Operation: Christmas Seduction

By Megan Ryder

True to his name, Ryan Holliday loves Christmas, as proclaimed by the tinsel and lights adorning his bar, Bangers and Mash. Sadly, the town Grinch, Paige Taylor--a woman who's locked him in the friend zone—missed the memo. When he notices her mood unaffected by the trimmings, he makes it his mission to help her find her holiday spirit. Who knows? His good deed might even coax St. Nick into granting Ryan's long-held Christmas wish to win her affection.

 

Any joy Paige Taylor might've known during the holidays had been killed by years of tense family events and phony joy. For her, this was merely a season of stress and artifice with her highly dysfunctional family. So, when Ryan, the sexy owner of the local bar sets his sights on her and insists she needs a visit from the ghost of Christmas present, she protests only half-heartedly. I mean, who wouldn't want to spend time with a sexy man? He'd grow bored with her, a history professor before long.

 

Ryan seduces her over Christmas trees, cookies and shopping but will the Christmas magic they find together last beyond the New Year?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Megan Ryder
• Release date: Dec 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393227298

Megan Ryder

Ever since Megan Ryder discovered Jude Deveraux and Judith McNaught while sneaking around the “forbidden” romance section of the library one day after school, she has been voraciously devouring romance novels of all types. Now a romance author in her own right, Megan pens sexy contemporary novels all about family and hot lovin’ with the boy next door. She lives in Connecticut, spending her days as a technical writer and her spare time divided between her addiction to knitting and reading.

Book preview

1

D id a horde of Christmas elves break in and vomit all over this place? Paige Taylor scanned the interior of the English-style pub in Falls Village, Massachusetts, and shook her head.

Bangers and Mash, with its dark, scarred wood, stone walls, and deep booths, reminded her of her years studying abroad at Oxford. She hated to see the classic interior desecrated with tinsel, flashing lights, candy canes, and greenery. The only thing that would make it worse... And there it was. Mistletoe strategically placed around the bar. She'd have to avoid all of those spots, not that anyone was looking to kiss her. Not lately at least.

Damn. Now her only haven in the town was off-limits for the next several weeks until the insanity that was the holiday season was over. She had been coming into the pub fairly regularly since her breakup from her fiancé several months ago and, while she liked to tell herself the reason was the ambiance and the comfort of the pub, she was lying.

Paige weaved her way around the crowded wooden tables to the raised bar area where her friend, Cami Rhys-Jones, pulled a couple of drafts for some college kids home on break. Cami jerked her chin toward the end of the bar where a couple of stools sat empty. Paige grinned gratefully and pushed her way through the small groups of people catching up on old times. Paige had grown up in Falls Village, but no one would remember her, a bookworm in high school and the quiet, middle child of the Taylor family. Easily forgotten. Easily ignored. Easily dismissed.

Paige slid onto the curved stool that hugged her butt perfectly. You weren't kidding when you said you were slammed. Is it always like this after Thanksgiving?

Cami shrugged, hands busy making drinks. People slog through traffic to get home to their beloved families and, once they get here, can't wait to escape to the local bar and their friends the first chance they get. Day after Thanksgiving is just as busy here as in stores. It's our Black Friday too. Cami flicked a cloth over the area, ostensibly cleaning, but really just taking some time to check in on Paige. I didn't loan you my best outfit for you to hide in the dark. This place is hopping tonight. And you're sulking in the corner.

This is why I wanted to stay home. Crowds suck.

You're twenty-six, not ninety-six. My grandmother is more active than you are and she's dead! You need to get over Roger and move on. He's not worth it. Cami slid a vodka cranberry drink across the bar to Paige, who sipped it gratefully. Just what she needed after a holiday with the family.

I'm over him. I'm just … comfortable.

Cami snorted. Comfort is for the dead. You're alive. Starting acting like it.

I don't need you to babysit me. In fact, I might just go home.

You stay put. Loosen up. Have some fun. Talk with the hottie. Cami nudged her chin to the young guy who had stepped up to the bar next to her. What can I get for you, honey?

The guy glanced at Paige and smiled, after the quick body scan, clearly assessing her viability as a partner for the evening. God, she hated most bars, where people crowded into small spaces, consumed alcohol and sought oblivion with another person, for the evening, or longer. Bangers and Mash wasn't usually like that, at least not for her.

She wished she had the guts to follow through instead of playing it safe and dating the kind of guy her family expected her to date.

Remembering Cami's advice, she smiled at the man. He wasn't a regular, but good looking, just the ticket for her dry spell. He smiled at her then leaned against the bar and eyed the vee of Cami’s top, leering a little at the exposed cleavage. I'll have a Sam Adams. Patriotic and all.

He hiked his hip against the bar and cocked an eyebrow at her, probably thinking it was sexy. I'm Adam. And you are?

She flushed, words failing her as they so often did during idle chitchat. Um, Paige.

Is that 'Page' like a book?

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She had heard that same old line from almost every guy she'd ever met. Not exactly, but close enough.

Cami slid the beer in front of Adam and shot Paige a warning look, along with a second jut of the chin. Then she walked away to handle a group of college kids who had been loudly demanding attention from the other end of the bar. Paige frantically searched her brain for something to say, something witty and cute.

Did you know the Pilgrims stopped at Plymouth Rock because they ran out of beer? The words burst out before she could stop them.

Confusion clouded his gaze, and Paige blushed. They drank beer instead of water on long voyages because it didn't go bad. I'm a history teacher and—

But he was walking away before she could finish her thought. Actually, more like running away. She wanted to bury her head in her hands. She'd sounded like an idiot and chased another man away. She fumbled for her purse and started to slide off the stool.

Seriously?

A voice smooth as fine scotch tempered with a tone of amusement drifted over her, and she froze. She closed her eyes and calmed her racing pulse, but the electric tingle that ran up her spine told her who stood next to her. Ryan Holliday, owner and resident charmer of Bangers and Mash, and her primary reason for coming in so often, even if she didn't want to admit it to herself.

How the hell had he snuck up on her this time? Her dormant lady parts always seemed to let her know when he was nearby. She opened her eyes to see him leaning against the bar, in the vacuum created by Adam, effectively pinning her against the partition, all without touching her. His wavy dark brown hair brushed the top of his neck, a lock of it falling forward into his laughing caramel eyes. A crooked smile crossed his face, adding to his overall charm, a red Santa hat half-cocked on his head. A black T-shirt stretched tight over firm muscles that her fingers itched to explore.

But he wasn't for her. They were too different and, besides, she had come to enjoy his friendship. Good friends were too few to waste on a few hours of possible passion.

Although it would almost certainly be far more than a few minutes, and something told her the passion would be explosive.

Damn, why did it have to be Ryan?

Ryan leaned against the bar and studied Paige Taylor. Her face was redder than the Santa hat he wore. He stepped around her and ducked behind the bar to wipe the already clean counter and to give her time to adjust. She'd been coming in since the beginning of the year, mostly as a result of her friendship with his assistant manager,