Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
NOELLE
L ater that night, I finished adding the final touches to my Christmas tree when my doorbell rang. Seconds later, Felix called out, “It’s just me!”
I smiled, hearing his voice. “I’m in the living room!” I stepped off the ladder as his footsteps came down the hall, spinning to face him.
“Hey, you?—”
He smiled big and bright, immediately holding up what looked like a cockapoo puppy in his hands. He was fully aware I’d never be able to resist such a fluff ball.
“Oh…” I held my hand out in front of me. “No, you don’t!”
“Noelle…” he charmed, holding the adorable puppy out in front of him.
Wiggling my finger as if it would do something, I warned, “Don’t you even dare, Felix.”
“It’s only for a few days. A couple of weeks, tops! Well, I mean… at least until he’s old enough to be adopted.”
“Felix… I have no time to take care of a puppy. ”
He held the fluff ball up to his cheek. “But look at him,” he baited, unable to resist. “How can you say no to this face?”
As if on cue, the puppy stuck out his tongue, and I swear it shot right to my heart.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this to me right now. You know how busy I’ll be until the new year.”
“Doll, what’s your excuse for the rest of the year?”
“Ha ha.”
“Fine.” He pouted the most pitiful face, and the cockapoo must have been a paid actor because he gave me those puppy eyes, and I was a goner.
Felix didn’t miss a beat, adding, “I guess he’ll just have to live at the shelter all by himself with no one to love him. Then he’ll have abandonment issues and won’t take kindly to strangers trying to adopt him. You know what happens when they don’t get adopted, Noelle…”
I shook my head, bemused, “You Saint Clair men… the ability you have to get what you want is truly a remarkable talent that should be studied.”
He smiled wide, knowing he got me.
Oh! Did I fail to mention that Felix is Nicholas’s older brother by about two years?
What can I say? We became close after Nicholas left, but I had always been friends with them both. That said, I was Nicholas’s girl back then, and I didn’t know if that made any sense.
They also had a younger sister, Holly. She was five years younger than me, and they both lived in town. Felix ran the five-star hotel in the town square and helped with the animal shelter, while Holly ran the hair salon that stayed booked four months out. Every business in Mistletoe Town thrived; we made sure of it.
In three strides, Felix stood in front of me, and I was assaulted with the addicting puppy scent .
“Do you want to say hello to your new mommy?” He handed me what appeared to be a boy.
I reluctantly folded as if I was nothing more than a house of cards. “Temporary mommy, right?” The puppy fit into the palms of my hands, and I held his button nose up to my face to boop it with a kiss. “Oh my God! Why are you the cutest thing ever?”
The puppy licked my face in approval, already making me fall head over heels in love with him.
“On that note.” Felix abruptly turned, obviously trying to get the hell out of there before I changed my mind. He swiftly hauled ass toward my front door. “My work here is done.”
On his way out, I noticed all the puppy supplies he brought sitting by the foyer table.
Once he realized where my gaze went, he called me out, “I knew you wouldn’t say no.”
I rolled my eyes, kissing the puppy’s head as I followed Felix out the door. It was freezing outside, but luckily, I was wearing my warm gingerbread pajamas with my matching fuzzy robe and house slippers. I was literally dressed head to toe in gingerbread cookies and wouldn’t have it any other way. The amount of Christmas clothes I owned was probably obscene, but again, I didn’t give a shit.
They made me happy, and that was all that mattered to me.
While we stood at the end of my long driveway, Felix leaned in to kiss my cheek. “You just can’t say no to me, doll.”
I giggled, ready to tease him back, but a rough familiar voice roared from behind me, “What the fuck?”
I spun around, meeting Nicholas’s stunned stare. “What are you doing here?” I snapped, annoyed to see his mug for the second time that day in only a few short hours.
Nicholas completely ignored me, gesturing to Felix. “What the hell are you doing here with her?”
“Excuse me,” I argued, bringing Nicholas’s attention over to me. “That’s none of your business. What, are you stalking me now?”
Nicholas signaled to my house. “You live here?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “This is my home. Now, why are you?—”
The instant grin on his face was enough to cut me off. “Meet your new neighbor.”
As soon as the last word left his lips, my mouth dropped open, and it felt like he just dumped a bucket of ice-cold water on top of my head. It was horrible.
“You’re renting the Buller house?”
Nicholas smiled. “It appears so.”
“Ugh,” I sneered, beyond frustrated with how my life kept shifting in every direction as if Ebenezer himself had taken the wheel. “Why wouldn’t you stay at your parents' hotel?”
Without letting him reply, Felix answered for him, “Because Mr. Big Shot thinks he’s better than us, that’s why.”
“That’s utter bullshit,” Nicholas defended. “And you know it.”
“Then why haven’t you visited all these years? Why didn’t you come to Grandfather’s funeral? We all know you’re only here because you have to be, so let’s not beat around the bush and call a spade a spade, shall we?”
“Listen, you condescending dick. You think this is easy for me? I’m the first person to agree with you that I don’t deserve Mistletoe Town, and quite frankly, I don’t want it.”
Felix shook his head in disappointment. “That’s a damn shame.”
“You need to stay out of this.”
“Stay out of what exactly? The fact that Noelle can’t stand you?”
Nicholas winced, and for some reason, his reaction pulled at my heartstrings.
“I know, little brother. The truth hurts, right?” Staring him directly in the eyes, Felix kissed my cheek again, and I could’ve sworn I heard Nicholas growl from behind me.
At that moment, there was no denying my lingering feelings toward my ex-best friend.
Now, only looking at me, Felix smiled. “I’ll be back to check on you two tomorrow, and I’ll fix your fence for our new baby.”
Nicholas scoffed, “Baby?”
I chuckled a little at his dismay before I lifted the puppy in the air. “The furry kind.”
His eyebrows pinched together. “You bought a puppy with my brother?”
Felix didn’t hesitate to piss him off. “And what if we did?”