Hot for the Holidays (21 Holiday Short Stories): A Collection of Naughty and Nice Holiday Romances

by Anthology

  His son’s eyes went big when he spotted him, and his chin wobbled around the thumb jammed in his mouth. His curls rioted around his head. Kid really needed a haircut. Jake spotted one of Addison’s hairbands in the clutter on the floor—those things were all over the house—and picked it up.

  "Aiden’s such a baby." Addison stuck her nose in the air but allowed him to contain her dark curls with the flowered band.

  "Hush. The only baby around here is in Mommy’s tummy." With Addison held in one arm, he swung Aiden up with his other and made him giggle. "Let’s go say hi to him."

  Addison gave him a long-suffering stare. "Her, Daddy. The baby is a sister."

  Lord help him; they’d kill him long before his fiftieth birthday. He plastered on a grin. "Sure, princess. Whatever you say."

  Addison was still pouting, but Aiden’s tears no longer threatened when Jake dropped them off at their mother’s feet. She looked up from the notebook that was open again on her belly and raised her eyebrows.

  He shook his head. "You don’t want to know."

  "Hmm . . . Maybe."

  Addison clung to the leg of his jeans. He lifted her high and gave her a spin before stooping to trail a short line of kisses along his wife’s neck and peer over her shoulder. "So, what are you writing in your notebook?"

  She lifted a hand to cup his cheek and he nuzzled into her palm. "Finalizing the menu for Thanksgiving dinner. Thank God, my mom offered to do the shopping tomorrow." Her face lit up. "Oh, and Trey called! He and his granddad will definitely be back from skiing. Bentley got on the line and said their flight is due in Wednesday morning. Less than two days from now." Her sigh was deep. "I miss my son, Jake. We haven’t seen him since the babies’ birthday six months ago."

  Allie’s holiday plans whirled in his mind and congealed to remind him he’d have to get out the table leaves that were stored under the bed in his stepson’s room. He set Addison on her feet and picked up Aiden for an airplane ride. "Allie, are you sure you’re up for a house full—?"

  She glared.

  He blew out a breath. "Why don’t we put the big family thing off until next year when you’re not as—when you’re not pregnant?"

  Allie squirmed in the chair and rubbed her lower back with a grimace. "When I’m not as what, Jake? As big as a ship? I want a huge family Thanksgiving with my son and his dad’s father here. Her chin quivered even as her voice grew. I want my entire family, all the in-laws and out-laws, and I want it this year!"

  If she had been standing, he’d take odds she would have stomped one of her swollen feet. But still. "That’s a whole lot of work, and you should be taking it easy."

  "My mom offered to help, and Tess is bringing the boys down to stay with us for a few days. I won’t be alone at all."

  Did she even remember everything it took to get the house and the family ready for the holiday meal? What about all the cleaning, not to mention the cooking, the . . . what? "Tess?"

  She glared again.

  "And the boys?"

  Silence.

  Of course, Allie’s sister-in-law would bring her own set of twins. But would she bring her husband, or would he arrive solo? Question of the century. "Babe, the last time they were here we had to replace a section of the fence around the pool."

  "Pfft! I’m sure it was merely a weak piece of iron. They’re four, Jake."

  "They’re heathens!" Allie’s eyes shot daggers at him even as they filled.

  He opened his mouth to retort just as his cell phone rang. His next breath left in a sigh and he lowered Aiden into a scattered pile of building bricks. Addison sat nearby watching the movie with her back propped against the sofa. He let the gaze he leveled at Allie soften as he headed for the stairs, but his message was clear. This discussion is not over.

  Chapter Two

  With his phone lodged between his shoulder and his ear, he pulled off his belt as he climbed the stairs. "You’re working late, Kim. What’s up?"

  "Playing catch up, boss. I just received an email from the courier company."

  He crossed the threshold into the master suite, pushed the speaker button on the phone and dropped it on the bed. His eyes automatically checked the time on the display panel. Past six already. "Yeah? Did we miss a delivery today? He mentally clicked through a list of anything they might be expecting and came up blank.

  "Not exactly. It seems our stuff was misplaced sometime this afternoon between when the guy picked up our prints and the package was scheduled for delivery,"

  Jake paused in pulling off his still-damp shirt, then let it fall to the floor. He dropped to his ass at the foot of the bed and rubbed his forefinger and thumb up the bridge of his nose. His glasses lifted in the process. "The blueprints for Las Estrellas?" Couldn’t be. They were already with the engineer. They had to be there. They couldn’t be missing.

  He dropped his head in his palm. But of course they could. It had been that day since he first left the house this morning. "Is Nick still around? Have him call—"

  "Nick’s gone."

  Damn it! His gaze absently wandered the room as he unbuttoned his jeans and peeled the uncooperative denim down his legs. "All right. It’s too late to do anything tonight. Forward me their email, and Nick and I will take care of it in the morning."

  "You’re not listening, boss. Nick’s gone."

  The fuck? He grabbed his phone from atop the comforter and pressed it to his ear. "What do you mean, he’s gone? Where did he go?"

  "He sent me an email, too. It said he was taking off for a couple of days and to assure you—actually, he said to tell Allie—that he’d be there for Thanksgiving dinner."

  Damn it! Nick was becoming about as reliable as the Ford truck Jake drove back in college. "Fine, Kim. I’ll deal with this mess in the morning. Thanks for the heads up." He ended the call and headed to the shower.

  His evening officially sucked. A fun night out with Allie and a cold beer in his hand sounded good. Really good. Relaxing. But Allie’s activity was sorely limited these days. And the beer should probably be out, as well. If he started drinking now, he’d be tempted to never stop.

  When Jake bounded down the staircase several minutes later he found Allie on all fours, swiping the clutter of toys into colorful baskets. Aiden rode her back. Jake snatched up the child and set him on his feet, and Aiden toddled away. Allie straightened and stretched her back with a loud sigh.

  "Ass or back, babe. Knees don’t count." He made a quick sweep of the room to check for the kids before he leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Although I do love seeing you on your knees."

  Allie narrowed her eyes and growled at him, "No fair, talking like that. I miss sex more than I miss seeing my feet." She rolled her shoulders and stretched her back again with what was definitely a moan. Jake held her by her elbow to help her stand. Her shoulder blades were tight under his kneading fingers as he led her toward the kitchen at the far end of the large open room.

  "Come sit at the counter while I get dinner. I smell something good in here." He let his hands slide down to cup her ass as he helped lift her bulk onto the high stool. God knew, he missed sex, too.

  "Sarah put a pan of chicken enchiladas and some rice in the oven right before she left. I turned the heat way down so they wouldn’t dry out. I’ve been craving them for weeks."

  Jake reached down to pull the hot casserole dishes from the oven. When he turned around Allie was standing in front of the open refrigerator. "Jesus, Allie. Sit in the chair!"

  "Don’t you want a salad?" She pulled out a head of lettuce and a tomato.

  He transferred the produce from her hands to the counter and helped her back onto the stool. "You can make the salad from here, but if you need anything you have to tell me!"

  She slid down to her feet. "I’ll go get the kids." When he glared at her, she raised her hands. "I’m so damn tired of sitting, Jake. My back hurts and I can’t get comfortable anywhere, no matter what I do. I just want to stretch my legs for three minutes."
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  He stepped around the counter, wound his arms around her from behind, and rested his chin on her head. The baby shifted under his hands, and he smiled as he relaxed. "All right; I get it, and I’m sorry, sweetheart. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to be stuck in one position all day." He rubbed her belly with the flats of his palms, and she leaned into him. He massaged the skin she complained about itching so badly, and purposely stayed away from her breasts. He was dangerously close to growing hard in his flannel pants, with no relief in sight but his own fist. He turned her in his arms and kissed her lips. So sweet, and way too short. "Go get the kids, babe. Just come right back."

  Jake had their dinner dished up and on the table by the time she returned with Aiden and Addison, and he lifted them into their high chairs. As usual, Aiden chowed down as if the certainty of his next meal was dubious, while Addison picked at her food and dominated the conversation at the table. Sarah’s enchiladas were delicious, but Allie’s plate was mostly untouched. She shifted her weight from one hip to the other; she’d been doing that since she first sat to eat. "Your back still hurt, sweetheart?"

  Her eyes shifted to her phone on the table beside her plate. When had she set that there? She was concentrating on the app she had open on the screen. He put down his fork. "What are you doing, Allie?"

  She lifted a shoulder. "Just timing something."

  Suddenly his heart sped. "Babe, tell me you’re not in labor. You’re not due for another week."

  "It’s nothing, I’m sure, but these pains in my lower back haven’t stopped all afternoon. And now they seem to be coming even more often."

  Damn it! No matter how much he nagged at her to take it easy, she wanted to take care of the babies; she wanted to take care of their home and plan an elaborate Thanksgiving celebration. He took a deep breath and filled his lungs before letting it out in a slow stream. It was impossible not to imagine the worst. After all the extra trips to the doctor during her last pregnancy, the constant monitoring of her blood pressure, and then her preterm labor, it was their first thought every time she had a cramp or awoke in the night to pee. But to add a new baby into the normal commotion of holiday planning? Maybe he could still rethink that beer.

  Before he took the twins upstairs, he got Allie curled up on the sofa and found the heat pad for her back. Hopefully, that would help soothe her aches and prove them both silly for even considering she might be in labor.

  For a change, the kids cooperated during bath time, then story time, and even dropped right to sleep for him without excess drama. And for a change, Allie stayed on the sofa, which got his heart thumping and his mind whirling again. If she was still there, she must feel even worse than she let on. He detoured into the kitchen, then slipped into the corner of the sofa and lifted her head onto his lap.

  "Here, I brought you a glass of water to drink. I read somewhere that dehydration will cause early labor—"

  She levered herself up on an elbow. "Jake, I’m long past early labor. You did remember that eventually this thing would come out? He pointed his chin at the glass, and even though her eyes rolled, she took a long gulp.

  "Yes, Allie, and I’m here for you, babe." —But dear God, please no complications! Not again. Not another frantic call to the doctor, another desperate race to the hospital— "we’ll get through it the same way we’ve gotten through everything else."

  She gave him a weak smile that wobbled at the corners and tugged at his heart. "Together. We’ve always been together, haven’t we?"

  Longer than she ever realized. "Always, sweetheart."

  Allie shifted to her side and he let his hand roam along her side, come back up to rub her shoulder, then travel south again to massage the warmed flesh of her lower back. Something bumped the flesh beneath his hand as it traveled over her stomach.

  "He’s active tonight." His murmur elicited a sleepy smile from his wife. They’d chosen to keep the baby’s gender a secret, though Jake teased her that he believed in the power of positive thinking. And Allie’s tests ensured there was only one this time. Jake covered the bulge of him under his palm and massaged in slow circles.

  "Hey, Tadpole. You in a rush to come meet us, little guy? Why don’t you just hang out in there where it’s nice and cozy for a while? I believe you still have a bit of growing to do so you can keep up with your brother and sister." A series of quick bumps had him raising Allie’s shirt to expose the movement within her rotund belly. "Jesus, it always seems that must hurt." But Allie shook her head. A moment later some part of his child—A fist? An elbow? A foot?—pushed outward and slid from one side clear to the other. Amazing.

  This would be their last child; he and Allie agreed their dreams of a family had been fulfilled. But his daddy duties didn’t begin the moment they laid his child in his arms. He reached for the bottle of lotion Allie liked to have massaged into her stretched skin, squeezed a blob into his hand, and started to rub. Within minutes, his wife was fast asleep in his arms.

  Chapter Three

  Jake had sent three texts to Nick in the twelve hours since he learned he’d gone AWOL, one the night before and two on his way to the office that morning. His partner hadn’t answered any of them. He also had a call in to the courier company, but they didn’t open for another couple of hours, the candy asses. How bad could the problem be that Jared Sullivan—his weekly golfing partner—hadn’t called him directly?

  The main office door opened and closed. Five high-pitched beeps told him the alarm had just been deactivated. He called into the next room, "Kim, that you?"

  "Yeah, boss. Good morning," Kim called back over the familiar sounds of her opening the office.

  "Have you heard from Nick yet?"

  Kim appeared in his open doorway. "Not yet. I haven’t heard from Nick, and I haven’t heard from Jared Sullivan, either."

  He rested his chin on his steepled fingertips. "Okay, damage control. Let’s say the package is really gone, not to be recovered. What do we need?" He lowered one hand to drum his fingertips on the desktop as he mused out loud to organize his thoughts. He had a couple of years’ work into Las Estrellas, and it would keep his crews working for a couple more. Good news when construction companies were tanking left and right.

  "First thing I need to do is make sure Ryan will be in the office today. We’ll need his architect’s stamp on a new set of plans." His brother-in-law had become the in-house architect two years ago, about the time his wife Tess took their twin sons and moved back to her hometown a few hours away.

  By noontime Jake hadn’t heard back from Nick or Jared Sullivan. The engineer had started his vacation early, but he’d call in a replacement. By the time Sully returned his call just after lunch, Jake was ready to reach through the phone and grab him by the throat. "Jesus Christ, you send an email that the most important package I’ll ship this year has vanished and then don’t call me for"—his gaze flew to the clock and he calculated quickly—"sixteen hours. How do you sleep at night?"

  "Taylor, I’ve had my people busting their asses to tear this shipping office apart; your tube is not here."

  Kim appeared at his door again, one finger up, their signal that he had a call holding. He surged to his feet and turned his back on her. "Damn it, Sully! Do you realize how long it will take to put another package together? Most of my staff is on vacation this week!"

  "Look, Taylor, shit happens. Not often, and never on purpose, but it happens. If it shows up I’ll let you know, but right now it’s pulled a Criss Angel. If there’s anything I can do—"

  Jake deflated into his chair and shook his head. He couldn’t keep chasing this dead end; it was time to get busy. "Yeah, Sully, if there’s anything you can do."

  After clicking off, he made a quick call to Allie to make sure Sarah was there, his wife was off her feet, and everything was fine—code for not in labor. The thought that he’d have to barrel out of here while in the midst of this clusterfuck had been forefront in his mind all morning.

  The intercom rang
, Kim calling from her desk. He picked up. "I’m going out to pick up lunch, boss. You want something?"

  His stomach growled at the promise of nourishment. He’d survived the morning on nothing but coffee. "Lunch sounds great, thanks. Just grab me something from wherever you’re going."

  She was back within minutes from a fast food joint up the street and handed over a Styrofoam container. "I forgot to ask earlier, but did you call Trey back?"

  "Trey?"

  "Sure. He called this morning when you were on the phone with Sully. Then he called again later but you were on the phone with someone else. I told him to call or text your cell."

  He dug his device out of its carrier on his belt. Several missed calls and the promised text from his stepson. "Thanks, Kim. They’re supposed to fly home tonight on the redeye. I’m sure he’s just calling to check in."

  "Aren’t they up in Canada?"

  "Yeah, got in some early skiing, and now they’re spending a couple of days in the Big Apple." He opened his boxed lunch and took a bite of his sandwich.

  Kim pointed to his laptop, open on the desk in front of him. "Jake, maybe you should take a look at the weather. The Eastern Seaboard’s getting hit with a whole lot of snow right now. They say all flights will be halted within hours."

  As the front door chimed and Kim disappeared to greet the customer, he opened his favored weather site and clicked on the day’s forecast. That heavy-hearted feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop had haunted him all day—and manifested itself in a blue blanket that covered New England.

  Oh, no! How many more things could go wrong this week? And how could he possibly tell Allie that her son and the man she considered her second father may not be there to share their family Thanksgiving?

  He picked up his phone and entered Trey’s number. It rang a few times and then went to the recording. He left a brief message to let the kid know he was worried and that he should call home. For the hell of it, he tried Nick again, too. No surprise at all when it went straight to voicemail. Since he was on a roll, he tried the engineer’s office and nearly dropped the phone when Todd Haskell answered.