Love Me By Christmas

By Jaci Burton

Ellie Washington lost her husband in a tragedy five years ago at Christmas. She wouldn't have made it through her grief if not for her husband's brother, Nick, who helped her pick up the pieces of her shattered life. And with every year, her feelings for Nick have grown. Now she realizes she might be in love with him, but that's not fair, because Nick deserves a life that isn't about his brother's widow and son.

 

Sharing his life with Ellie and her son has been the balm that soothed Nick's soul after losing his brother. Now that friendship has turned into something deeper. Nick doesn't want to upset the status quo, but someone has to make the first move, and it's time they figure out if their feelings are real. Nick believes in what they have. He also believes in Christmas miracles, and he thinks they're both long overdue for one.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jaci Burton, Inc
• Release date: Nov 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9798201666835

Book preview

Other Titles by Jaci Burton

PLAY-BY-PLAY NOVELS

The Perfect Play

Changing the Game

Taking a Shot

Playing to Win

Thrown by a Curve

One Sweet Ride

Melting the Ice

Straddling the Line

Quarterback Draw

All Wound Up

Hot Holiday Nights – A Novella

Holiday Games – A Novella

Holiday on Ice – A Novella

Unexpected Rush

Rules of Contact

The Final Score

HOPE NOVELS

Hope Smolders

Hope Flames

Hope Ignites

Hope Burns

Love After All

Make Me Stay

Don’t Let Go

Love Me Again

WILD RIDER NOVELS

Riding Wild

Riding Temptation

Riding on Instinct

Riding the Night

ANTHOLOGIES

Unlaced

Exclusive

Laced with Desire

Nauti and Wild

Nautier and Wilder

Hot Summer Nights

SPECIALS

The Ties That Bind

No Strings Attached

Wild Nights

Rescue Me

Nothing Personal

Unwrapped

Dare to Love

Unraveled

SINGLE TITLES

Love Me By Christmas

Wild, Wicked, & Wanton

Bound, Branded, & Brazen

Love Me By Christmas

By

Jaci Burton

Love Me By Christmas

All Rights Reserved ©2017 by Jaci Burton

ISBN: 978-1-946535-31-3

Cover by Designs By Dana

eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Published by Jaci Burton

Praise for Jaci Burton

A STALWART IN THE ROMANCE GENRE.    —USA Today

A wild ride.    —#1 New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh

Jaci Burton delivers.    —Cherry Adair, New York Times bestselling author

As always, Jaci Burton delivers a hot read.    —Fresh Fiction

Burton is a master at sexual tension!    —RT Book Reviews

One to pick up and savor.    —Publishers Weekly

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

About Jaci Burton

Chapter One

Do you want me to bring the Christmas decorations down from the attic?

Ellie Washington tensed. She hated this time of year. And even though it would be five years this holiday season, she still missed her husband, John.

She turned to John’s older brother, Nick, and forced a smile. I guess. Sure.

Nick leaned against the kitchen counter. In many ways he resembled John. Tall, lean, dark good looks. But John had been her sweet, button-down shirt and khaki pants nerd—a financial planner by trade who’d worn the same look at home.

Nick was a grease monkey, an auto mechanic who owned a shop a few miles from his house. He wore jeans and T-shirts that were often smudged and dirty. His black hair was always a bit too long, and his eyes were a sea blue, whereas John had had green eyes.

She missed John’s eyes, that way they used to crinkle at the corners when he laughed.

Still stuck in the past, Ellie. Five years later, you’re still thinking about John.

Time to move on.

She knew it, and yet she still felt…stuck. As if she couldn’t quite find that joy that used to be hers.

Especially at the holidays, which was always tough.

But this year was going to be different.

Hey, Ellie. You listening?

She blinked, lost in the memories. Sorry. What?

I said I thought maybe we’d take Henry and get a tree this weekend.

Her stomach knotted. John had died at Christmastime five years ago. Henry had been growing in her belly and they’d stood in front of the tree, John rubbing her belly bump and the two of them dreaming about the following year, when there would be a new baby in their house.

And then her husband had died and her life had gone to hell. It had taken her a long time to get over that, to be able to function again as a living, breathing human.

She thought she was doing pretty damn well at the functioning part. The living part? Maybe not so much.

Nick came over and pulled her against him. You’re thinking about John.

He always seemed to know her so well, knew her moods and even her reflective moments. That came from spending so much time together over the past five years.

She looked up at him. Yes.

He rubbed her back. We can put off the tree and the decorations if you want.

She pulled away. Nope. We can’t. Henry loves Christmas. You love Christmas, probably even more than Henry does. I’ll get into it once all the decorations are up just like I always do.

He tipped her chin back with his fingers. Like you always do?

She let her lips lift, just a little. "Okay, buddy. Maybe I’m not all that jolly this time of year, but I’m working on it.

And if she wasn’t all gung ho about Christmas, okay, so maybe she was still a work in progress there. Her husband had died in a fire on Christmas Eve when she’d been at work. John, exhausted and overworked, had fallen asleep. Faulty wiring had sparked a fire in their old house and he’d died from smoke inhalation.

So…what do you think this year? Nick asked. A noble fir?

She shook herself out of the bad memories. Bad memories were for the past, and she refused to live in the past anymore. That sounds great.

Nick picked up his phone. We could go today. There’s still plenty of time before it gets dark.

Or we could wait until tomorrow.

Nick cracked a smile. Yeah, because why do something today we could do tomorrow instead? Especially something you don’t really want to do, right?

He gave her that look that told her he knew her all too well. And of course he did.

Maybe we could wait a few days? She cast him a hopeful look.

He responded with his signature smile. Sure.

She wouldn’t let him see the relief that swept through her. Instead, she offered up a smile. Thanks, Nick.

Hey, no big deal.

It is a big deal. You have no idea how much everything you’ve done for me, and for Henry, has meant to me.

Whoa. Where did that come from? And no thanks is necessary, Ellie. You’re family.

Family. Yeah, that’s what they were to each other. But they were also so much more. At least now. Back then when John died, they’d been each other’s saviors.

She’d moved into his house five years ago. She’d had nowhere else to go. She didn’t have family. When she’d married John, his family had become her family. And after the fire, it had been Nick who’d taken her in and become her lifeline.

She hadn’t meant to stay at Nick’s house this long. But she’d been five months pregnant with Henry when John had died, and finding a new place to live had been impossible at that time. Then she’d given birth and Henry had been an infant and Nick had told her he had three bedrooms and there was no hurry.

His place was perfect, a one-story brick house near the hospital in St. Louis where she worked as a labor and delivery nurse. She’d settled in with Henry and had felt safe and comfortable.

Then safe and comfortable had become routine for all of them.

Now Henry was four and he loved his uncle Nick. He had his own room and Nick had wired model airplanes to soar on the ceiling. They’d painted the room a bright blue, and he had a four-drawer dresser and oversized wooden box that Nick had made for all of Henry’s toys, plus a nice twin bed next to the window that looked out over the huge backyard.

Her room was nice, too. It was spacious with a queen bed and a beautiful quilt plus a lovely sitting area where she could read. It had a connecting bathroom that she shared with Henry, which was perfect in case Henry wasn’t feeling well or she needed to check on him. It also gave her privacy and a separation from Nick, which Nick thought was important.

In the beginning she hadn’t been thinking much of anything other than basic survival. But after a while she’d seen its merits. Plus the room had a walk-in closet, which worked perfect for her. Not that she had a lot of clothes. She had her scrubs, her jeans, and basic tops. It wasn’t like she went out on dates or anything.

Ugh. Dates. Just the thought of it, of going out with anyone who wasn’t Nick…

Not that she was going to go out on a date with Nick. Because he’d never asked her. Not that she hadn’t thought about it once or twice or a hundred times in the past year or two.

The change had been subtle. First, he’d been her brother-in-law and nothing more. And then, there were these chemical signals, like running into him in the hall while he wasn’t wearing a shirt, and she found her gaze lingering. At the time, she’d thought she should probably look away. Only she hadn’t looked away.

It was at that point she’d realized she needed to start living again. She’d noticed Nick as a man. A hot, living, breathing man. It was time.

Let’s go out tonight.

She blinked, feeling like she’d been caught fantasizing about Nick. Had she been staring at him? She wasn’t sure. She looked over at him. What?

Henry mentioned pizza before I dropped him off at Oscar’s for his playdate.  What do you think?

About?

Nick cocked his head to the side and smirked. Pizza, Ellie.

Shake it off, Ellie.

She cocked her head to the side and gave Nick the once-over. Despite the hotness factor, of which he had an ample amount, the dude was looking a little shaggy.

You need a haircut.

He dragged his fingers through the unruly thickness of his dark hair. No, I don’t.

Yes, you do. If it gets any longer, I’ll be able to put it up with one of my ponytail holders.

Bullshit. It’s not that long.

"It is, too. At least a