour.

  And every time, Lilly lied. To make things even worse, she’d exaggerated, and raved about how quickly the loaves were flying off the table. Why had she done that? She folded her arms and shrugged to herself.

  Keeping the back of Mimi’s coppery-brown bun, and her nonna’s tumbling gray curls in sight across the room, Lilly grabbed a few more cakes and ducked under the table again.

  Humming to Michael Bublé and Rod Stewart singing “Walking in a Winter Wonderland,” Lilly took a moment under the table to rearrange the cakes to make it easier for her to pack them into shopping bags and tiptoe them into her car later.

  The scuffed toe of a large cowboy boot poked under the tablecloth, making it flutter in front of her. She knew once the customer tasted one of the samples she spent a half-hour cutting with her nose plugged, they’d bolt.

  Lilly gave a hopeful, “be right there,” anyway. She quickly stacked the remaining loaves, and a second booted toe appeared. The customer shifted his weight from one big foot to the other, not going anywhere.

  “All set,” she said, blowing the hair out of her eyes and carefully ducking out from under the table. She straightened and looked down at her apron, smoothing a few wrinkles. “What can I get”—Oh, sweet mother of fragmented hard drives, what is he doing here?—“you?”

  Brett Benning, St. Helena Station One firefighter, Jessica Kelly’s too-handsome-for-his-own-good brother, slowly skimmed his outrageously sexy dark blue eyes over her. Folding her arms again, she shifted, pretending she wasn’t rattled, or even...a little turned on.

  Lilly knew Brett through his sister. They all went to the same private high school in Napa, but Brett, being a few years older, graduated before she got there. After Lilly’s parents moved to Los Gatos after her senior year, she and Jessica stayed in touch. Lilly made a point to see her at least twice a year when she was in town visiting Cha-Cha and Mimi.

  She only knew of Brett because of his reputation. Not that Lilly blamed him for being a six-foot-five, delectably muscled hunk—he had to be to have played professional football the way he did before the injury. Besides, there was no way anyone could walk around the planet being as gorgeous as he was without accidentally stepping on a few hearts along the way.

  Lilly glanced down at the table, trying to stay cool and calm, which was a stretch with smoke pumping through her veins. She’d only seen Brett’s brutally handsome face from a distance or on television. Up close he was jaw-dropping, exactly the type of man she needed to run like hell from.

  She couldn’t let a dalliance distract her, and get in the way of her new enterprise. The almost instantaneous success of her boutique computer business had taken her by surprise. She wasn’t going to let anyone, no matter how insanely good looking, side track her. A roll in the hay was the only thing a man like Brett could offer, and she wasn’t buying.

  Not interested.

  With an unreadable expression somewhere between cocky and amused, Brett ran a hand over his dark hair, flashing his ridiculously cute dimples and folded his arms.

  Lilly tried not to no
tice his rippling biceps straining his black T-shirt, and didn’t allow her eyes to roam all over him. Instead, she did her best to maintain a helpful, professional expression, like any respectable fruitcake salesperson would.

  Keeping his deep-ocean-blue stare fixed on her, and taking his own sweet time, his attention moved from her eyes to her lips. Then he tilted his head, seemingly fascinated by her hair, and her blouse, but then came back to her lips.

  A sexy grin lit up his breath-stopping face. “Were you hiding from me?”

  Reflexively, Lilly stepped back. At twenty-eight, she knew the signs. The man was like a cupcake to a diabetic. Brett would trigger a man-candy sugar rush and knock her into a coma for days.

  She repositioned a block of fruitcake in front of her as a barrier. “Hi Brett. I’m Lilly, Jessica’s friend.” She extended her hand.

  Brett’s big, rough hand locked around hers sending tingles shooting straight up her spine. “I can’t believe we’ve never been formally introduced.”

  He smells like oranges and spice, or? Whatever it is, is Sexy... Lilly squeezed out of the handshake, doing her best to ignore what his smile was doing to her insides. “I know. It’s about time, right?” Why now?

  She placed another loaf on top of the cake in front of her, fortifying her blockade.

  Brett eyed the dish of fruitcake samples. “I wanted to give you a heads-up that I’m taking Shae’s place as co-chair.”

  “Ha! Good one.” She waited for him to laugh with her, but he only shook his head. When his smile disappeared, she panicked. “Is Shae okay? She never showed up this morning.”

  “Shae’s not feeling well.”

  Although Lilly hadn’t known her cousin Michael’s fiancé for long, they’d immediately hit it off. It didn’t hurt that Shae made Michael the happiest Lilly had ever seen him. “Sick?”

  “Flu or something.”

  “So, she asked you to take over? How do you guys even know each other? You don’t even work for the same department.” It didn’t make sense. Why would Shae pick Brett Benning of all people, to cover for her? She knew the Sweet Paws Crafts, Bake Sale, and More was one of the most crucial fund-raisers of the year for the town’s pet rescue. Besides not being able to say no to the grannies, it was one of the reasons Lilly decided to co-chair.

  Brett eyed her, probably having fun watching her squirm. “You’re not disappointed I’m helping you?”

  “Um...” She was having trouble wrapping her head around the situation. Was she expected to work with him for the next three weekends? Lilly fiddled with a fruitcake. “No, I’m not disappointed. Just...surprised, I guess.”

  Getting her hopes up, she gave him a double take. “Did you clear this with Mimi? Because she’s the one in charge. It isn’t up to me or Shae to make this kind of decision.”

  “I spoke to Mimi this morning,” Brett said, running his big hand along the edge of the table before meeting her eyes again. “I'll be here to help you for the duration. I can set up the booths in the morning.” He eyeballed one of the cakes and then turned, surveying the room.

  “The whole time? What happens when Shae gets better?”

  He shot his hands up, nodding. “Hey, you got me, but I’ll be breaking everything down on Sundays. A few guys from the station have already offered to help.” He pivoted back to her. “Whatever you need...”

  “Thanks.” Lilly couldn’t imagine co-chairing a craft and bake sale was in his wheelhouse, and drew a complete blank on what else she could suggest to keep him occupied. She eyed him again, making sure he was as impossibly hot as she’d thought. Damn. He was.

  “It looks like my grandma has some competition,” he said taking a closer look at the plate of samples.

  “Try one.” Lilly rotated the dish so he could see every angle of the morsels. Let’s see how dedicated to this sale you really are... “Go ahead.”

  Grinning, Brett selected a large, oily lump with green and red bits sticking out of it and popped it into his mouth.

  She hadn’t expected him to be so trusting and put the whole thing in his mouth. She almost felt sorry for him.

  Lilly kept a straight face and waited, watching him chew.

  Surprisingly, Brett didn’t gag. He did, however, lift his chin ever so slightly, allowing her to see his Adam’s apple strain in an apparent struggle to get the chunk down his throat.

  He covered his mouth and took one last gulp. “What an unusual flavor...”

  “It’s good, though, right?”

  “Delicious.”

  Oh, he’s good at this... “Another?”

  “I couldn’t.” Brett waved the plate away, backing away from the table. “I don’t want to eat all your samples.”

  Lilly was having too much fun to let him off the hook. She leaned across the table holding the plate. Every time he moved, the plate followed. “Don’t be shy, now. In fact, why don’t you help yourself to that nice, big piece?”

  “Now there’s a man after my own heart.” Mimi chirped, sneaking up from behind him with Cha-Cha in tow.

  Saved by the bell. “Brett, I don’t know if you’ve met my grandmother.” Lilly reached across the table, giving her grandmother’s hand a little squeeze. “Meet Charlotte Contessa—”

  “Don’t be silly with the formality, darling,” her nonna scolded, her blue eyes sparkling. “Brett already calls me Cha-Cha. Yes, we’re all very well acquainted.”

  Since when?

  “Lovely to see you,” her nonna gushed, giving Brett’s cheek a little pat. “I would recognize you anywhere. I have you stashed in a drawer at the house,” her grandmother winked. “I’m saving all of you for the new year, though.”

  “Thank you.” Brett pursed his lips, shoving his hands in his pockets. Obviously trying to avoid the subject, he turned back to Lilly. She gave him a blank stare and didn’t dare ask her grandmother what she meant by keeping him in a drawer. Just because she didn’t know what they were talking about didn’t mean she was stupid enough to ask. Questions would only encourage her grandmother to explain, and who knows what mortifying path to embarrassment that would lead to?

  Getting back to business, clad in her standard button-down cardigan, and perma-press pants, Mimi extended a manicured hand to the sample plate. “We interrupted, dear. You were about to enjoy a sample of our famous Russo cake, our grandmother’s recipe. We like to think it gets better every year, don’t we Cha-Cha?”

  “Indeed.” Cha-Cha nodded, making her curls bounce off her shoulders. “Our grandmother would be so proud. Her blue eyes narrowing in on Brett. “Go ahead, have another sample of our dear nonna’s creation.”

  Mimi gestured to the largest slippery-looking blob on the corner of the platter. “Yes, Brett, didn’t you say you were hungry?”

  “I did?”

  “Yep. I think I heard you mention that.” Lilly tried to keep a straight face by looking up at the ceiling, but couldn’t resist watching the grannies in action.

  “Go ahead, dear,” Mimi urged.

  Brett hedged. Lilly saw his wheels spinning, trying to come up with an excuse. Cha-Cha didn’t back down, and pushed the samples closer to him.

  The thick, greasy hunk of cake caught the fluorescent light, making gold jelly bits glisten. Brett tentatively lifted the cube and, fortunately, this time had the presence of mind to take a small bite out of it.

  “Delicious.” He coughed. “Are you sure you didn’t help Mimi and Cha-Cha make this?”

  For a moment their eyes met, and his laugh made her crack up.

  “How long are you in town?” he asked, turning a heated focus on her.

  “I'm here for the month in between jobs.”

  “How many cakes would you like?” Mimi asked bluntly, but it wasn’t really a question. Brett didn’t know it yet, but he wasn’t leaving with less than two.

  Cha-Cha took it upon herself to put two cakes in a shopping bag. The scent of rum almost knocked Lilly over. “That’ll be thirty dollars, please.” Jangling the mass of silv
er bracelets on her wrists, Cha-Cha held out her hand.

  Lilly bit down on her lip, eyeing Brett. How would he handle this? Her nonna didn’t seem the least bit apprehensive about charging thirty bucks for her intestinal bombs.

  Cha-Cha tilted her head and flashed a dimple. Then she fluttered her eyelashes.

  Without a word, Brett pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, met Lilly’s eyes for a beat, and doled out the cash. Cha-Cha passed the bag to him. “Thank you kindly. The pets will appreciate it.”

  “Thank you.” Brett accepted the bag, quickly crumpling the top closed. “If you ladies will excuse me, I need to get back to grandmother’s table. It looks like she has a few customers.”

  Brett bestowed a gracious smile on Mimi and Cha-Cha, and then flicked a gaze to her, suggestive enough to make Lilly’s insides feel fuzzy.

  “Remember, I’m here to help.” He grinned before taking off in a slow sexy swagger across the room.

  Chapter Two

  Snuggled under a fluffy duvet with her head wedged in a luxurious pillow, Lilly was awakened by a caustic smell filtering into the bedroom.

  A hint of light seeped through the window. Cha-Cha always turned on the outdoor light near her window when she visited. Lilly covered her nose with the blanket, but the odor penetrated the fabric.

  She rolled onto her back, pulled down the duvet, and took a sniff to confirm her fears. She’d hoped to stop the grannies before they fired up their ovens again, but forgot to set her alarm for butt-crack of dawn. After rolling out of bed still half asleep, she slipped on her furry red robe with the Santa boot shaped hoodie, crammed her feet into slippers, and made a beeline to the kitchen.

  If she couldn’t stop Mimi and Cha-Cha from making more fruitcake, she’d at least do her best to slow them down.

  “Good morning, my beauty.” Dressed in a beaded red caftan, with her grey curls in a loose bun, Cha-Cha beamed behind the vast center island laden with candied fruits, dates, rum, and whatever else went into their secret concoction. Lilly slid onto a stool and stared at her, wondering how it was possible her nonna could be so dressed up, this early.