Unwrapping Holly

A grin of pure appreciation filled his face. He leaned over the door and kissed her. “Yes. No maybe about it. Christmas together is perfect. You’re perfect.”

He left her sitting there with a big, gorgeous smile lighting up her lovely features. And as he climbed into his pickup truck, Cole decided that life was good. It was damned good.

***

AN HOUR AFTER LEAVING COLE back at the sheriff ’s office, Holly sat at Grandma Redding’s kitchen table, her laptop in front of her, still grinning to herself like some silly schoolgirl over the way things were going with her and Cole. She thought of his statement “you’re mine” and grinned some more. For the independent woman she considered herself, Cole’s caveman routine should be stifling. But it wasn’t. It was hot. It was amazingly hot. Maybe because Cole had already proven he had a softer side, the one who’d read her work the night before when she’d been stuck on a plot point and then helped her think her way out of the corner she’d written herself into. She smiled and started writing, sliding quickly into a zone where the words flew onto the page.

Abruptly though, her fingers froze over the keyboard when a commotion outside jerked her out of the scene she was writing. Voices. Banging. What the heck?

Both concerned and irritated at being pulled away from her work, Holly rushed to the door and shoved her arms into her coat, her feet into the snow boots her father had given her several days before. Standing on the porch, she saw a group of men drilling a hole nearby on the property. What?

She dug her phone out of her pocket and tried to call her parents but received no answer. Surely they would have told her if there was something going on today before they left for the airport.

Holly stomped down the stairs and made it all of a few steps before she froze. Cole? She blinked. Surely that wasn’t Cole standing there, talking with three other men. A few steps away from them, several other guys were taking some sort of measurement. On her parents’ property. What was going on?

Her stomach lurched, and her hand pressed against it, as another truck—a familiar truck—pulled up and a moment later, Abe crossed toward Cole. She had a bad feeling about this. Really bad.

Holly launched into action, praying this gut-wrenching feeling that twisted and turned with every step was for nothing. Cole seemed to sense her approach, his gaze lifting, seeking, and settling on Holly. His handsome, chiseled features flashed with surprise a moment before his long, lean legs began eating up the distance between them.

She could barely breathe for the cold air and fear eating away at her lungs as she stopped in front of him. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “Who are those men? I thought you were doing some inspection on the property you’re buying. What’s going on, Cole?”

With a grim set to his jaw, Cole stepped closer, tried to touch her. She jerked away. Her attention shifted over Cole’s shoulder to where Abe stood gaping at the two of them. The implications of him being there weren’t missed on Holly. She knew that Abe was supposed to meet Cole for the property inspection.

She ground her teeth and cast him an accusing glare. “What are you doing here? What is Abe doing here?”

“Holly,” he pleaded.

She squeezed her eyes shut, his lack of explanation the only answer she needed. “Oh God. This can’t be happening.” Slowly, she opened her eyes and forced out the question burning a fast-deepening hole in her gut. “This is the property you’re buying, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t know. I—”

It was true! “You’re buying my family home?!” She exploded with a combination of panic and anger. Her hands went to the side of her head, fingers in her hair. She was coming home to Haven, and home didn’t exist. Had her parents’ retirement put them in financial distress? Were they ashamed to ask for help? She flung her arms out to her sides. “How could you not tell me that?! How?”

He held his hands up. “I didn’t know, Holly. I didn’t know. Your last name isn’t even Redding. How would I know?”

“My last name is Redding!” she yelled, fully aware that the other men, Abe included, were staring at them, jaws to the ground. Well, let them stare. She hoped their eyes popped out and their ears fried. She balled her fists by her sides, and added, “It’s been Redding every damned day of my life! ”

Helplessly, he shook his head. “Your book. I thought—”

“My God, Cole. It’s a small town. I can hardly pee without a report being sent home to my parents. You want me to believe that everyone but you, the man who has been fucking me nightly, knows my real name?”