Her First Noel (Curves for Christmas Book 4) Read online

  Her First Noel

  By

  Dani Wyatt

  Copyright © 2019

  by Dani Wyatt

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places,

  events and incidents are either the products

  of the author’s imagination

  or used in a fictitious manner.

  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,

  is purely coincidental.

  www.daniwyatt.com

  Cover Credit PopKitty

  Editing Nicci Haydon

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Her First Noel

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  NIGHT BEFORE

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  One

  Cole

  “SO, DO YOU THINK I should be on the naughty list, or the very, very nice list?” Amanda Burn twirls on the spot, her sexy elf costume spinning out and flashing a glimpse of her bare ass before she loses her balance and giggles as she performs a cutesy, exaggerated fall into me. “Oops!”

  Clearly, she expected me to catch her, but unless she’s actually about to crash to the ground I’m not going to encourage this bullshit. Call me an asshole, wouldn’t be the first time, but while she can stay on her feet, she’s on her own.

  I take the glass of white wine from her hand and set it on the nearest table. “That’s enough for tonight.”

  The room hums with chatter and laughter, The First Noel playing on the speakers above as the buffet line settles down. The delectable smell of the prime rib and other incredible food served tonight mix with the scent of pine from the twenty or so decorated trees that line the perimeter of the private banquet room at the restaurant.

  “Party pooper.” Amanda pouts, running a suggestive hand down my tie, which I promptly remove as I step back. “You know,” she starts, her words slow and thick and her eyes glazed. “I’ve always had a crush on you. I know you’re the boss and that might...” She shrugs and squeezes her lips together while pushing up her tits. “...complicate things. But I’m willing if you are...”

  Fuck me. There is no good way out of this, so I stick with what I know.

  Being an asshole.

  I take a sip of my Coke, then clear my throat and wrap this shit show up. “This...” I wave my hand around the room, where nearly a hundred people mingle, ninety-five percent of them men. “This is a work party. At a work party, one, you should stay sober. Two, don’t make passes at the boss, especially one that is not interested. So, you are cut off and I’m calling you a cab.”

  She screws up her face, trying to decide if I’m serious. When I raise my eyebrows and stay silent, she narrows her eyes. “Whatever.”

  “Do what I tell you and you’ll still have a job tomorrow. Otherwise, I’ll consider this your resignation. I’m sure you can get back into The Odyssey.”

  Before she came to work for my partner and I at Remington Construction, as a favor to my partner’s ex-wife and daughter, she was a dancer at a local strip club. Where she got fired. Do you know how hard it is to get fired from a strip club?

  Yeah.

  When she applied for the receptionist’s position at our firm, she talked a good game about wanting to change her life and get a fresh start. Martin wanted to give her a shot because of her friendship with his daughter, and I must have had ‘sucker’ written on my forehead that day because I backed his play. I’ve regretted it every day since.

  “You’re sort of a jerk.” Her words are clipped, but at least the flirting has stopped.

  “Good. You’re sobering up. Now, go get your coat.” I pull out my phone and tap the speed dial for the cab service that’s on call for our company party tonight. “There will be a cab ride with your name on it out front.”

  She opens her mouth to speak but I don’t wait. I spin on my heel bringing the phone to my ear, letting the cab company know they have a customer waiting.

  Before I hang up, Martin works through the crowd and stands next to me, waiting while I finish on the phone, then shakes his head as he looks around me toward where Amanda is stumbling her way out of the banquet room, arms crossed looking put out.

  “You fire her?” He asks, taking a sip of his beer.

  “Not yet. Close.”

  “Yeah, we’re going to need to take care of that, let her know this is the last chance saloon. She’s a fucking train wreck. When MaryBeth asked me to give her a chance, I should have known better.”

  “We all make mistakes, man, I agreed to take her on too.” I let out a sigh, making sure he knows we both own this disaster. “MaryBeth asked you for a favor, a job for your daughter’s friend, you did what you thought best. Monday I’ll take care of it, lay down the law or she can hit the bricks.”

  He nods. “I appreciate it. You’re better at bad cop.”

  Martin and I have been friends and business partners for going on ten years and he’s as close to a brother as I’ll ever have. Normally his judgment is pretty flawless, but he has one massive blind spot. Not for MaryBeth herself his daughter’s mother, that was a onetime deal never to be repeated. But the daughter he didn’t even know about until six years ago. For her, he’d do anything, even if it means being nice to her train wreck of a mother.

  I start to reply when out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of blonde hair, the curve of luscious hips, the sway of the world’s most fantastic ass, and I’m instantly hard.

  My muscles tense, my already crazed obsession revving into overdrive, and I snap my head around like a predator catching the scent of his prey, all my senses suddenly on alert. The rest of the room fades, as I watch her moving at the edge of the crowd, before Martin raises his hand and waves.

  “Holly!” The world snaps back into focus as he motions for her to join us in the center of the room. “Over here.”

  I grit my teeth, trying to quell the filthy thoughts that are playing in my mind about my best friend’s daughter.

  Bringing my Coke to my lips, I take a long sip, trying to keep my heart from thundering out of my chest as Holly waves back and her lips curve into that perfect smile that dances in my dreams every night. The same smile I’ve been unable to get out of my head since the first time I met her, three years ago.

  As I watch, imagining all the dirty things I’d use those lips for, Amanda sashays by her and mutters something that makes Holly’s face fall.

  If
I wasn’t frozen to the spot, I’d stomp up there, find out what she said and make her apologize. Instead, I focus on the sight of my obsession and try to control the low-level rage I feel when she hands her coat to the girl at the cloak room entrance, revealing the outfit underneath.

  Don’t get me wrong, I love what she’s wearing. A tight red skirt, red heels and a low-cut red and white striped sweater to match, making her look like a sex-flavored candy cane, all snugging around every soft curve and making my mouth water. Her ripe tits push up behind the sweater, cleavage that calls for my tongue to taste it on view for every fucker to see.

  Except, her skirt is too fucking short. If she sits down, you could surely see her panties. If she’s wearing any.

  Fuck. I’m going to lose my fucking mind.

  “You didn’t tell me Holly was back for the holiday.” I growl at my friend, who gives me a confused look.

  “Yeah I did...” He sniffs then finishes. “Shit, maybe not. Anyway, it’s not just the holiday. The damn newspaper she was working for closed their doors last week. Everyone showed up for work and there was a notice on the door. Just like that.” He snaps his fingers. “Week before Christmas, everyone is out of a job.”

  I blow out a long breath, watching out of the corner of my eye as she works her way through the crowd, greeting some of the employees and pausing to chat, making me want to kill the guys that are even thinking of breathing the same air as she is.

  “She’s staying with her mom?” I ask needing to know where she will be laying her head tonight.

  Martin’s voice darkens. “Yeah. I’d love if she’d stay with me, but her mom...” He puffs out a breath. “MaryBeth has been giving Holly the guilt trip ever since she left for Philly for that job. I swear she’s happy she lost it. Means she can have free labor and another stream of passive income.”

  “Shit luck. On many levels.”

  It was similarly shit luck that threw MaryBeth and Martin together in the first place, from what I know of the situation. That was years before I knew him, when he was just a laborer like any of the guys in the room right now. He was working a construction job in the vicinity of a hotel where she was staying while she attended some fortune-teller conference or other; she’s not psychic, but she does have a gift when it comes to bullshitting.

  Anyway, one thing led to another, they ended up sharing her hotel room for the night, then they parted ways. She went back to Indiana and that was the end of the story. Except it wasn’t, because six years ago she popped up out of the woodwork, telling Martin he had a daughter. Turns out she was married when they had their thing, then when her husband fell over from a heart attack, her meal ticket was gone.

  Enter a DNA test and a child support order from the court and instant fatherhood. Which, to give him his dues, Martin took to like a duck to water. For the shit way MaryBeth handled the whole thing, Martin made sure Holly knew he took his responsibility seriously and if he had known from the get go he had a daughter, he would have fought for at least partial custody.

  He’s a good guy. I’ve never known him to sleep around or even date that much. He’s too focused on work. But if he knew about Holly sooner, I know she would have been his priority.

  After her husband died, MaryBeth ran up a shit ton of debt and was about to lose her house, so Martin made her a deal. She sold the house in Indiana, pay off all her debt and he paid to move both her and Holly here to Michigan so they’d be closer. Bought her a very nice, albeit modest home, in a safe community about twenty minutes away from his own house paid in full including the yearly taxes as long as Holly was living there. From what he’s told me, she’s managed to nearly trash the place already and when Holly moved out to take the job, she pissed and whined to Martin about having to pay the property taxes on her own so he gave in and told her he’d give her another year to get her shit together.

  Not damn likely.

  Martin nods. “If I had my way, I’d move Holly into my place and keep her locked up. Jesus, look at her.” He looks pained as she walks past a group of the workers.

  Two of our guys look her up and down and I see red, barely able to control the rage that is blinding me.

  “Hey!” Both Martin and I yell at the same time, which snaps their heads up and toward us looking sheepish.

  “Nothing to see here.” Martin stares them down and they both look at each other shaking their heads as Holly gives her dad a look.

  All the guys that work for us know she is off limits, which covers my own outburst. Martin’s made it more than clear since he became a father, he wouldn’t hesitate to give anyone a beat down if they thought about touching her.

  And I have no doubt that includes me.

  If he knew the things I thought about whenever I think of her, he’d kill me.

  When I close my eyes, I still smell that sweet cherry scent that she had the day I met her when she was seventeen. I think of her a thousand times a day. Where is she? What’s she doing? Is she safe? Is she happy?

  Wondering what she tastes like. How her pussy would feel clamped around my raging dick. Not a day goes by I don’t stroke off thinking about her.

  I’m horrible. Lusting after her even when she was too young. The years have made her legal but have also made her hotter than ever.

  “Hi.” She comes up and Martin gives her a hug. “Nice party.” She looks around the room, catching my eye, then quickly looks away, turning red as she inches closer to her dad.

  A little growl escapes my lips as I cast my own gaze over the room, watching for any other eyes that might make the mistake of lusting after what’s mine.

  “We’ve had a good year. Wanted to end it in style.”

  “Yeah, mom showed me the newspaper article. Congratulations.” Her lips part a little as her eyes meet mine, and she hesitates for just a fraction of a second before turning back to her father. “Is it okay if I stay at your place tonight? My car is still at the shop. It didn’t just need brakes, they found a leak in the brake fluid line so that’s going to take another couple days.”

  Martin grunts. “I wish you’d let me buy you a new one to replace that heap of junk. It’s always breaking down on you and—”

  “Dad...” She huffs, turning red, and I want her to blush like that for me. I try to push the thought of her on her knees looking up at me with those wide, innocent brown eyes.

  “I know, I know, you bought that car for yourself. How did you get here, anyway? I hope you didn’t walk.”

  “Mom dropped me off. So, about staying at yours...?”

  “You don’t even have to ask, sweetheart, you know I always have a room ready for you.”

  “Thank you.” As she looks my way, her sweet scent hits me directly in the balls, and suddenly I’m on edge. “Mom’s having some friends over and I’d just rather not be there.”

  Martin nods and I stare, making her look down and away as I battle the overwhelming need to reach out and pull her next to me, right here in front of everyone.

  I’ve done everything I know how to do to rid myself of my obsession with my best friend’s daughter, but I’ve failed.

  Hard.

  Two

  Holly

  AS SHITTY AS IT WAS to lose my first real job as a photographer for a small local paper in Philadelphia, deep down there was this little flutter of a thrill knowing I would be seeing Cole again.

  My Dad’s business partner and best friend.

  The man I’ve not been able to stop fantasizing about since my father introduced us when I was just seventeen.

  The man who is nearly two decades older than me, but the only man who has ever made me cum.

  And he’s never even touched me.

  I felt his eyes on me from across the room the moment I walked in. It was like they were touching me, caressing my body and ruining my panties in the matter of a few seconds.

  I’m a horrible person. Cole is like a second father to me.

  A father I’d like to have rip my clothes off.

>   The thought comes unexpected and I catch my breath, looking away from Cole as the heat rises to my face, Amanda’s comment as she walked by me about my outfit making me feel more self-conscious if that’s possible.outfit for the evening.

  Looks like ten pounds of potatoes in a five-pound bag.

  It’s like I’m the new girl at school all over again, when she used to make comments about my weight every single day. I wrap my arms around my middle, trying to hide the way it curves out where hers curves in.

  “Hi.” Cole’s deep voice shakes me down to my core. “Your dad just told me about the job. I’m sorry.”

  I shrug. “It’s okay. I got a temporary thing lined up.”

  He looks me up and down and the room feels like it’s spinning. Cole towers over me. His body is broad and powerful, and I remember all the times I’ve watched him at work, swinging a hammer with the workers—even though, if he wanted, he could just stay at the office and never have to do a hard day’s labor again. His turquoise blue eyes hypnotize me for a moment, and I imagine swimming in a tropical lagoon of the same color. The square cut of his jaw hardens and there’s a knot in my throat, making it harder and harder to breathe.

  “Oh?” My dad gives my shoulders a squeeze. “What’d you find so fast?”

  “On my way to drop off my car, I stopped to do some Christmas shopping in town. I was walking by the little North Pole set up. You know, where the kids sit on Santa’s lap? Anyway, there was a guy taping a sign on the window saying they needed a photographer ASAP. The one they had was caught posting pictures of kiddos on the internet.” I make a disgusted face and both Cole and my father’s faces harden, like they want to chase the guy down and beat seven bells out of him. “But, there I was, right place right time I guess. The guy didn’t ask many questions besides if I knew how to work the camera equipment and the printer. Said he’d pay me five hundred dollars. Cash. He was pretty desperate. Like a Christmas miracle.”

  “Wow.” Cole nods. “Awesome.”