Home > Love 2 Jingle U

Love 2 Jingle U
Author: Alexandra Silva


1

 

 

Adam

 

 

The Range crunches over the snow-covered road leading to the cottage Daphne booked last minute. Trust my sister to go overboard with lodgings for a business trip.

“You have reached your destination,” the GPS tells me over Daphne’s rattling on the phone.

“Is it as pretty as it looked online?”

“It’s hard to tell, Daph. It’s sort of buried,” I answer her while I squint, trying to get a better look at the surroundings.

There’s nothing but leafless trees and white-covered fields with a few other houses dotted in the distance.

Note to self: next time, book your own shit.

Normally, my assistant takes care of my itinerary. Fly in and fly out; if I need to stop over, she makes sure it’s convenient. Unlike this place—I’d be surprised if there’s internet, let alone Wi-Fi.

“Where the hell did you find it? It’s in the middle of freaking nowhere. You realize that I’m here for work, right?”

“Do you have to be so miserable? It’s a beautiful cottage in the middle of gorgeous English countryside. I’m so jealous…”

“I asked you to book a hotel, not a freaking vacation. Besides, the weather is worse here than it is in New York right now.”

“There was no room at the inn, so suck it up, killjoy, and enjoy it!” Daphne huffs, and I can imagine her bratty expression. “How did the meeting go anyway?”

“Fine.”

“Is that what you’re going to tell Dad when he calls you later?”

“Maybe.”

“Liar!” Her snicker makes me smile.

I don’t think there’s anyone that knows me quite as well as my baby sister—by four minutes.

As I park in front of the cottage, my focus is drawn to the movement on the other side of the drive.

“I thought you said the keys were under the boot brush.”

“That’s what the guy messaged me on the website. Why?”

“Umm…” A chuckle involuntarily pushes past my lips as I watch the woman argue into her phone at the same time as she’s trying to brush the couple of feet of snow off her tiny car. The more she tries to brush it off, the worse the situation becomes. “No reason.”

The wind picks up, dusting another generous layer of the white stuff everywhere. It’s not looking good for her as I disconnect my phone from the car and hold it to my ear. The sound of my door closing has her spinning to face me, fiery red hair flurrying around slender shoulders from beneath her Santa-style bobble hat.

“Can we FaceTime? I want to see it for myself. Please?”

“God, you’re so damn ridiculous, you know that?” Pulling my small case from the trunk, I head for the open front door.

I’m about to leave my case and ask the woman if she’s management or maybe the cleaner when I hear her cry into her phone, “This cannot be happening, Kate! I’ve been out here forever, and it’s useless. Even the freaking cleaner gave up… God! I cannot be stranded here…”

The familiar accent gives me pause. What are the chances of meeting a fellow American in the middle of buttfuck England?

“Adam?” Daphne tries to grab my attention again.

“I’ll call you back.”

“What? Why? Who’s that?”

“Talk later. Bye.” Hanging up, I pocket my phone and edge closer to the stranger.

“I have a flight to catch—Seb will never forgive me if I don’t make it home for Christmas.”

Obviously, she wants to be here as much as I do because she’s literally trying to dig her wheels out of the snow with her bare hands.

“No. No…why today? Why couldn’t the snow wait until I was back in London?” I take a step forward to offer my help, but she jumps up from where she’s kneeling on the ground. “What? All flights? Canceled? Heathrow?” Pause. “Any other London airport? Or Manchester? Birmingham?”

There’s a breath of silence before she growls, “Fuck! Scotland? Any airport in Scotland flying to the States? I’ll take anywhere.” Clearly, whatever is relayed to her on the phone isn’t what she wants to hear. “Fuckity fuck, fuck…fuck!”

The red-and-white bobble hat falls off her head as she shakes it furiously. With a lunge, I try to catch it pointlessly. When I pick it up from the ground and shake it off, she looks up at me, hazel eyes wide and full lips pursed with annoyance.

“Thank you,” she tells me with a hopeless sigh, while she takes her hat back.

It’s cold, shrivellage kind of cold, and where she’s been touching the snow, her hands are a purpling shade of red along with her nose.

“I don’t think digging your car out with your hands is a good idea,” I tell her, inspecting the bright red Fiat 500 beside us. “Have you tried hot water…or just water?”

Possibly not the best question to ask as it earns me a glare at the same time as I glimpse the electric kettle on the window ledge.

“Seems like you’re going to need some help getting it…ummm…” I pause at her pissed-off expression, backing up a little before I tell her, “I’ll leave you to…” Gesturing at the situation, I turn and start back to the front door.

The wind is sharp, the kind that makes it through the thick weave of my suit. I don’t know how the hell she’s been out here long enough to make a dent in the snow without freezing half to death.

I’m barely inside when I hear her grumble, “No room at the inn…great!”

The familiar remark has me spinning to find her clasping her phone in one hand as she looks up at the sky as if asking why.

“So not only am I stranded, but my flight is canceled, the only hotel in this place is full, and this fucking storm is still nowhere near over.”

Don’t do it, I tell myself the minute the idea pops into my head. The woman looks like she could be dangerous if I say the wrong thing…still, she’s tiny. Her dainty, upturned nose is all red. And with the slump of her shoulders, I’m certain she’s either about to give up and collapse into the snow or cry. Maybe both. Oh fuck.

It’s the worst idea I’ve ever had. I don’t even know if there are enough rooms for the both of us, but…

“You’re already here,” I say, keeping enough distance that if she gets crazy, I can make it out alive.

“Get me out of here,” she pleads into her phone in defeat while holding my stare. “Kate…”

Don’t be an idiot, I grit to myself as I pause in front of the woman and hold out my hand. “Adam Cohen.”

Teary eyes flit between my gaze and my hand. Clearly, she’s got the stranger danger thing down pat. I wish that my mother’s lessons on kindness hadn’t been so good because I’m that fool that’s inviting a complete stranger to share accommodation.

“Amelia Harding.” Finally, there’s the smallest of upturns to her mouth, hitching so that a dimple appears on the right side of her face.

The sight of her this close gives me pause. As though I’ve never seen anything quite as pretty as she is. Amelia is stunning and maybe a little obsessed with Christmas from the bobble hat to the candy cane pin on the lapel of her red coat. When she tucks her messy waves behind her ear, I almost burst out laughing.

Hot Books
» House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1)
» A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
» From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash #1)
» A Million Kisses in Your Lifetime
» Deviant King (Royal Elite #1)
» Den of Vipers
» House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2)
» The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #
» Sweet Temptation
» The Sweetest Oblivion (Made #1)
» Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels #6)
» Wreck & Ruin
» Steel Princess (Royal Elite #2)
» Twisted Hate (Twisted #3)
» The Play (Briar U Book 3)