Her Christmas Miracles (Dunam Prep Boys #1)

by Lux Carmine

  I still couldn’t believe I had ended up with three crushes on three guys who were best friends. Forget love triangles, this was more like a love quadrilateral. I scoffed to myself as I snapped another picture of a beaming child. It had to be mutual interest to count as a love anything, and for all I knew, none of these guys had thought twice about me.

  We had more kids than we’d had Tuesday and Wednesday combined, and by the time Gwendolyn told me I could take a break, I was exhausted. My feet hurt from so much standing still, and my face hurt from so much smiling. Even my arm was sore, from shaking the jingle bells to get the kids’ attention over and over and over.

  I trudged to the employee break room and tugged my pointy green elf hat off my head, tossing it onto the table. My hair was surely a tangled mess, but I didn’t care. I was tempted to put my head down and close my eyes for just a minute, until I heard the door open behind me.

  “Oh, hey,” a voice said. A deep, husky voice I’d know anywhere.

  I whipped around, smoothing my hair down in a hurry, hopefully before he’d set his gaze on me. “Parker. What are you doing in here?”

  He smiled, soft and easy, not Devin’s cocky grin, or Max’s self-conscious smile. “Gwendolyn told me I could take my break now, too. I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” I could not get over how perfect he was. He had just the right amount of muscle, and with his dirty blonde hair falling into those blue eyes, he looked like the American flag and apple pie and football all rolled into one.

  “Just me nearly falling asleep,” I confessed as he came over and sat across from me.

  “Wouldn’t want that,” he said. “You’d probably piss off Gwendolyn, and then where would we be? We can’t lose our best photographer.”

  “I’m sure you could handle it.”

  “Nah.” He laughed. “I’m a terrible photographer. Max or Devin, maybe, those guys have an eye for things. All I have an eye for is where to throw a football.”

  I sat up straighter, a little too eager to learn more about him. “You play football?” If I could get to know him, maybe my crushes on the others would subside and I could go back to feeling rational. You couldn’t have three boyfriends.

  He ran a hand through his hair, and it looked so soft I wanted to reach out and touch it myself. “Yeah, quarterback. All-state. I’m going to play in college, too.”

  “That’s amazing. Where do you want to go to college?” The idea of a boy I liked going off to college was both exciting and depressing.

  “Haven’t decided yet. How about you?”

  “Oh, I’m …” I didn’t want to get into it with him, about how poor my family was, though if I had to guess, I’d bet Devin had already told him, especially since they were like ‘brothers.’ “We missed you the other night.”

  His butterfly-inducing smile was back, and he raised his eyebrows. “You did, did you?”

  Flustered, I stuttered an answer. “I, I mean, Gwendolyn and I did. Could’ve used your help, is all.”

  “Devin was here. He wasn’t enough help?”

  I laughed. “Have you met Devin?”

  “Excellent point.” His laugh was electrifying, so much that I wanted to hear it again and again.

  When he fell quiet, I summoned up the nerve to keep talking, to see if I could learn anything else about this seemingly perfect boy. “So where were you?”

  “Talking to a college scout, actually. They want me to come play ball at Beckett University.” His voice dropped, and he looked at his hands.

  I watched as he picked a paint chip on the dingy table and cocked my head to one side. “You don’t want to go?”

  “It’s not that,” he said, not looking up. “It’s just … it’s my dad’s thing, you know?”

  My dad’s thing was beer, so no, I didn’t really know. “I guess.”

  “My dad wants me to go to Northern. Play ball. Go pro after a few years. He played pro football before he screwed up his knee and had to retire.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  He looked at me, his clear blue eyes a little sad. “I’m not really sure. I don’t want to leave my boys behind, though.”

  “Your boys?” This was it. His fatal flaw: he’d gotten a girl pregnant and was a dad of more than one kid. “I didn’t know you had sons.”

  His face flickered with confusion for a second. He gestured toward the door. “No, uh, Max and Devin.”

  Immediately, I felt stupid. And a little guilty. “Oh, right.”

  “I don’t know what I’d do without them.” He shrugged. “I guess it doesn’t matter. In a few months, we’ll all be off to different colleges, and everything will change.”

  And I’ll be stuck here, struggling to keep myself out of poverty, alone.

  “What do you want to do?” he asked, crossing his arms casually over his chest, his eyes on my face warming my cheeks. I wished I had something to keep my hands busy. I bounced my foot under the table instead.

  I exhaled. He wanted to know, but I didn’t want to confess that my dreams amounted to getting out of the trailer park, which probably seemed really small. “I want to sell real estate,” I admitted. “Make enough money to maybe travel the world, you know?” I felt a thrill, confessing to him. The butterflies in my stomach were out of control.

  “That’s really cool.” Parker smiled, and it seemed genuine. “You’re so lucky your parents will let you do whatever you want, instead of expecting something of you, without giving you a choice in the matter.”

  I didn’t say anything, and after a few seconds of silence between us, the sound of his ringtone sliced through the tense air.

  “Guess we’d better get back out there,” he said. “You ready?”

  I grabbed my elf hat and pasted a jolly smile back on, ignoring the feeling of a deep incompatibility between me and Parker. The prince only wanted Cinderella in the fairy tales. And three princes never wanted the same princess. They all wanted their own. “Let’s go.”

  Back out on the floor, I took my place behind the camera. As soon as I did, Gwendolyn called a quick time-out for Santa to take a break. He claimed it was a bathroom break, but knowing him, he was going to sneak a cigarette and look at porn on his phone. The instant Santa wandered off in the direction of the break room, Parker pulled Devin and Max aside. I pretended to keep busy cleaning the camera while I snuck glances at them.

  Almost as soon as they had gathered, Parker looked over at me with those heavenly blue eyes, then turned back to the other two. He said something, and they all cracked up, laughing loudly. My stomach turned to ice. Were they laughing at me? Had Parker told them I wanted was to be a real estate agent, and they found the poor girl’s dreams hilarious?

  Devin glanced my way after that, his green eyes sparkling even from a distance, and then I saw him say something to the group, and they all burst out laughing again.

  I felt physically nauseated, I was so upset. Anger washed over me, and, hands shaking, I put down the toys I’d been holding and stormed over.

  “What’s going on?” I demanded.

  “What?” Parker was the one to speak, and he furrowed his brow.

  “Look, I don’t want it to be weird between the four of us. If you all think I’m a joke, just stay out of my way. I’ll do my job, you do yours, and we’ll all be free of each other in two and a half weeks.”

  Each one of them had matching looks of confusion on their faces. Finally, Max said something. “What are you talking about?”

  “I know you guys probably share everything, but this one …” I pointed at Parker. “Didn’t have to go and make a joke out of me, that’s all I’m saying.”

  Parker’s hands flew up, as if he were deflecting an attack. “I didn’t say anything about you!”

  “Then what’s so funny?”

  “We were making jokes about the video game marathon we have planned for tonight,” Devin said, matter-of-factly.

  Oh. I felt the blood rush to my face, and I felt like a complete idiot. “
You were?”

  “Yeah. Max always over-analyzes everything, Parker rushes head-first into danger, and I’m the one who’s busy trying to get my character to flirt with the village women. I mean, you’re welcome to join our group, but I don’t know what’s left. Maybe the one who jumps to conclusions and assumes we’re in danger when nothing’s actually happening?”

  A wave of nausea hit me, but for a different reason. My stomach churned. “I’m so sorry,” I said, as I turned and marched back to the camera. Santa was back a moment later, the first time I’d ever been relieved to see that nasty man, and I powered through the rest of my shift, speaking as little as humanly possible.

  When Gwendolyn finally told me I was free to go, I left without looking at any of the guys, too mortified to do anything but flee.

  Chapter 9

  PARKER

  “Can you get some popcorn?”

  It was Thursday night after work and me and the guys were letting off some steam. Despite it being the first official day of winter break from Dunam Prep, this wasn’t unusual for us. We were hanging out at my house in the basement, complete with mini movie theater and Xbox LAN party setup with neon green underlighting.

  Max groaned as he got up from his black leather recliner and crossed the room to the popcorn machine in the corner beside the soda stocked eat-in bar. He had mad skills when it came to the art of popcorn making. He probably didn’t appreciate them, but Devin and I certainly did.

  I shifted in my seat with a sigh. We were in the middle of playing out a war, but all I could think about was Skylar and how she’d lost her mind at work earlier. What had she meant about being a joke to us? I wondered if getting all worked up meant she had feelings towards me. Girls didn’t get insecure about guys they had no interest in. Right?

  “Ha! Suck that, loser!”

  I blinked and watched in horror as Devin’s army crushed mine. I sat up in my seat with a frown. “Hey! No fair!”

  “Fair? All is fair in love and war.”

  I flinched at the word love, and Devin—weird expression reader that he was—sat up and tossed his controller aside.

  “Parker Wells! You tell me right now. Who is she?” he demanded, a sly smirk on his face.

  I rubbed the back of my neck, looking away. It wasn’t as if I’d never liked a girl before. Stephanie Harper had been my long time crush from third grade until I saw her bullying Lydia Smokes in the seventh grade hallway. And after Stephanie, there were a slew of other girls I’d imagined kissing and doing things with. But I always lost interest. Jayla wanted to marry a rich dude, she didn’t care so much about him or what he stood for, she cared about what he could give her. Tracey was looking for a way into the popular crowd, they all just turned out to be so … shallow. Skylar, though, she didn’t seem that way. She knew what she wanted to do with her life. She was kind to kids, respectful to adults, and her smile … it made me as close to weak in the knees as a guy could get.

  “It doesn’t matter. You know my dad,” I said.

  Max came over and passed us bags of popcorn before sitting back in his chair. “Your dad is controlling. Like your football coach.”

  “Pft. You can’t stop love. Tell me, or I’ll tell Tiffanie Powers that you work at the mall. You know she’ll spread the word to the whole senior class.”

  In a panic because I knew Devin would do it, I blurted, “Skylar!”

  Devin sat back in his seat, turning his eyes back to his screen. He suddenly looked pissed.

  Max smirked and said, “Skylar has great boobs. And her hair smells like …”

  He paused, and at the exact same moment both Devin and I said, “Peaches.”

  I regarded Devin who was still avoiding looking at me. Damnit. “You like her too? You barely even know her!”

  He scoffed. “While you were off trying to blow the college scout, I was learning lots about her in the front seat of my car.”

  Max snickered and I shot him a look that would hopefully shut him up. It only partially softened the noise of his amusement. “And you … you’re more of an animal than I thought. You spend one evening working with her and you’re all about her boobs and the smell of her hair?”

  He shrugged, picking up his controller. “She is very patient and kind with her younger sister. And she looks like the girl in William McGregor’s Girl Combing Her Hair.”

  I furrowed my brow. What was going on here? Devin was hooking up with her in his car, and Max was hanging out with her and her little sister? Something wasn’t right. Skylar didn’t seem like the kind of girl who would run around and flirt with as many guys as possible.

  Devin unpaused the game and played in silence. Max was munching on popcorn, and I was trying to wrap my head around the fact we all had a thing for the same girl. This had never happened before, unless you count our mutual crush on Scarlett Johansson.

  “You guys need to back off because I met her first,” I said. Lame as it was, it was all I had.

  Devin laughed, and Max shook his head. “No. We share the love of art. Do you know how difficult it is to find a girl our age who is into art and can name an artist aside from Monet, Van Gogh, or Warhol? I’m not giving up the chance to get to know my soul mate just because you met her first.”

  I was stunned, my mouth falling open as I cocked my head to the side. Max had actually told me no. The only other time he told me no was when my grandfather died and I’d reached for a six-pack of beer. He hadn’t wanted me to risk ruining my football career before it even started.

  Devin paused the game and leaned forward, elbows pressed into the tops of his knees. “Well I’m not giving up either. Me and her, we have a connection. She’s special.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You think every girl you meet is special.”

  “Fine,” Max said. “What do you propose?”

  I thought for a minute, not coming up with anything other than, you guys back off my girl, before Devin chimed in.

  “I know.” He tossed the controller aside, pointing at the screen where our guys were waiting. “We’ll make it like the game.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “The game?”

  “Winner takes all.” The grin on Devin’s face was self-satisfied, like he’d just discovered the cure for cancer, or at least a new cheat code for a video game.

  “A bet,” Max said, triumphantly. He nodded and grabbed another fistful of popcorn. “Yes, that’s a great idea.”

  “A bet?” I repeated. It’s like I didn’t have any words that hadn’t been said already. After a moment, I got my bearings. “You want to bet over Skylar?” It wasn’t the worst idea I’d ever heard. At least then there’d be a clear winner, and a clear couple of losers.

  “Yeah. We’ll each get a chance to win her over. Then when she chooses me, you two losers will back off.”

  I leaned forward in my chair. “Nice. Real nice. And what if you’re one of the losers?”

  Devin shrugged, running a hand through his hair. “Not possible. But if I am, I’ll back off, just the same as whoever else she doesn’t pick. Fair’s fair.”

  “How will we know who wins?” Max asked, gently pushing his glasses up his nose.

  “Whoever gets Skylar to confess her feelings for them is the winner,” I said.

  “Seriously? That’s lame,” Devin retorted.

  “And hard to validate,” Max piped in.

  “Fine. Once Skylar has decided who she wants to date, she’ll let the rest of us know she’s not interested, and the losers will run off together and cry,” I said. “Let’s do it.” I offered one hand to each of them and we executed a complicated three-way handshake we’d invited as kids and added on to since. It was our way of sealing the deal.

  I was a winner through and through, and Skylar would be mine.

  Chapter 10

  SKYLAR

  I was still picking green plastic needles from my white sweater as I put my things into my work locker. Why did it seem like the universe was against me? First my mom lost her job,
then my father spent all the Christmas gift money on booze, and now our plastic Christmas tree’s pole had snapped right in half. I’d tried to duct tape it back together, but due to the already thinning branches my repair had been too obvious. The poor tree Mom had since her own childhood was now in a box out front, waiting for the garbage man. I let out a sigh and attempted to clear all the household drama aside. I had today’s shift and tomorrow’s, then a day off. I could do this. “You can do this,” I whispered to myself.

  “Hey, Skylar.”

  I jumped at my name and spun around. Smiling at Parker, I pulled my hands inside my sweater sleeves before crossing my arms over my chest.

  “Giving yourself a pep talk?” he asked, a smile curling his gorgeous lips. My cheeks flush and he chuckled. “Don’t be shy. I do it too. All the time.”

  I raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You do? I had no idea there was a little crazy inside that All-American facade.”

  Parker turned, leaning his hip against the locker, and folded his own arms over his chest. Facing me, looking at me with those knock-the-breath-from-me blue eyes, I could almost pretend he was into me. But then I recalled the video game conference debacle and realized it was crazy.

  “You have no idea how much crazy is inside this All-American facade, Skylar.”

  I wrapped my arms tighter around my chest to keep myself from shivering. I had no idea he could make his voice sound … sexier! I laughed nervously and then rolled my eyes, playing off whatever that was. “I, um … we’re … going to be late for our shift. See you out there.” I punched him on his arm as I passed by, and then cringed as I walked away. What the hell was wrong with me?

  Parker. That’s what was wrong with me.

  Our dinner break came quickly thanks to the long line of families waiting for Santa pictures. We’d been so busy I hadn’t had time to analyze how dumb I’d been around Parker, or how delicious his strong legs looked in those tights.