Baby, It's Cold Outside

By Rebel Wild

Getting out of the rain is Emily's only goal this early LA winter morning. She didn't plan to walk up the steps of one of the most prestigious high-rises in Downtown. She didn't plan to make a wish on the star that was shining so brightly atop the Christmas tree in the front lobby. She never planned to fall asleep right next to the front door and she certainly never meant to get caught by the sexy, brooding billionaire that owns it. Will the jaded CEO make the one wish she has for Christmas come true?

 

Skipping Christmas is Heath's only goal this winter. If it wasn't for the whispered complaints and depressing glares from his employees, he would have banned the holiday altogether. Christmas is for fools and Heath is no fool. He's a self-made billionaire who doesn't have time to deck the halls. What he wouldn't give to make Christmas disappear. That is, until he meets her: a sleeping girl with a pair of hauntingly familiar eyes that invades more than his personal space. Can a Scrooge lose himself and find the missing piece to a soul he thought didn't exist?

 

Baby, it's Cold Outside is a feel-good, faith restoring read that will have you laughing while reaching for your box of tissues.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rebel Wild Books
• Release date: Oct 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393543978

Book preview

Baby, it’s Cold Outside

Rebel Wild

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Copyright © 2018 by Rebel Wild

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Printed in the United States of America

www.rebelwildbooks.com

First Printing, 2018

Cover Design by Cat at TRC Designs

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter One

Emily has been treading through Downtown Los Angeles for a little over an hour, unable to get the song Walking in a Winter Wonderland out of her head since she’d heard a little girl skipping along to it earlier.  She ran out of change and had to leave the warmth of the McDonald’s fast-food restaurant once she finished her coffee, but not before bumming two plastic bags from the cashier to wrap her feet in. It was the smartest thing she’d done all day because the heavy rain was showing no signs of letting up. Her soggy UGG boots would have kept her feet wet and she would have most likely caught Pneumonia.

When the weather turned cold last week, she’d taken what little money she had left from her general relief for the month and bought a raincoat and umbrella. She wanted better shoes, but all they had left were tan UGGs. They were better than her rundown sneakers so she bought those too. All in all, it is the best twenty bucks she ever spent because, even though the coat is a bit big, it’s doing a great job keeping her dry.

She isn’t very familiar with Los Angeles. She’s only been in the city for a few months and she’s made sure to stay on the outskirts of Downtown, but judging from the now tall, elaborately designed buildings surrounding her, she’s right smack dab in the heart of it.

It’s close to morning, but the sun isn’t even coming up yet and the streets are pretty much deserted at this hour so she figures it will be safe. She’ll be sure to be out of the area before sunrise when all the big businesses open. The last thing she wants is to be surrounded by people who look right past her like she doesn’t exist, or even worse, the ones who turn up their noses and say cruel things to her while demanding she gets a job and stops living off them when she’s using her food stamp card. Emily would give anything for a job. She wants to be a productive member of society. She went to school to do just that and graduated at the top of her class. But six months ago, it all went terribly wrong.

She shakes her head, pulling herself from that memory, not wanting to go back there again as she comes across a building and stops short to look up at it. It’s tall and sleek, made mostly of silver-stained glass and the way it looks in the rain is eye-catching. It seems practically deserted, but surely, some type of cleaning crew or security guard is working the property. She looks around, but she doesn’t see anyone.

Maybe because it’s close to Christmas. She thinks out loud.

She can see a huge tree still lit in the lobby. Wanting to get a better look at it, she looks around again for signs of anyone before braving the steps that get her closer.  She loved Christmas trees as a child. Her foster father at the time, Bill O’Brian would always let her put the big star on the top. He would lift her up and sit her on his shoulders so she could do it all by herself.

Don’t forget to make a wish, Emily. His voice comes into her mind loud and clear as if he’s standing right next to her. She finds herself doing just what she remembers, closing her eyes really tight and making a wish.  She opens them as memories of her sitting the bright-golden star on the tall, sturdy branch right in the middle of the tree fade from her mind.

Bill said she wasn’t allowed to tell what the wish was or it wouldn’t come true, but she always caved and told him anyway. She just couldn’t keep secrets from him and it was always the same wish.

I wished for a home for Christmas. She would tug him down to whisper it in his ear before her foster mom would help her get ready for bed.

For Emily, a home meant not just a warm, safe place to live, but a place where she was loved. Families lived in homes. Moms and dads and their kids lived in homes. Happy couples, like the ones she saw on TV, lived in homes. That’s what she wished for and secretly that is what she is wishing for now as she cranes her neck up to see the bright gold star that sits atop the huge tree in the office lobby.

I wish for a home for Christmas, she whispers.

She sighs deeply, angry at herself that she still has that useless wish in her. Wishing on some stupid Christmas star has never worked and she is almost certain it never will... almost.  Her head swings from side to side, taking in her surroundings. There’s a dry patch in the corner that’s sheltered by the overhang of the building. It’s dark, except for the large column in front of it with the words, Hanson Enterprises, giving off a bit of illumination. It’s out of street view, hidden by a half-sized wall, so it looks fairly decent and it’s much better than the bus stop bench she was going to sleep on at this point.

Thinking she can rest safely for just a little while, she goes over, shrugs her backpack off her arms, and gets her blanket out to cover herself. The ground is incredibly cold, so she holds herself to keep some heat in. Exhausted, she tries not to, but she lets her eyes close and drifts off to sleep.

Why does Christmas bring out the best in people? Amanda, the VP of Hanson Enterprise gushes while she and her boss, CEO, Heath Hanson walk through the festive lobby. They’ve spent all night working on a deal and at 4 am, they hit pay dirt with a much better outcome than expected.

It doesn’t, he corrects her. You just get soft during this time of year. I bet you’re one of those that think nothing bad ever happens at Christmastime. Well, I don’t fall for the hype of that shit. Life goes on and people still die.

Always the cynic, she says.

Damn right.

He’s seen too much not to be. Messed-up shit happens and it somehow always finds a way to fuck him over. Life has been extremely hard on him and being all jolly for Christmas sure as hell isn’t going to change any of that.

Uh oh, Amanda says, stepping out the door that her boss holds open for her.

What’s wrong? He asks, letting the door swing closed before stepping up beside her. She motions with her briefcase and he turns to see the figure sleeping on the ground.  This is just fucking great. He steps closer. I thought they stopped these people from coming down here. Where the hell is security? He looks around for his incompetent night guard that must be somewhere sleeping instead of doing his damn job.

He’s about to use the tip of his Tom Ford boot to nudge the vagrant awake because he sure as hell isn’t going to touch him.  His eyes adjust to the darkness and he’s able to see the figure for what it truly is: a young girl, thin and cold. She’s huddled in the fetal position under a thin gray blanket to keep warm from the cold rain. The almost deathly pale color of her skin nearly gives him a panic attack. The last person he saw with skin that pale was his mom.  He held her hand as the life drained out of her body one cold winter’s morning, much like this one, after years of being ravaged by breast cancer. Images of her flash in his head to where he has to take a step back from the girl on the ground.

Amanda, go on ahead. I’ll take care of this.  He doesn’t want her to see him so shaken by something like this, but she still ventures over. She sighs, looking at the young girl on the ground. Her heart fills with pity for her.

Amanda Brown is a bitch in business. She has to be, dealing with the male chauvinist assholes who try to run her over because she’s a woman, an African American woman at that. But underneath all the hard-ass sass and bravado is a heart of gold and she hates seeing someone so young and downtrodden this close to Christmas.

Are you sure? I’ll call Phil over. Maybe he can get her to move and let her know she just can’t sleep here. She doesn’t want her boss to wake the young girl. He has the finesse of a wildcat with a thorn in his paw and he is the last thing this girl needs right now.

I’ll handle it. Phil is waiting for you at your car. Have a good morning and I don’t expect to see you until tomorrow. 

See you then.  She takes the no-nonsense tone he gives her to mean he no longer wants to discuss it, so she reluctantly walks away, determined to tell Phil about the situation anyway

Reviews for Baby, It's Cold Outside

[Lindsay Gibbs · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Needs editing, alot of mistakes and sentences phrased confusingly. I was not a fan of how points of view shifted from person to person constantly, very often in the same paragraph.