'Tis the Season to Kiss Santa

By Kate Hardy

With the help of a sprig of mistletoe and some snow angels, a recently single pastry chef teaches a highly successful and sexy Scrooge the true meaning of the holidays on a snowy Christmas Eve that quickly heats up.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Nov 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781622662944

Kate Hardy

Kate Hardy has been a bookworm since she was a toddler. When she isn't writing Kate enjoys reading, theatre, live music, ballet and the gym. She lives with her husband, student children and their spaniel in Norwich, England. You can contact her via her website: www.katehardy.com

Book preview

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’Tis the Season to

Kiss Santa

Kate Hardy

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2012 by Kate Hardy. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Entangled Publishing, LLC

2614 South Timberline Road

Suite 109

Fort Collins, CO 80525

Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.

Edited by Liz Pelletier

Cover design by Liz Pelletier

ISBN 978-1-62266-294-4

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition November 2012

Second Edition November 2013

The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Skype.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

About the Author

Keep your Indulgence going with these classic contemporary romances...

To my fellow Flirtettes—it’s been great working with you!

Chapter One

You want me to be Santa. Mitch stared at his boss in disbelief. Was C.J. temporarily insane? Or had he eaten way too many candy canes from the box one of their clients had sent and was on the sugar rush to end all sugar rushes?

Mitch wasn’t Santa material. No way. No how. Hadn’t his last girlfriend even nicknamed him Ebenezer? Not that Mitch was ever mean with gifts; he just hated Christmas. For him, Christmas wasn’t the season of joy and goodwill. It was a season of misery, and he’d learned that the hard way. Nowadays, he always worked between Christmas and New Year so his colleagues who had kids could take time off and enjoy the holiday season with their families. It came with the bonus of being the perfect excuse for not being able to join his own family on the other side of the country for the seasonal fights.

Being Santa at a Christmas party for children just wasn’t him, Mitch knew. He was more than happy to give a donation to the party—a donation large enough to give the kids a great time—but actually being Santa, turning up and taking part…

You can say no, C.J. said idly.

But Mitch could read the subtext: if he said no, there would be consequences. Because this was most definitely a test.

He waited, hoping that his face looked a lot more inscrutable than it felt.

I’m looking at retiring next year, C.J. said.

Which was why Mitch had worked stupid hours for the last six months, proving that he was good enough to step into C.J.’s shoes.

I need to be sure that whoever heads up the firm after me can keep all the balls in the air. So we run the best campaigns, for the best clients, with the best staff.

Uh-huh. Mitch did all that already. And he knew C.J. knew it.

But it’s not just about business. Holford’s has a heart, C.J. said softly.

So that was what C.J. wanted him to prove? Being Santa would show that Mitch had a heart, too. That he’d lead from the front. And in C.J.’s book it was clear that leading meant having a heart.

Mitch didn’t agree. To make a business a success, you had to keep emotion out of it. As far as he was concerned, keeping emotion out of everything was the way to go.

Santa—or not Santa.

No. That wasn’t the real choice. Santa—or watch someone else take the job he’d worked for. And it irked him that he was being held to account like this.

So you want me to wear a ridiculous costume and dole out presents to kids who probably won’t even get to play with them before their parents either break them in a fight or sell them to get money for their next bottle of booze, Mitch said.

He regretted the words the second they were out of his mouth. Because

Reviews for 'Tis the Season to Kiss Santa

[bette_hansen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Heartwarming

He was all business and had no time for love. She was kind and loving. Two very different people...one very special night. This is a wonderful sexy story I definitely recommend.

[gloria.herrera · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyable Christmas story! Mitch is self centered and aloof to the needs of others. He focuses on the bottom line only. This is his Christmas story at getting his heart out of the "emotional freezer" and joining the human race.

Ellie is a sweetheart. Only someone like heart can undertake the task of melting Mitch's heart and helping him look at life with different eyes. Loved reading this story!

[readyourwrites · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Reviewed by Kimfor Read Your Writes Book ReviewsThis was a nice little story. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I felt disconnected from the characters. However, I was still able to enjoy the book.Because of Mitch's upbringing, he isn't a fan of Christmas. In fact he's been called Ebenezer. It's not that Mitch is a bad guy, because he isn't. His past just doesn't hold the memories of what great Christmases are all about. When his boss questions if he has a heart, Mitch puts on a Santa suit for one hour to prove that he does.Ellie loves Christmas. After getting divorced and losing her business, she is in the U.S. to help her Godmother who is recovering from hip surgery and find out what she wants to do next with her life.An unexpected blizzard traps these two together on Christmas Eve and together they find a love of Christmas and discover that sometimes it's okay to take risks.Source: Publisher: Entangled ~ Indulgence