Romancing the Holidays: Twelve Christmas Romances - Benefits Breast Cancer Research

by Crista McHugh

  “Yes. I wanted to ask if you skied.”

  “Water or snow?”

  “Snow of course.”

  “I’ve been a couple of times. I’m not very good at it.” B.L. wasn’t really going to cross that line, was she?

  “I’ve got a cabin reserved in Steamboat over the holidays. I’m looking for a travelling companion. All expenses paid.”

  She crossed it. “Thank you but I’m not interested.”

  “Are you sure? It could become quite a lucrative move for you.”

  “Are you insinuating you’d do more for me here in the company if I were to go with you?”

  “I’m saying it wouldn’t hurt.”

  “And if I don’t, would you hold me back?”

  B.L. only shrugged.

  “I have plans over the holidays. I’m going with my boyfriend to visit his family.”

  “You’d have much more fun with me.”

  Niki smiled. “I know for a fact I wouldn’t. Really, thank you for the offer, but my answer is no.” She lowered her arms to her sides. “Is that all you needed?”

  B.L. closed the gap between them in a flash, pushing Niki backward against the glass topped surface of her desk so hard she lost her balance and had to scramble to keep from falling. B.L. made quick work of Niki’s disadvantage. She slid one hand up Niki’s skirt and groped her breast with the opposite.

  Niki’s shock fell way to cold, stark anger as she shoved at the woman with all her might. “Get off of me—now!” She struggled to get her footing back, finally stood tall—still panting with the exertion as well as pure indignation. “What the hell is wrong with you? Isn’t it bad enough that women have had to put up with this crap from men? Don’t you have the slightest sense of female solidarity?”

  “What I have is a strong sense that you want me. That man of yours can’t do for you what I can—in bed or out of it. I can make sure you go straight to the top in this company.” She lunged for her again.

  This time Niki was ready for her. She came across with a right hook, clipping B.L. on the left cheek with a shot that would most likely leave the bitch with a black eye.

  Betty Lou McKenna stood there, one hand on her cheek, staring in shock at Niki. “You screwed up, big time, honey. You’d just as soon pack up your desk now.”

  Niki got nose to nose with the woman. “Let me tell you something, Betty Lou. I wouldn’t take that kind of repulsive behavior from a man, and I sure as shit won’t take it from you. And the only person who can call me honey is a six and a half foot tall retired Marine who gave me some pretty good advice about not underestimating my enemy.” She turned and stormed off to the door, irate and shaking with rage.

  “Don’t bother going back to your office. You’re fired!” B.L. sneered after her. “I’m calling security right now to have you escorted out of the building. And I will be pressing charges for assault. No witnesses. It’ll be your word against mine and I’ve got seniority.”

  Niki walked to the elevator and hit the button. The doors opened immediately with a quiet swish. “You do what you’ve gotta do, Betty Lou.” She pulled her phone from her pocket. “And I’ll do the same.” She tapped a button to stop the recording and stepped into the elevator. She didn’t bother going down to her own desk, sure the woman would make good on her call to security. Instead she went straight to the top floor, praying someone would be around to hear her out. She played back part of the message, satisfied with the quality of the recording and smiled all the way to the top floor.

  * * * *

  She buckled herself into her car, mentally drained from the afternoon of finger pointing, playing the blame game and finally, negotiations. She started her car and called Tex to give him the abbreviated version of her afternoon.

  As suspected, B.L.’s supervisor was none too pleased to hear her complaints against his prized employee of twenty years. He didn’t want to believe it, but had no choice when faced with the blatant evidence, even then insisting this had been the first complaint against B.L.

  Within ten minutes of sending a group text to several women, they began appearing at his door. Each woman had a similar story about sexual threats and harassment from someone they should have been able to turn to for support. Each of them felt as deeply betrayed and disgusted as Niki did.

  “So, did he finally believe you?”

  She turned into her drive and pulled into the garage. “He had no choice. I had the proof.”

  “You still have it, right?”

  “It’s on my phone. I’m not about to turn that over to anyone except as evidence to the district attorney’s office if they force my hand, and then only after I’ve downloaded the file to several different locations and devices.”

  Tex’s grunt of disgust carried to her. “Smart girl, but it sickens me that you were forced into doing that. I wish I’d gone to pick you up now. I won’t feel good about any of this until you’re here, safe and sound.”

  “I’ll be fine, Tex. It’ll probably take me an hour or so to get everything together. I should be there by 6:30. I’ll call when I get to the Sedtal’s place.” She ended the call and started gathering the ingredients and bakeware essentials she’d need to bring to the cabin. Once everything was set out on the cabinet she realized she didn’t have any bags to transfer everything to Tex’s place. Almost positive she’d seen a medium sized storage container sitting empty atop her pile of boxes in the shed, she went out to the patio to get one. She froze when she saw the door partly opened—no padlock hanging from the latch.

  “Oh God. Not today, please!” Niki reached the shed in two steps and jerked the door open. She stood there, stunned and heartbroken at what she found, wondering what she’d done to deserve the day she’d had so far.

  * * * *

  Tex got out of his truck to pace a third time, anxious as hell to see Nik. He’d worked all day on the preparations, eventually satisfied that he’d set everything up the way he wanted. Finally the lights of her car appeared in the distance. As soon as he saw her face, tear-streaked and red-nosed from crying, he panicked.

  He pulled open her door and she flew into his arms, obviously needing to be comforted. “What’s happened?”

  “I’ve been robbed!”

  “What? No…”

  “Yes! I was getting all my baking stuff together and went to the shed to find one of those empty storage containers. Everything’s gone, Tex. They took everything—all of my mom’s Christmas decorations! I have nothing left from her. Who would do such a thing? Who would steal storage containers full of Christmas decorations?”

  He held her close, trying to sooth her, hating that she had to feel this way after the shit day she’d had at the office. “It’ll be okay.”

  “It’s not! I feel so stupid. If I’d just put up the decorations in my house they would have been safely inside.” Her face crumpled pitifully. “I can’t believe I’ll never see it again. All the stuff my mom collected over the years. It’s so unfair.”

  He placed both hands on her face and pressed a gentle kiss on her lips. “I may not know everything, but I know this for certain. You’re about to feel a whole lot better. I hope you will, anyway.” Now that he thought about it, he wondered if he’d made a mistake. He led Niki to his truck and deposited her into its warm interior.

  “The container is in the back of my car. Don’t forget anything,” she sniffed.

  He collected the storage container and slipped it into the bed of his truck. He checked on Niki’s condition during the drive to his cabin. She still sniffed occasionally, but she had much improved since her arrival. As he approached the last bend in the road he stopped the truck and faced her. “Close your eyes for me, please.”

  “Why?” she said, her tone suspicious.

  “Please?”

  She gave him one last frown and closed her eyes. “You know I hate surprises.”

  “You’ll like this one.” He spent the last minute it took to get to his cabin reminding her to keep her eyes closed
. By the fifth reminder, Niki’s sharp comeback of “I will, dammit!” told him she’d surpassed her patience limit.

  He parked his truck and turned off the ignition. “Hang on, I’m going around to get you, but don’t—”

  “Don’t open my eyes—I know!” she snapped.

  His chest rumbled with laughter as he opened her door and helped her to the ground. Tex adjusted her position for the optimal effect of his efforts. “Open your eyes now,” he whispered, and held his breath.

  Her initial gasp of shock turned into pure delight as she clapped her hands together. “Oh, my God! It’s just like the Riverwalk. Only it’s better because it’s so private. Oh Tex …” She turned and threw her arms around him. “I love it! This is the best surprise ever.”

  He’d worked for two solid days stringing thousands of clear and multi-colored lights on the cabin’s exterior, including the deck, rails, and any tree within several yards of it. She’d asked to visit the San Antonio Riverwalk at night several times already, each time exclaiming in breathless awe at its beauty. Once the idea to create a smaller version of the spectacle of lights and water had taken hold, Tex knew he had to do it for Niki. “Hang on, that’s not all.” He ushered her several steps to one side so she could get a good view of the deck and pier all the way to the small wharf where she loved to sit and watch the water. Lights reflected off the glistening surface of the lake, multiplying the effects ten-fold. His heart swelled with pleasure at her delighted squeal.

  “This is fantastic!” She faced him and stepped into his open arms. “You thought of everything, didn’t you?”

  He grinned, thrilled to put a smile back on her face. “I hope so.” He led her toward the cabin, their hands clasped, fingers interlaced. As Tex unlocked his door he offered one last plea to the big guy for her not to be pissed at him, and led her inside. She stood still until he flipped the light switch—and Niki’s audible gasp filled the room. Her mouth gaped as she performed a slow sweep of the cabin’s kitchen and living room area.

  “I can’t believe you did this, Tex. You stole all my mom’s Christmas decorations?”

  His heart sank at the words and he braced himself for the worst. He couldn’t tell by her tone if she was delighted or ready to scratch his eyes out for the tear-fest she’d suffered at his hands. “I’m sorry as hell for that, Nik. I never thought you’d go out there looking for a storage container. I hate that you drove the whole way over here as upset as you were.” He faced her, his heart torn at the tears in her eyes, knowing he’d put them there. “Forgive me?”

  * * * *

  Niki stared into the depths of those baby-blues, stunned at his request. Forgive him? Could he possibly think she’d be upset about this? She shook her head. “Forgive you for what, Tex—putting a U.S. Marine-worthy-effort into pleasing your girlfriend? With everything you’ve been doing lately to help on this ranch, you took the time to recreate the Riverwalk with exterior lights. It must have taken you days. And then you went to the trouble of raiding my storage shed in order to fill your cabin’s interior with my mom’s decorations.” She waved her arm at the open spaced area. He’d set up a real tree next to the large windows, covered it in the ornaments she’d grown up seeing on her family’s tree. He’d spread the contents of the container throughout the room, going as far as draping her mom’s tacky multi-colored tinsel from every doorway and frame that held still long enough to get it. Every surface, nook or cranny of the rooms held some memento from her mom’s prized possessions. The wood-burning fireplace popped and crackled, sending a shower of sparks to the brick hearth, adding to the cozy feel of the room. She slipped her arms around his neck and lifted to her toes to get eye to eye with him. “I am in awe of you. And I am so unbelievably touched, because I know you’ve done all of this for me.”

  He wrapped his arms around her waist and squeezed, lifting her off the floor as their lips joined in a kiss that she hoped conveyed so much more than a simple ‘thank you’. She wouldn’t allow him to pull away, but deepened the kiss, promising more to come. He squeezed harder, and then slipped his hands under her legs, taking her weight in his hands and urging her to wrap her legs around his waist.

  She broke from the kiss just long enough for a murmured “Take me to bed.”

  The room filled with his rumble of laughter. “Don’t you want to see everything first? I worked hard on all this.” Despite his words, he reached the bedroom in a few long strides.

  “Uh huh—I’m about to make you work even harder.” She lowered her legs to the floor and dragged her palm down the front of his jeans. “Speaking of harder.”

  “I need you so bad it hurts, Nik,” he groaned. “Seriously—it’s been a long week without you here and I’m in physical pain.”

  She smiled. “Let’s get this done, shall we?” No time for foreplay. In under a minute they’d torn each other’s clothes off and fell onto the bed. Seconds later, he was buried inside her and pounding his way to a pleasurable release for both of them. She matched him, thrust for thrust until they both found what they needed.

  They lay there afterwards, with his body covering half of hers, both spent and panting. She summoned the strength to look at him and smile. “Ooo-rah Marine . . .” A dimple appeared on the one visible cheek as his blue eye opened. Lord, she hoped to see that same blue in her children’s eyes one day. Not that she’d dared to breathe the word marriage to him. Men like Tex may settle down with one woman—for a while anyway—but they surely didn’t marry. She’d known that from day one. It had taken her until now to realize she didn’t care. She loved him enough to take him any way she could get him for as long as she could have him in her life. With any luck at all he’d be a package-deal, baby included. Tex wasn’t the type of man to abandon his child, so even if they didn’t last as a couple, she knew he’d be a part of their lives.

  “Thank you for all this, Tex. After the day I’ve had . . .” The day she’d had. It all came back to her in a sudden rush of disappointment and anger.

  He moved to one side of her, propping an elbow on the mattress to support his head. “Tell me what happened. All of it.”

  She took a deep breath and gave him a play by play of her story, beginning from the second she’d stepped off the elevator. Tex was silent during her telling of the desk-assault, the tightness of his jaw a good indication of his level of anger. Even then, he kept quiet, letting her talk, keeping his opinions, his anger to himself.

  He finally spoke when she’d finished, his tone pleading. “Please tell me that horrible woman is gone.”

  “Oh, she’ll be gone. Or I’ll release my recording to the press. A few of the women are considering pressing charges. One of them said B.L. had stalked her—that she still sent threatening emails. But she’s smart, so they aren’t obvious. The threats are just below the surface, you know what I mean?”

  He nodded. “It’s all about her getting off on the power of manipulation and mind games. That cold-hearted b—hmph!” He finished his comment with a grunt.

  She laughed. “You can say it. She is a cold-hearted bitch.”

  Tex sat up quickly, his mouth set in a hard line. “But I can’t, Niki. Because I’m a man, I can’t say that. If your male supervisor would have done that to do, I’d be free to call him every name in the book, not to mention get him out on some back road and beat him to a bloody pulp. Nobody would bat an eyelash at that. But because your attacker was a woman, if anyone heard me saying anything about her, they’d jump on me for being a sexist pig. And let me tell you that I’ve served with plenty of females during my twenty years with the Corps. Every one of them earned the right to be called Marines—just like the men—hell some of them even more than the men. I treated each one of them with the utmost respect, because they earned it. I may have been a dog during my time served—”

  “And after,” she added.

  He gave her a big nod. “And after,” he agreed. “But I wasn’t raised as a sexist. You’ve met my family. Do any of them seem like the t
ype to let that kind of behavior slide?”

  Niki pictured his parents, so loving and respectful of one another. She’d seen evidence of the same kind of relationship between Haley and Ben. “Definitely not.”

  “Right,” he added. “That’s why this incident frustrated the hell out of me from the beginning. It ate at me when you admitted you wouldn’t have taken that from a male supervisor and would have reported him immediately. Sexism is defined as prejudice or discrimination based on sex. Your lack of immediate action against your female supervisor showed sexist behavior. The abuse of power is the same, no matter the person’s sexual orientation.”

  “You’re right,” she said, finally able to see it from his view point. “It’s like I told Betty Lou today, the fact that she’s a woman hit me as an even bigger betrayal. But I shouldn’t have had to put up with that behavior from anyone—man or woman.” She leveled a look at him. “And I won’t ever put up with it again.”

  “Amen to that.” He leaned over and planted a kiss on her mouth. “Are you hungry?”

  “Starving.”

  “There’s still a little more to this surprise.” He slapped her butt playfully. “Get cleaned up and I’ll show you what I’m talking about.”

  She walked into the kitchen several minutes later, fully dressed and famished from their round of frantic, though satisfying lovemaking. She froze at the sight of the table, set for two with dishware bearing a heart-warming, familiar Christmas pattern. “My mom’s Christmas china—she loved using it during the holidays.”

  Tex, ruggedly handsome in black jeans and a solid black shirt, pulled out a chair for her. She sat, taking note of his black boots, cleaned and polished, and pristine matching felt hat. No fair. She turned to putty in his hands when he went all ‘Johnny Cash’ on her. Once he’d settled her in her chair, Tex leaned over to lift the lid on a platter of barbequed ribs.

  “Oh. My. Gosh. I don’t even have to ask where they came from.” She’d recognize the smell of that special sauce from her favorite barbeque place anywhere.