Holiday Spice & Everything Nice

by Conn, Claudy

  “So you’re telling me that one of my gifts isn’t here, and that we have to leave for you to give it to me?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m telling you, but we won’t be gone for very long.” He crossed his arms and gave me a dimpled grin.

  I looked at my watch and grinned back at him and left the room and headed towards my daughter so that I could feed her. I knew that she would be fine with Harold and Doris before Ruby made it home, but as soon as Flynn and I were about to walk out, Ruby walked in. I wrapped her in my arms and said hello and goodbye and grabbed my husband's hands and dragged him outside.

  “Let’s go. I want to know what you got me and as you can tell, I’m impatient today.” I smirked at him and backed away from him when I saw him pull a blindfold out of his pocket. “What is that for?”

  “I need you to put it on for the drive to your gift.” I hesitated with nervousness. “Precious, I’m your husband and I’m pretty sure that we’ve used this in the bedroom a few times. If you can’t trust me to drive across town while you’re wearing this, I’ve screwed up somewhere.”

  “You know I’m claustrophobic, but you’re right, okay, let’s go.”

  My body was vibrating with excitement and I can’t wait to see what my gift is because my wonderful husband knows how I hate surprises, but this must be a good one for him to have planned this out the way that he has.

  I was trying to determine how long the drive was and where we were by the turns Flynn took but I was so lost and had no idea where we were. Around ten, maybe fifteen minutes, he finally turned the car off and I grabbed the blindfold but he stopped me.

  “We’re here but leave the blindfold on, please.”

  I waited for him to open the door for me and lead me to wherever it was he needed me to be for the surprise. I started to get a little nervous when he grabbed my hands and was obviously having problems coming up with the words that he needed to say.

  “I didn’t think I was going to be this nervous, but now that I’m here, I’m nervous as hell, but here goes.” He leaned own and kissed my cheek and began. “I love you, Precious. I loved you before I ever met you because of your father. One of the best and worst days of my life was when I met him. He showed me what I was missing after losing my own father, but he also showed me the kind of father I wanted to be for my own children. He loved you and your siblings, so much and I made many promises to him before he died. The first promise that I made to him was to track Brett down and to give you what he had stolen from your family. The next promise that I made him was to be patient with you and to show you that you deserved to be loved unconditionally, and by a real man and he impressed upon me to be that man for you. The way that we met wasn’t exactly the way I had intended our first meeting to go, but I fell for you in that bar and once I got over the shock of it being you, I felt that fate had somehow led us to each other that night.” He let out a chuckle. “Maybe it was your father, I don’t know, but I thank God every day for meeting you and becoming my family that I had no idea that I was longing for, no matter how crazy it can get from time to time. You and your siblings are my family, you and Anna are my home.” I gripped his hands when he got quiet again, but he let go and reached up and pulled my blindfold off, never letting my eyes stray from his as he cradled my chin in his hands. “This is the last promise that I made to your father.” He choked out. “I promised him that one day, I would bring him and your mother back home and bury them next to your grandparents so that you and your siblings would have a place to come talk to them, for when you need them.”

  The tears that slid down his cheeks and his words that were so full of emotion, let me know where we were and I had no choice but to close my eyes as the moment that I had always dreamed of was within my reach. My parents were finally home where they belonged and my heart was soaring that I finally had the chance to be this close to them again. When I opened my eyes, Flynn was still crying, but I could see the relief on his face as well as all of the love that he had for me shining bright in his emerald green eyes.

  “I love you, Precious, now go have a little chat with your parents. Merry Christmas, baby.”

  “Thank you for this.” I reached up and gave him a quick kiss and turned around and stared at the headstone of my parents.

  I couldn’t help but to grin when I looked around and saw that they were buried next to my grandparents. I turned around in thanks of how blessed I was to have Flynn for my husband and wondered how long it took him to pull off this surprise for me.

  I sat down in front of my parents’ tombstone and noticed the love and care that Flynn had put on display for them. He had their names listed with their birthdays, their wedding date and the day that they had died and had all of us listed as their children, but my heart skipped a beat when I saw that he had Anna listed as their granddaughter and saw that there was room for more grandchildren to be added. For as long as we live, I know that he will never be able to top this gift.

  “Hey Mom, Dad. You have no idea how wonderful this is to know that I can jump in my car and come visit you any time I feel like it. God, I’ve missed you both, so much, but I’m not going to cry. I was expecting to, when I figured out what Flynn had surprised me with, but knowing that you are both here, at home with all of us?” I grinned with excitement. “I have no words for how happy I am right now. I’m not going to tell you that I’m sorry for being the reason you went away because I now know, after having Anna, that I would move heaven and earth to make her happy and I finally understand just how much you both loved me and all I’m going to say is, Thank You.” I glanced towards my husband who was leaning against the car. “Thank you so much for sending me that amazing man to fill the hole in my heart that I never thought would be filled after losing you both and feeling like I didn’t have any dignity left. I love you and I still miss you both like crazy, but it has been easier since you sent Flynn my way. You’re going to get so sick of me visiting and I can’t wait to bring Anna here for you both to meet her. Mom, Dad, Merry Christmas and welcome home.”

  I placed the flowers on the headstone that Flynn had brought for me to leave and then walked as fast as I could to my husband and leaped into his arms as soon as I reached him.

  “Thank you for my Christmas present. Thank you so much and thank you for coming and finding me when you didn’t have to and for filling my life with so much joy.”

  I kissed him hard on the lips as he tightened his arms around me.

  “It’s a good thing I didn’t turn out to be a serial killer, huh?” he asked with a chuckle.

  “Best one night stand I ever had.” I replied.

  “Last one night stand you’ll ever have.” He growled out.

  I giggled and nodded in agreement as I kissed him again and then turned around and blew my parents a kiss, telling them that I would be back soon with my siblings.

  “Let’s go, Precious. Time to head back home.” He opened the car door for me to get in.

  I nodded my head at him and sat down and thought back to the days, when I hated for him to call me by my given name because it brought back too many bad memories and guilt over how I had let my father down who thought of me as his most Precious Gem.

  Now, the name makes me feel immensely loved and it is because of the last gift my father ever gave me and that was sending me my husband, my own most Precious Gem.

  The End

  Links for Jennifer Bryan Yarbrough:

  Amazon:

  https://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-Bryan-Yarbrough

  Facebook:

  https://www.facebook.com/lostandfoundjenniferbryanyarbrough/

  Snowed In!

  Winter Storm by Kiki Howell

  Second Edition December 2016

  ISBN: 978-1-926514-58-1

  Published by: Naughty Nights Press LLC

  http://naughtynightspress.com/

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  Chapter One

  Northeast Ohio Getting Pummeled by Lake Effect Snow

  “Conditions are worsening quickly, folks. That flow of very warm air from the Gulf of Mexico that surged northwards is providing copious amounts of moisture to our cold air, fueling snowfall amounts that will likely approach two feet across portions of Northeast Ohio this weekend. The last few hours, I’ve cranked up that lake effect snow machine and have been bringing you upwards of two inches of snow per hour. We already have numerous flight delays here at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, and multiple traffic accidents reported. For our first snowfall this year, this could be one of Cleveland’s biggest blizzards…”

  Rachael clicked off the TV, gripping the remote tightly to refrain from throwing it. The idiot weatherman on Channel five always took credit for the weather, speaking as if he were Mother Nature himself.

  She tolerated arrogance in men about as well as she did her mother’s insistent need to tell her how to live her life. In matters such as these, silence was not golden. Her revenge she gained by living her life blatantly her way, and that was indeed the best medicine.

  Speaking of arrogant men, Rachael turned in her office chair to see the light in Aaron’s office still burning. Standing, she flipped him off, her face composed in a half smirk, half snarl as she went to take a look out the window. Lake Erie had disappeared behind the parking lot in a haze of grayish snow. She grumbled, the air rumbling up into her dry throat. Grabbing her mug, she grimaced after the cold sip of black liquid went beyond her mouth. Still, rather than taking the time to warm it up, she gulped the rest down just for the caffeine to aid her on what would surely be a stressful ride home.

  The white stuff had already covered their cars; the only two left in the lot hers and Aaron’s. All the others in the building, the sane ones who cared more about getting home than they did about their jobs, had fled two hours ago when their boss had given them an early leave due to the Winter Storm Warning that had been issued. In fact, at the time, it had been safer to remain in one’s office than chance the onslaught of people sprinting to leave work as if the one extra minute they got in a dead run for the elevator would change their whole life for the better.

  With an almost silent hiss of frustration, Rachael mentally conceded to Aaron, “Okay, Mr. I’ll Do Whatever It Takes Even If It Means Getting Myself Killed, if you want this win tonight, you can have it. I’m not risking my life for a game of Who Can Work The Latest. Besides, you bailed out of here twice last week before I did.” She began internally checking off her victories this week. Stupid, petty stuff really, like taking a later lunch, speaking first with an idea in a meeting, and so on. Didn’t matter if she’d just received a compliment from the boss on a day Aaron didn’t, everything she did lately seemed a competition with this man. She’d have scolded herself to grow up and get over it, but the winning had been too much fun, especially considering recent events, she’d been on quite the hot streak around here. A wiggle of her hips and shoulders – a victory dance in her own honor – perked up her mood.

  Pulling off her heels, she began to walk toward Aaron’s office. Late at night, when they were the only two left, Rachael liked to sneak down the hall without him hearing her on the off chance she could catch a few words of something useful. Rachael had tip-toed halfway down the hallway, and her victory list had gotten up to Tuesday’s triumph of getting more of boss’ ear time than Aaron on their preliminary project proposals, when she heard his voice.

  “So, tell me what you have on, what the outfit I’m going to miss tonight looks like,” he’d nearly growled into the phone in that deep, velvet voice of his that she dared not admit got under her skin at times. Sadly not in a bad way, depending on how you looked at it.

  A pause loomed in the air as he listened to his newest bimbo on the phone. Not that she had met the girl, and who was she to judge, yet the facts stood. Aaron went through chicks at a rate of about two to three a week, and he only went out on about the same amount of dates. According to word around the office, the babe had to be a good lay to get a second date, if one could use such a term for how this man spent his time with women. Yet, each of them insisted on sleeping with him, or were easily talked into the idea, according to his legendary stories around the office.

  Rachael was the only woman in their office of eight employees, and it seemed the men liked to conveniently forget that little fact of her gender, giving them license to say whatever they wanted. Narratives about nauseating seductions made with beyond stupid pickup lines, what had to be myths about certain sexual gymnastics he’d won medals in, and anecdotes about breasts of all shapes and sizes which were only slightly better than the epic diatribes of the women who didn’t put out despite how he’d wined and dined them. Her disgust, rivaled only by her cutthroat curiosity, slowed her steps a few feet from his open door.

  “You’re killing me. My dick is hard just thinking about it. You know I like them. I told you the other night when we met at the bar that I had a thing for fishnets, baby.”

  Taking a few more steps toward his office door, she paused and peered in, being careful to remain quiet and undetected. She could see Aaron turned sideways in his chair, feet up on his desk, leaning on his arm, doodling on a pad of paper, with a big cheesy smile on his face, and the phone to his ear. His sprawl, the way he looked comfortable and elegant at the same time in the suit he had worn all day, had her tugging on her suit jacket. She pushed her fingers into her hair, giving some height to the long curls around her face. His hair, tousled or not, always looked like he had intended it to be that way. Perfect. Sexy. Sickening.

  During his next pause, Rachael stepped forward and appeared in his doorway. “Fishnets? Last week it was stilettos that got you hard. Chick before that it was—“

  “So, have you decided yet which one you are going to wear for me?” Aaron interrupted her with his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. He turned, his feet hitting the floor and stopping the spin of his chair.

  “In your dreams, Mr. Sick and Twisted Fetish. Stick to the bimbos. More your style. You couldn’t han
dle this in stilettos.” She waved her hand down her body, popping one knee out in front of the other. Pausing in a catwalk pose, she let him get a good look.

  She passed her gaze over what she hoped was a burgeoning erection and then up to his face, trying not to imagine what Aaron would look like naked. And yet, she ended up pushing away the picture in her head as it became more detailed. No red silky skin. No perfectly shaped head. No veins. I will not think about it or imagine it’s possible size or perfection. I’m serious here!

  That was another game Rachael tried hard not to play. Many it had days proved difficult to maintain enemy status with such a well-endowed man. He was damn sexy, but more importantly, Aaron was her archrival and nemesis, here at work. She had to ignore the first, most predominant idea to maintain her stance on the second. Aggressive and ambitious could be difficult to maintain when one’s female parts throbbed in wonder of a man’s body, his conceptualized rough touch.

  The two of them, on a daily basis, fought like cats and dogs for the number one spot, to be the one to get the chance to pitch their ad campaign to their latest potential account. The other men, outside of her boss, liked to watch the fireworks, to bet on who would win. Their co-workers even chose sides as each possible client appeared.

  Rachael didn’t hate–hate him, just really, really disliked him strongly, to the point of spending time coming up with ways to get under his skin. Yet, looking at him, she could see his appeal, in a totally physical, mind-blowing sex kind of way. She’d wear stilettos for him if only to kick him with them after he’d made her scream. That right there is totally screwed up, what comes of working with a man as hot as him. Forget it girl.