The 5th Christmas Kiss

by Wendy Knight

  Well, that wasn’t a great start.

  “I actually was sliding on the ice—”

  “In that big truck of yours? Doesn’t it have four-wheel drive?” Her gaze flitted away, searching the crowd before they landed on him again, more annoyed than before.

  “It does, but it wasn’t engaged—look, can I help you with something?”

  She finally sighed and turned fully to him. “I’m looking for my friend. She’s drunk and can’t drive home. Because drinking is the best way to celebrate the Christmas spirit.”

  Crew dropped his cup onto the coffee table out of sight when she looked away again. “Okay, what’s she look like?”

  Azura ran a hand through her dark, dark hair. It fell like silken waves, and her fingers got tangled in the curls. She swore. “An elf. She looks like an elf.”

  Crew raised an eyebrow, watching in amusement while she tried distractedly to free her fingers. “An elf, at a Christmas party? That won’t be hard at all.” When she blew out a breath of frustration, he reached out and gently untangled her fingers. “I’ll help you look.”

  She blinked at him in surprise, as if that was the last thing she expected from him. “Thank you. She’s got red hair. Long and curly. Green eyes and lots of freckles and she’s like five feet tall.”

  “Got it. Red hair, freckles. Elf-height. Did you by any chance notice you’re standing under the mistletoe?” He gave her his most devilish, sexy grin. The grin that never failed him. The grin that sent women to their knees.

  Well, maybe not in so many words, but it worked.

  Every time.

  “Don’t. Even. Think. About. It,” she ground out, arms crossed over her chest and one dark eyebrow raised, as if daring him to attempt such a thing again.

  While promising he wouldn’t survive it.

  Laughing, he held his hands up in defeat. “Okay, fair enough. You do know it’s a Christmas tradition and you’re at a Christmas party that has mistletoe hanging from practically every eave?”

  She had already gone back to searching the crowd, and only glanced at him once before she shoved her way past. “I don’t do Christmas and I’m only at this party to pick up my friend.”

  “So...that went well.” At least Garrett tried to hide his laughter behind his empty cup. “I mean—”

  Crew rolled his eyes. “She’s not a fan.”

  “Of you? How is that possible?” Garrett’s gasped, hand over his chest like the very thought caused heart palpitations. They were moving slowly through the crowd, looking for an elf in an elf haystack. Nearly every girl they passed was dressed as some form of Christmas elf—usually sexy, which Crew was pretty sure Santa would not approve of.

  “Of Christmas,” Crew responded. “And me, actually.”

  Garrett stopped. “So she was serious, then? Yesterday in the ambulance?”

  Several people crashed into the back of him, creating a gridlock of human bodies before Crew could get him moving again. “Yeah. She said she doesn’t do Christmas. I have no idea what that means. Does that look like a drunk red-headed elf named Holly to you?” Crew nodded toward the woman dancing alone in the corner.

  Well, not alone. She had a lamp that seemed to be an amazing dance partner.

  Crew elbowed his way over to her just as she collapsed on the floor with her lamp, laughing hysterically. The girl was wasted. Totally wasted. Her costume, though, was amazing. Even her shoes curled at the toes. “Are you Holly?”

  “I am. This is Lamp. He’s my friend.” She motioned like a game show host toward the lamp sitting next to her.

  “That’s a very creative name.” Crew glanced at Garrett, biting the inside of his cheek so he didn’t laugh because he suspected she would not appreciate that. “Your other friend Azura is looking for you.”

  “The human one,” Garrett supplied helpfully.

  “Azura?” Holly sat up, the haze fading in the face of her panic. “She’s here? At a Christmas party?”

  Crew glanced up at Garrett in surprise. “Yes...she said you called her.”

  “I would never!” Holly sat up, Lamp forgotten, and shoved herself to her feet. Any semblance of drunkenness was gone as she searched the room with wide, green eyes. “You don’t call Azura to a Christmas party. You just don’t.”

  Crew found Azura before Holly did. His eyes seemed to seek her, and even in a room full of at least a hundred people, she stood out. “She’s on the stairs.” He raised his hand to get her attention, but Holly smacked it down.

  “Stop that. We have to escape before she sees us.”

  Too late. Crew could see her green gaze narrow on them and she made her way through the crowd. It parted for her like the Red Sea, as if everyone in her path could feel her fury.

  “Four times,” she hissed and even though Crew had to constantly yell to be heard, she was clear even from several feet away. “Four times someone has used a mistletoe excuse to try to kiss me tonight, Holly.”

  Four times? Three other guys had tried to kiss her? Crew felt like he’d been punched in the stomach.

  Had any of them succeeded?

  Holly rose to her full height, shoving the long red curls over her shoulder. “I didn’t call you.”

  “You were dancing with a lamp. Jess called me.”

  Holly groaned. “It was a rough day.” To Crew, who stood motionless next to her, she reiterated, “It was a rough day. Do you know how many kids come to see Santa? Do you know how many of them have nothing and their only hope is Santa and he’s just a random guy hired by the mall? He can’t bring them that one special toy. He can’t do anything. Do you know how brutal that is?”

  Azura’s eyes softened. “Yes,” she said quietly and yet somehow, Crew heard her. “Yes, I do know.” To Crew, she said, “Holly is an elf at the mall. She takes her job very seriously.”

  Holly pressed her palms to her eyes. “I would never ask you to come here, Z. I’m sorry.”

  Azura slid an arm around her friend’s shoulders. “I know. Let’s get you home.”

  “Can I—do you need a ride?” Crew didn’t want to let her go. Not yet. He hadn’t even got to ask her about the accident or if she was okay.

  She raised a dark eyebrow in what almost seemed to be amusement. “I drove. How else do you think I got here?”

  Uber? Lyft? A cab?

  Instead of any of those suggestions, he said, “So your car is okay then?”

  She was trying to navigate them out of the party with her arm still protectively around Holly’s shoulders. She hesitated, glancing over her shoulder at him. “Yes. Only a small scratch. It’s amazing, really.”

  Thank goodness. No car damage meant easier forgiveness, he hoped. “And how are you? I waited at the hospital—”

  A guy materialized out of nowhere, eyes closed and leaning toward Azura without a word. Holly sucked in an alarmed breath and Azura swore, glaring up at the ceiling and yet another bundle of prettily tied mistletoe. It was seriously every few feet and Crew had never seen people so aggressive. “Back off, creep.”

  “You know it’s bad luck to refuse a kiss under the mistletoe?” Holly gasped. “Azura—”

  “Only if you believe in it.” Azura shouldered her way past the guy and Crew slid in front of them, playing bodyguard the rest of the way to the door. Garrett helpfully protected them from behind.

  Mistletoe was dangerous. Crew would definitely need to talk to Leah about the mistletoe overuse later.

  They made it to the door and out into the cold air by the grace of the heavens. “You okay?” he asked over his shoulder as he navigated the stairs. It had been raining, but the rain had turned to snow now, and it was beautiful. “Careful. It’s icy—”

  Azura squeaked and Crew spun just in time to see her slide down the sidewalk in her six-inch heels, arms pinwheeling above her head. He dove, channeling his inner football player, and hit her from the side, knocking them both into the heavy snow on the lawn. Azura sunk down into it until he couldn’t even see her from whe
re he was currently lying across her, crushing her with his weight.

  “Get off, please.”

  Garrett and Holly rushed to her side, slipping and sliding on the ice, while Crew tried and failed to extricate himself gracefully from the snow. He’d basically just whitewashed her.

  After he’d run her off the road the day before.

  “I’m so sorry. Your concussion—we should probably take you back to the hospital to get checked—” He took one frozen hand and pulled her from the snow.

  She looked like a snow angel.

  A very angry snow angel.

  “I don’t have a concussion.” She sighed, shaking out her hair. “It was adrenaline and lack of sugar. I was hangry and hopped up on emotion. Apparently, that’s an extreme combination for me. I definitely do not need you to take me to the hospital now. It’s snow, Mr. Bacall. Not concrete.”

  “Crew,” he said automatically. If she was going to hate him, the least she could do was know his name. Hesitantly, half afraid she’d rip his arm off and beat him with it, he reached out and brushed the snow from her cheeks with his knuckle. “My name is Crew.”

  “I know. Everyone on campus knows Crew Bacall. Football player extraordinaire, heir to the Being Beautiful kingdom.”

  He shoved his hands in his pockets. Most women were impressed by that knowledge. That meant rich, and women liked rich. Especially college women.

  Azura seemed to view it as a bad thing.

  “Well, I’m sorry about this anyway. Have a good night.” He motioned to the snow and backed away. Her gaze softened just a bit and she nodded.

  “Thanks. I’m—I’m sorry, too. Christmas just puts me in a mood. See you around.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Okay, but did you have to be so mean to him? You’re not usually a monster, Z. You’re usually all sweet and ultra-polite. Like, polite but on steroids polite.”

  “You’ve said polite three times in ten seconds, Holly. I got it.” Azura blew out a breath, navigating successfully into their parking stall despite the horrible weather. She’d been half afraid they wouldn’t make it home alive. “And no. I shouldn’t have been so awful. It’s just—of everyone in this town, why does it have to be Crew Bacall that I keep running into?”

  She killed the engine and jumped out, trying to make it to Holly’s side of the car before her friend tumbled out on her face. She almost succeeded, catching Holly at the last second. For being so tipsy, she was surprisingly wise. “His magazine is the root of all your evils. I know. But he’s not his magazine. He’s in school to be an architect. And his sister is the heir, not him. Just FYI.”

  “His magazine and Christmas are the root of all my evils. How many drinks did you have?”

  Holly held up three fingers. “But I didn’t eat anything before. This little girl, Z. You should have heard her asking Santa for that doll. In such a sweet little voice, and I could see on her parent’s faces—there would be no doll.”

  Azura knew the story all too well. Christmas was not the most magical time of year when your family was poverty-stricken and could barely put food on the table. In her case, though, her family risked everything to look like they belonged in Crew’s stupid magazine.

  And they’d paid for it. Big time.

  “Too bad we don’t have her name and address. We could have gotten her the doll. We could have secret santa’d the crap out of her family.” Holly nodded firmly, apparently agreeing with herself. “We could secret santa the crap out of a lot of people.”

  Azura carried most of Holly’s weight as they struggled up the stairs to their apartment. The air was icy and stole the breath from her lungs and her feet weren’t quite steady beneath her, but they made it. The warmth of the apartment was like a balm on her spirit when she finally got the door open and them both inside. “It’s just teaching them to expect miracles, and when you expect miracles and they don’t come, it hurts that much more. It’s easier if you don’t get in the pattern of hoping for the unhopeable.”

  “Christmas is hope, Z,” Holly whispered.

  “No. Christmas is a facade that shatters the minute the season’s over and then you have to deal with the consequences.”

  Holly rose to her full height, somehow supporting herself when she hadn’t been able to seconds before and Azura was wondering why she’d put in so much effort to carry her tiny elf-self into the apartment. “You break my heart; do you know that? I hurt so much for you.”

  Azura smiled, promptly hugging Holly before she could escape. “I do know. You have a heart that’s huge even when it’s not Christmas. But at Christmas, I swear it grows—”

  “Three sizes?” Holly gave her a lopsided smile.

  Azura shrugged. “Sure. I was going to say ten times its regular size, but three sizes works too. I’m heading back to work. Do you need anything before I go?”

  Holly shook her head. “Just my warm bed and maybe some Christmas music since you’re not going to be here to complain about it.” She gave Azura a wicked smile and wandered away.

  Azura watched her go, lips pursed. “I don’t think she’s really drunk,” she said to the empty living room. “I don’t think she’s drunk at all.”

  AZURA had been lucky enough to land a paid internship. In a college town, getting an internship at all was tough. Getting a paid internship was a gift from the gods, and she intended to treat it as such. Mechanical engineering was a male-dominated profession, but she was slowly fighting her way to a place at the Thycorp plant where she’d been working for two semesters now. They hadn’t ended her internship yet, so she had to believe they liked her work.

  It was also strictly professional, so no Christmas music, decorations, snowflakes, and definitely no mistletoe. She found solace in her little cubicle, running numbers over and over to check for errors in the math. The formulas were huge and complicated. One little mistake could cost the company thousands of dollars. It was late and she was exhausted, but working calmed her frazzled nerves. Holly would never understand—she didn’t just dislike Christmas. It inundated her with haunting memories. Pulled her back to a time when she was scared and helpless.

  She wasn’t scared and helpless now. She’d never let the Christmas spirit drive her to be some crazy Who that spent everything she had trying to make everyone think she was as good as the magazines said she should be. It would never drive her to madness.

  Her phone beeped, cheerfully announcing she had a text message, but Azura ignored it. Work first. Texts later.

  She shoved her hair up into a bun, holding it in place with a pencil, and started a new formula. Her eyes were heavy, and it was past midnight, but she couldn’t go home. She couldn’t leave the solace of the office. Not yet.

  Her pencil scratching across her paper was the only sound—it was a Saturday night and everyone else had a life and family. She had a crazy elf roommate who was already tucked in bed. Nothing to hurry home to, and it would look good for the boss to come in on Monday and find her project already well underway.

  One more formula.

  Azura woke up four hours later, drooling on her paper. The office was pitch black—the lights were activated by movement and she hadn’t moved in way too long. She sat up too fast, her wheeled chair flying backward and leaving her behind.

  When she crashed to the floor and landed on her butt, at least the movement activated the lights.

  She groaned and dropped her head into her hands, tailbone aching. “You drive into a ditch without a scratch and this is what injures you,” she said aloud.

  To an empty office.

  Standing was painful, but she made it to her feet and stiffly gathered her things. She was glad no one was around to see her ungraceful waddle out of the building to her car.

  Super professional.

  Her car was buried under at least two inches of snow and the handle was frozen, burning her fingers when she grabbed it. The lock was sluggish and by the time she slid inside, she was shivering so hard her teeth were chattering and t
he key shook in her hand.

  It took three tries to even get it in the ignition, but she finally managed, ridiculously excited for the heater to kick on.

  The car didn’t start.

  It didn’t even rumble.

  Absolutely nothing happened when she turned the key.

  No motor. No delicious heater. No radio.

  She groaned, smacking the steering wheel with her frozen hands, which hurt her more than it hurt the car, probably, and she leaned her head back against the seat.

  Awesome. Now what?

  She had no one to call. Holly was in no shape to drive. She wasn’t friendly enough with any of her coworkers to call them for help. She had no other close friends and she hadn’t talked to a member of her family in years. This was one of the very few reasons it was a bad idea to not let anyone get too close. She wasn’t even sure Uber would work that late at night. She pressed her phone on, the light dim in the dark and frozen car. Ten percent battery left.

  Awesome again.

  She had a text, which she’d forgotten about, from a number she didn’t recognize. Leaning forward, she squinted at the light. “Sorry about everything. Let me know if I can help at all. I hope your elf friend is okay. ~Crew”

  “How did you even get this number?” she muttered. She could hear, pathetically, his smooth deep voice as she read his words. He had a very nice voice. Soothing. Kind. He probably wouldn’t mind too much if she woke him up at four in the morning, would he?

  Yes. Yes, he probably would. She didn’t relish asking him for help, either. Not after the way she’d treated him. She’d been awful and when one is awful to someone else, one doesn’t go asking for their help at four in the morning.

  She could hear her dad’s voice in her head as if he were sitting next to her.

  Azura didn’t want to hear that voice, so she shoved her car door open and trudged through the snow back to the building, digging through her bag for her key card. She’d just sleep at her desk until Holly woke up and wondered where she was. It would be fine. At least it was warm inside.