Welcome To Winterville: A Small Town Holiday Romance

by Carrie Elks

  “It doesn’t matter. And by the way, she already asked when we’re getting married.”

  “Does she ask that about every woman you date?”

  There was something in her voice – an inflection – that sounded almost vulnerable.

  “Do you want to know about my dating history?” he asked her. “Because I’m an open book.”

  She pressed the machine again, this time filling her own espresso cup, before lifting it, steaming, to her lips.

  “I just want to make sure nobody else has that heirloom ring. It’s all mine.”

  “If you come over here you can ask me anything.” He sat down on his office chair, spinning it around to look at her. Holly put her empty cup down on the counter and slowly walked around it. Even dressed, she turned him on like nobody else could. Her jeans were tight, nipping in at the waist, where her cashmere sweater hugged her perfect curves. He patted his legs, and she sat down on them, facing him so her thighs were straddling his.

  And he wanted her all over again.

  “You ask, I’ll answer.” He kissed her neck with soft lips.

  “Don’t you have a meeting to get to?” she asked him, her brow arching.

  “I’m the boss. They’ll wait.” He grabbed his phone and quickly typed something on the screen. “In fact, it’s canceled. So go ahead. Ask me what you want.”

  “Have you ever been engaged?” Her voice was tight.

  “No.” He slid his hand down her side, his fingers caressing the sliver of skin between her sweater and her jeans.

  She inhaled sharply. “Have you ever lived with a woman?”

  “Apart from my mother and grandma?”

  “Yes.”

  He trailed his lips up her throat. “Yes.”

  She tipped her head back to give him better access. “For how long?”

  “Six months.” He grazed his teeth along her sweet jaw.

  “Why did it end?”

  “Because I’m an asshole who forgets birthdays.”

  “You forgot her birthday?” she asked, shocked.

  “Yep.” He pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth. She tasted of warm coffee. Bittersweet.

  “Don’t you have an assistant for that?”

  “She forgot, too.”

  “You should have fired her.”

  “I gave her a raise. The relationship would never have worked long term. It’s all good.” He curled his hands around her waist, pulling her closer, until her breasts were pressed against his hard chest.

  “Is she the only woman you’ve lived with?”

  “Yep. Until now.”

  “I don’t live with you. I’m just staying over.” She ran her fingers over his hair. He closed his eyes as she raked his scalp with her nails.

  “I didn’t mean this. I meant the future.” He slid his hands beneath her sweater, drawing circles on her taut stomach.

  “Do we have a future?” She gasped as he traced her breasts. “You said it yourself, only one of us can win. Which means the other’s going to lose, and whoever loses is going to hate the winner.”

  He looked up at her through his lashes. “You’ll hate me?”

  “I meant you’ll hate me, since I’ll be the one winning.” Her eyes widened as he rubbed the pad of his thumb over her nipple.

  “I could never hate you.” His smile was soft. He buried his face in her neck, breathing her in. She smelled of his shower gel. He liked that a lot.

  “Did you know your grandma doesn’t have her own bank account?” Holly gasped as he grazed his teeth across her neck.

  “Mmm.” He didn’t want to talk about his grandma right now.

  “She should. I told her that. It doesn’t matter how much you trust your spouse, you should always trust yourself more.” The last few words came out strangled, as he traced his fingers up her inner thighs. “Don’t you think?”

  “I’ll give her your email address. You can tell her about it in more detail.”

  Holly smiled. “Too late. She’s already given me hers. I’m sending her a few different accounts to choose from.”

  Josh blinked, his fingers stilling. “She’s going to open one?”

  Holly shrugged. “That’s what she said.”

  He swallowed a laugh, because in one video call Holly had managed what he’d been trying to get his grandma to do for years. “Okay. Can we stop talking about her now?”

  “What do you want to talk about instead?” Holly ran the tip of her tongue over her lip, their eyes catching.

  “I figure we should stop talking.” His voice was low. He cupped the warmth of her with his palm. “And start doing.”

  “Oh no, buddy. Not again.” She shook her head. “I’m broken, remember. Any more action down there and I’ll be raw.”

  “I have a very soft tongue.” He gave her a crooked smile. He needed to taste her again. “And you’ll get to rest tonight. Since you won’t come over and stay with me.”

  “I told you, I have a family thing.”

  “I’ll wait for you.”

  “You need a break as much as I do. You said it was like somebody had set you on fire down there.”

  He circled his thumb softly against her, through the smooth fabric. Her lips parted as her dark, needy eyes met his. “Joshua…”

  “I only get called that when somebody’s telling me off.”

  “I am telling you off,” Holly insisted. “If we do this again, I’ll probably die.” Her legs parted as he slid his hand along her waistband. “Dear God, what are you doing to me?”

  He chuckled. “The same thing you’re doing to me. I just want to taste you. That’s all. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

  “Okay.” Her eyes flashed as they met his. He dipped his fingers inside the waistband of her jeans, beneath her panties, swallowing hard when he felt how slick she was. The next moment he was dragging her jeans down, lifting her onto his desk and burying himself between her sweet, taut thighs.

  With the gentlest of touches and kisses, he swallowed down her pleasure, feeling his own desire rush over him as she begged for more, his teasing almost-licks sending her into a frenzy.

  Sure, she wouldn’t be here with him tonight, but he’d make sure she wouldn’t be thinking about anybody else.

  And for the rest of the day, he’d remember exactly how good she tasted.

  18

  “Oh. My. God.” Everley leaned over the laptop she’d set up on North’s breakfast bar. “We’ve sold out already.”

  “Of the VIP tickets?” Alaska asked, peering over her shoulder.

  “No. All the tickets. Every last one of them.” She looked pale. “Kris only put them on sale an hour ago. I don’t believe this.”

  Holly grinned at her. “Believe it. Gray’s a superstar, and everybody wants to show their love for Candy. You should be proud of yourself.”

  “I’m more scared that I’m making a huge mistake,” Everley whispered. “What if I can’t pull this off and end up looking like an idiot in front of all those people? Not to mention Gray damn Hartson. My name will be mud.”

  “You’re not going to make a fool of yourself.” North gave her a reassuring smile. “The show’s going to be amazing, and so are you. We’ve got your back, kiddo.”

  “We’ve already started dividing the work up between us,” Holly assured her. “North and Gabe are going to help Alaska with the staging. I’ve already spoken to Kris and I’m going to take over the admin side so he can concentrate on the technology side. And you just need to work on the show itself.” Holly hugged her. “Stop worrying. You’ll do a great job.”

  Gabe looked at the sales numbers. “Our fighting fund is going to be big.”

  Holly’s laptop was open next to Everley’s, and it started to buzz, letting her know that Natalie had started their video call.

  “Are you all ready?” she checked with her cousins. They nodded and she clicked to accept the call.

  They crowded around her, staring at the screen as it flickered to life. Da
mn, her reflection looked exhausted. She had enough bags under her eyes to stock Target.

  “Hey!” Natalie said, grinning. She was sitting at a boardroom table next to a handsome, brown haired man in a suit. Holly bit down a grin at the fact that their shoulders were touching. “This is Ryan Simpson. Ryan, the one in the center with brown hair is my friend, Holly.”

  “Hi Holly,” Ryan said, his smile genuine. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  Natalie was blushing, and Holly bit down a smile.

  Holly introduced her cousins, and they all exchanged pleasantries. Natalie shifted in her seat. Were her legs brushing Ryan’s underneath the table?

  “So, we should probably get into it,” Ryan said, his gaze shifting to Natalie. “We have a table booked for eight.”

  “Of course.” Holly nodded. “Natalie said you might have found something we can use.”

  “Yeah.” Ryan glanced at the printouts in his hands. “These are copies of the original deeds for Winterville,” he said. The casualness had gone from his voice, he was all business now. “There are a few interesting clauses in there, but I wanted to check that they’d been recorded with the county. Which they had, but the original paper records hadn’t been transferred to the computerized ones. Which means the purchasers have no idea of the stipulations.”

  Holly blinked. “What kind of clauses and stipulations?”

  “There’s one that I think could help your case. In the original deeds, your grandma had it written that any tenant would have the opportunity to buy their property at market value if they gave written notice.”

  “I don’t understand,” Everley said, frowning. “What does that mean?”

  “It means that according to the deeds, anybody who owns a business in town could buy the building as long as they have the money, and the new purchasers couldn’t do anything about it.”

  Holly exchanged glances with North. He got it, she could tell by looking in his eyes.

  “But they’d have to buy it at market value?” North said.

  “Yes. And with cash. That’s also in the deeds.”

  North shook his head. “Then it won’t help us. The shops here don’t have that sort of money hanging around.”

  “What about the proceeds from the concert?” Alaska asked.

  “Still not enough.” North shook his head.

  “This is where Ryan is a genius,” Natalie said, shooting him a smile. “Because you don’t need to buy every building in Winterville. Just a few strategic ones. Buy those, and they won’t be able to create a ski resort because the businesses will be in the way.”

  Holly’s mouth dropped open. “That is genius.”

  “Do you know how much that would be?” North asked.

  “I don’t know the local market well enough to say. You’d need to have them properly appraised,” Ryan told him. “But if you’re strategic about it, it’s definitely do-able. Especially if you have these funds your cousin was talking about.”

  “We do.” Everley nodded, her eyes wide. “We’ll have the money real soon.”

  “So all we have to do is tell Gerber Enterprises that we want to buy the businesses?”

  “Yes, but there are a few things you need to consider.” Ryan glanced down at his notes. “First of all, Gerber Enterprises could claim they didn’t know about the clause. And they don’t, because the papers were buried. I had to use considerable charm with the recorder’s office to have them found.”

  “What else?” North asked, his expression animated. He was excited, Holly could tell.

  “You only have two weeks to complete your transaction after notifying the company. Which means you want to have the money liquid and available.”

  “When will it be here?” North asked Everley.

  “It gets released the day after the concert. Except that’s Christmas Day, so we’ll have to wait for the twenty-sixth.”

  North sighed. “Damn, that’s forever away.”

  “No, that’s a good thing,” Ryan said, smiling. “You can notify them on Christmas Day and that starts the countdown. If their offices are closed for the holidays, it gives them less time to try to stop you legally. Once the two weeks are up and you’ve paid them, they have no choice but to transfer the rights to the current tenants.”

  “But we’ll need to keep things quiet until then, right?” Everley said. “Otherwise they might try and overturn the clause?”

  “Exactly.” Ryan nodded. “If you can work out what buildings will cause the most problems by being bought, I can draft up the contracts and letters, and have them ready for you to issue on Christmas Day. Everybody concerned, including the tenants, need to keep quiet, that’s all.”

  “Didn’t I tell you he’s amazing?” Natalie said, grinning.

  “Gerber Enterprises can’t find out,” North said, glancing at Holly.

  “Of course they won’t,” Everley said quickly. “We’re not stupid. And we can all keep a secret, right?”

  Her cousins turned to look at Holly. She had no idea what North and Gabe knew about her relationship with Josh, but Everley and Alaska knew where she’d been disappearing to these past few nights.

  “Right, Holly?” Everley repeated.

  “Right.” Her stomach did a little flip flop.

  “Thank you,” North said to Ryan and Natalie. “Seriously, we’re all really grateful for what you’ve done.”

  “I’ll send Holly an email with all the details,” Ryan said. “First thing in the morning. Because now this beautiful lady and I are going out for dinner.” Natalie grinned and waved at them, saying goodbye as she clicked to end the call.

  “Oh my God!” Everley cried out, when the screen went black. “We’re going to save Winterville. Can you believe it?” She hugged Holly. “This is all thanks to you.”

  “This calls for champagne,” Gabe agreed, walking over to North’s wine refrigerator, and pulling out a bottle. “We have a lot to celebrate.”

  North was grinning. Alaska was hugging Everley. And Gabe was winking at Holly.

  She smiled back, because this really was a good thing. It was everything they’d wanted.

  They’d be able to save their grandma’s town, and the homes of all the people who lived in it.

  It was what she wanted, right?

  “Are you okay?” Everley asked her later that night, as they accompanied Holly back to the Inn. Alaska had walked over to talk with the night receptionist, leaving them waiting at the elevator for a lift to arrive.

  “I’m good. Why do you ask?” Holly gave her a tight smile.

  “Because you were really quiet tonight. And you hardly drank any champagne. Unlike Gabe.” She wrinkled her nose. “Who knew he was such a lightweight? I swear he could barely walk by the time we left.”

  “I’m just tired.” Holly gave her a reassuring smile. “Nothing a good night’s sleep won’t cure.” It wasn’t a lie, either. Spending her nights with Josh Gerber was anything but restful.

  Crazy. Sexy. Emotionally perfect. But definitely not restful.

  “Are you worried about what’s going to happen with Josh?”

  The elevator arrived and three guests walked out. Everley and Holly walked inside, and Everley pressed the button for Holly’s floor.

  “Are you walking me to my room?” Holly tried not to grin.

  “Kinda. Alaska will be forever, so at least I get to talk with you while I wait for her. So why have you got a long face?”

  Holly leaned against the rail. “I just don’t like keeping secrets. It feels wrong.”

  The doors closed, and Everley shot her a speculative look. “You really like him, don’t you?”

  “He’s a good man. I guess it would be easier if he wasn’t.”

  “I mean like him, like him.” Everley lifted an eyebrow. “You’re falling for him.”

  It wasn’t a question, but Holly still found herself trying to find the right answer. “I think I could easily fall for him if I let myself,” she finally said.

&n
bsp; “Will you let yourself?” The elevator arrived at her floor, and Holly walked out with Everley close behind.

  Would she? The thought of it made her want to panic. “I just want to enjoy it for what it is.”

  “But you wish you didn’t have to hide this thing from him.”

  “Something like that.”

  “I think you’re worrying over nothing.” They’d reached Holly’s door, and Everley leaned against the wall while Holly found her key.

  “You do?” Holly frowned.

  “Yeah. Josh is a businessman. He’ll know this is purely business.” Everley shrugged. “Put it this way, do you expect him to tell you all his plans for demolishing this place?”

  Holly shook her head. “No.”

  “Has he told you anything about what will happen once the escrow goes through?” Everley persisted.

  “No he hasn’t. We don’t talk about the sale very much.” They were too busy doing other things.

  “Then he wouldn’t and shouldn’t expect you to share anything about this with him either. Let’s face it, he knows that you’re opposed to the purchase, just like the rest of us. He doesn’t need to know the details.”

  “I guess…” Holly slowly nodded. Everley was making sense.

  “I haven’t seen you this happy in years,” Everley said, as Holly pressed her key against the reader. “Stop overthinking this. And for god’s sake don’t sabotage it. You deserve this, Hol. You deserve to be happy.”

  Her heart clenched. “So do you.”

  Everley’s smile was tight. “I’m not talking about me. Josh will understand. He will. I’ve seen how he looks at you. Just try to enjoy this time you have together, and stop sweating this.” She bumped her shoulder against Holly’s. “And if you’re still feeling guilty, just do something extra nice for him.”

  “Like what?”

  Everley winked. “I’m pretty sure you can think of something. Now I’m going to move Alaska along. It’s been a long day and tomorrow will be even longer.”

  “Let me know if I can do anything to help.”

  “You’re already doing enough. Taking over the admin is a huge help.” Everley kissed her cheek. “Good night, Holly.”