Chapter 28
Holly
Everything is perfect.
I’m safe. Alive.
Darlene is in handcuffs, and hopefully on her way to getting the help she needs.
Noel is with me. And that’s just the best thing ever.
Right now, everything looks good.
The gala is perfect. A-listers are arriving, and guests are mingling with bright smiles, and holiday cheer mode is in full effect.
Drew’s House should do very well tonight.
Every flower, every ice sculpture, every candlelit table and ornament-draped garland.
The cookies are flawless, the champagne flows like magic, and the band plays a silky, romantic rendition of “Silver Bells” that makes my chest ache in the best way.
And somehow, miraculously, everything went off without a hitch—even after the chaos that nearly ruined it.
“Holly! Are you okay?” Clementine Callahan barrels toward me, worry written all over her flawless face before she pulls me into a tight, sisterly hug.
“I’m fine,” I whisper, meaning it more than she knows. “Noel was there to save the day.”
“Did he now?” she says with a smirk, eyes dancing.
Behind her, her husband Connor offers Noel a rare, approving handshake.
“Might have to put in a good word with your boss, Kane.”
Noel just nods once, the proud protector barely holding himself back from gluing himself to my side.
“Well, everything looks wonderful, Holly. Thank you so much. I can’t wait to do this again,” Clementine says, already stepping back into hostess mode. “I’ll call you at Big City Events.”
“Actually,” I say, my voice steady even as my heart leaps into my throat. “I’m leaving the company. Starting my own business.”
She beams. “Sounds like a plan! Let me know the second you’re up and running.”
I feel him behind me.
Noel.
His heat. His presence. His pride—it radiates off him like the heat from a fire.
When I turn, expecting protectiveness or worry, what I see instead makes my heart squeeze tight.
Pride. Pure and bright.
“Yeah, you’re starting your own business, Tinsel,” he murmurs, voice low and reverent. “You’re gonna be fucking fabulous.”
We spend another twenty, maybe thirty minutes doing final checks, greeting a few more guests, giving quiet nods of approval to the caterers and security and staff who helped pull this off.
But soon, it’s time. The adrenaline rush is wearing out, and I need to get out of here before I collapse.
The elevator doors close, and it’s just us. Our reflection stares back at me in the mirrored panel—his massive frame beside mine, my lipstick slightly smudged, both of us rumpled from the day’s chaos, but glowing.
“Might as well stay if Sigma’s paying,” I tease, trying to make light of everything. But my heart’s still racing from before. From him.
“Sigma’s not paying,” Noel says.
I blink.
“I am. And not because it’s a perk, or because I needed a room,” he continues. “It’s because when I’m with you, I’m with you. No one else, Holly.”
I turn to him slowly, stunned.
“What? Why?”
He exhales, that crooked grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. But there’s something raw beneath it. Honest. Steady.
“Because I know it’s crazy and fast. But maybe it’s that Christmas miracle people always talk about.”
He takes my hand, huge and warm around mine.
“You walked into my life and nothing’s looked the same since. Everything looks better. And I want more of that. With you.”
My breath catches. My heart swells.
“I love you, Holly. I am in love with you. Say you’ll be mine, Tinsel,” he murmurs. “Forever and always. Tell me yes.”
He’s not even asking.
He’s claiming me.
And somehow, it’s the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to me.
So, I do the only thing that feels right.
I leap into his arms.
Noel catches me like he always does, strong and unshakable, his laughter rumbling in my ear as I wrap my arms around his neck.
“Yes,” I whisper, my voice thick with happy tears. “Yes. Yes to all of it.”
My big, sexy bodyguard just became my Christmas miracle.
And I think I’ve just found my forever.