Under the Mistletoe

“Nice. I guess that’s why he’s not here,” Elizabeth said with a grin.

“You’d think, but no. He said I’m interesting. We’re having dinner in thirty minutes. A picnic on the patio by one of the fire rings.”

“You are? Who is he?”

“Will Spalding. He’s staying in the cabin next to mine. Do you know anything else about him?”

Elizabeth withdrew for a second but Penny didn’t mind. She knew her friend was using her razor-sharp mind to search for details about Will. “Last Christmas he stayed at the Caribbean resort that Lars owns. He always books in for two weeks at the holidays, and he’s due to check out on New Year’s Eve.” She grinned at her friend. “I can pull up some info about him if you want? I know he asked for a Christmas tree to be delivered on the twenty-first and that’s about it.”

“That’s okay. He’s going to give me the scoop when we have dinner,” Penny said.

Elizabeth gave her an incredulous look. “Yeah, sure he is. He’s probably going to tell you whatever he thinks you want to hear.”

“I’m pretty sure my bullshit meter is more than ready to weed out his lies,” Penny said. “He’s my holiday fantasy. And unless he is a complete troll at dinner, I think I’ve found my distraction.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Then why did you look so serious before?” Elizabeth prodded.

“It sucks having a best friend who calls you on the BS.”

Elizabeth laughed. “Yes, it does. So what’s up?”

“I like him, Lizzie. He’s funny and charming, and I think he could be a lot of fun. But given what just happened with Butch, I’m afraid to just let myself relax and enjoy it, you know?”

“I do know. But I also know that you aren’t going to let him slip away. If you want him for Christmas, then make him yours,” she said.

“My own Christmas hottie?”

“Definitely.”

“Should I be jealous?” Bradley asked, coming up behind Elizabeth.

“No,” Elizabeth said. “You’re my hottie.”

“And you’re mine,” he said, bending to give his fiancée a kiss.

“And that’s my cue to go,” Penny said, downing the rest of her drink. She was happy for them and everything, but she might have misjudged coming here with them so happy and in love. It made her wistful. Made her wish she had some kind of radar that would help her steer clear of losers. “Have fun on your walk.”

“We will,” Bradley said with a wink. “Where are you heading off to?”

“Dinner with a tall, dark stranger...” Penny replied.

“Go, Penny!” Elizabeth said, holding her hand up for a high five.

She gave her one, walking out of the bar. She wanted to believe that this was simply dinner and nothing more. Will Spalding didn’t have to be anything other than who he was. She needed fun and uncomplicated. A Christmas gift to herself before she had to make some serious decisions about her future.

* * *

WILL HAD NO problems ordering the dinner he wanted for himself and Penny. The concierge was more than happy to secure a fire pit for them away from the families roasting marshmallows and singing carols.

Christmas lingered in his mind like a festering wound. Probably because it was the one time of the year that it really hit home that his family was gone and he was alone. He tended to wallow in it, starting around Thanksgiving. One year before he’d finally gotten sober, he’d spent the entire month of December drunk.

“Is that all, Mr. Spalding?”

“I’d like to do something after we eat. Any suggestions?”

“We have a horse-drawn sleigh that I can reserve for you. Our guide will take you on a path out toward the ski lifts. It’s scenic and on a clear night like tonight it should be beautiful.”

“Sounds perfect,” Will murmured. “Is the gift shop still open?”

“Yes, sir, until nine.”

“Thank you,” he said, turning to walk away. He went to the exclusive, high-end women’s boutique that was tucked off the main lobby. He found a Scottish-wool scarf that had the colors of Penny’s eyes and had it wrapped up, and asked the sales girl to send it to the concierge with instructions to have it in the sleigh later.

These kind of romantic gestures he’d learned early on. Women appreciated them and he found that a happier woman made for a more enjoyable evening. And money had never been an obstacle for him. He knew the gift was small, but he also had realized pretty early on that it was the small things that mattered most in life.

And he wanted Penny. Wanted two weeks alone with the pretty blonde. He headed back to the bar and noticed her high-fiving her friends.

Maybe he was kidding himself by thinking she would agree to a two-week Christmas romance. Despite her throwing her phone earlier, she seemed like someone who was a bit healthier in relationships than he was.

He doubted she’d need anything from him. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d misjudged someone. But this time he hoped he was wrong. Because, more than anything, he wanted her to need him so he could focus on making her Christmas special and ignore the gnawing emptiness that he still felt deep inside. She pushed off the stool and turned to walk toward him. He watched the way she moved. Her hips swaying with each step she took. Her breasts bouncing the slightest bit. The effortless grace that was arresting to behold. He realized he was staring but didn’t care. Penny smiled when she noticed him watching her, and for the first time since he’d started thinking about Christmas, he felt lighter. He didn’t care if nothing else came of this evening than dinner in a pretty woman’s company. For tonight that was enough.

He didn’t have to think of the past or the bruises he always pretended weren’t there. He could just enjoy this evening with a sweet, uncomplicated woman. Someone who could make him forget the truth of who he was.

“Ready?” she asked, coming up to him.

“I am. Are you going to be warm enough?”

“I think so. If not, you can keep me warm,” she said with a wink.

“I can?”

“Unless you don’t want to, but then that’s the whole point of inviting me to dinner, right?”

“Indeed. Let’s go.” He nodded toward the bar. “Were those your friends?”

“Yes. They just got together so they are still kind of too cutesy each time they see each other.”

“Too cutesy? I don’t know what that means,” he said.

“Kissy and huggy. Wow, now that I said it out loud, I really do sound jealous.”

“I’ll hug and kiss you if it makes you feel better,” he drawled. “I believe in giving a lady what she wants.”

“You’re quite the white knight.”

“What can I say? It’s fun to make another person happy,” he replied.

She slipped her hand into his. “Dinner is a good place to start.”

He led the way to the semisecluded area where his name was on a chalkboard under the word RESERVED. They had a thick, camel-colored blanket on the padded bench and the fire was roaring. There were thick potted pine trees placed around the area with brightly colored Christmas lights on them.

Will gestured to the bench and she walked over and sat down on it. Joining her on the comfy seat, he draped the blanket over both of their laps. He saw one of the waitstaff standing discreetly out of the way and signaled the man to bring their meal.

As the food and a table were arranged in front of them, he stretched his arm behind her on the bench and leaned in. The clean floral scent of her perfume surrounded him. He closed his eyes, reminded of a spring day in the mountains near his home in California.

“I didn’t ask if you had any dietary needs,” he said.

“None,” she admitted. “Healthy as a horse.”

She shook her head and covered her mouth with one hand. “Maybe this would be more romantic if I didn’t talk.”

“Not at all. I like hearing you talk. So you think this is romantic?”

She gave him a sardonic look. “As if you didn’t know. Yes, any woman worth her salt would think this was romantic.”

“What’s the problem then?” he asked, because there was definitely something more going on here.

“Just me being me. When I’m in a setting like this, I want to be perfect and all the ways that I’m not seem to make me stumble. I’m sorry... I want to be the glamorous sort of girl who’d fit right in here, but I’m going to say dumb things.”

“No, you’re not,” he said softly.

“Trust me—I am.”

“Honey, you’re going to say things that are going to show me who you really are.” Turning toward her, he stared into her captivating blue eyes. “Besides, I’m not interested in someone who is pretending to be perfect.”

* * *

PENNY ENJOYED THE dinner that Will had ordered. It was just a smorgasbord of meats and cheese and artisanal breads from the Park City Bakery. But what made the dinner so lovely was Will. He was funny and urbane. Obviously well-traveled and cultured.

Being with him made her realize how lacking Butch had been in those departments. He put her at ease. Made her feel like it was okay to be herself. And for the first time since she’d learned Butch was married, she felt a spark of hope.

“You look very determined,” Will said as he finished off the last of a cheese straw.

“Do I? I was hoping to look intriguing,” she said with a self-deprecating laugh.

“It’s hard when you keep laughing. Femme fatales don’t laugh,” he said.

“They don’t? I’ve met a few spies and they do laugh,” she said.

“Do they? How do you know they were spies? Maybe they were just pretending,” he said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. My mom is a lobbyist so I’ve met all kinds of people in DC. Speaking of which...what do you do? You haven’t said.”

“Sorry to say, I’m not a spy. In fact, I’m in commodities, so not even a really exciting job.”

“I don’t know that that means. Are you a trader?”

“More of a speculative investor. Commodities are things so I invest in things, not in people or ideas.”

“Interesting,” she said, still having no idea what he did.

He laughed. “I spend a lot of time on the internet doing research and reading company profiles before deciding if I should invest in them and their products.”

“Is it profitable?”

“Usually,” he said. “What do you do?”

“I’m sort of between jobs at the moment. I was the senior event planner for Papillion Clothiers,” she said.

“Interesting,” he said with a half grin.

She arched a brow. “Don’t tell me you don’t know what that is.”

“I’ve heard of Papillion and I know what an event planner does, but I’m struggling to put the two together.”

“Mostly I plan events around the various fashion weeks for our high-end clients,” she said.

He glanced at her curiously. “Do you like it?”

“I love it. Clothes and parties, what more could a girl ask for?”

“Truly? Is that all it takes to make you happy?” he asked quietly.

Suddenly, she didn’t feel like being light and pretending everything was perfect, but she knew she had to keep up the charade. No matter that he made her feel like it was okay to be herself. The past had taught her it wasn’t. “Most days. Especially at work. It’s a world I enjoy and I like getting paid for it.”

“But in your personal life?”

“I like clothes and parties in that, too, but that’s not all I need to be happy,” she told him.

“What is?”

“I think defining happiness isn’t a first-date subject,” she said evasively.

“Is that so?” He leaned in closer and the scent of his spicy aftershave surrounded her. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s not a better time.”

“Why?”

“Because we don’t know each other well enough to put up barriers. Right now there is just potential and we can be as honest with each other as we want to be.”

“Okay, then. What makes you happy?” she asked. “If you want to do this, then you can go first.”

“Touché,” he said.

“It’s harder than you thought it would be, isn’t it?”

“Not at all. I’m just not all that into happiness. I’m more a contentment sort of guy,” he replied.

“Really? Why is that?”

Will shrugged his broad shoulders and gave her an inscrutable look. “Happiness is a chimera. Something shimmering in the distance that most of us keep striving toward but never really reach. But contentment is easier. I mean, right now I’ve had a nice dinner with a very beautiful woman in front of a roaring fire. Nothing could be simpler than that.”

Penny thought about what he’d said. There was more truth to it than she wanted there to be. He’d been honest and now she had to be, too. She owed it to the man who saw happiness dancing just out of his reach to stop pretending to be something she wasn’t. Ultimately, she knew that she couldn’t make another person happy. She never had been able to do it and doubted that in this moment with this man it would be any different. Contentment was all he was aiming for and she suspected she could manage at least that, but a part of her wanted more.

“I don’t know if I buy into that. I’ve been truly happy at times, usually with my friends when I can let my guard down and be myself,” she admitted.

“Are you being yourself now?” he asked softly.

“I am. Coming off a bad relationship makes it so clear to me that I can’t stomach lies,” she said.

Then wished she hadn’t.

“I can’t, either,” he admitted. “Which is why I have a proposition for you.”

She looked at him, trying to read the expression in his blue eyes, but in the flickering light of the fire that wasn’t easy.

“I’m listening.”

He rubbed his chin and gave her a rueful grin. “Don’t take this the wrong way.”

“Um...if you keep hedging, I’m not going to have much of a choice.”

“I have a theory that has served me well most of my adult life about relationships and it’s that the maximum time for them is two weeks.”

“Two weeks?” Great. Sounded like he was another guy who wasn’t for her. But at least he was being honest. “Go on.”

“Before I do, there is something I want to make sure of first.”

He put his arm around her shoulder. Drew her closer to him, and she let him. Given that this might be their one and only date, she wanted to go for it.

Their eyes met and held, and she couldn’t look away from his intense blue eyes and the expression in them. Whatever he meant by two weeks she wanted to know more. His breath brushed over her lips as he exhaled and he lowered his head slowly, giving her a chance to retreat, but she didn’t want to back away.

She wanted his kiss. But she needed some answers first.

3

PENNY PUT HER hand on his jaw and felt the stubble of his five o’clock shadow. She liked the way it abraded her fingertips and she sighed.

“Sex. That’s what you’re proposing, isn’t it?” she asked, withdrawing her hand from him and getting to her feet.

Penny shivered a little bit from the cold but stood her ground. She’d never been wishy-washy in her life. Even with her bad relationships, she’d gone into them with her eyes open.

“No. I’m talking about the fact that we both know we’re going home in two weeks. It would be silly to pretend we didn’t.”

“Go on, I’m listening,” she said as her teeth chattered.

She got back under the blanket and he tucked it around her. He smiled at her—it was tentative and roguishly charming, and she had to smile back. “The next two weeks, leading up to Christmas and then New Year’s Eve, we spend together. We do all the things that couples do and we enjoy it.”

She nodded, trying to be analytical about it, to treat Will as if he were a businessman pitching an idea to her. “What’s the catch?”

“That we both know it ends on New Year’s Eve. That this is just temporary. To pretend this could be anything else is a lie.”

She thought about it. She’d had her fill of lies that were told to her by men. “So you’re proposing a vacation fling?”

“No, a Christmas affair...a sort of gift to each other,” he said. “Unless you’re not interested in me.”

“I almost kissed you,” she reminded him.

“The almost is the part that I’m concerned about,” he said, frowning slightly.

“You kind of said you had a proposition for me. I needed to see what you meant before I took this any further.” She hitched in a breath. “But for the sake of argument, why not try to make this into something real? Don’t you believe in love at first sight?” she asked. “I know not everyone does, but some people do.”

He rubbed the back of his neck and reached for his drink, taking a couple of swallows before looking her in the eyes. She knew stalling when she saw it.

“No lies,” she said. “That’s my rule if we even consider doing this. I don’t care if it will hurt my feelings or if it’s too raw for you. I will not tolerate any falsehoods.”

“I think there is a story there,” he said wryly.

“You haven’t convinced me you should hear it yet,” she retorted. “But it involves Jerk Butt Face.”

He laughed. “I am not good at relationships. Courtship and romance I can do—no problem—but the heavy-duty lifetime-together crap, not so much.”

She arched her eyebrow at him. “Might have something to do with the fact that you call it crap.”

“Might be. But experience has taught me two weeks is my maximum,” he said.

She wanted to know more about that but didn’t push. He offered her something temporary. “You’re proposing that we just both go into this with our eyes open. Have a great time and keep it light?”

It seemed almost too good to be true, but she was tempted. She needed something to make her remember all the things she loved about her life. And all the things she liked about being with a man.

Before Butch had come along and made her feel nothing but bitter resentment... “Yes,” he said. “That’s precisely what I’m looking for. But I’ll understand if this isn’t for you. Not everyone is good at compartmentalizing.”

“I take it you are?” she asked.

“I am. But as you said, we don’t know each other well enough to go into all that.”

“The nice thing about what you’re offering is that we don’t have to. I don’t have to try to make you into the man of my dreams.”

“No, but I wouldn’t mind being the man of your fantasies.” His voice dropped a seductive notch. “I find that when women and men are too focused on making ‘it’ work, they lose out on experiencing all the things they truly want.”

Boy, was that the truth. She hadn’t been too pushy with Butch because he was her boss, but also because he had seemed like a nice normal guy. She’d called that wrong.

“Can I have some time to think about it?” she asked, biting her lip.

“You can, but we only have two weeks,” he reminded her. “So don’t take too long.”

That was true. But— No, no buts, she thought. Thinking and weighing the pros and cons had netted her a holiday by herself. The gift she’d really wanted was a sexy man to share it with. Will was offering her that very thing.

It was only her fear that was keeping her from leaping into it. She didn’t want to make another mistake. Who did?

“I have arranged for a little surprise for you,” he said, breaking into her thoughts. “Why don’t you think it over and meet me in the lobby under the mistletoe in thirty minutes if you’re interested.”

“What kind of surprise?” she asked, but she already realized that she liked his surprises.

“An outdoor one, so you might want to get changed,” he said.

“What if I don’t show up?” Penny asked. She tried to imagine him standing there waiting for her. No guy she’d dated in the past would have done that, would have left themselves so obviously open to being stood up. “Won’t you feel silly standing there?”

“Not at all. I’ll feel like a man who missed out on knowing a very special woman. I hope you’ll take the chance and let me make this a Christmas we can both remember.”

* * *

PENNY WASN’T TOO sure about Will or letting herself know him any better. Two weeks sounded fun in theory, but the truth was that she wasn’t always supersmart when it came to love. She fell for all those losers and the sweet promises they made—but seldom kept—because inside she desperately wanted to be loved.

She knew it. Her therapist had confirmed it. And let’s face it, all those bad boyfriends over the years had just reinforced it.

But Will was different. He wasn’t making her any promises. All he’d said was, Let’s be each other’s Christmas present. Meet under the mistletoe to accept. And now she stood in the corner of the Lodge’s big reception area, waiting to see if he was going to show up.

She’d taken her time with her hair and makeup, wore a pair of slim-fitting black pants and a cream-colored silk top that showed off her curves. She looked her best. But now she just had to believe in herself. That was part of why she kept falling for those guys who couldn’t give her what she needed.

But believing in herself in a relationship was always a slippery slope.

“Hello, gorgeous,” Will said, coming up behind her.

She flushed and turned toward him. A few snowflakes still clung to his thick brown hair, and his bangs fell forward, brushing his face. His blue eyes were bright, but she noticed that he was watching her carefully.

He wore dark jeans and an olive green sweater that accentuated his muscular physique and broad shoulders. A few snowflakes still clung to his thick brown hair and his bangs fell forward, brushing his face.

“Hello.” She reached up on the premise of brushing the snow away but really just wanted to touch his hair.

“Are you waiting for me? Or hiding?”

“Neither,” she said. “Just giving myself a swift mental kick in the attitude.”

“Why is that?” he asked.

“I’m not sure about you yet, Will. I don’t have a good track record with men—something we’ve discussed. And I have to be honest here, you are almost too good to be true.”

“A sort of Christmas miracle?”

She had to laugh at the way he said it. He had enough confidence for both of them.

“I haven’t decided yet. You could be a mean old Jack Frost just blowing chilly air and leaving ice in your path.”

He gave her an enigmatic look as he peered down at her. “I have no way to prove I’m not. But we both know the girl who threw her phone in the snowbank wants to take a chance on me. So I’m going to go stand under that mistletoe and wait.”

He walked away, his stride long and confident, those jeans still hugging his butt. Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s “Christmas Canon” played in the background and Penny stood there, hesitating for a second before she realized that she wanted Will. Wanted him enough that she was going to go for it.

He’d said two weeks was the optimum time to just enjoy each other, and she was going to just have to take him at his word. Besides, Will seemed like the perfect sort of Christmas surprise that she couldn’t wait to unwrap.

She walked slowly toward him, the music dipping and swelling, the scent of the large pine Christmas tree in the lobby filling the air. Her courage and her hope were building with each step.

She stopped right in front of him and he gave her a cocky grin. “Knew you couldn’t resist me.”

“Maybe I just felt bad for you standing all alone under the mistletoe,” she said, leaning in to kiss him.

His mouth was soft and firm as his lips moved under hers. With their breaths mingling together, sheer physical need inundated her senses. She felt the tip of his tongue brush against her lips, then gently part them. Shivers ran down her spine until she forgot everything except this man. Will.

He put his hands on her waist to draw her closer, but she broke the kiss and stepped back. Just because she’d decided to take a chance on him didn’t mean she was going to lose her head. She was going to keep her attraction to him under control.

“What was that?”

“A kiss,” she said.

“A pity kiss? I expected more from you,” he said.