The Complete #LoveLondon Collection

'Three seconds? Is that it?' he turned to Holly, who was biting the inside of her cheeks.

'You were the one who decided to stay,' she shrugged, eyes twinkling.

'So where does the drinking jacket come in then?' he asked.

'Every time one of us gets it wrong, you have to have a drink. Every time you get it wrong, you nominate someone else to have a drink. After the first round of one hundred, you pass the jacket to someone else.'

'Wait,' he said suspiciously, 'if I have to drink every time someone gets it wrong, the odds are against me. Aren't I going to get drunk pretty quickly?'

Holly's dad smiled sloppily, raising his glass of whiskey in a toast. Noel realised they'd all been drinking for a while, it was just that his appearance with their daughter had sobered her parents up rapidly.

'I'm going to regret this aren't I?' Noel asked Holly mournfully.

'Shut up and have your first drink,' she ordered, fanning her face and standing up to scramble out of her tights, before sinking down again. 'That's better. I was getting hot.'

'You're telling me,' he said under his breath, eyeing the generous length of bare legs on display, and casually readjusting his jeans. 'Okay,' he said, 'let's start then. Cheers,' holding his shot glass aloft then throwing back the contents.

'Wait!' Holly said, grabbing hold of his arm. 'Mum forgot to tell you, when you nominate someone to have a drink, you can include Pudding too.'

'What?' staring at her, amazed. 'What were in those tablets I gave you?'

'He likes the taste of straight coke,' she ignored his dig, 'so we let him join in.'

On cue, the chocolate Lab appeared next to Noel, eye-balling him fiercely.

Noel had never known any family quite like them. 'All right, fine,' he put his hands up, palms out like he was being held up. 'This is getting more surreal by the minute.'

Holly laid her head on his shoulder, gazing up at him and fluttering her eyelashes. 'But it's also getting more fun, right?'

Grinning, he nodded. 'Right.'

Two in the morning found them sitting outside on a frozen wooden bench, an inch of snow crunching underfoot, giving the night a fairytale feeling. Despite her mum's protestations, Holly had proved herself Champion again, and was giggly as a consequence. After Fizz, Buzz they'd drunk creamy Baileys over ice, played monopoly, Pictionary and charades, and at one point Holly had laughed so hard that rum and coke had shot out of her nose. She'd put on a funny Christmas jumper as they'd left the back room, and now she shivered, huddling into his side.

'It's a shame about the jumper,' he remarked, studying it, praying his eyes didn't cross.

'Yeah, I'm sorry I had to ruin your fun by reminding you of what day it is,' she hiccupped.

'It's not that. I was just sad to see the sexy dress covered up.'

'Oh.' Her eyes brightened, 'Oh, do you like it? I designed it.'

'You did?'

'Yeah,' she paused, eyes sliding closed, then jerking upright. 'After the injury, when they said my knee wasn't healing right, that it would never be the same again and I couldn't skate professionally any more … well, it was bad. For a while at least.'

'So what did you do?' he wrapped an arm around her shoulders for warmth.

'Felt sorry for myself then realised I had to make other plans. So I studied design at college and decided to set my own company up designing and selling figure-skating dresses. It's something I know about, what's comfortable and what isn't, what emphasises and what distracts.' She raced straight on into her next thought. 'Noel?'

'Yes?'

'You don't like Christmas because your mum died at this time of year, and you broke up with your ex, and I get those are horrible associations to have, but you must have had some nice Christmases growing up?'

'My mum did love it, and the ones I can remember with her were … really special.' He drew in a deep breath. 'My grandparents raised me, and loved me, but they weren't very warm people, and were deeply religious, so it was all about the Christian tradition, and symbolism, not the kind of Christmas a kid who'd just lost his mum needed. They passed away a few years ago, six months apart.'

'It must have been hard,' she took a sip from the beer she'd brought out. 'But can't you start creating Christmases that you enjoy?' she suggested in a soft voice. 'After all, it's not about the time of year really is it, why you don't enjoy it? It's about that relationship, those people. The memories. So you should try and separate it out in your head. Spend some time with your family, just for the enjoyment of being with them, and don't worry about the whole exchanging presents thing.'

'I don't have any left.' His arm tightened, and he picked up her hand, tracing a pattern over the knuckles.

'You have your friends,' she replied, breath audibly hitching, squirming on the bench. 'Family is whatever you want it to be, whatever that might look like. Sometimes you choose them, it's not always who you're stuck with through blood.' She laughed. 'And maybe you should be glad, I mean look at my lot! They're pretty overwhelming.'

'Well, your aunt did pin me up against the fridge and tell me the mistletoe was pointing in our direction earlier.'

'Nooo,' she shook her head from side to side, blinking slowly.

'And they are pretty overwhelming. But I like it. And you're part of that. You overwhelm me.' Sod no complications, and not risking his heart. He had to get to know this positive, bright, energetic girl better. It might not be part of the plan, but it was the only thing that made sense.

'Say again?' Holly sat bolt upright, gazing at him. 'In what way?'

'In a good way.' Sliding his hands around her waist, he hauled her in close, watching her watching him.

An endless silence grew, and she leaned in to him. 'What is it?'

'You're worried about what happened with your ex-fiancé, and about needing to focus on your business.' He summarised, despite the fogginess of alcohol in his head. He wanted to get this right.

'I- yes.'

'But I'm not here to hurt you.'

'Okay.' Running a hand up over his broad shoulders, she stroked his stubbly cheek.

'Okay.'

'So?' she nudged.

'So?'

'Are you going to kiss me, or what?' she blurted.

'Oh, that. All right then. But we might have to conduct a risk assessment,' he joked. 'After all, kissing in the snow could be a dangerous activity, or if there's too much heat-'

'Ha ha,' she murmured, and solved everything by kissing him.

He was gratified when she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and clung on, moaning when he lifted her up and sat her on his lap. He ran a hand up her bare thigh, then broke away from her luscious pink mouth, framing her face with gentle hands.

'Merry Christmas, Holly.'

'I thought you didn't like Christmas,' she said breathlessly, twirling shaky fingers through his dark hair.