Chapter One

Alex

“Speech! Speech! Speech!”

“What can I say?” I asked with a laugh. I raised a flute of champagne. “I have the most kick-ass company on the planet, staffed by the most badass men and women. It’s been a wild ride these past two years. I hope you all know how much I appreciate you—”

“We love you too!” came a deep voice from the back of the room. Brandon. Forklift driver and father of a newborn baby girl.

A round of cheers soared in agreement.

We’d already celebrated the holiday with a formal dinner and the effects of the last four hours with access to an open bar were starting to shine through. Not that I minded. As far as I was concerned, every face staring back at me had out-earned the right to a night of letting off some serious steam. And what better time than on the last day of work before the holiday break.

“I want you all to stay as long as you want! Eat, drink, get your asses handed to you in Whirly Ball with Franklin and Merve from IT. And then I want you all to get out of here and I don’t wanna see you until January third. I know we have back orders we can’t fill until February, but I don’t want you to worry about that anymore. We’ve got a system in place. It’s time to trust it and enjoy the spoils of success! It’s Christmas time and all of you deserve to take a rest to be with your families. Take a minute to reflect on what you—we—have done to the tech world and enjoy the holiday. Got it?”

“You rock!”

“You’re the best!”

“Thank you!”

I raised my glass a little higher and everyone raised a glass in reply. “Thank all of you!”

I stayed a minute longer, watching everyone open the gifts and envelopes I’d given them and the looks on their faces were of sheer joy.

As I continued down the hall toward my office, I heard Joe from the production department talking to somebody—probably his wife—on the phone about the new sports car he was going to order. He’d been working his ass off for the last year and a half, so I gave him a sweet little bonus. The company wouldn’t be where it is today without him.

It felt good.

Damn good.

Livia Tech was a monster and I was proud to be the one holding the leash.

I headed out to the parking lot and got into my brand new 2018 Challenger. This car was my baby. Six point four liter, four hundred eighty-five horses under the hood and it could haul some serious ass. Most men in my position drove big ass luxury cars—or sweet fast sports cars—but not me. I loved good ol’ American muscle.

“Mr. Lawson!”

I stopped and turned around. Samantha Perkins, a busty brunette who had joined the marketing department five months earlier. “Yes, Samantha?”

She held out a piece of paper. “I think you made a mistake. This check is huge. It’s like. . .it’s $15,000.”

“Yeah, I know it is. I signed it. What’s the problem?”

“I just don’t think I deserve this. I barely started working here . . .”

I smiled at her. “You work at Livia Tech, don’t you?”

“Well, yes.”

“Then, the check is really yours. Now go see if you can go out there and kick some ass in the Whirly Ball competition!”

“Thank you, Mr. Lawson. You have no idea what this means to me! Merry Christmas!”

“What would be the fun of being the boss if I can’t pay it forward?” I flashed a smile. “Have a Merry Christmas, Samantha.”

I smiled after her as she hurried on too high of heels back into the sprawling, high-tech office building occupied by Livia Tech and a few other tech start-ups. I never mixed business and pleasure but sometimes I wished HR would stop hiring such gorgeous women. It was certainly making it hard to keep that boundary in place.

Not that finding a date was a hard thing to do. I’d always had the looks, now I had the money. More than I knew what to do with. And yet, even with those things in place, I was flying home to my parents’ house without someone sitting in the window seat beside me.

***

“Here’s what I don’t understand, Dad. I’d be the one footing the bill. You could be in there, sipping a cold one, watching a ball game. Wouldn’t cost you a thing.”

“It’s tradition,” my father argued with a simple shrug of his shoulders. “Every year since you and Jamie were little we’ve been putting up Christmas lights and since you were five, you were my little helper.”

I smiled and shook my head. I’d already lost the half-hearted battle. Truth was I didn’t mind helping him with the lights. Sure, it was bare-ass cold outside and the lights were a nightmare to untangle, but it was a nice change of pace from my busy life back in LA. Life in the sleepy suburban pocket of Minneapolis was slow and easy. There weren’t a thousand emails screaming for my attention, conference calls, video chats, and an onslaught of decisions to make. I’d slept in until nine-thirty, had a huge pancake breakfast, and enjoyed a cup of coffee sprawled on the sofa without interruption for nearly an hour.

Heaven.

“All right, son. I’m going up. Spot me.”

I frowned over at my dad as he started up the ladder. “Dad, I can go—”

He scoffed and swatted at the air. “Just hold the damn ladder, Alex.”

“Both hands . . .” I mumbled as I lunged to grab the base of the metal ladder. “You’re not even wearing proper shoes.”

My dad stopped and glared down at me, his cheeks ruddy and wind blown. “All that fancy living in LA has made you a softie, son. These sneakers are just fine, thank you very much. Now just hold the ladder and stop talking.”

I smiled to myself and gripped the ladder tightly to keep it from swaying as he made his way to the top. Yup, that was about right. Tradition. Dad getting cranky and overbearing. He’d bitch and complain the entire time and then go in for a beer to reward himself. Then, he’d herd us all out to the sidewalk in front of the house and do a big reveal. Happened every year since I was a kid.

A horn honked and I turned around to see my sister Jamie’s eyesore of a minivan pulling into the driveway. She waved from behind the wheel. A grin split across my face and I released the ladder. Dad was nearly at the top.

“Hey, hey,” I called out, jogging across the yard.

Jamie hopped out, shut her door, and raced around the front of the maroon van. She launched into my arms and squeezed tight. “Baby brother!”

“Hey, James.”

The van door opened and

“Release the kraken!” I bellowed.

Marvin, my six-year old nephew flew at me, launching himself from the van’s side step. I caught him mid-air and swung him around in a circle like he was Superman. “Damn, bud, you’re all grown up, huh?”

“Language,” Jamie prompted.

I cringed. “Sorry, bud.”

Marvin laughed. “That’s okay Uncle Alex. I get all the money in mommy’s bad word jar every six months.”

I looked over at Jamie as she worked to unfasten baby Ella from her car seat and laughed. “Seriously?”

She shrugged. “Keeps me honest.”

I set Marvin down. “Where’s Papa?” he asked, wide-eyed.

I pointed up.

My dad appeared at the edge of the roof and waved. “Hey, Marvin!”

“Papa! What are you doing!” Marvin raced to the house so he could peer up at his grandfather—whom he worshiped.

Jamie straightened, baby Ella on her hip. “There’s one more who wants to get a little uncle time.”

I reached out for the chubby baby, dressed in pink from head to toe. “Hey, princess.”

Ella squealed and made a grab for my nose.

Jamie laughed and inserted a pacifier. “Here, sweet girl. We gotta save Uncle Alex’s pretty boy face,” she teased, looking up at me.

“Ha ha. Very funny.”

Jamie turned her attention to our dad on the roof, chatting with Marvin. “God, he makes me nervous.”

“I tried to get him to let me hire someone but you know Dad.”

She frowned and wrapped her arms around herself. “Next year let’s plan something. I’ll take them out to dinner and you can get here early and have someone do the lights while they’re distracted.”

I laughed but it wasn’t a bad idea. “They’ll be so happy to see me, he won’t be able to stay pissed for too long.”

“Exactly,” Jamie said with a sly nod. She slid the van door shut and then started for the front door.

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and walked with her. “How you doing, sis?”

She gave a half-hearted shrug. “It’s been rough. Marvin won’t stop asking about Dan. It’s like he doesn’t even want to be with me.” She paused and I glanced over. Her eyes were misting up. I squeezed her shoulders tighter. “I can’t bear the thought of not spending Christmas Eve with him but that’s what we agreed on with the custody arrangement.”

“It’ll be all right, Jamie. We’ll just have to make Christmas Day that much more special.”

She nodded and tried a smile but it was wilted and didn’t fully drive away the sadness from her eyes.

I deposited her at the front door, kissed her temple, and passed baby Ella back to her. “You get this little one inside and I’ll look after Marvin.”

“Thanks, Alex. I’m so glad you’re home.”

My heart twisted and my own smile faltered. “Me, too, sis.”

The front door shut just as my dad started shouting for me to hurry up and get the ladder. “You just got up there,” I said, moving to help Marvin brace the ladder.

“I gotta take a piss!”

I rolled my eyes.

“Papa has to put money in the jar!” Marvin announced cheerfully.

After another two hours in the cold, the last of the lights were finally in place. I went to the garage to bring out the last box, the one with the gaudy lawn ornaments, and was explaining to Marvin what we needed to do, when there was a loud crash behind me.

“Papa!” Marvin shouted, his face registering horror.

I spun around and saw my dad sprawled, spread-eagle on the snow-covered yard. “Holy shit!” I bolted to his side. “Dad, what the hell happened?”

He struggled to sit up. “Slipped from the ladder. Damn thing is slippery.”

I glared over at the ladder. He’d been on the final three rungs when I’d last seen him. The fall couldn’t have been from too high of a distance. Thank God. But still . . .

“Are you all right? You want us to call for an ambulance? Does anything feel broken?”

“Stop fussing over me,” he replied. “Help me up. I’m fine.”

The strained look on his face told a different story.

I slowly helped him up to a sitting position and he caught his breath.

Jamie and my mom, Gina, rushed out and immediately flew into hysterics. Within five minutes, they were packing Dad into Jamie’s monstrosity of a vehicle and they were off to the ER to get him checked out, leaving me with baby Ella and Marvin. When the van was out of sight, I balanced Ella in one arm and retrieved my wallet from my back pocket. I pulled out a twenty and slipped it to Marvin. “Here buddy, that should cover my swear jar fees.”

***

Hours later, they returned. Marvin was sprawled on the living room floor, watching a mind-numbing kids movie while baby Ella stretched out in her playpen, chewing on her own toes. I went to answer the door. “What did they say?” I asked as my dad crossed the threshold. He was moving better than he had right after the fall but still looked ginger and stiff.

My mom helped him out of his coat. One arm was wrapped in a sling tucked against his body. “Just a sprain,” he said. “They gave me some muscle relaxers for my back, too, but no damage there.”

“I’m sorry, Dad.”

“Eh, it happens.” He shuffled to the kitchen and went into the fridge for a beer. “The real problem is that tomorrow is my first day as S-A-N-T-A,” my dad said, looking at Marvin who was watching a movie in the living room.

I groaned. “You’re still doing that, Dad?”

“Of course I am! It’s for charity!” He looked incredulous. “Besides, if I give up my spot, that jackal Hank will swoop in and steal Cascadia Mall from right underneath me. Everyone knows it’s the best mall.”

I shook my head. “I’m not even gonna ask.”

“Son, you have to go in my place.”

My chin jerked up. “Wait. What? Me?” I laughed and backed away slowly, holding up my hands. “No, no, no. Not gonna happen.”

My mom, Jamie, and my dad all stared at me like doe-eyed children. “You have to, honey,” my mom pleaded. “It’s for a really good cause and it makes the children so happy!”

I swooped back in and lowered my voice. “I’m all for charity! Hell, between my company’s contributions as well as my own, I’ve given away millions to charity. Tell me where to send the check and I’ll go nuts. But if you’re asking me to get into some Santa getup and stuff my shirt with throw pillows and wear a scratchy, rent-a-Santa beard and get mauled by a herd of kids every day for the next two weeks, the answer is a solid no!”

My mom’s eyes turned into a pointed glare. “That’s very Grinch-y, Alex.”

Jamie burst into giggles.

My dad grabbed my arm. “Son, I’ll be feeling better in a few days. You just have to fill in for me.”

My heart sank. “There’s no way I’m getting out of this, is there?”

Jamie grinned at me. “No, not really.”

I threw my hands up into the air. “Great! Guess I better go practice my ho, ho, ho and read up on reindeer training.”

They all snickered as I stalked from the room.

Merry Christmas indeed.