A Mummy for Christmas

Until eventually she did stop crying.

And feeling all the more mortified, she stepped out of his arms, only to bump her hip into the bathroom counter.

She started in surprise and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

Red puffy eyes, redder nose and quivering chin. The distressing sight of her weakness was enough to make her tear up again. “Lovely,” she said with disgust. She knew she couldn’t afford to let her defenses down for one instant when it came to ensuring her children’s well-being. Like it or not, she was all they had.

And as for this sudden interest of Cliff’s—every maternal instinct within her said it wouldn’t last. But it would certainly cause havoc in the meantime…

Travis put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face the mirror again. “Yes,” he said simply, clearly meaning it, “you are lovely—even now. And you’re also distraught. And I think it’s high time we talked.”

Holly preferred to handle her problems all by herself, but she also knew she couldn’t shoulder such a pressing burden without talking to someone. And since Travis was her best friend, and most frequent companion, he was the likely choice.

He took her by the hand and led her back into the conference room, and to a chair. He pulled up another, so they were sitting across from each other, and waited patiently.

Glad she had Travis to lean on, she said finally, “I’m afraid Cliff has realized what a mistake he made when we divorced, in voluntarily ceding full custody to me.”

“Why did he do that?” Travis asked gently, covering her hands with his.

Holly shrugged, aware she never talked about this. It was just too humiliating. She leaned toward Travis’s warm and strength, and turned her palms upward, so their fingers were loosely entwined. “Cliff said he realized he was not cut out to be a father, and he wasn’t going to pretend to be interested in the kids when he just wasn’t.”

Incredulity mixed with the concern on Travis’s face. He tightened his grip. “How old were they?”

Holly sighed, remembering that awful time in her life. “Tucker and Tristan were four weeks old the day Cliff told me he wanted a divorce, and walked out. They were four months old when the divorce was final.”

Travis released his hold on her, sat back. “That’s fast.”

She shrugged and kept her voice matter-of-fact. “He wanted out. He went to the Dominican Republic.”

Travis searched her face, finally settling on her eyes. “And since then?” he asked quietly. “Any other flickers of interest from him?”

“No. I haven’t heard a word. He’s never expressed the slightest interest, and given how he felt about Tucker and Tristan—” Holly felt her chin begin to quiver again, as she focused on the deficit of love her sons had received from their biological father “—I was relieved. They’re such great kids.”

“They deserved a hell of a lot better,” Travis agreed brusquely.

“Yes.” Holly thought about what this could to do to her happy-go-lucky kids, if it was handled the wrong way. “They do deserve a whole lot better!” She suddenly pushed herself out of the chair and began to pace. “Which makes it all the more bewildering. I don’t understand why he’s doing this.”

Travis rose, too, and caught up with her. “Maybe he realizes he made a mistake in letting you-all go.”

Holly scoffed in response. “I don’t think so.” She shut her eyes, aware she was near another onslaught of tears. “Oh, Travis,” she whispered miserably. “What if he wants to take the kids away from me?”

Travis embraced her again. “He’s not going to do that.” He silenced her protest with gruff certainty. “I’m not going to let him.”

Gratitude mingled with the overwrought emotion inside her. Holly held him tighter, needing him—his steady male presence and enduring friendship—as never before. And that was when it happened. She saw him the way she would have seen him, when she’d first moved into the house next to him, had she not been so overwhelmed with responsibility and mired in grief over her failed marriage. In that instant, she saw him not as the single dad next door, but as the wonderfully virile, exciting, incredibly principled and loving man he was. Desire swept through her, more potent than any spark she had ever felt before.

At that moment, something wonderful and mysterious shifted in his eyes, too. And then suddenly his mouth was on hers, and the unexpected embrace robbed her of breath and the will to resist.

Holly had never imagined what it would be like to stand wrapped in Travis’s strong arms, her body flush against the hardness of his. Now that it was happening, now that he was actually kissing her, it seemed unreal. And yet utterly amazing and satisfying in a way she never could have fathomed.

For starters, Travis tasted so good, in a way that was unique to him. His lips were soft and tender, the sweep of his tongue evocative and warm, as he brought her back to life, reminding her of all that had been missing for years now in her celibate existence.

And, unbeknownst to her, she evoked the same feeling in Travis.

When he had walked into the conference room, he hadn’t meant to do anything but give Holly the emotional support she needed, friend to friend. He knew she was upset, and deservedly so. He hadn’t expected to find her crying as if her heart would break, hadn’t imagined how simultaneously devastated and protective he would feel as he came to her rescue. He hadn’t counted on how right it felt when he instinctively pulled her into his arms to comfort her. Or considered how the aching vulnerability in her eyes as she reached out to him would change everything he felt, too.

The boundaries they had painstakingly put in place from the moment she’d moved in next door had instantly dissolved.

The blinders were off. He saw her as the vital, passionate, loving woman she was, and the feel of her soft, slender body in his arms sent a charge roaring through him unlike anything he had ever felt. Her tremulous sigh, the sweetness of her scent, the surrender of her soft lips all combined to further fan the fire. With just one kiss—long, sweet and sultry—his whole world turned upside down. Yet never had anything—or anyone—ever felt so right.

Which was why he had to stop it now, before any further boundaries were crossed, and they compromised their current relationship. Shaken to the core, he lifted his head and forced himself to let Holly go. Trembling, she stepped back, too, regret in her eyes. Without another word, she picked up her garment bag and purse. Head down, eyes averted, she rushed for the door.

And Travis knew he had moved way too fast, and in doing so, might just have put everything he held near and dear in jeopardy.

“ARE WE GOING TO TALK about this?” a familiar male voice asked five hours later.

A tingle went down Holly’s spine. She kept right on painting the last little bit of detail of the piazza mural on the wall of the Italian restaurant. “I don’t see why we should.”

Travis strolled nearer, looking incredibly masterful in his work clothes and yellow hard hat. “Because if we don’t, that kiss will always be the elephant in the room. And I for one don’t like living in a zoo,” he drawled.

His lame attempt at a joke eased the tension between them somewhat, as he had to have known it would. Holly sighed and put down her paintbrush. She flashed him a sassy smile she couldn’t really begin to feel, considering the mess they were in. “You really want to know what I think?” she asked softly.

Looking as if he had all the time in the world, Travis perched on one of the sawhorses. “I really do,” he replied, an emotion she could not clearly define in his dark brown eyes.

“Okay.” She wiped her hands on the rag tucked into the belt of her jeans, feeling her cheeks flush at the distinctly male satisfaction in his smile. “My defenses were down because I was clearly out of my mind this morning with worry.”

He paused, clearly caught off guard by her revelation.

Holly pushed on, determined to be honest. “I don’t blame you for kissing me—given the way I was acting. Like I wanted you to ride to the rescue.”

Another loaded silence fell between them.

Holly paused to lick her suddenly dry lips. She didn’t know how he could look so cool, calm and collected, when she felt so frazzled.

She stepped closer so they were toe to toe, then forced herself to go on with the speech she had been mentally preparing all afternoon. “I can see why you would have thought…”

She watched as he rubbed a hand across his closely shaved jaw.

“Hell, for a moment, I thought…may be…” She pushed away the memory of that mind-numbing kiss. Ignoring his slow, sexy smile, she swallowed around the sudden lump in her throat and continued sternly, “But you know as well as I do that it would be wrong for us to go down that path. Especially this time of year.”

He narrowed his eyes. “What do the holidays have to do with this?”

Holly pivoted and moved back to the sawhorse opposite him. “You know how a lot of people get all excited and go out and buy puppies at Christmas to give as gifts?”

He nodded, skeptically.

“They think they want a puppy and are prepared for one—and at first it really is great having one around. But before you know it, the puppy gets a little older and…”

“Poops on the floor?” He wryly guessed at where she was going with this.