Seducing Santa (Holiday Series Book One)

Chapter Twelve ~ Once Upon A December Night

What had he been thinking?

Grayson could not stop replaying the moment he had whispered in Holly’s ear. He had been mere seconds from kissing her and possibly taking her right there on his desk with Jefferey, his assistant, standing just on the other side of the door. At first, he had been angry with her. Believing she had seduced him only to try and manipulate him and get him to agree to sell his family’s land, but her reaction to his accusation had told him all he needed to know. She wore her heart on her sleeve and had a terrible poker face, the hurt in her eyes instantly made him want to take back his words. He could almost kick himself for even implying such a thing, but at the same time, he hardly knew her. Still, Holly had given herself to him and here he was basically calling her a corporate p********e. What a great way to thank her for basically ending his four years of celibacy and curing his crippling fear of intimacy with other women. Grayson sighed and tried to stop thinking about her, but thoughts of her persisted all throughout the rest of the day.

He had several meetings with business owners, setting up for the Snowflake Festival. The event committee chair and his opponent in the upcoming mayoral election, Mary Brownstone, was supposed to take care of such things but she was the Queen of delegating. It was how she could do so many things at once. She handed out jobs to various residents and everyone came together to get things done. It was not really a bad thing, in fact, it was her gift and honestly, he could see why she might be a good choice for Mayor. However, one of the many things they disagreed on was the future of Holiday. She wanted to bring in more business and basically change it from a Small town to a tourist hotspot, believing tourism was the answer to their unemployment problem.

She and Holly would get along great.

“Welp, are you ready to get out of here, big brother?”

Grayson looked up from his laptop to see his sister, Rosie, walking through his office door. He glanced down at the clock and was shocked to see it was nearly six in the evening. Where had the time gone? He saved the document he had been working on, closing it before shutting down his laptop and stowing it away in his bag. He stood up and realized he may have been hunched over his desk for too long. He did a few good stretches and his sister giggled, walking around to rub his shoulders a little.

“How long have you been stuck in this place? Seriously, it’s amazing you can keep these muscles with how much you’re stuck behind your desk.” She said, going to grab his jacket and help him put it on.

“Hurry up! I am starving and have been dreaming about shrimp alfredo all day!” She pestered, heading back out into the waiting room where Jefferey was still sitting behind his desk.

“Oh, Jefferey! I’m sorry. You can go home now. Next time don’t wait for me to say so. I was so caught up I did not even realize the time.” Grayson explained.

“Oh, don’t worry! I was busy too and did not even notice until Rosie walked in! I’m off now! see you tomorrow!” Jeffery said, giving Rosie a kiss on the cheek and waving at Grayson before heading out.

“He really is so sweet. You really lucked out with him.” Rosie commented, watching as Grayson threw the strap of the laptop bag over his shoulder and went to turn off the lights.

“He was your classmate in college, you were the one that recommended him.” Grayson reminded her, closing the door to the office before leading Rosie out the other door.

“I know, and you were lucky that I recommended him.” she teased, smiling up at him as he turned off the final light and closed and locked the door behind them.

Grayson scoffed and then gestured for Rosie to lead the way, both of them heading down the stairs. They made it out the front door and down the road a bit to where his car was parked. Rosie had walked there from her flower shop, Perfect Bloom, that was on the main square. She had gone to college originally to be a business major, thinking to take over the family business, but eventually, she confessed that running the Holiday Mill was not her dream. It was one of many reasons they had handed over their family mill to another company which had ended badly.

Rosie felt guilty at first, but Grayson did not let her dwell on it. After finding out about the beetle infestation it would have been a disaster either way. It had just been time for the family to move on, her to her florist business and Grayson to his politics.

He opened the car door for her and waited until she got in before closing it and walking to the diver's side. He drove a Jeep SUV which was needed here, especially in the wintertime though so far there had been no snow yet. Rosie and he went out to dinner at least twice a week, sometimes even their parents coming along. However, now that their father was not doing so well his parents mostly stayed home.

At first, Rosie had stayed home to have dinner with them but their mother would not hear of it, knowing about their weekly dinner plans to go to Ben’s Seafood Restaurant, The Good Catch. Their mother did not want anything to change but it had, Rosie insisting on moving back in to help. She still had her small apartment above her shop if ever her mother felt like kicking her out because she “needed her out of her hair,” but Grayson lived a few doors down so if there was an emergency he was not far.

Grayson took off down the road toward the harbor where the restaurant was situated on a pier, overlooking the bay. It was not a fancy place, looking more like a large fisherman’s shake from the outside but the inside was nice enough. Ben was Grayson’s best friend since middle school. Ben’s Father moved here and opened up The Good Catch, his father both a fisherman and an amazing seafood chef.

After Ben’s father passed away a few years ago he took over completely, having been just a fisherman before that. He worked in the restaurant since he was a kid so he knew the ins and outs of the business but still he struggled a bit. Luckily, his father’s sou chef had taken up the reigns and helped Ben along, Ben even offering him a partnership.

Grayson pulled into a parking spot in the makeshift gravel parking lot, both of them getting out at the same time and making their way down the pier and to the entrance. They were instantly welcomed by the smell of fried fish and fresh bread when they opened the door.

“So, Steph, what is the special today?” Grayson asked the hostess, a short, dark-haired woman in her mid-thirties who had worked there since she was a teenager.

“Baked clams for the appetizer and the lobster tail and fried potatoes for the main course,” Steph replied while pulling out menus and leading them to their favorite table by the windows overlooking the bay.

“Oh, I will take that then,” Grayson informed her while taking his seat.

“And Shrimp Alfredo for you, Rosie?” Steph asked.

“You know me well,” Rosie confirmed, taking her seat across from Grayson.

“I will inform Val of your orders and bring out a diet coke and root beer,” Steph said, not even needing to ask what they wanted to drink.

“I do not even know why I bother bringing these with me, habit I guess.” Steph pondered out loud, indicating the unused menus under her arm before she walked away to talk to the server Val who just nodded and waved at them with a smile.

Rosie laughed and then turned to Grayson, a look in her eyes that made him uneasy. It was the same look she would give him when they were kids when she knew he had hidden her barbie dolls and she was determined to get the truth out of him. He turned to look out the window, hoping she would take the hint that he really was not in the mood to talk or gossip.

She didn’t take the hint.

“So,….that pretty blonde who won you last night at the Charity Event. What’s her name?” Rosie asked.

“Holly, and no I don’t want to talk about it,” Grayson said, trying to end this line of questioning before it truly began.

The moment the words escaped him, however, he realized his mistake. His sister was now about to go into full interrogation mode, he could already see her green eyes squinting with suspicion.

“Spill.” She demanded.

“Look, we kissed. We were both a little drunk. That is all you need to know!” He insisted, holding up his hands in a gesture that said he surrendered but that’s all she was getting.

“Kissed!” Rosie screeched, causing a few heads to turn in their direction.

“Hush! Do you want everyone to hear?” Grayson chastised.

“This is huge! Massive! I need details!” Rosie whispered harshly which was just as bad as the screeching, it still bringing attention to them.

“All you need to know is that mistletoe was involved and it won't ever happen again,” Grayson informed her.

Rosie pouted and a look came into her eyes that told him she was a little more than disappointed with this news. She had been trying desperately to get him to date again after Emily’s death, but Grayson could not bring himself to do it. She had been his first and only love.

They had known each other since they were kids, she was the literal girl next door. They had the usual phase where they had hated each other and had a small rivalry between her group of friends and his. Once puberty hit, though, all bets were off. He started seeing Emily as more than just an annoying girl but as someone he wanted to take to the movies and possibly kiss. Their first kiss had not been in the movie theater, however, but in the very treehouse where she had painted a sign that said No Boys Allowed when they were young.

In high school, they were the “It” couple. He the high school quarterback and her the head cheerleader, the perfect high school sweethearts. When college came they had the typical breakup, both going to separate sides of the country, but one Christmas when Grayson came back to visit he ran into her at the pub and discovered the sparks were still there. They got married mere months later and were married for six whole years until her accident happened.

For a moment, his mind wandered back to the night she had passed away, the anniversary in exactly four days. It had been Christmas Eve night and they were fighting about stopping Emily’s fertility treatments. She was tired and wanted to take a break but Grayson wanted to still try, determined to start a family. They had talked about a family ever since they were teenagers and Grayson was feeling pressure from his continuants about being married but not having kids, not seeing him as a true family man.

They went back and forth about it until Emily grabbed her keys and walked out, saying she needed some air. Grayson, angry and hurt, let her leave not believing it would be the last time he would ever see her. He turned on the TV ten minutes later and saw there was a severe weather warning for a blizzard and that everyone should stay inside.

He paced around not sure if he should go after her or not, still kicking himself to this day for not just going out into the storm. An hour later, he received a knock on his door and the sheriff stood on the other side, holding his hat…

“Grayson! You are not fair! You better watch your back because I am determined to get details sooner or later.” Rosie threatened just as their drinks arrived.

Grayson let out a soft chuckle and looked down at the root beer, once again wishing he could go back to that night and at least have his last words to Emily have been I love you instead of Maybe we should get a divorce.