Tempting Santa (Willow Brook Falls)

Chapter 1 Emily

EMILY

“Sorry, babe, I’m not gonna be able to make it.

” Josh’s voice already held that languid quality of someone who was well into a night of drinking.

For fuck’s sake, it wasn’t even seven o’clock and he was already half lit.

“It’s supposed to snow tonight, and I’ve already had a couple beers.

” I ground my teeth together, trying to tamp down my irritation.

If he’d just ridden up with me this afternoon like we had planned, this wouldn’t have been a problem.

But when his friends invited him to a hockey game at the last minute, he ditched me in favor of hanging with them, promising he could still be here in time for dinner.

Well, dinner was over, and I had donned my elf costume for the party.

Vance, my brother-in-law, had convinced me to play Santa’s little helper for the kids, and since I’d do anything for my nieces, Charlie and Ellie, I agreed.

The only problem? Vance wasn’t the one playing Santa as originally planned.

His best friend, Donny, was filling that role.

Donovan Hughes had been the object of all my teenage fantasies. He came into my life when Vance and my sister, Sarah—God rest her soul—got engaged. I was enamored with him from the moment I laid eyes on his chiseled jaw and chocolate brown eyes. The broad shoulders and nice ass didn’t hurt either.

“Are you there? Emily?” Josh’s voice yanked me back to the present.

“Yeah, I’m here. Um, it’s fine. I don’t want you taking any unnecessary risks.

” I wasn’t heartbroken he wasn’t coming.

More like annoyed and mildly inconvenienced.

He was supposed to be my plus one at this little pre-Christmas gathering, and had I known he would flake on me like this, I would’ve brought someone else.

Now I would have to spend the weekend surrounded by happy couples and their children. I didn’t mind the children part, but I was ready to find that special someone. Everyone here was so disgustingly in love, and it made me realize what I’d been missing in life.

I had some serious wounds to lick when I moved back to Willow Brook Falls a couple years ago, but my heart was on the mend, and I was ready to jump back into the dating pool.

Josh was only my second attempt—my ex had done a number on me, and it had taken a long time to heal from that toxic relationship—and things were still pretty new, but I really liked him.

He had long-term relationship potential.

At least, I thought he did. He was successful, had his own place, and was a great kisser, but this wasn’t the first time he’d ditched me for his friends.

A knock came from the other side of the powder room door, and I jumped.

“They're ready for you,” came my cousin Delilah’s voice.

She was my brother-in-law's fiancée, which was still so strange to say out loud.

It was a complicated situation, and their love was a little unconventional, but they were happy.

And my oldest niece, Charlie, was thriving.

Delilah stepped up to help Vance with Charlie’s care when my sister, Sarah, passed suddenly from a ruptured brain aneurysm.

Delilah was Charlie’s biological mother, after all.

Sarah and Vance had adopted Charlie as a newborn, and when Delilah came back into their lives, she fell in love with them both.

Now they were a family of four with Charlie’s baby sister, Eleanor, making her entrance into the world last month.

“I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later,” I said in a rush before ending the call.

“Coming,” I called to Delilah, straightening my green and red cap.

I looked ridiculous, but the kids would love it.

Now if I could just get through the rest of the night with the one man I always wanted but could never have.