Holiday Kisses: A Rare GiftMistletoe and MargaritasIt's Not Christmas Without YouThis Time Next Year

by Alison Kent

  “I haven’t seen you in like…forever,” Tori said, her long earrings grazing her neck as she twisted her barstool around while juggling the oversized drink. “I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you, too. I’m sorry we haven’t gotten together. I’ve been busy.”

  Tori lifted her brows. “Yeah? Busy doing what? Or should I ask…whom?”

  “What do you know, or what do you think you know?”

  Tori gave an innocent bat of her lashes. “I just know Wyatt has been a lot less grumpy lately. He even smiled. He might have cracked a joke. We thought the world was ending.”

  Calliope’s lips curved. “Well, good for him.”

  “And you’re saying his good mood over the past few weeks has nothing to do with you.”

  Calliope shrugged. “I’m not responsible for his moods.”

  “Uh oh. He’s pissed you off. What did he do?”

  “Nothing. He’s not responsible for my mood, either.”

  “What a crock. Tell me everything.”

  She did, starting with the first night and every night since.

  Tori leaned an arm against the bar and sipped her margarita, her expression changing as the story went on. By the time Calliope finished, Tori was frowning.

  “What an ass.”

  “He has a right to his space.”

  “Bullshit. He sees you every night, and then suddenly blows you off with no explanation other than working on his car and some vague ‘other stuff to do’? No. There’s something else going on.”

  “He’s not seeing anyone else. It practically took an act of Congress for him to have sex with me.”

  Tori snorted and signaled for a refill on their drinks. “Isn’t that the truth? That man had a serious dry spell going. Hence his three-year bad mood. Thank God you came along and ended that.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So how’s the sex?”

  “Tori!”

  Tori straightened in her seat. “What? I want to know how the sex is. Wyatt’s gorgeous. Virile. Studly.”

  Calliope took the fresh margarita from the bartender and licked a spot of salt from the rim. “Yum.”

  “The drink or the man?”

  She smiled. “Both.”

  “So he’s good, right?”

  “I wouldn’t be sitting here pissed off at him if he wasn’t.”

  “That’s what I figured. I always knew he had some deep, smoldering sexuality simmering under the surface of that testy exterior.”

  “I’m surprised you even notice given the hots you have for Brody.”

  “I do not have the hots for Brody. At. All.”

  “You. Lie.”

  “First, I work for him. Second, I’ve known him since I was like…sixteen. Third…”

  Calliope waited while Tori tried to come up with another objection.

  Instead, Tori took a drink and Calliope laughed at her.

  “What?”

  “Why haven’t you ever done anything about it?”

  “About what?”

  “Brody.”

  Tori rolled her eyes, then set her drink down and fiddled with the bracelets on her arm. “I am never doing Brody. We are not meant to be. The man gets on my last nerve. He’s egotistical, loud, annoying, teases me too much and already has way too many women in this town who think the sun rises and sets on his perfect abs and great ass.”

  “And you’re not one of them.”

  “Hell, no. I am not a member of the Brody Kent fan club. Besides, we’re not here to talk about me. Nice try in deflecting, though. What are you going to do about Wyatt?”

  “Nothing. I can’t make him want to be with me.”

  “No, you can’t. But why the sudden brakes on your relationship?”

  “Maybe it’s run its course.”

  “After a few weeks?” Tori shook her head. “I don’t think so. There’s something else, and you need to talk to him to figure out what it is.”

  “I don’t want to talk to him. I want to drink my margarita, hang out with you, then have a giant enchilada.”

  “I think you’d rather have Wyatt’s giant enchilada.”

  Calliope nearly choked on her drink. “Oh, my God, Tori. Don’t do that to me when I’m drinking.”

  Tori grinned. “Just here to state the facts, my friend.”

  Calliope thought about what Tori had said all through drinks and dinner.

  She wasn’t a quitter, wasn’t one to sit back and let things happen. Maybe all this togetherness had been too much too fast for Wyatt, but if so, she needed to hear that from him, not some flimsy excuse about stuff and cars. She’d told him from the very beginning the only thing she wanted from him in this relationship was honesty.

  So she gave him the weekend to do whatever “stuff” he had to do. Monday morning he walked right past her office without dipping his head in, looking to see if she was in there or even trying to find her the entire day.

  Yeah, something was definitely up.

  If the relationship had run its course and he wanted to be done with it, then he owed it to her to have a face-to-face conversation with her and tell her.

  So at the end of the workday, she stood at the entrance to her office while her staff shuffled the kids out the door to their parents. She waved to the other guys who were working on the room addition, and when Wyatt grabbed his tools on his way out the door, she stopped him.

  “Wyatt. Can I see you in my office for a minute?”

  “Kind of busy here, Calliope.”

  “Whatever you’re busy with will have to wait. This is important.”

  He paused, looking toward the front door as if he considered a mad dash for freedom. “I’m dirty and full of dust. How about we do this in my trailer?”

  “Fine. Let me lock up in here and I’ll meet you there.”

  He nodded and walked out.

  As soon as her staff left, she locked the door and headed over to his trailer. For a brief second as she rounded the corner she wondered if he would take off without talking to her, but he wasn’t that much of a coward. The light was on the trailer. She opened the door and walked in. Wyatt was in there going over blueprints on the drafting table. He looked up, but didn’t smile.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  She leaned against the opposite wall. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”

  “Huh?”

  “Things between us were great, and then suddenly you backed off. I want to know why.”

  “Calliope…”

  “Don’t.” She pushed off the wall, came to the table and laid her hands on it. “All I want is the straight truth, Wyatt.”

  He looked down at the blueprints, then back up at her. She saw sadness and pain in his eyes and her heart squeezed.

  “I don’t want anyone to hurt you.”

  “What?”

  “You started talking about going out, and you deserve that. But you know people are going to talk.”

  That wasn’t at all what she expected to hear. He was protecting her? “Talk about what? That you were once married to Cassie and now you’re dating me?”

  “Yeah.”

  She rolled her eyes and slid her hand over his. “Wyatt. I don’t care what anyone has to say about that.”

  “You know as well as I do it’s the kind of thing that will get small-town gossip going. It doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t give a shit what people say. But you have a reputation to maintain. This could hurt you.”

  She snorted. “A reputation? Am I some kind of saint in this town?”

  “You run a day care center. You can’t be seen with me.”

  “Oh for the love of chocolate chip cookies. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” She moved in between him and table and palmed his face. “I want to be with you. In public. People can say whatever they want, gossip all they want about it. I’d be proud to be with you. If they care that you were married to my sister, that’s their problem, not mine.”

  S
he saw the worry on his face.

  “You know what they’re going to say, all the things they’re going to say.”

  “Let them,” she said. “I won’t be listening.”

  “What about the people who bring their kids to you?”

  “If they’re bothered by it, they’re not the right kind of people. It’s not going to hurt my business.” She swept her hand along his jaw, tingling at the scratch of his beard. “But I love that you were worried for me. Thank you.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you, Calliope. I’m trying not to be that guy anymore.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “That guy?”

  “Never mind. It’s not important. Look. I’m sorry. I warned you I wasn’t any good at this.”

  She laughed. “You’re only going to get so many free passes at using that as an excuse. If you want to be in a relationship, you have to work on your communication skills.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and tugged her close. “I’m not much of a talker. I’m more of a doer.”

  This is what she’d missed over the weekend. The rush of heat, the sudden flame of desire he could draw out of her with one touch.

  “A doer, huh?”

  “Yeah.”

  She looked over her shoulder. Her butt rested on the blueprints. “You know, I’ve had this fantasy about your trailer and this drafting table ever since the first time I walked in here.”

  She felt the hard ridge of his erection as he pushed her against the table. “Do tell.”

  “It has something to do with you bending me over it.”

  He flipped her around so fast she was dizzy, his hands roaming over her breasts, her back, her butt. “I like the way you think, Calliope.”

  “Good. Then shut up. More doing, less talking.”

  Chapter Nine

  Wyatt watched the people around them as he escorted Calliope to their table at McCluskey’s Restaurant. He intended to shoot visual daggers at anyone who gave Calliope even a sidelong glance.

  So far they’d gone to a movie, eaten at her favorite Mexican restaurant, and gone out with Ethan, his wife Riley and their daughter, Zoey, since Riley was back in town after doing a recording session. As soon as Riley heard he was dating Calliope, she insisted on meeting her, so Ethan had suggested they all go out to dinner.

  All this going out was wearing on him. Wyatt had spent so much of the past few years as a recluse he had lost the ability to be social. Fortunately Calliope was social enough for the both of them. She and Riley had talked for hours, and of course since Calliope loved kids she’d engaged Zoey in conversation, too. He and Ethan had kicked back and talked work while the three girls laughed together, talked fashion and music and the latest kid stuff.

  Calliope was just damned…perfect.

  He was in love with her, which scared the shit out of him.

  The last time he’d fallen in love with a woman it hadn’t ended so well for him. And this was Cassandra’s sister. He couldn’t imagine what her parents would think of all this. They weren’t too fond of him because of what had gone down the first time. He didn’t think they’d be overjoyed at the prospect of having him back in the family again.

  “Wyatt.”

  He lifted his gaze to Calliope, who, along with the waitress he hadn’t noticed standing at their table, gave him a look of expectation.

  “What?”

  “What would you like to drink, sir?”

  “Oh. Iced tea would be great.”

  “Thanks, Rachel,” Calliope said, then turned back to Wyatt after the waitress bounded off. “Where is your head tonight?”

  “Sorry. Was thinking about work stuff.” Or proposing to Calliope.

  And where the hell had that come from?

  He knew where it had come from. He was tired of being alone. Calliope had filled a void in his life he hadn’t realized had been there. She was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman. She was full of life and laughter, she loved kids, and she didn’t put up with his crap. She wanted the same things he did, so what the hell was he waiting for, other than it was all too familiar, family-wise?

  It was too soon. He wasn’t ready. He had no idea how she felt. What the hell was he thinking?

  “Wyatt.”

  He lifted his gaze. “What?”

  She tilted her head toward Rachel, their waitress again. “Sir, what would you like to order?”

  Shit. He did a quick scan of the menu, ordered a steak and handed her the menu.

  “Are you even here tonight?” Calliope asked.

  “Sorry. A lot on my mind.”

  She reached for his hand. “Would you like to talk about it?”

  “No.” Hell, no.

  “Well, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

  “Okay.” This time he was determined to pay attention.

  “The holidays are approaching, you know.”

  He lifted his lips and took a sip of tea. “Yeah, I have a calendar.”

  “Smartass. Anyway, I was wondering if you’d be willing to come over to my parents’ house. They’re having an open house this weekend.”

  He swallowed. Talk about tuning into his train of thought. “I don’t know, Calliope. I’m not exactly their favorite person after Cassandra.”

  “I don’t agree. They don’t hold a grudge. Anyway, there’re more.”

  “It gets worse?”

  “I don’t know if you’d call it worse. But I think if you and I are going to go anywhere with our relationship, there are some issues you need to put to rest.”

  He didn’t like where this was going. “Go on.”

  “Cassie’s coming home for the holidays.”

  And the train just jumped the tracks. “No.”

  “Hear me out on this.”

  “No. She and I have nothing to say to each other. Everything was said between our attorneys.”

  She squeezed his hand. “See? That’s the problem. Neither of you had closure.”

  He pulled his hand away. “I had plenty of closure.”

  “Wyatt.”

  “Calliope. No. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I have nothing to say to Cassandra that hasn’t already been said. I don’t want to see her again, or talk to her again. Ever.”

  She opened her mouth to argue, but the waitress brought their drinks. Maybe she could tell by the look on his face, but she didn’t bring up the topic again, at least until they left the restaurant and went back to his place.

  They were curled up on the sofa together and she was unbuttoning his shirt, a slow seduction that was too damn slow in his opinion. He was more than ready to get to the good stuff, like her gorgeous naked body, with him inside her, hopefully rocking her world.

  “What if you and I end up having…let’s say a long-term relationship.”

  Fun halted. He took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s say we do.”

  “Eventually you’re going to have to see my parents, come over to my house, hang out at holidays and birthdays and stuff.”

  He turned to face her. “My relationship is with you. Not with your family any more than your relationship is with my family. I care about you. Just you.”

  “But that isn’t the way it works and you know it. You’re trying to be simplistic and putting the two of us in a bubble. I don’t want it to work that way, and I don’t think you do, either. I like your family. I want our future to include our families—providing, of course, we have a future together. Do you want us to have a future together?”

  He inhaled, let it out. “This is complicated.”

  “It doesn’t have to be. You’re making it that way by shoving this giant obstacle between us.”

  “Cassandra.”

  “Yes. And she doesn’t have to be there. If you’d—”

  He put his fingers to her lips. “I don’t want my ex-wife in our lives, and I sure as hell don’t want her between us right now. I don’t want to talk about her or think about her. What I want right now is to kiss you.” He
put his mouth where his fingers had been. He much preferred kissing her to talking.

  When she leaned against him, he felt her surrender. She curled her hand around his neck and moaned against him. He’d won this battle.

  But it was a temporary reprieve. This wasn’t over, but he was content to let it go for now. All he wanted was this moment, and to have Calliope in his arms, to feel the softness of her body as she moved against him.

  He reached behind her to the zipper of the incredibly sexy dress she’d worn to dinner. All he could think about was getting the dress off her. He dragged the zipper down, then drew the dress off her shoulders. She wore a black silk bra that made him hold his breath because her breasts nearly spilled over the top.

  “Wow.”

  She grinned and pushed her glasses up.

  Damn, she was one sexy woman. She slid off his lap, unhooked her bra then shimmied out of her panties. “You know what I really wish we could do?”

  “If it has anything to do with sex, your wish is granted.”

  “Good. Because I want to take a shower.”

  He liked the direction of her thoughts. They made his dick pound hard against his jeans. He stood, scooped her up in his arms and carried her up the stairs, depositing her on the floor in the bathroom. He turned the shower on while he removed his clothes, loving the way Calliope watched him as he undressed. He was hard and aching by the time he pulled her inside the oversized shower.

  “I told you the first time I came here that this shower gave me naughty thoughts,” she said.

  “And I want to hear all about them.”

  “Four showerheads? It’s a woman’s dream, in more ways than one.” She stepped under one of the sprays, not at all self-conscious about her hair getting wet or her makeup running down her face. One of the things he loved about her.

  Wyatt stood back and watched the water stream in rivers down her gorgeous body as she slicked her hair back.

  He moved in and put his arms around her to tug her against him, let her feel what she did to him. She reached between them to stroke him, agonizing him with slow, careful movements that made him clench his jaw.