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

by Alison Kent

  He’d never driven drunk in his life, not even as a teenager. Thought people who did were irresponsible jackasses. But for a few seconds as an adult who should have known better, he’d toyed with the idea. The reality of how close he’d come to screwing up and taking his truck on a public road in that spaced-out state scared the shit out of him. And opening his eyes in the hospital to see the disappointment written all over his dad’s face pulled Austin back from the edge of stupidity.

  “Man, I promised you before. That’s not going to happen ever again.” His voice cracked on the words. He’d made a vow and he would not break it.

  Spence’s white-knuckle grip on the tree didn’t let up. “It was fucked up. That’s all I’m saying.”

  “I’m not arguing. That’s why I’ve kept my drinking to an occasional beer since and limit even that to the house.” And when he did, three pairs of eyes watched him. Even Mitch joined in.

  For weeks after the accident Austin would find his office at the nursery a bit too perfect. Straight stacks of paper and unlocked file drawers. As the business manager, Mitch had a vested interest in conducting alcohol sweeps. When Austin assured Mitch he wasn’t an alcoholic and made a promise to refrain from drinking in return for Carrie never hearing about those days, the covert searches ended.

  “Ever tempted to lose control like again?” The tree shook in Spence’s hand.

  “No.”

  “That was a quick response.”

  “I don’t need to think about it.”

  “It’s just that…” Spence kicked the turf under his feet as his gaze turned down.

  “I get it.” Austin wrapped a hand around his brother’s biceps. “I do.”

  He’d put them through hell and done a number on his body. Even now he’d head to the fridge during a game and all conversation would cease. It was like a collective breath holding until he returned with a soda.

  “Despite all that other shit, I want this to work for you,” Spence said.

  Part of Austin wondered if his brother blamed Carrie for the death spiral. Austin refused to go there. He shouldered the guilt alone. He’d ordered the drinks and stumbled down that driveway. He had no one to blame for his stupidity but him. But he wasn’t sure Spence saw it that way. “Is that why you agreed to come with me? A combination of babysitting and support?”

  “You’d do it for me.”

  “Then you need to know I’m not leaving until she agrees to come home.”

  Spence shook his head. “You better work on your skills because I’d give you a D so far.”

  “Hey, I’m just getting started.”

  Nine hours and three cups of coffee later Carrie sat at her desk and tried not to stare outside. It wasn’t her fault the window behind her computer monitor had a clear view of the tree lot across the street. Well, it did if she slouched down, ducked her head a little and peeked in the space between her clock and her pen holder. She also had to squint a bit, but she didn’t have any trouble making out Austin as he walked around under the lights.

  The slow stride of his legs. The confident way he stood with his shoulders back and his hands tucked into his back pockets. He talked and the broad smile never left his lips. She had to guess at that last part, but knowing him the smile was guaranteed. He buzzed around the lot, greeting all the customers and shifting trees from piles to cars without resting.

  She’d missed so much about him. She could watch him work for hours, listen to his deep voice forever.

  But she had other priorities now, ones he refused to appreciate and share. Despite long hours, the piles of work never seemed to go down. She glanced at the open file in front of her. She had to finalize the museum’s summer education programs and get the contracts out to the artists and instructors who would fill the calendar. Too much procrastination and the deadlines stacked up. She had to get the agreements out, get the pamphlets printed and set up the advertising. The museum depended on the extra income, along with donations and grants, to pay for special exhibits.

  Yeah, no pressure.

  The black ink blurred on the pages in front of her. She rubbed her eyes, hoping to jumpstart her concentration. But her gaze wandered back outside and her stomach flip-flopped.

  He was determined now, chasing her here and staying close, but how long would it last? She’d given him the chance months ago to come with her and live out her dream, and he told her to go alone. Being here now could be a mix of ego and loneliness, and she didn’t want a part of either.

  He had work and a life two hours away. From what she’d witnessed that morning, he didn’t seem one inch closer to accepting the part of her life he didn’t understand. He thought he could wait her out and believed he was being so subtle with his plan. About as subtle as being hit in the head with a brick.

  But he was here. All six irresistible feet of him. And the months apart hadn’t done anything to put out the fire inside that burned without end for him. She knew the sad drill. He wouldn’t change, would get sick of waiting, would leave and her heartache would spike all over again. Her only choice was to ride this out and not believe in the show.

  He hadn’t changed and she wasn’t ready to come home on his terms. That left little room for compromise. Not that he even understood the word.

  She eyed her cell phone. Four calls to her scheming brother for an explanation about his role in this mess and all had gone to voice mail. Mitch was hiding. The coward. She’d see how he liked it if she called every hour until he answered.

  She picked up the phone and her finger hesitated over the camera icon. She clicked. Her photos scrolled until she found the one she wanted, the one she stared at almost every day. Austin in his safety harness, what looked like miles above the ground in a tree.

  She traced the outline of his body and smiled as she remembered that spring day. He sang some stupid made-up song off-tune as he shimmied up there. The carefree act eased her jumping nerves and made her forget about the danger, which had been exactly his plan. But that’s what he failed to get. She accepted this side of him. She just wished he would do the same for her.

  Chapter Three

  Spence finished locking up the trees on the right side of the lot before wiping his hands on his pants. “She never came back today.”

  “Thanks for highlighting the obvious.” As if Austin needed that newsflash.

  On one level he knew just seeing him wouldn’t be enough to make Carrie realize she’d made a mistake and come running back to him…but a guy could fantasize. God knew he did that a lot when it came to her.

  He dragged a net over the last tree on his side and dropped to his knee to rope the wire around the trunk then clicked the lock. Since he didn’t plan on sleeping outside in the cold, he had to make sure he secured everything for the night. The two guards walking the outline of the lot would take care of the rest.

  With the final close-up work done, he stood up and glanced at Carrie’s apartment building. He hadn’t been inside and had no idea which window belonged to her, but the restlessness kicking in his gut over the last few months wound down. Being close to her helped ease the anxiety pounding through him. She hadn’t taken him back, but she would. He just needed time to convince her.

  “It’s not too late to cut our losses and get back home.” Hope echoed in Spence’s voice as he took up a position standing next to his brother.

  Austin shot down that line of thinking before it took hold. “This is only the first day.”

  “I’m not convinced the rest of the days are going to go any better.”

  He treated Spence to a side-scowl. “You’re not great with the brotherly support thing.”

  “How about this?” Spence turned around, blocking Austin’s view of the building. “Why don’t you go up to her apartment, apologize for being a giant ass and end this torture?”

  “She needs romance.”

  Spence’s eyes widened. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Women like that shit.” It made Austin’s
head pound, but a guy had to take a hit now and then to make his woman happy. Maybe this was the price he had to pay for being so flippant when she asked him to move to D.C. with her.

  Spence folded his arms across his chest. “Define romance.”

  “Yeah, that’s where my plan gets fuzzy.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  Austin ignored his brother’s smirk and stayed on topic. “She thinks I don’t care. I need to show her I do.”

  Spence threw his head back and laughed. “Priceless.”

  Yeah, his brother was going to die if he kept this up. “What?”

  “Seeing you knocked on your ass by a woman.” Spence shook his head, adding a tsk-tsking sound as he did. “After months of having every eligible woman, and some not-so-eligible, in Holloway knock at your door, now you’re getting the cold shoulder.”

  “Do you want to be knocked on your ass?”

  “I wish Mitch was here to see this. He’s your best friend. He really should have a front-row seat.” Spence pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket.

  Austin grabbed Spence’s arm. “Press any button and you die.”

  “What, this?” Spence shook his phone. “I was looking up romance for you on the internet. Trying to help.”

  “I got this covered.” Or Austin vowed he would once he spent all night thinking about formulating a plan.

  Something or someone thumped against her front door early the next morning. At the sound, Carrie jumped and a black smudge of mascara slashed across her cheek.

  “What the hell?” A glance at the small clock on her bathroom counter told her it wasn’t seven yet.

  After barely sleeping and hours of trying to kick the image of Austin’s ridiculously handsome face out of her head, she’d showered and gotten as far as drying her hair and throwing on a robe before the thud. Thanks to the scare, the make-up application was a bust and would need a second attempt.

  But first, the door. She wiped off the smear and dropped the tube into the sink. Stepping into the entry, she cursed under her breath and generally worked her nerves into a full-blown fury as she went. There were twenty apartments on her floor and if someone had wandered to the wrong door she’d scream. She glanced through the peephole and her planned unreasonable explode-on-a-stranger rage fizzled. A whirring mix of anxiety and unwanted hope spun around in her belly. The sound of whistling hit her a second later.

  No, no, no.

  She’d thought about Austin nonstop and now he appeared at her door and…she was a dead woman. No way would her shaky control withstand this. Staring at him through the safety of a window and from six floors up last night made her twitchy enough. Smelling him, seeing him, hearing him, being inches away from touching him. It was all too much.

  To keep from bending, she focused on her frustration over his stubbornness. He pretended to listen to her talk about her job but he didn’t really hear her. The anger at his refusal to see her as more than the woman who’d always been there for him washed over her. She let it fuel her until it pounded in her ears.

  She threw open the door and glared. “How do you know where I live?”

  “Uh, hello?”

  How the man could look so yummy so early in the morning was a mystery. Hair ruffled from the air and a chill on his skin that swept over her from two feet away. The faded jeans and checkered shirt hanging open over a gray tee added to the scruffy, just-out-of-bed look that never failed to make her jaw drop.

  She ended the visual tour with a practiced frown. “You can’t possibly expect a warm welcome at this time in the morning.”

  “It’s seven.”

  “Your point?”

  He executed the perfect eye roll. “I’ve been up for two hours.”

  “You’re not normal.” Her gaze bounced down to his hands and she wondered how she’d missed the two cups of what looked like coffee and a white bag of something in the carrier.

  The man knew how to get to her. She’d once joked about how a woman could forgive a lot for a man who brought her breakfast. She was trying to weasel a coffee run out of him at the time.

  “You’ve enjoyed my early rising in the past,” he said.

  She bit down on her lip to keep from laughing at his dumb joke and the sexy smile that followed. “You haven’t explained how you found me.”

  “We come from a town of, like, ten people. They lined up to tell me how to find you.”

  Traitors. “So, Mitch squealed. That would explain why he won’t answer my calls.”

  “Your brother has to work with me.” When she snorted, Austin talked louder. “Then there’s the part where I threatened to kill him if he didn’t spill.”

  “I’m going to smack the crap out of him when I see him again.” She stood back and opened her arm to usher Austin out of the hallway. “Come in before we give the neighbors a show that will get me evicted.”

  “In that robe? I’d be willing.”

  Her skin warmed everywhere his gaze touched. She grabbed her lapels and gathered them in her clenched fist to stop that sort of thing. “I wasn’t expecting company.”

  “I’m not complaining.”

  Her all but naked and his gaze traveling down her front spelled disaster. “I’ll go get dressed.”

  Before she could shuffle off to the bedroom and lock the door behind her, he raised his hands. The move put the goodies he brought at eye level. “Are you sure you don’t want to try these first?”

  The smell of deep roast filled her senses. Hot man and hot coffee. Who could resist that combination?

  “What’s in the bag?”

  “A cinnamon-swirl pound cake to go with your grande nonfat vanilla latte.” He shook the bag as he spoke.

  The evil coffee pimp remembered her usual order. “Lucky guess.”

  He walked into her kitchen and went to the silverware drawer as if he’d been in the apartment a hundred times. “You tricked me into a caffeine run almost every morning in Holloway once that joint opened the next town over.”

  “Tricked?”

  “Maybe I should say bribed with sex and the promise of football tickets.”

  She leaned in the doorway and fell into the gentle rhythm of their comfortable conversation. “A gentleman wouldn’t mention my methods.”

  “A gentleman wouldn’t have jumped on the deal, but I did. On the deal. On you. All of it.”

  She eased up on the grip on her robe as she watched his lean fingers work on the lid and empty what looked like three pink packets into his coffee. And people accused her of having a sugar addiction.

  “Those were good times,” she said as the pictures played in her mind.

  “But your mother’s cinnamon rolls are better than anything I’ve been able to get in a store.” He opened the bag and peeked inside.

  “And more fattening.”

  He frowned. “Not a big concern for you.”

  Sweet talker. Carrie wasn’t the weight-obsessed type but a healthy weight in Holloway was a good ten pounds heavier than an expected weight for the high-heeled, big checkbook crowd she moved with at work.

  “Every woman worries about her weight. Mine leveled out when I left Mom’s kitchen.” The daily hour on the treadmill also helped.

  He dropped a slab of cake on the piece of wax paper stuck underneath it and slid it to the edge of the counter closest to her. “You have to miss those special meals. That woman can cook.”

  A skill she did not pass on to her daughter, not that Austin ever complained. Carrie had loved him for many things. His willingness to put up with her crappy meatloaf without gagging was one of them. He’d insisted she was getting better with each meal she made. She was just grateful she hadn’t accidentally poisoned them.

  “When will you try them again?” he asked.

  Carrie picked up her breakfast but stopped in mid-chomp. “What?”

  “When are you coming home to visit your family?” He took a sip of coffee and eyed her over the cup.

  “Now you sound lik
e Mom.”

  “She misses you.”

  Carrie threw the cake on the counter as the acid in her stomach bubbled. “Don’t do that. Don’t use family guilt to lure me back to Holloway.”

  “Fine.” He pushed off from where he leaned against her stove and started toward her. “How about this? I miss you.”

  The words she’d longed to hear. The same ones that cut through her, bringing both pain and joy. Her heart spun but the knot in her stomach tightened.

  “Austin…” She held up both hands in a half-hearted attempt to fend him off.

  When he wrapped his fingers around her wrists and carried her wrists to the back of his neck, she didn’t fight him. His scent washed over her senses, lighting every cell on fire. She smelled the cool outdoors on his skin, that subtle mix of pine and soap with a touch of fresh firewood.

  The soft strands of his fine hair slid through her fingers as her body melted into his. The robe, his clothes, it all faded away. In her head, her soft skin smoothed over his rough edges.

  His mouth danced in a trail from her ear and down her throat. Her heartbeat spiked in response.

  “Am I supposed to pretend like I don’t miss you? No way could I pull a lie that big off.” His husky voice rumbled against her bare skin.

  “You’re not even supposed to be here.”

  “But I am.” He blew the words across her lips.

  She didn’t know how much she’d wanted his mouth on hers until his tongue swept across her lips. The kiss started out achingly slow, brushing from one end to the other, until his mouth covered hers and her body sparked to life.

  Demanding and hot, he kissed her until the breath left her lungs and her fingers dug into his shoulders. When he slid his hands down her back and pressed her deeper against him, waves of need crashed over her.