Gift Wrapped (22 page)

Her
heart was ready to leap out of her chest. “I’ve missed you,” she whispered. “So much.”

He took that as permission to kiss her. And oh god, what a kiss. Firm pressure from his soft lips, the teasing sweep of his tongue, the hum of something electric and magical racing through her body. Mistake or not, she wrapped her arms around him and got as close as possible. Held him tight even when they had to come up for air.

“You’re ruining me again,” she said.

“Good. Because I don’t plan to let you go this time.” He slid his hand down her back, using her ass to pull her tighter. “I know some people would say it’s too soon, but we’re great together. I don’t want to waste another day or night without you in my life. I love you, Brinn.”

“I love you too. I feel like I always have.”

“Be with me. Here. Let’s build something incredible together.”

This time, when she glanced around the building, it struck her as something loaded with potential, not a big empty space. “It’ll be an amazing restaurant. I can already picture it full of happy customers.”

“With the two of us working on it, yeah, it will be.” His strong-yet-gentle fingers caught her chin and tipped it upward. “But I wasn’t talking about the restaurant. I was talking about us. There’s something for you in my left pocket.”

Butterflies whirred to life in her stomach as she lifted the flap and slid her hand inside his pocket. Her fingers connected with a small box.

“Hope you’re not disappointed,” he said, as she carefully removed it, then lifted the top, revealing a single fortune cookie.

“With you, never.” With shaking hands, she cracked the cookie open. Pulled the strip of paper free and smoothed it between her fingers.

Stay.

Same message as the last fortune, but she wouldn’t give the same answer.

“That’s it, Brinn. One cookie. One question.”

One cookie was all she needed. One dream come true. One man to share the love of a lifetime.

She bit her bottom lip, but it was pointless. There was no holding back the massive smile that stretched so wide, it probably connected her ears. “Yes. There’s nowhere in the world I’d rather be than here, with you. Always and every day, yes.”

Epilogue

“Babe,” Davis called from the office he shared with Brinn. “Can you come in here for a minute?”

“I’m coming.”

He snagged her by the waist when she stepped through the doorway. Pressed her against the wall with her hands above her head. “Not yet, you’re not.” He unzipped her pants with his free hand and slid his fingers inside her panties. “But I can make it a reality in about sixty seconds.”

“That long? You must be spending—” Her breath hitched as he rubbed circles over her clit. “Too much time in the—oh god—kitchen and not enough in—” She arched toward his touch, shaking and panting as he gave her the pressure and speed she needed. “Oh god, Davis…”

He released her arms, which instantly wrapped around his neck. “Want to finish that statement?”

Her soft hair tickled his neck as she shook her head. “Nope. Happily proven wrong.” She snuggled in with her cheek pressed to his chest. “Working together certainly has its perks.”

“That it does. Speaking of work…” He kissed her forehead, then led her by the hand to her desk chair. “I need you to check the bookings for the banquet room. A guy I know from way back is hoping we have an opening around Christmas. On a weekend. I know it’s a crazy request at this point, but he has something special in the works and he really needs our room for it.”

“Sneaky. Using your powers of orgasmification on me so you could hit me up for what’s most likely an impossible task.” She rolled her chair beneath the desk and tapped at the keyboard until a spreadsheet he didn’t understand and didn’t want to understand popped into place on her screen. “I hope you didn’t promise anything,” she said, scrolling through the multicolored squares. “We’ve been booked solid for the holidays since early September.”

“Yeah, that’s amazing.”

“No, it’s not. Everybody knows ‘Rare’ has the best food. It’s the place to be, period.” She smiled up at him, blue eyes shining with love and admiration the likes of which he couldn’t have imagined two years ago.

“It’s not just the food. Without a great manager handling everything beyond the kitchen walls, I’d be lucky to fill a handful of tables per night. This place would still be a pipedream without you.”

“We do make a great team.” She leaned up from her seat to kiss him. “Okay, let me have another look at this schedule.”

He kept his poker face in place while leaning over the side of her chair. If it didn’t work out this way, he’d come up with another plan. But he wasn’t putting it off. Especially not after what he’d discovered this morning.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I did that. I have Dr. Jensen’s office party booked on two separate dates. I swear something is sucking my brain power lately.” She adjusted her spreadsheet, then pointed at a red square on her monitor. “Saturday the twenty-third. The day before Christmas Eve. Do you think that’ll work?”

Fucking right, it’d work. Pretty damn perfectly. “Yeah, definitely.”

“Great. Name for the reservation?” she asked, her pink-lacquered nails poised over the keyboard.

“Let me give you his card.” Davis pulled the lone business card from his back pocket. “I know he can’t wait to hear from you.”

An adorable wrinkle formed near the bridge of her nose when he held out the card. “Davis, that’s
your
card…” Her bottom lip dropped and her eyes went wide as saucers when he pressed it onto her palm—while going down on one knee. “Oh my god,” she whispered, turning the card over to reveal the ring taped to the back. “What is this?”

“I was going to do this when we celebrated Rare’s anniversary back in August. But I didn’t want this moment to get lost in the commotion of the other. So I planned to wait until we were alone Christmas Eve. The perfect day to make this all about us. Only now it’s about more than that, and I’m going out of my mind trying to keep calm and have patience, but I can’t wait another minute.” He pulled the rose-gold ring from beneath the clear tape and slid it on her finger. “Marry me, Brinn. This Christmas. Make me the happiest, fucking luckiest, man in the world.”

“Oh my god, you know, don’t you?” she whispered.

“That we’re going to be a table for three sometime next year? Yeah, baby, I know. I found the pregnancy test in the garbage can.”

“But I shoved it way down to the bottom.”

“Which is where I found it when I went searching—after seeing the flattened box on the top of the recycling container.”

“I’m sorry.” A fat tear broke free of her glassy eyes and rolled down her cheek. “I’m messing everything up. The bookings, hiding the test, getting pregnant…”

Shit, not how he’d expected this to go. “The mistake in the bookings was fate giving us an opening. Just like my house getting robbed on Christmas Eve two years ago. You’ve always sucked at trying to hide things from me, so that one doesn’t even count. As for getting pregnant—I get to take half the credit for that, and there’s nothing messed up about it.”

“Yes, there is. I took antibiotics after I sliced my hand open in the kitchen. I didn’t even think about the effect on my birth control pills. There are always warning labels on prescriptions, but I didn’t read them.”

“
Our
birth control pills. And I’m the one that picked up the medication after your stitches. I could’ve read the labels too, but I didn’t. You don’t get to shoulder this, Brinn.”

She swiped at another tear. “A baby wasn’t in the plan.”

“Fuck the plan.”

“I believe fucking is how we fucked up the plan in the first place.”

So goddamn adorable. He pulled her onto his knee and captured her mouth, teasing his tongue inside, then groaning as she sucked it between her warm lips. “You’re wearing my ring and carrying my child, but you still haven’t answered me,” he said when she pulled back, glassy eyed and breathing hard.

“Did so.” She held him for support while stretching to retrieve something from her top drawer. “The day you gave me this.” She opened her palm to reveal a thin strip of paper bearing his handwriting.
Stay.
“It was yes then and it’s yes now. It’ll always be yes with you.”

“I’m going to hold you to that, my beautiful, sexy future wife.” He stood, scooping her up with him. “We’ve got half an hour until the prep staff gets here. And I’ve got plans for every one of those thirty minutes.”

“Then you’d better get started, future husband.” A naughty smile curved her pretty mouth as she wiggled out of her pants and unbuttoned her blouse. “You’re running down the clock.”

Thank you for reading
Gift Wrapped
!

I hope you enjoyed reading Davis and Brinn’s sexy holiday romance as much as I loved writing it. If so, I would greatly appreciate you spreading the word, whether by telling your friends, or leaving a review or star-rating at your favorite online book retailer or anywhere you enjoy discussing books. Again, thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Karla Doyle

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karla is a small town girl with some big city experience, happiest living somewhere in between. She studied fashion design in college and spent most of her adult life in that industry. These days, she lives a charmed existence with her two amazing kids, an incredible (and smokin’ hot) husband, and the best friends in the world. When she’s not writing the sexy stories that swirl around in her head, you can find her lifting weights at the gym, playing Scrabble, or cuddled up with a book, surrounded by a pack of pets.

Visit Karla’s website for a complete booklist and other information:

www.karladoyle.com

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COPYRIGHT

ISBN 9780992152772 (Print Edition ISBN 9780992152789)

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Gift Wrapped, Copyright © 2014 Karla Doyle

Editors: Amanda Young, Grace Bradley

Cover by Karla Doyle. Cover images by paulbuceta/iStock, Natika/Bigstockphoto

Electronic book publication November 2014 / Print book publication November 2014

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only, and may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your sole use, please purchase your own copy at a legitimate online retailer. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Karla Doyle.

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is punishable by law.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

The publisher and author acknowledge the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademarks, service marks and word marks mentioned in this book.

The publisher does not have any control over, and does not assume any responsibility for, third-party websites or their content.

For questions and comments about this book, please contact the author at
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Other Books by Karla Doyle

Cup of Sugar (Close to Home series—Book 1)

Nia has one rule—don’t date neighbors. Simple, except the guy next door is single, handsome, and not inclined to close his blinds while naked. When her car dies, Conn takes “being neighborly” to a new level by offering a ride to her long-distance destination. Nia has resisted his looks and charm for months. Surely she can handle a few hours in his truck…

For months, Conn has blatantly put himself on display, hoping his pretty blonde neighbor would tire of secretly watching and come knock on his door for a cup of sugar—or more. No such luck—until an unusual opportunity arises. After a six-hour drive turns into a sweet-and-sexy weekend, Conn wants more than neighborly status with Nia. To get it, he must convince her to break the rule protecting her heart—by putting his on the line.

Icing on the Cake (Close to Home series—Book 2)

Nia and Conn’s wedding will be fairytale perfect…if their siblings can get along.

Free-spirited, anti-establishment Sara has always been on the outside of her family’s fairytale mold. Now she’s being forced smack into the middle of it at her sister Nia’s wedding. Alongside the cocky and annoyingly sexy best man—Conn’s cop brother.