All He Wants For Christmas

by Elisabeth Naughton, Alexandra Ivy, Cynthia Eden, Katie Reus, Laura Wright, Skye Jordan

  As she rounded it, he looked over, those striking blue eyes landing on her. And damn it, she felt the effect of that stare all the way to her toes. She tried to pretend she didn’t, but her body didn’t lie. Everything around her funneled out, the rich scents and chattering customers all seemed to fade away as she maneuvered her way through the tables. She wished she was in something sexier than jeans, a red and green striped top and her apron, but there was nothing she could do about it. Now she understood the lipstick comment, but not the ‘your man’ one. Jackson certainly wasn’t hers.

  He’d made that perfectly clear with his radio silence over the last three weeks. One date and he’d completely ghosted on her; no calls, nothing. Considering they’d been friends before their date, it cut deep that he’d simply decided to ignore her for no reason she could decipher.

  “O’Connor,” she said politely as she reached the table. Oh yeah, it was back to O’Connor, what pretty much everyone in town called him. Calling him Jackson was way too intimate and she wanted to set up clear boundaries between them.

  She saw the slight way his eyes narrowed when she did. “You have a few seconds, Nora?” His voice was deep and delicious, the baritone making all her nerve endings flare to life.

  “Ah…” She glanced behind her. The line at the register wasn’t too bad, but the truth was, she didn’t want to talk to him, much less see him. “I’m pretty busy.”

  “Oh go on, honey.” Macy winked at her. “No one will blame you for taking a few minutes to yourself.”

  “And if she’s not interested, we are,” Eleanor continued.

  To Nora’s surprise, Jackson’s cheeks flushed red. Clearing his throat, he motioned toward the front door. “I shouldn’t have come at such a busy time.”

  Though she wanted to tell him that he was right—and give him a piece of her mind—she simply smiled and headed for the front door with him. “Don’t worry about it.” She had to keep her “shopkeeper smile” in place until they were alone. Otherwise everyone in town would gossip and though she might hate it, she had to uphold a certain appearance. When she was Nora Cassidy, business owner, she had to keep a smile on her face and be professional at all times. Which normally wasn’t hard at all. She loved her job and she loved the people of Holly.

  “That’s the fakest smile I’ve ever seen,” Jackson murmured as he held the door open for her.

  The bell jingled overhead as a blast of wintry air rolled over her. She shivered, wrapped her arms around herself as her boots crunched over the icy sidewalk. And she kept the smile in place even as she gritted out, “No joke. What are you doing here?”

  “I…” He practically shoved the flowers at her, the awkward move out of character for the former SEAL. “These are for you.”

  “They’re lovely.” Her voice was wry as she reluctantly took them. They really were pretty, but she didn’t care. Flowers didn’t make up for anything.

  “You look a little like you want to throw them in my face.” He rubbed a hand over his inky black buzz cut.

  She lifted a shoulder. “That would imply I care enough. Look, I’ve got work to do. We went out and you’ve made it clear it was a one-time thing. I’m okay with that.” Which was a big fat lie. They’d been friends for months, dancing around their attraction until he’d finally asked her out. It wasn’t as if they’d been strangers going on a date. No, they’d been way more and he’d just pulled the rug out from under her as if she didn’t matter.

  “I want to take you out again.”

  Unable to stop herself, she snorted. “Not interested.”

  “Nora—”

  “No. You can’t show up in the middle of one of my busiest days and expect to talk to me about this.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry. The timing is crappy, I just…I needed to see you. I’ve missed you.”

  She blinked, surprised by the sincerity in his voice. But she refused to be swayed by it, not when she was still so hurt.

  “Can I call you later?” he continued.

  “You can call,” she murmured. Didn’t mean she’d actually answer. And yeah, she knew she sounded like a complete bitch but she was beyond caring. After one of the hottest nights of her life she’d thought…hell, she hadn’t known what she’d thought. That there was a connection between them past just friendship. Something real.

  She’d barely dated in the last four years, hadn’t been able to. But she’d let Jackson past her defenses, opened up to him, and had almost slept with him. He’d promised to call and for three weeks afterward, nothing. She was just glad they hadn’t had sex. Well, not technically, because they’d certainly gotten intimate. Holding on to the flowers only because she didn’t want any prying eyes to see her give them back to him, she headed back into her shop.

  Time to put her game face on and pretend everything was okay, even when it wasn’t. A healthy dose of embarrassment and hurt skittered through her and it was all because of him. She was being stupid anyway. It wasn’t as if they’d made any commitments to each other or anything.

  Still, when she’d heard that he’d taken Angelia out days after Nora, it had hit her hard. Not only had Nora and Jackson been friends for months, he’d turned things in another direction and pursued her for weeks as if she was the only thing that mattered to him. Even though she’d been hesitant to cross from friends to more, she’d said yes.

  Well she wasn’t going to get charmed by him again. No way in hell.

  * * *

  Jackson scrubbed a hand over his face as he strode down Main Street. He’d screwed up good this time.

  Sweet and adorable Nora had barely been able to look at him, much less talk to him. She’d put on a smile, but he knew it hadn’t been for him. She just didn’t want the locals gossiping. And he couldn’t blame her. After their date he’d said things, made promises he meant to keep. Hell, he still planned to keep them. They’d been friends for months and then he’d finally worked up the courage to ask her out. Something he’d never had a problem with before.

  Nora was different though; she’d been skittish and he’d wanted everything to go right with her. After their date though, he’d realized that she was it for him—and it had freaked him out. So he’d done the complete cowardly thing and just not called her. Which was, yeah, beyond messed up.

  Now that he knew what she looked like when she orgasmed, it was all he’d been able to think about when he’d been talking to her. Or trying to talk to her. Around her he got tongue-tied like some teenager. Except he’d never been shy as a teenager. But everything about Nora got him all sorts of twisted up.

  Her long, dark wavy hair had been pulled up into a ponytail, but he’d run his fingers through the thick tresses as he claimed her mouth, had sucked on her perfect pink nipples as he stroked her to orgasm with his fingers.

  Nope, not continuing that line of thought right now.

  Rolling his shoulders once to ease the tension there, he continued down the street, needing to burn off energy before he headed back to his truck a few blocks away.

  Garlands and pine wreaths were wrapped around the cast iron street lamps lining Main Street, the scent and sight of Christmas permeated everything in Holly. He’d grown up here, had been dying to move away as soon as he was old enough. Now he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Especially not since Nora Cassidy had moved to town nine months ago.

  She always had a smile on her face for everyone. Until today. She’d covered it up with coldness, but he’d seen the hurt in her gaze and it clawed at him. He would make it up to her, prove that he was sorry. He had to.

  Flowers had been a lame attempt, but he hadn’t been sure how else to break the ice. And what had he been thinking, going to see her when she was busy? He hadn’t been thinking, that was the problem. For three weeks he’d managed to avoid her, but today he’d just snapped.

  The need to see her, to hear her voice, had been overwhelming. As he passed Silver Bells, the combination salon/flower shop—where he’d gotten the snapdragons
for Nora, he saw her younger sister Sasha heading his way.

  When the seventeen year old spotted him, she immediately broke eye contact and stared straight ahead. Guilt suffused him. He’d gotten to know Sasha over the last few months too. She was Nora’s sister and always around. He’d known they were a package deal, especially since Nora had been Sasha’s guardian the last four years and he genuinely liked her.

  “Sasha,” he said quietly, sidestepping a mother pushing a double stroller down the sidewalk.

  She gave him the same cold look Nora had, but with the disinterest only a teenager could pull off. “Hey.”

  “How are you?”

  She hiked her backpack against her shoulders, still avoiding his gaze. “Good.”

  “I fucked up.”

  Her eyes widened as she met his gaze full-on now. “Dude, you can’t say that.”

  Wincing, he rubbed a hand over his buzz cut. “Sorry, you’re right.” He was all sorts of twisted up today. What was the matter with him? He’d been a SEAL for a decade and had grown up with two brothers and a sister—who was more a tomboy than anything—so his language was usually rough but she was right. “Maybe don’t tell Nora?”

  “Whatever. But for the record, you’re right. You did screw up. You and her flirted for like, freaking months, you pursued her like crazy, then after one date you just fall off the face of the earth. And you’ve been hooking up with someone else since then? Don’t worry, I won’t be mentioning your name to my sister. You’re not worth her time.” She gave a snort of derision before stalking off.

  Jackson frowned. He hadn’t hooked up with anyone else. Hell, he couldn’t think about anyone other than Nora. Hadn’t since the day he’d met her. But that wasn’t the conversation to have with a seventeen year old kid. Shit, if Sasha thought he was with someone else, then Nora must too.

  He had to apologize to her, needed her to listen to him. And he knew if he called her she’d just ignore him. He needed to play this right. He’d already screwed up, maybe too much for her to forgive him.

  No, he refused to believe that. He’d been a SEAL. He’d never failed a mission yet and he wasn’t going to start now.

  Chapter 2

  Nora inhaled the fresh scent of hazelnut coffee as she started the economy size coffeemaker. This was her favorite part of the morning; before everyone else showed up it was just her and her shop. The fact that she owned something like this was still hard to wrap her head around.

  As she pulled her ‘World’s Best Sister’ mug out of one of the lower cabinets, she realized there were two dirty mugs in one of the industrial sinks. She was the one who’d locked up last night and everything had been clean. A low grade tingling started at the base of her skull. It was probably nothing, but…no, this couldn’t be nothing. She was a complete neat freak; she hadn’t left this.

  Frowning, she did a walk through the coffee shop then moved onto the other half of her place. The bookshelves were divided into genre with romance dominating the majority of her books. It would be impossible to tell if a couple books had been taken on sight, but after she did a walk through all her stock looked fine as did the books. There was a little nook with big throw pillows that looked as if it had been disturbed. She usually tucked the pillows up against the corner wall when she was straightening things at the end of the evening but they’d been pulled out and left on the floor.

  Had someone been in here? Only Sasha and a few other employees had keys. She couldn’t imagine any of them coming in here without asking. Before she could ponder it a knock at the front door made her nearly jump out of her skin.

  When she looked up she saw Jackson standing at the entrance to the bookshop door. Just like that her heart rate kicked up about a thousand notches. She should not be happy to see him, but yeah, her body didn’t listen to reason. It was screaming that he must be sincere if he was here again, that she should give him another chance.

  Stupid hormones.

  A skull cap covered his dark buzz cut. The sharp lines of his face seemed more prominent this morning. He gave her a half-smile that melted her insides as he lifted a small tin of something in one hand. Well, she certainly couldn’t leave him standing out in the cold. It had snowed earlier this morning so there was a light dusting over everything.

  Hurrying to the door, she opened it and was nearly knocked over by a harsh gust of wind. Her little bell jingled wildly as Jackson stepped inside. “Thanks for letting me in.”

  “Is everything okay?” she asked, shutting the door behind him. She hated how much his nearness affected her. All her senses just seemed to go into overdrive. She wanted to reach out and cup his cheek, to stroke his soft skin, and feel the way his jaw clenched when she did. But they weren’t together, they weren’t anything.

  “Yeah, I, uh, have a peace offering. And I was hoping you’d have a few minutes to talk before your rush.” He held up a small tin with snowmen decorating it.

  Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “Is that snickerdoodles?”

  “Maybe.”

  Despite her simmering anger at him, she felt herself softening. It was those clear blue eyes that weakened her resolve. The same intense gaze that had sucked her in to begin with. Who was she kidding? It was everything about him. He had a deadly edge to him that made him ridiculously sexy, but he was so sweet. Or he had been the last six months. He’d been coming into her shop pretty much every day until their date. At least the days she’d been working. And he’d made a few custom pieces of furniture for her shop, something that had deeply touched her. She’d paid him, but she knew enough that he’d given her a hefty discount.

  Jackson had made her feel special, different. So his total silence after she’d gotten mostly naked with him had yanked that proverbial rug out from under her and she hadn’t found her balance since.

  “You fight dirty,” she murmured, taking the tin from him.

  “I play to win.” There was something in his tone that made heat flood between her thighs.

  She ignored the reaction. “Did Fallon make these?”

  “Yep. She said to say hey too.”

  Nora adored his sister Fallon but for the last few weeks she’d been avoiding Fallon. Which was a totally crappy thing to do but Nora had felt too weird and hadn’t wanted to talk about Jackson. And she’d known the subject would come up. “Come on. I’ve got coffee brewing next door. Let’s grab some and you can tell me why you’re here.” Because no matter what, she wasn’t going to bullshit with him like nothing had happened between them. She simply wasn’t wired that way. Yesterday she’d probably been too bitchy but he’d taken her off guard and they’d had somewhat of an audience. Today they were alone so she could be civil and grownup, but she still wanted answers from him.

  He tugged his cap off as he fell in step with her. She was average in height but being next to him she always felt smaller. It was his shoulders more than anything. They were broad and muscular and she’d clutched onto them as he’d kissed a path down her jaw, neck and…nope. No, no, no. Not going there this morning. Too bad her nipples didn’t get the memo. They tightened into hard buds as she remembered how he’d sucked and teased them while he brought her to climax with his very talented fingers.

  “I screwed up,” he blurted as they reached the front counter.

  Not caring at all about the coffee, she stopped and turned to him. “Yes, you did.” She crossed her arms over her chest, knowing it was a defensive gesture but unable to stop herself. The man put her on edge in more ways than one. Since moving to Holly she hadn’t thought about dating or the opposite sex. Or for the last four years really. At least not in more than an abstract way. She could appreciate a sexy guy as much as the next woman but when she’d taken guardianship of her sister she’d been twenty-one. Dating or men hadn’t even been on her radar—until Jackson.

  He looked her right in the eye as he spoke. “I should have called and I’m sorry I didn’t.”

  Jaw tight, she nodded. “Okay.” As apologies went it was p
retty lame, but she would accept it. And move on from him.

  “I got…okay, this will sound like bullshit, but I got scared.”

  She dropped her arms, snorting in disbelief. “That does sound like garbage. You got scared?”

  He scrubbed a hand over his head in a gesture she’d come to learn meant he was nervous. The action was rare from him. “Yeah.”

  Bullshit. “So you got scared…but still managed to take Angelia out a couple days after me.” After he’d told her that he didn’t want to be with anyone else. It wasn’t as if they’d made promises to each other, not exactly. But she deserved more than a man who’d pursued her hard, hooked up with her, then just stopped calling. Damn it, she hadn’t wanted to bring up Angelia, hadn’t wanted him to know it had hurt her so badly.

  Which just made the confusion on his face piss her off even more. “I didn’t take her out.”

  Nora’s lips pulled into a thin line. “Gossip in Holly spreads fast, Jackson. You know that more than most.” He’d grown up here, unlike her, so he should definitely be aware.

  “I don’t care what you heard, I didn’t take Angelia out.” His expression darkened for a moment before understanding seemed to dawn in his gaze. “I took her home a few weeks ago when she got a flat and didn’t have a spare, but that’s it. Nothing’s ever happened between us and never will.”

  She bit her bottom lip. He sounded as if he was telling the truth. He might have hurt her, but Nora had never taken him for a liar. “Okay, I believe you. It still doesn’t explain what happened. Damn it, Jackson, we were friends.”

  “Were?”

  She shrugged, the action jerky. “You know what I mean.” When they’d become intimate they’d taken a step from friends to lovers. Or so she’d thought. Which was why it had cut so deep. They’d talked and texted every day for months. Then nothing. Like she didn’t matter.

  “I’m sorry, Nora. When we crossed that line it was, I don’t know. I could see more happening with you.”

  “More?”

  “More than just…” He cursed again. “I saw a future with you and it scared me.”