After the Christmas Party...

by Janice Lynn

  As in, what the heck was she going to buy his family? She’d forced herself into a few shops and hadn’t found one thing that said, Buy me because Riley’s family will love me.

  How the devil was she supposed to know what to purchase for people she’d never met? She’d considered buying everything from gourmet cheese and fruit to the latest bestseller. She’d even done several late night frantic internet searches on gifts for people one didn’t know.

  Nothing had seemed just right.

  She’d yet to see Riley today as the cardiology group he was a part of had closed up shop for the next two days, but she knew he’d be by at some point to check on his hospital patients. He was the kind of doctor who would do a round on his own patients rather than have the on-call doc do so.

  “Hey, before you leave today, make sure you find me,” Karen said as she came around the nurses’ station. “I have a little something for you.”

  “You do?” Trinity asked, thankful for the little something she’d picked up for her coworker while searching for Riley’s family something. The small gift was stuck inside a Christmas bag with Karen’s name on it inside her purse.

  “Well, yeah.” Karen gave her a “duh” look. “We are friends, aren’t we?”

  “Well, yeah.” She mimicked Karen’s tone, mostly to cover the odd emotion moving through her chest. Karen had gotten her a Christmas gift. And just called them friends. “But we never discussed gifts, so I didn’t expect you’d get me anything.”

  “What? You didn’t get me anything? Guess that rules out that new Corvette I’ve been wanting.” Karen feigned a sigh. “There’s always next year.”

  “I didn’t say I didn’t get you anything,” Trinity pointed out, “but you’re right, there’s not a Corvette sitting out in the employee parking lot with a big red bow and your name on it. At least, if there is, I’m not the one who got it for you.”

  Karen grinned. “Maybe we should check the parking lot out to see.”

  They both laughed.

  “So what are your Christmas Day plans?” Karen asked, but sounded as if perhaps she already knew the answer.

  “Well, unless I can convince you to let me work in your place, I’ll be going with Riley to his family Christmas lunch.”

  “Wow. I figured you’d be spending the day with him but a family get-together? Are you two that serious?”

  Heat infused Trinity’s face. That serious. How did she answer that when she didn’t know the answer herself? “It’s just a meal.”

  “When a man takes a woman with him to a family holiday meal, it’s never just anything. It’s a big deal.”

  “Maybe he just felt sorry for me because I’m new in town.” Yet another reason why she didn’t want to go. She didn’t want his pity.

  “Are you kidding me? I have seen the way that man looks at you. He is smitten.”

  Which sounded good but also a little too good to be true. She kept expecting him to snap out of whatever spell he’d fallen under. Then where would she be? Lost.

  “What are you wearing?”

  Trinity shrugged. She hadn’t even thought about what she’d wear. What was wrong with her? She should have thought about it. Only she was so used to just wearing hospital scrubs that she didn’t give much thought to anything else.

  Laughing, Karen shook her head. “Okay, so you’ve no clue what you’re wearing. How about gifts for Riley’s family?”

  If her face had been hot moments before it was deathly cold now.

  “I wish I knew. I’ve been searching for something from the moment I realized I was going to have to go to this dinner, but what do you buy for people you’ve never met?”

  Karen paused a moment then shrugged. “Nothing big or fancy, just some token of appreciation that says thank you for including me and, no, I’m not a total loser that your son’s dragged home to meet you.”

  “Maybe I am a total loser when it comes to Christmas, because I don’t have gifts for them and don’t know what to buy.”

  Karen looked thoughtful then waggled her brows. “Anything at home you can re-gift?”

  Re-gift? As in give away something that someone had given her once upon a time? That would be assuming that she’d received gifts over the years. She rarely had.

  She winced and met her friend’s gaze. “What am I going to do? I’m running out of time. Tonight, after work, is the last chance I have.”

  Shaking her head in mock sympathy, Karen laughed. “I guess you are going to join the throng of last-minute shoppers who are hitting the stores the minute they get off work tonight and pick something from whatever is left on the sales rack.”

  Trinity closed her eyes.

  Go shopping for Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve.

  Oh, joy to the world.

  CHAPTER TEN

  RILEY HAD PLANNED to spend Christmas Eve with Trinity, but obviously she’d had other ideas because when he’d asked her to come over for dinner, she’d refused.

  Something she hadn’t done for a while so she’d caught him off guard. He’d just assumed they’d spend Christmas Eve evening together and hadn’t even considered any other possibility.

  He paced across his deck, staring out at the sea. The wind was up a bit and held a chill. The waves crashed noisily against the beach, the pounding sound matching his mood.

  What if Trinity refused to go with him tomorrow? What if she refused to see him on Christmas Day, period?

  What kind of glass-slipper-wielding Prince Charming could he be if she wouldn’t even let him have a go at her feet?

  Besides which, he wasn’t quite sure how he was going to pull off everything he had planned. His sports utility vehicle was packed to the brim with what he’d planned to give her, but the reality was that he might have put a whole lot of effort into something he wouldn’t even be able to pull off. It wasn’t as if she even had a chimney for him to shoot down. Besides, breaking and entering with her asleep in her bedroom seemed a little too stalker-ish.

  He closed his eyes, breathed in the salty scent of the sea.

  Where was she? What was she doing?

  Surely not mourning over the idiot who’d dumped her? Ever since he’d overheard her conversation he’d wanted to strangle the guy.

  And to hold her tight and never let go.

  At least he understood the walls she hid behind a bit better.

  Raking his fingers through his hair, Riley sighed. He didn’t like feeling at a loose end. They’d only started spending time together two weeks ago. A single night away from her had him antsy?

  Maybe Trinity was missing him as much as he was missing her. Only one way to find out.

  He slid his hand into his pants pocket to call her. His phone started ringing before he could even press a single key.

  The number on the screen had him letting out another sigh, this one full of relief and something akin to pleasure that she’d taken the initiative.

  “Trinity.” No hello, just her name. “I need your help.”

  His help? Panic hit him. Was she in trouble?

  “Anything.” There were few things he wouldn’t do for this woman.

  She told him what she needed and he burst into laughter.

  “Okay, princess, I have everything you need. I’ll save your royal hind end.”

  From the corner of her eye Trinity watched Riley trail a long curly ribbon across the floor, enticing Casper to pounce, which the cat quickly did, only to have Riley tug the string a little further away.

  “She’ll never tire of that, you know,” she warned, liking it that he was a cat kind of man. That he hadn’t minded that she’d brought Casper with her. Chase had been more into dogs. She liked both. “She likes to play.”

  “Smart cat.” He dangled the ribbon out in front of the cat, causing Casper to swat at a curl.

  “Because she likes to play?”

  “Every good girl should take time to play.”

  “That a dig at me?”

  “No, ma’am, but if the sh
oe fits.”

  If the shoe fit? Ha, if he only knew that Jewel was hoping he’d shove her feet into a pair of glass slippers he wouldn’t be making jokes about shoes fitting.

  He nodded then glanced at where she was attempting to fold wrapping paper around a box. “Are you sure you don’t want me to do that for you?”

  “I can wrap a present.”

  His gaze dropped to the box and he scratched his head. “I’m sure you can, but maybe I could help you. It’s not a crime to accept help from time to time.”

  She glanced down at the bunched-up paper and then at the previous package she’d wrapped. “They certainly don’t look like the ones in the store,” she mused, casting a longing eye at his perfectly wrapped present then onward to his Christmas tree. “Or the ones under your tree.”

  “They don’t have to look any certain way,” he assured her, helping her straighten the wrapping. He gently pushed Casper out of the way when the cat attempted to pounce on the paper, obviously not finished with having Riley’s attention. Her cat really was smart. Brilliant, even.

  “It’s not the packaging that matters, Trinity,” he continued, smoothing the paper Casper had managed to crinkle. “Like a lot of things in life, it’s what’s inside that counts.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m not sure about what’s inside either.” She gave the packages a skeptical look, handed him the string so he could occupy her cat while she attempted to wrap presentable gifts. “It wasn’t easy buying something for someone I’ve never met.”

  “You did fine. My mom will love her gift and that you brought her something. She loves presents.” He tugged on the string again, sending Casper into another pouncing fit. “For that matter, she’s going to love you.”

  “Let’s hope so.”

  She was nervous about meeting his family, wanted them to like her, had gone out on the worst evening to Christmas shop and fought the crowds to buy them gifts. She’d even picked up little gifts for his nieces and nephews. Her, Christmas shopping. Whatever had come over her?

  And then there was Riley’s gift. Something silly and ridiculous and so emotionally expensive she hadn’t been sure she could pay the price. Yet the moment the idea had struck her, she’d known that’s what she wanted to give him.

  Something she hoped would have meaning to him and make him smile.

  She pulled off a piece of tape and stuck it to the box she was working on. She managed to get all the box covered with paper, but she used a lot of tape in the process. At the rate she was going, they’d have to make a tape run soon.

  Much to Casper’s delight, Riley tossed the curled string of ribbon onto the floor. Grinning, he scooted over beside her and cut a new sheet of the wrapping paper the stores she’d been at had sold out of. Thank goodness, he’d been more than willing to not only share, but to help out with all the other things she hadn’t even thought of asking him if he’d had, such as tape, name tags, and ribbons.

  “Here.” He set another box in the center of the cut paper. He placed his hands on her face and forced her to look at him. “Let me show you how I do this then you can develop your own technique.”

  Trying to ignore the bolts of electricity zooming through her at his touch, she grimaced at the roughly wrapped package sitting beside her. “I certainly need to lose my current technique. I’m horrible at wrapping.”

  At lots of things. Things she wanted to be good at. To be mind-blowing at.

  “You just need a little guidance and then some practice.” He stroked his thumb across her cheek. “I’m more than happy to oblige.”

  “Is sex that way, too?”

  That had his eyes bulging and her grimacing.

  “What do you mean?”

  Her and her big mouth. Why had she had to say any-thing? Then again, she really did want to know. Because she thought about sex with this man a lot. Sometimes in a good fantasy way and others as in a scary way that would have him changing his phone number and running when he spotted her in the hospital hallways.

  “I told you I’m horrible at that, too,” she admitted, wondering if she was like the worst woman ever in making her admission. Then again, if she’d thought she could fake it successfully, they’d have gotten naked on the beach the night he’d cooked for her. She’d wanted to but had been scared of losing him, something she hadn’t been ready to admit, much less risk. “Is sex something you’d instruct me in and then help me practice?”

  “Princess, happy doesn’t begin to convey how I feel about helping you with sex, but I’ve kissed you and know how wonderfully sensual you are. My guess is that you’re better than you think.”

  If only. She knew she wasn’t. She’d been there. And if she hadn’t been, well, Chase had told her and the entire Christmas party how awful she’d been in the sack.

  “No, I’m not.”

  Twisting a piece of ribbon around the package, he frowned. “Not that I believe for one minute that it’s true, but what makes you say that you’re not any good at sex? Are you a virgin?”

  “No,” she said quickly. Did he think she’d just made up that she lacked bedroom skills? That wasn’t exactly the kind of thing a woman went around tooting her horn about. At least, none she’d ever known. “My ex told me how terrible I am.”

  “Your ex was an idiot.” His words were immediate and matter-of-fact.

  “Well, yes, he was.” Chase had been. She could see that now. “But, unfortunately, on that matter, he was right. I didn’t enjoy sex and won’t be winning any Oscars for my bedroom performance.”

  “If you didn’t enjoy sex, then he was the one who was lacking, not you.” Riley’s gaze bored into her, making her want to squirm. “It’s his job to see to it you’re enjoying sex, Trinity. If you weren’t and he blamed you, he was an even bigger idiot than I thought.”

  Than he thought? She’d barely mentioned Chase to him, because mentioning her ex just brought her down, made her worry that Riley would move on as well. Riley was so much more than Chase had ever been. Why wouldn’t he move on?

  “What do you know about Chase?”

  For once, it was he who averted his gaze and started wrapping the present, but as if he realized what he’d done and didn’t like the action, he met her gaze head on. “Just what little you’ve told me…and what I overheard you tell Jewel Hendrix.”

  “You were listening to my conversation?” Her cheeks heated. That would teach her to have inappropriate conversations with older women who went on and on about glass slippers and Prince Charming.

  “Perhaps I shouldn’t have, but I did.”

  She digested that, trying to recall just what all she and Jewel had said about Chase…and Riley himself. “What else did you overhear?”

  “That he dumped you at a hospital Christmas party. Sounds like a jerk.”

  “He did and he was.”

  “He didn’t deserve you,” Riley said immediately, with such conviction that she had to stare at him in wonder. He believed that. He believed in her. The question was, could she believe in him?

  “No, he didn’t.” Warmth lit inside her and spread through her chest. “Funny that it’s taken me two years to realize that.”

  Riley paused from wrapping the present to take her hand and kiss her fingers. “Is he why you don’t like Christmas?”

  “Partly.”

  “And the other part is the lack of Christmas while growing up?”

  She wasn’t sure she liked him knowing so much about her, the real her beneath the surface. Riley and Jewel had a lot in common.

  “Not in the way you probably mean,” she admitted softly, wishing they could just not have this conversation.

  “Which is?”

  “It’s not that I expected grand presents or anything, it just would have been nice to have had a little bit of normalcy during my childhood.”

  Wow. She couldn’t believe she was saying the words out loud, that she was admitting that her life wasn’t perfect, because to make that admission just begged for someone to want to
dig deeper.

  For Riley to dig deeper.

  She knew he would. So why hadn’t she shut this conversation down? Instead, if anything, she’d encouraged it.

  His hold on her hand tightened then he let go, started working on the present again. “By normalcy, you mean like a Norman Rockwell painting?”

  “Not really.” Normalcy, as in a Norman Rockwell painting? As in a mother and a father making a big deal over her, over having a brother or a sister to squabble with over who got to open the first gift. She hadn’t ever really thought of normalcy that way, but perhaps, if she had, that’s exactly how she would have envisioned an ideal childhood Christmas. “Maybe.”

  “I should warn you, my family is very non-normal. Christmas with us is more along the lines of a madhouse. The whole bunch are touched in the head.”

  She could hear the love in his voice and was honestly more than a little jealous. “Must run in the family.”

  “Must do,” he agreed, holding up the wrapped gift for her inspection. “Voilà!”

  “Nice.” Every angle was perfectly aligned and taped down. “Do I have to be a heart surgeon to achieve something similar?”

  “Nope, just need a little patience and a whole lot of practice. Here.” He cut off a piece of paper and flattened it out on the floor, then placed the box in the middle. “Your turn.”

  Trinity wrapped the remainder of her presents with Riley’s help. The packages weren’t as neat as the one he’d done alone, but by the last one she was impressed with the progress she’d made.

  “Look!” she exclaimed as she ran the edge of the scissors over the length of ribbon, causing a perfect curl to form. “I did it!”

  His eyes were warm, full of praise. “I knew you could.”

  His faith in her was so evident, so real as to almost be palpable. “You did, didn’t you?”

  “It was a no-brainer.”

  When no one her entire life had believed in her, why did he? What did he see that no one else did? “Why’s that?”

  “You’re a smart woman who can do anything you set your mind to.”

  “Thank you, but you’re giving me more credit than I deserve.”