His Christmas List

ALASKAN JACK

1

Holly

The buzzing of my phone wakes me and I glance at the clock, it’s 5 am.

I pick it up, the name Clancy lights up the screen. "Hi."

"Oh my God," she splutters.

I frown at the sound of her voice. "What's wrong?"

"I've been up vomiting all night."

"Oh no, you poor thing. Are you okay?" I wince.

"No, I'm literally on my deathbed."

"You should probably go to the hospital then, less messy to clean up your dead body." I smile, relieved that it's only that.

"This isn’t funny."

I rub my eyes. "Sorry. So, I take it you're not coming in today?" Clancy is my PA, the best damn one I ever had.

"I can't, I'm so sorry."

"That’s okay," I sigh.

"It's not. You'll have to cancel Alaska."

I screw up my face in horror as I remember today’s itinerary. "Shit, I can't."

"Well, you can't go alone."

I close my eyes. "I'll get Joel to come."

"Joel starts his time off today, remember?"

"Fuck."

"What about Melissa?" she asks.

"Are you kidding me?" I sigh. Melissa is Clancy's assistant, and she drives me crazy. She flirts with every man she comes into contact with, to the point that it's embarrassing.

"It's three nights, surely you can handle her for three nights?"

"No, actually. I can't."

"I'll tell her to behave."

"I'll just go alone."

"This is a major meeting, Holly. You can't."

"Clancy, I love you, but you are aware that I can do my job without you, right?"

"I know that," she scoffs.

"Stop underestimating me and go back to bed," I smirk. I've worked my ass off to get where I am. Years and years of blood sweat and tears has lead me to be the head of acquisitions for Ferrara Media, New York. I'm Gabriel Ferrara’s right-hand woman. I know my job and I do it well, and tomorrow, I have a meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, to close a multi-million dollar deal on the sale of the local television station. "Can you email me the flight details, please," I ask.

"Okay so, you're flying commercial because Gabriel leaves in the company plane for Italy today to visit his family."

I roll my eyes; this is just getting better by the second. "Yes, I remember," I reply. "Email me the details of hotels, etc."

"Are you sure you can go alone?"

"I'm not a baby," I snap, exasperated. Clancy has become a tad overprotective.

"I'm pretty sure after the last eighteen months I can handle two days in Alaska on my own."

"No doubt," she says. "The car will meet you at the other end and I'll detail everything in the email. Call me whenever you need me."

"Okay." Clancy's been my rock and has become one of my closest friends. Eighteen months ago, my husband of ten years was imprisoned for insider trading, and if that wasn’t devastating enough, having his private life dragged through the courts was the ultimate betrayal. He played me like a fiddle, the real Wolf of Wall Street. He was the rock star stockbroker, the Harvard lawyer who came from one of the most respected families in New York. Handsome, wealthy and powerful.

And I was the fool, so blinded by love that I had absolutely no idea of who I was really married to. The press covered the stories of his embezzlements, blackmail, Cocaine, high end prostitutes and oh, there's the small matter of a love child he had with another woman two years ago, that he wanted to know nothing about. It was revealed in the courts that he paid the mother out to never reveal his identity to the boy. What kind of man deserts his own child?

While I was working my ass off to get us ahead, he was ripping people off and fucking around.

Asshole.

"I'm sorry, that flight is closed."

"What?" I frown as I glance at my watch. "What do you mean? I still have plenty of time."

"It's out of my hands." The airport attendant shrugs. "It closed ten minutes ago."

I close my eyes in horror. Fuck. "I have to be in Anchorage tomorrow," I say.

"Nothing I can do," she says casually.

I run my hands through my hair as I begin to feel my temperature rise. "Okay, can I get onto another flight please?"

The attendant types into the computer and reads the screen. "Unfortunately, there isn’t another vacant seat until Friday."

"How is that possible?" My eyes widen in horror. "What do you mean? That’s three days away."

"You're flying to Anchorage in Alaska."

"And?"

"And limited amount of flights go there."

I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Oh… this is just great." On my way to the airport this morning I found out that there has been a counter offer by Miles Media and I need to get there urgently to close the deal before Tristan Miles swoops in and steals it from under me.

"Sorry."

Fuck’s sake. "Umm, okay." I try to think of a solution. "What other airlines fly to Anchorage?"