Recon Strong (The Elite 1) (Omega Team Novella)
Neighborhood Watch (The Watchers 1) (Phoenix Agency Novella)
Security Breach (The Watchers 2) (Phoenix Agency Novella)
Mine for the Taking (Lone Wolves 1) (Paranormal Dating Agency Novella)
Bearly Sassy (Bearly Tolerable 1) (Sassy Ever After Novella)
Her Fate, His Mate (Wolves of Windsor Woods 1)
Fighting Fate (Wolves of Windsor Woods 2)
Drawn In (An Immortal Lust Trilogy 1)
Titles Coming Soon
Drawn Together (An Immortal Lust Trilogy #2)
Whiskey’s Sweet Revenge (Horse Country 1)
Love Takes the Cake (Cooking Up Love 1)
Ranger in Danger (The Elite 2) (Omega Team Novella)
Stakeout (The Watchers 3) (Phoenix Agency Novella)
Falling for the Nanny (Breaking the Billionaire 2)
Wolf at the Door (Wolves of Windsor Woods 3)
The Fate of Her Wolf (Wolves of Windsor Woods 4)
Dark Wolf Rising (Into the Darkness 1)
Sassy Sisters (Bearly Tolerable 2) (Sassy Ever After Novella)
Take Me Home, Cowboy (Home series 1)
In A Cowboy’s Arms (Home series 2)
All Tied Up (Home series 3)
Fall for Him (Seasons 1)
Winter Without Him (Seasons 2)
Spring Free (Seasons 3)
Summer of Love (Seasons 4)
When the Lights Go Down (Afterthought 1)
Operation Unknown (Operation Never-ending 1)
Operation Undercover (Operation Never-ending 2)
Operation Classified (Operation Never-ending 3)
Operation Rescue (Operation Never-ending 4)
Operation Downtime (Operation Never-ending 5)
Unlikely Bad Boy (Dirty Bad Boys 1)
Resident Bad Boy (Dirty Bad Boys 2)
Secret of the Crypt (The House of Dark Year 1)
Dark as Night (The House of Dark Year 2)
The Pendulum Swings (The House of Dark Year 3)
A Warlock’s Revenge (The House of Dark Year 4)
Witch Rising (The House of Dark Year 5)
Quarter Moon Curse (The House of Dark Year 6)
Harper’s Wish (Montana Series 1)
Sisters (Montana Series 1.5)
Morgan’s Mountain (Montana Series 2)
Riding the Waves (Beach Babies Book 2)
Cool & Cocky Quickies
An Unexpected Twist
More Than Friends
Rescuing Alix
Making Waves
Out with the Old
Paradise Found
Secret Santa
Cedar Rose
Dedicated to my family.
Chapter One
Noelle
“Thank you, enjoy your coffee,” I hand the man his cup.
“Is your name really Noelle?” he asks.
“Yes, just like the song.” I roll my eyes inwardly because he’s a customer and I don’t want to be rude.
“Great name for the season,” he walks out the door.
Lame.
My parents are Christmas freaks. The minute Thanksgiving ends, Christmas wonderland throws up in our yard and on their house.
Every Sunday is family dinner and a different movie related to the holiday. I go, but I don’t really participate.
I’ve been bitter since my ex decided to end our engagement at my parents annual Christmas party three years ago.
Okay, not really an engagement, but I was expecting the big question that night. Instead I got the ‘it isn’t you, it’s me’ lame excuse.
Devastated doesn’t even describe my feelings.
Before that night, I was a huge fan of the season.
Now I wish it would end quickly.
“Can I get a mint chocolate latte?”
Shit, I was daydreaming again.
“Sure,” I tell the blonde girl. I think she’s dating an MMA fighter. The one that owns the gym across the street. Kingston is his name.
He’s gorgeous. But another reminder of my failure in the dating game since my ex trains over there.
“Noelle, right?”
“Yeah.” I’m drawing a blank on her name.
“Briar.”
“You’re dating Kingston?”
“Yes. I think so,” she blushes.
“I’ve never seen him with another female before. He’s usually so business oriented.”
“That’s good to know. I work at the diner down the street. Or I did.”
“Oh I know the one. The pecan pie is the best.”
“I’ll tell Jerry you said that,” she chuckles.
“Here you go,” I hand her the latte, “I really like your name.”
“Thank you. Before my mother went all bitch on us, she loved Disney movies. On paper my name is Ava, but that’s in case they are trying to track us and they could be now that I’ve been seen with Kingston.”
“He will protect you.”
“I know he will try,” she says.
“How do you like the latte?”
“I’ve never had this until I came here, and I fell in love. It’s my favorite.”
“I guess I’ll be seeing you more?”
“You will. Have a good day, Noelle.”
“You, too.”
She’s really nice. That’s the first time I’ve talked to her. From what I understand she has a stalker or something and horrible parental figures. Guess it’s why she’s on lock down by King, a take no chances kind of thing. Makes me kind of sad for her since I have great parents who love to meddle but mean well.
“Are you Noelle Carter?”
“I am,” I tell the man at the counter.
“Delivery for you,” he hands me a small box.
“I didn’t order anything.”
“I just deliver,” he says and turns on his heel and walks away.
Weird.
“What did you get?” My brother, Claus, asks as he joins me at the counter. We co-own this coffee shop. Just coffee. But every kind of coffee you can dream of. You ask me, I will make it. He does my books and washes the dishes and brews the coffee in the back. And yes, Claus as in Santa Claus. The good ol’ saint himself.
“Did you order this?”
“I don’t know what it is to say yes or not.”
He’s been ordering things online and has them delivered to the store. He thinks he’s slick.
I open the box to find a charm, a snowflake charm.
“There’s a note.”
‘Noelle, You’re one of a kind.’
No signature.
“You can put it on your charm bracelet,” Claus says.
“Yeah. But who sent it?”
“No idea. Maybe Mom?”
“Maybe.” I set it in my purse to take home with me. Last thing my ex gave me was a snowflake charm, so this all seems weird to me.
Chapter Two
Noelle
On the second day of Christmas
Another day in paradise. I do love the smell of coffee. It’s why I opened up this place in the first place.
“Move,” Claus snaps as he brings in the big urns full of the goodness for customers to enjoy. I place my bags out for the day and make sure everything is good to go.
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but you need to decorate.”
I do. I’ve just been putting it off.
“Okay.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah, you want to grab the decorations?”
“Yeah, be right back.”
I’m watching a man go through the store across the street, talking to a realtor. Wonder what is going to open up there. Maybe a knick-knack shop. I could use some more of those. Or candles.
I love candles.
“The train set broke.”
“What?”
“I noticed when I was upstairs that the train set from our younger years was broken.”
“Oh no.” I loved putting t
he train set together every year.
“I’ll see if I can fix it.”
“Thank you.” I don’t know why I keep putting it up. I do love putting it together but it’s another reminder of Dasher, my ex. Oh yeah, like the reindeer. Our families are tight. Have been friends since college, love the holidays. Obsessed, really.
In junior high, Dash made the first couple of cars of the train as a Christmas present to me. Then he helped me make the rest. It’s a huge trainset, a small child could ride on it. Okay, like baby size. But every year we would make another car and add to it. The train tracks wind all through the house. I took a few cars and track pieces for the shop. Nostalgia, I guess.
“Are you Noelle Carter?”
“Yes.”
“This is for you,” and the man hands me a box.
“Ummm.”
“Like I said, I just deliver.”
“Right.” I open it as he leaves and inside is a candle with carvings on it. The three wise men in the desert and it smells like frankincense.
“That’s kind of cool,” my brother says.
“Yeah,” and I set it aside to help him with the lights.
That’s weird. I was thinking of candles and one appears.
Chapter Three
Dasher
On the third day of Christmas.
Three years ago, I screwed up. And I screwed up big. Like drunk mistake big, but worse because I was high and drunk.
I was going to propose. I wanted to. And then I didn’t want to hurt her any further, so I walked away.
I will never forgive myself for what I did. I don’t think she knows all the details. Claus does, and both of our fathers.
I screwed her sister. The one that never comes around anymore. I needed some weed, something to relax. Instead it was something else, more addictive. I’m not sure what was laced in it. But Angel was selling the stuff. One hit and I needed more. I needed so much that I was draining my account, stopped going to work. And I lied.
So because I stopped going to work, I was fired. I didn’t know how I was going to tell Noelle, so I went drinking at some shady bar, got drunk and high and ended up going home with her sister. Her twin sister.
In my defense, I thought it was Noelle. She was consoling me, kissing me. It wasn’t her.
When I woke up in the morning, I realized my mistake. Second mistake. I slept with my drug dealer who was my girlfriend’s twin.
I’m a stupid fuck.
I talked to our fathers since our family is close. They thought it was best to end it before she found out. And then they shipped me off to therapy to get clean, get my head on straight.
Claus was my roommate at the time, so he saw me fall down the rabbit hole.
I stayed in the treatment center for a year. The last two I have been making sure I could be the man I was before.
And now I’m trying to put the Christmas spirit back in her. I destroyed that for her, the holidays. I destroyed love for her.
With the help of Claus, I’m hoping to win her back. Through Santa.
I’m the one leaving her gifts. Claus listens to her mumblings; she doesn’t even realize she’s doing it. She said candles, I got her one. The charm was to make her think of me.
Today it’s a pen. I know that sounds like a lame gift, but it’s a Montblanc pen.
I want to send her things that will mean something. Like a new train piece. She still might never know it’s me since no one in the family speaks of me or Angel, who is not even in town anymore. I know that for a fact. I gave her a shit load of money to leave town. She had been causing problems in the family for a long time and she needed to leave.
I had a really good job before shit hit the fan. And I saved a lot. And I invested wisely. So much so that I could live comfortably, even more comfortably for the rest of my life. I have more money than I know what to do with. I’m going to put it to good use.
Noelle loves gifts. I love watching her face light up when she receives one. She loves giving more and she more than deserves this for all that she does for people.
The little old man that comes in once a day, she doesn’t make him pay. She gives the homeless veteran down the street a meal and coffee every time she sees him. She volunteers at a local animal shelter. She takes care of her neighbor who needs assistance.
And she does all this without pay. She is a saint and deserves the world. I hope by Christmas I will be worthy of her love. I want to give her the world.
But I bought the store across the street just to watch her open her gifts. And to get a rise out of her. She’s about to see me again for the first time since that fateful night.
I’m opening a shop across from her. Just until she falls in love with me, again.
Chapter Four
Noelle
“You again.”
“This is my route,” the man smiles.
“What is your name?”
“Dean.”
“Well thank you, Dean. Here,” I hand him a to go cup of coffee.
“Thank you,” he reaches for his wallet.
“On the house,” I smile as he leaves.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know.” I open the box to see a fountain pen. Not just any fountain pen, a Montblanc. Top of the line, too pretty to use. I love to do calligraphy, and this is the pen I wanted when I was younger.
“Wow,” I breathe.
“I agree,” Claus whistles.
Who sent this?
“Are you doing this, Claus?”
“What?”
“Are you sending me these things?”
“I don’t have money to buy a pen like that.”
“Okay, yeah. Who else would do this?”
“I don’t know. You have an admirer.”
“Maybe.”
Just weird.
Chapter Five
Noelle
On the fourth day of Christmas
I look out the window of the shop and watch. I like to people watch. I can see into Kingston’s gym and see Briar talking to Tristan, one of Kingston’s fighters. I watch a few people walk through the park. Couples strolling.
I watch as the realtor shakes hands with a man and hands him the keys. So, I’ll have a new neighbor soon.
That’s cool.
“Hey,” Briar startles me.
“Oh, hey. Mint chocolate latte?”
“Yes, please. I wonder what’s going in next door,” she says.
“I was wondering the same thing.”
“Hopefully, something cute.”
“Something cute?”
“A store filled with cute little figurines and such.”
“It’s like you read my mind,” I giggle.
“That or candles.”
“I love candles.”
“Kingston would kill me if I got more candles. Between my Disney obsession and candles, his house is getting kind of overrun with it,” she snorts.
“If he loves you enough, he will put up with it.”
“He does. I don’t know what I would do without him,” she says, and it makes me kind of sad that I don’t have that kind of love any more.
“I’m sorry if I upset you.”
“Sorry. This time of year is hard for me. Bad break up three years ago. Longtime love.”
“I’m so sorry. Maybe the right one is coming for you,” she says right as Dean walks in.
“Happily married,” he smirks at Briar who turns beet red.
“I . . .”
“It’s alright. I won’t tell King you were ogling me,” Dean says, and she bursts out laughing.
“He might kick your ass since you looked at me,” she snorts.
“Don’t doubt that.”
“Whatcha got for me today?” I ask since I know he’s here for a delivery.
“Here,” he hands me a bigger box than yesterday and leaves.
“Open it,” Briar urges.
I open it to find chocolate covered strawberries.
&
nbsp; “Those look yummy,” Briar remarks.
“I’m sure they are. I’m also sure my store is bugged.”
“By who?” She’s starting to panic.
“By Santa.”
She freezes. She thought it was her stalker. Fuck, I’m an idiot.
“I’m being stalked by Santa. Every day I’ve gotten something from a secret Santa.”
“Well, that’s better than my stalker.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Well, like I said, maybe the one is coming for you. You never know. When you finally meet your Santa, just take a chance. Love is a leap,” she smiles and waves goodbye.
Can I ever take that chance again?
Chapter Six
Dasher
I watch her interact with Briar as she opens the box. I know she’s confused. I know she’s trying to think of who it could be. I’m not even on her radar.
My back door opens and Briar walks in.
“When are you going to tell her?”
“I have it planned for Christmas,” I tell her.
“Maybe leave a little bit more on the notes than she’s just unique or lovely. Give her an obscure fact about yourself, nothing really revealing, but something. She can’t just fall in love with things.”
“She’s got a point,” Kingston says from the doorway.
“Oh, hey man, I didn’t . . .”
“She came over here to give her two cents. I know nothing would happen. See you tomorrow morning in the gym,” King smirks.
“Bye, Dasher.”
“See ya,” I wave as I collect my bag. Kingston is very protective of Briar. I would hate to be on the receiving end of his fists.
I pull into my driveway and park behind Claus. We’ve been slowly getting back to where we were. But it’s been slow. I wonder why he is here.
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