Natalie smiled up at him and linked their fingers together. “You don’t need to ask me twice.”
It was their last walk together in costume and for once, they took it slowly, their joined hands swinging between them. Natalie couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off her face.
Four days, she thought as they walked together through the mall. For once, she enjoyed the stares. Natalie didn’t know what would be next, but she knew that if these four days were any indication, she and Jeremy were at the beginning of something really great.
Emma is a USA Today bestselling author of over fifteen sweet romance novels. She likes her stories fresh and fun with sassy characters and a slice of humor. She lives in Texas with her husband, their five kids, and a Great Dane.
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He wrote a fake love letter, but her feelings were real.
Jesse Thorne likes to push buttons, then put on a charming smile hoping to avoid the consequence. There is nothing more satisfying for him than getting a rise from his co-worker, Collette Walters. Sometimes it means rearranging her pens while on other occasions it may involve sneaking off with her delicious homemade treats. But when his co-worker’s long-term relationship ends shy of Christmas, his latest office prank has the opposite result than he hoped.
His phony love letter was supposed to put her on edge, only she is on the edge of her seat waiting for the next romantic surprise. He longs for her flustered reaction, but empathetic to her heartache, he delays, playing along until he’s left with no other option. Jesse must take the rebound, setting her up... in person... on a date... with the make-believe Mr. Wright.
Chapter 1
“I’m going to grab some more labels. I’ll be right back,” Collette hollered at Jesse and Ezekiel in the warehouse over the beeping of their forklift. The room lacked the flair and excitement of the parties they supplied. Mechanical sounds echoed throughout the chilling space and there was a lingering stench of mildew. Something had gone sour in one of the boxes, but which one? Custom welded shelves climbed up the two storey high ceilings, each one stacked with pallets varying in chair styles and table sizes. There were outdoor tents, tarps, and heavy-duty totes full of decorations of any and every theme. This party central had concrete floors, unreliable fluorescent lighting, and two boys who looked like men that were never up to any good.
Collette peeked at her phone, blushing. Jesse rolled his eyes. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who she was messaging in between tasks. For a workaholic, she sure found ways to squeeze in time for personal matters. Why couldn’t he check his phone every once in a while? Sheesh, last time he peeked for the time, she gave him an earful.
Hypocrite. Jesse rubbed his nose, like her polarizing actions had no strain on him. Why should he care who she wasted her time with?
“What did Mr. Dung say this time?”
“It’s Duong!” she sneered. “How many times do I have to tell you?”
She didn’t specify the exact number but nothing would stop her from bragging about Mr. Moneybags anyway. Here we go, he thought uncaringly looking away from her as she drew in a deep breath.
“Bryson Duong, attorney-at-law.”
“As opposed to attorney at Starbucks?”
Her cheeks turned crimson red. The colour spread further along her face and down her neck. If he kept it up, she would be so feverish her forehead would start to sweat. Pushing Collette’s buttons was too easy, and difficult to quit.
“As a matter of fact, my boyfriend is going to be picking me up after work. We have dinner plans.” Wow, so original of him. Mr. Fancy-pants taking Collette to yet another dinner date? What was it last time, Lakeside Grill? Jesse couldn’t imagine why Mr. Duong hadn’t given her a ring after over two years of dating.
He lowered the pallet of folding chairs towards the garage door, expertly pulling the prongs away without a scrape. To him, operating the electric forklift was as natural as breathing. Working at Price Event Rentals had been his longest running career so far. He wasn’t as smooth at the beginning. The first time he drove the forklift, he hastily backed into the wall separating the front office from the warehouse.
A couple years had passed since that incident, and learning to patch up his mistake had been tedious. He had a rocky start, but he stuck with it and earned himself a few raises for proficiency—though not nearly enough to impress a girl like Collette. He would have to rely on his other assets, mainly his burly strength or lively charisma, if he wanted to charm someone.
Collette rushed back to her office.
Ezekiel gave him a firm nod, so Jesse gripped the steering wheel and spun it three times, driving the forklift in reverse to park in his go-to spot by the door she slammed moments ago. The metal body was less than a centimeter from the door, creating the perfect wall.
With her head down, Collette’s blonde bangs covered her eyes. She twisted the door knob, pushed but had no luck. “That’s not funny.” She tried a few more times, but what use was a door versus a seven thousand pound electric forklift?
He pursed his lips, trying his best to focus on his checklist. His pen shook where he needed to initial, gripping the clipboard tight. The door rattled some more.
“Guys!”
Ezekiel was on the concrete floor with his hands clutched to his stomach. It was the third time Jesse blocked her off that day.
“What’s going on?” Jesse lifted his head.
“Stop wasting valuable work time and move this... you know what?” she huffed. “Take it.” She opened the door a sliver, pushing the labels through, “They’re all yours. And please remove the old tags before you stick on the new ones.”
“Yes, your royal highness.”
Collette squinted at him. Though unaffected, he pocketed the labels in his plaid sweatshirt with the ripped cuffs. His t-shirt was worse, ratted along the stretched V-neck collar. It had holes along the hem. He returned a beaming smile to her; a smile that proved he was enjoying this far too much and would gladly repeat this when she would least expect it.
“She thought it was funny,” he muttered once the door clicked shut. Uncapping a permanent marker with his mouth, he stepped over to the bins of miscellaneous junk—today’s slow day task. “She just won’t admit it.”
Collette opened the door as far as she could, and shouted through the crack, “Hey, are all the supplies set up for the Shultz order?”
“Almost, why?”
“They’re here. Pickup is on the other side of the door, you want to load ‘em up?”
“Sure thing, your grace.” Ezekiel bowed. He too had a mop of hair on his head, but his curls tended to grow vertically, so this was one of the rare times it had flopped in his face.
Jesse curtseyed but he was in a well-worn pair of jeans. Collette was the one in the skirt.
“Stop horsing around, will you? I have an important date and if you two don’t quit your shenanigans I’m going to be late... again.” With only two inches of width between the door and wall to glare at them, she managed to slam it shut.
“Touchy.” Jesse pressed the button for the garage door and it hummed, lifting panel by panel over their heads. “Hey Zeke, if you had a date, would you call it an important date?”
“I do have a date. I’ve been with my girlfriend for three weeks now.”
Jesse clapped, mocking him in disbelief.
“What about you? When was the last time you were in a relationship?”
“I’ve been working.”
“We have the same job, bruh. In fact, the whole time you’ve been here, I haven’t heard of a single girlfriend.” That was a bit harsh. Jesse had been in numerous short-lived relationships in the last few years. Infrequent, perhaps, but they never seemed to inspire him enough to pursue a second o
r third date. He wasn’t one to waste time if there weren’t any sparks. “Is someone jealous?” Ezekiel hopped into his forklift, placing the pallet onto the flatbed of the truck.
“Whoa! Me? Jealous of Mr. Dung-fancy-pants-lawyer-and-his-stupid-Audi? No.”
“I didn’t mean him specifically, just that we have dates and you don’t.”
“I have dates, when I want them. I just haven’t wanted them in a while. Okay?” Jesse leaned against the shelves, glaring at his co-worker. They both sported tattoos, but Jesse had more. One from when he was drunk at a party in his teen years, and another to win a thousand dollars. Hey, butterflies were insects and that flower paid his rent and groceries for a month. Among the others, they seemed insignificant. Jesse had cleaned up his lifestyle before applying to this job as a delivery boy. His workmanship promoted him to warehouse manager, which to his benefit meant plenty of interactions with Collette at the front desk. It also meant dealing with egocentric teenage boys during the summer like Ezekiel who somehow graduated high school, but stuck around anyway. Jesse had seen his fair share of switchovers over the last couple years but Collette had been around almost as long as him.
He flicked his Santa hat off his own head and combed his loose curly bangs back with the rest of his shoulder length hair. His beard was just as grizzly and unkempt. Using a brand-name aftershave was the least of his worries when driving trucks to various venues. Real men had better things to do than prance around in pinstripe suits and tweeze their eyebrows.
“I’m only messing with you,” Ezekiel apologized.
“Whatever,” Jesse slipped the velvet cap back onto his head. “That’s weird, right? She made her date with her hotshot lawyer sound like a business meeting. ‘Important date.’ They’re meant for each other. Two sticks in the mud. That’s what I say.”
Ezekiel pressed his lips together, unconvinced, but Jesse didn’t care. He wondered what reaction Collette would have if a man actually put thought into romancing her, with something less cliché than Friday night restaurant dinners.
It was as if a light bulb lit up in Jesse’s mind. Bryson Duong was all Collette seemed to talk about, but what was so special about him? What if he could have her rave about someone else, and tick her off while trying? Yeah. It would have to be enough for her to shut up about how caring he was.
“What?”
“Nah, nah man.” Jesse tapped his temple. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
Jesse Thorne was the thorn in Collette’s side. How did he manage to finish all the tasks she would assign, including the extra ones to keep him from causing trouble, yet still find time to get under her skin? She had dozens of texts pinging at her all day, but most of them weren’t Bryson.
See Bryson was a professional. He wouldn’t text her during a shift, he would wait until lunch or a break. That particular moment when Jesse was being nosier than he needed to be, it had been Bryson, but only because Collette initiated the text conversation.
She was losing her marbles. All her paperwork for the day had been processed with no last minute orders, so she had a moment to spare. All until her parents phoned—because they never text—that her grandparents were visiting, but since they were stopping by, her family one town over could too. Christmas was around the corner and with her grandparents’ late age, everyone started mulling over how many holidays they may have left and delegated Collette to family reunion duty. Since she worked at Price Event Rentals, everyone assumed she knew everything about event planning—close.
Oh, and her cousin Kaylee, the loudest of the bunch, decided to have her wedding two days after Christmas while all the family is around. Joy!
Another family wedding that wasn’t hers.
Boy, did she have plenty to share with Bryson tonight on her date. Actually the news of a dinner reservation was quite a surprise. The previous Friday he cancelled their planned date last minute. Other times she considered reconnecting for the missed opportunity, he had business meetings and other exclusive lawyer-type things he didn’t like to talk about. Bryson was acting strange. Their relationship was going strong until recently. With Christmas coming up, it could only mean one thing. She figured the proposal was inevitable. If it wasn’t for today’s text, she would have fallen for his little game.
Before this icy spell, their summer had been rather warm. Bryson was testing her boundaries but she held her ground. He acknowledged her morals, kissed her cheek, then agreed he would wait. How clever of him, pretending to lose interest. Obviously, he was using this as a misdirect and had to keep his promise, Bryson Duong loved her.
However, when Collette said she wanted to wait, she didn’t mean until she was old and gray. How long did it take a man to make a decision?
She didn’t want to jinx it, so she focused on finishing her final task.
But what if Bryson was planning to propose? Collette giggled in her office chair. Her cheeks warmed at the thought of him, finally after thirty-one months of dating, bending the knee and asking her to be his wife. Ooh, he could afford an impressive ring too. Her family would be thrilled. Collette’s dad had already been treating him as a son-in-law from day one, and her mom had an innocent crush on him, often hinting Collette and Bryson would make the cutest grandbabies. Marriage. Children. Happy Holidays, indeed.
For their first Christmas together, he bought her a white-gold heart necklace.
She rubbed the pendant between her fingers, “You have my heart.” Wow, it felt like ages ago when they first confessed their love for each other. They weren’t the same people they were when they started dating. Goodness, no. She was new to her job. Bryson was a rookie lawyer straight out of law school. All that hard work was about to pay off.
Tonight could be the night. She sighed, a stupefied grin stretching across her face.
Collette shook her head, hearing the door latch quietly behind her. Everyone else would let it shut automatically, but Jesse never would. She knew nine out of ten times when it shut silently, it was him and he was up to no good.
“Here’s the purchase order from the band office.” He held onto the back of her chair and flicked the form over her face.
“Do you mind? I’m in the middle of something. Don’t touch me.” She flicked her pen at him, swatting his hand like a stern mother reprimanding a bratty child. “Not with the paper either.”
With a deceitful grin, he held the purchase order form millimetres from her face. It was a miracle she couldn’t feel the paper when she blinked, but she could sense it, like that childish game where one closes their eyes and the other taps their fingers up their friend’s forearm. With others, that ghostly sensation was like a spider—unwanted and creepy, with him it was... problematic. She didn’t want to give it or him much thought.
“Don’t you have something better to do?” Like shave? She kept that last tidbit to herself, looking up and snatching the paper from his hands, processing it with lightning speed. Jesse hadn’t trimmed his dark brown hair in years. Their entire history together, he was like a sheep in need of the shears. His long locks passed his shoulders and, on slow days, he would comb his fingers through his beard just to irritate her.
“Children. I’m working with two fully grown children.”
“What did Ezekiel do?”
“What did you make him do?”
Jesse shrugged, reaching for her coffee mug. She swatted his hand as his fingers neared the ceramic lip. “Don’t taint my coffee.”
“I only wanted to look at it.”
Collette squinted, not trusting his motives for one second. “Look at it when it’s empty or when you wash it.”
“You know what you need?”
“A diamond ring on my finger?” she sighed again, leaning over her desk.
“Nah.” Jesse smirked, taking the Santa hat on his head and plunking it on hers. “You need to chill and get into the Christmas spirit.”
She pouted her lips, but he flicked the pom-pom in her face anyway.
Chapter 2
“Gross. At least put on a shirt.” She picked up the nearest clothing article, a graphic sweatshirt with cut-off sleeves and chucked it at him.
“My trailer, my rules,” he laughed.
Genesis rolled her eyes, fluttering her curly lashes with irritation.
“Writing another song?” She shook out her hair and fluffed it some more. His guitar was in the far corner, but it wasn’t uncommon for him to show off his numerous tattoos when in ‘the creative zone.’ He shook his head slightly, tapping the page. When he finally sat up and looked at her, he double-blinked.
“Nessie? You look good.”
“I always look good.” She pressed a hand on her shirt dress, rattling the chains attached to her ripped jeans. But that’s not what he meant. Her outfit was fancy, no... that wasn’t it either. His gut churned at the option to be forthright with her, as he was a man and her outfit complimented her too well. ‘Good’ was putting it mildly, but ‘good’ had him concerned.
“Where are you going?” He raised his eyebrows, confused to why she would bother with styling her hair, or wearing too much perfume. “Jaxson isn’t going anywhere.”
“I know.” Genesis pinched the hem of her tunic, biting her lip. She was a natural beauty, but leaving the house like that would be dangerous. Jesse cleared his throat. He owed it to Jaxson to keep her out of trouble. Over the years Jaxson put up with his garbage. They were both trouble, but if this was his way of giving back, he would do just about anything to make him happy.
'Tis the Season for Love: A Charity Box Set Page 91