Claiming His Christmas Tree Topper

By Alexa Riley

Nick Rudolph has been biding his time until he can fire the woman he loves… because the only way he can have her is if she doesn't work for him. He's also pushing her into the job she truly wants, so hopefully that will make up for the whole 'you're fired' thing.

 

Getting fired at Christmas sucks, but when one door closes for Star Butterscotch, it turns out a winter wonderland is opening up. How are all of her dreams coming true just when she thought it was all over?

 

Warning: Ignore all those holiday plans and celebrate the most magical season with us! Can decorating a tree lead to lasting love? You bet your shiny tinsel! 

 

Claiming His Christmas Tree Topper is a holiday quickie so we've included two of your old favorites with it! Grab this New Release and get Stalking in a Winter Wonderland and Santa's Secret Baby along with it! Enjoy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alexa Riley
• Release date: Dec 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201407377

Alexa Riley

New York Times bestselling author Alexa Riley is two sassy friends who got together and wrote some dirty books. They are both married moms of two who love football, donuts, and obsessed book heroes. They specialize in insta-love, over-the-top, sweet, and cheesy love stories that don’t take all year to read. If you want something SAFE, short, and always with a happily ever after, then Alexa Riley is for you! www.AlexaRiley.com

Book preview

Claiming His Christmas Tree Topper

Claiming His Christmas Tree Topper

ALEXA RILEY

Contents

Claiming His Christmas Tree Topper

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Epilogue

Santa’s Secret Baby

Prologue

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Epilogue

Epilogue

Stalking in a Winter Wonderland

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Epilogue

Epilogue

Chapter 1

Read Me Romance

Stalk the Author

Copyright © 2021 by Author Alexa Riley LLC. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email to [e-mail]

http://alexariley.com/

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

Edited by Aquila Editing

Claiming His Christmas Tree Topper

BY ALEXA RILEY

Nick Rudolph has been biding his time until he can fire the woman he loves… because the only way he can have her is if she doesn’t work for him. He’s also pushing her into the job she truly wants, so hopefully that will make up for the whole ‘you’re fired’ thing.

Getting fired at Christmas sucks, but when one door closes for Star Butterscotch, it turns out a winter wonderland is opening up. How are all of her dreams coming true just when she thought it was all over?

Warning: Ignore all those holiday plans and celebrate the most magical season with us! Can decorating a tree lead to lasting love? You bet your shiny tinsel! 

To ABS Holiday Decor on TikTok - you totally inspired this story!

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One

STAR

"Y ou’re fired."

I stare at Nick Rudolph wondering what the heck he’s doing at my cubicle. I work on the bottom floor in the Human Resources Department of his finance company.

Did you hear me, Miss Butterscotch? he presses when I don’t respond to him.

I’ve only worked here for a month, and I’ve never even met him personally. I’ve seen him around the building a lot since I started, but he’s a hard man to miss. Sometimes I don’t even have to see him to know he’s near. As crazy as it sounds, I swear I can feel his presence.

The first time I saw him was on the elevator when I had to pop upstairs to one of the other offices. I needed to drop a packet off for a new hire, and we’d both been on the elevator alone. He didn’t speak a single word to me, and when I tried, nothing came out. I knew I’d only make a fool of myself if I actually got words out, so it was probably for the best.

Nick Rudolph might not be a movie star, but he’s well known in the city. He’s always making those top eligible bachelor lists and the women in the office—and a handful of men—are always talking about how hot he is or trying to get the scoop on who he might be dating. No one can ever figure it out, but personally I think he’s married to his job. He’s always the first one in and the last one out.

He has hundreds of employees in this building alone and probably thousands all over the world so yeah, it’s shocking he knows my name or would try to fire me personally.

What did I do? I finally ask because I’m barely off my probation period.

He takes a long breath, his irritation with me more than clear. I’m sure everyone is watching, but luckily it’s during lunch, so most people should be gone. I can’t see over my cubicle wall to know who might be at their desk.

Follow me, he orders before turning and walking away in his fancy suit.

I jump up from my seat and do as he commands. He steps into one of the empty conference rooms and closes the door behind me. I try not to fidget because I’m suddenly feeling extra ridiculous in my red and green holiday dress. It’s not the most professional, but it’s a dress.

I’m sorry if I did something wrong. I’ll fix it, I swear. I search my mind, trying to think of anything I could have done wrong.

The job is fairly simple, and I’m basically a glorified paper pusher at best. It’s not my dream job, but it pays the bills. Or it did until now. My mind is already racing with how I’m going to be able to keep myself afloat. I recently picked up a side job of my own which will help, but that isn’t permanent work.

You’ve been booking other jobs on company time.

Wait, are you talking about for Star Tree-Topper? I’ve gone back and forth on the name of my little company a few times. I thought it might be a bit vain to have my own name in the name of my company, but lots of people do it. When Nick nods, I rush to defend myself. But it’s not a competing company, and I only did it on my breaks.

I didn’t think that was against any of the company rules, and I’ve read them all a million times over. It’s my job to know them, and I would have found something like that. In fact, I could point out right now that Mr. Rudolph is breaking one of his own rules by having me alone in a conference room. He has a very strict no fraternization policy, and being alone with another employee who’s in a superior position is on that list.

I’m standing firm on this, Miss Butterscotch. Since you are past your probationary period, you’ll be granted six months’ severance, and your benefits will stay intact.

But—

If you don’t put up a fight about this, I’ll give you a solid recommendation, but maybe you won’t need it. You're starting your own company, right? he points out.

I fight back tears because it’s a holiday company. It’s only seasonal work to help supplement my income. I keep that to myself, unsure if that counts as fighting back. Instead, I nod because what other choice do I have? I've heard he can be a cutthroat businessman and that what he says is law, so it’s pointless to fight. He’s actually being way kinder than I thought he would be if I was ever to talk to him. Normally when he passes my little cubicle, he glares at me.

Is there anything else? I ask after the silence starts to grow again.

If you have nothing else to say, I suppose you’re done here at NR Financial.

He was the one who told me not to put up a fight or he’d take it all from me, so I keep my mouth shut and walk to the door. He beats me to it, and his hand goes to the handle, but he doesn’t open it.

Star. I turn my head to look up into his handsome face. He has the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen in my life.

What?

This will work out for you. Sometimes people need a shove to go in the right direction.

And you want to be the one to shove me? He lifts his eyebrows, surprised at my tone. I’m a bit surprised too. It wasn't hard for me not to respond to him at first. I usually avoid confrontation, but he’s gone too far. Open the door, I order, and a smile pulls at his lips. I want to smack it off his face, but he does as I ask.

I rush over to my desk and grab my oversized tote as I yank all the wasted Christmas decorations off my desk. I was the only one in the whole cubicle area to decorate and maybe even in this building. They’re all a bunch of Scrooges, if you ask me.

I can feel Nick’s eyes on me the whole time as I shove into my bag the little gold stars I made. There’s tinsel everywhere, but I don’t care. It’s probably trailing behind me as I storm out. Which is why even as I leave the building, I can feel him watching me.

Once outside I look up, and I can’t help but smile. It’s the first snow of the year, and the smell of winter is thick in the air. My Christmas might be crap this year, but I’ll make sure everyone else’s is a little bit brighter after they get a visit from Star Tree-Topper. That’s my dream.

Two

NICK

She’s just standing there looking up at the sky. She doesn't even have a coat on, and it’s snowing. Doesn’t she have the sense to get out of the cold?

Goddamn it, I grumble and pull out my cell. After a few taps on my screen, I see the car pull up to the curb, and the driver gets out.

She smiles at him, and I don’t know why it makes my chest tight. Well, I do know, but I don’t like to think about it. She’s mine, and her smiles belong to me too. They have since the moment she walked into this building and gave me one. The first time I saw her, it felt like I’d been hit by a train, and ever since all I’ve been able to do is walk around her cubicle a dozen times a day and drive by her crummy apartment.

Okay so maybe I’m obsessed, but today at exactly twelve-thirty, she finished her probationary period, and now she’ll get all the benefits that come along with her severance package.

The driver nods to her, and then I see him glance up at me before he takes her bag of decorations out of her hands. I’d actually ordered everyone in her department and all the others not to put any up because hers were so beautiful I wanted them to stand out. Star Butterscotch deserves to stand out, and dammit, I’m going to make sure she does.

Once she’s in the back of the car, I walk outside to the car behind it waiting for me. Follow them, I tell my driver, and he nods, not saying a word. This isn’t the first time we’ve made this drive to her place, and it won’t be the last. If he thinks it’s crazy, he’s smart enough to keep his mouth shut.

I’ve done some digging into her new business. Mostly I listened on the other side of her cubicle while she made calls on her break. Was that intrusive? Yes. Did it get the results I wanted? Also yes. The end justifies the means, so I don’t feel an ounce of guilt.

Earlier this month, she started a Christmas tree decorating business, and I found out all I could. She doesn’t have a website, but I bought the domain for her so nobody else could have it. I listened while she made plans, and I could hear the passion in her voice. We may have not spoken, but I’ve heard her plenty. She is a hard worker, but this wasn’t her passion, and Star deserves passion. And not just the kind I plan on giving her in my bed.

After contacting all the people she booked for tree decorating, I made sure they were charged extra because she was underselling herself. Then this morning I designed a newsletter and sent it out to every one of my corporate offices in the city. There was a calendar with dates and times available for tree services, and they needed to choose when she was coming.

Star might have no idea what’s ahead of her, but if she wants to decorate Christmas trees for a living, then by god, she’ll decorate every fucking tree in this town. Even if I have to rip them out of the ground and lay them at her feet.

Am I too obsessed with a woman that up until today has never spoken a word to me? It’s a question that doesn’t need answering. Especially when I’m in a car following behind her.

Drop me off up here, I say to the driver as he pulls to the curb about a block from where she lives. I’ll find my own way back.

He nods, and I tuck my hands into my wool coat and make my way down the street. When I get to the end of the block, there’s a bench nearby that I take a seat on. The amount of time I’ve spent out here watching her is something I’m not ready to think about.

A few moments later, her car pulls up, and I watch as the driver helps her out. She smiles at him again, and I narrow my eyes. She’s always so cheerful with everyone but me, and that’s going to change.

She takes her bag that’s spilling over with garland and glitter that I can see even from this distance, but when she goes into her apartment, I feel sad because I can’t watch her anymore. Normally it’s late at night when I come here, and she leaves the lamp on as she sits by the window and reads. I like to watch her for hours as she sips on something. Sometimes I wonder if it’s tea or cocoa, because I want to send her the best in the city. Hell, the best in the world. That’s what I want to give her.

I sit there a little longer, bouncing my knee because I feel anxious. I won’t be able to know when she goes to bed, and I won’t be able to come by in the morning to watch as she walks to work. This plan of firing her has me questioning if I did the right thing, and I’m on my feet before I know it.

What the fuck am I doing? I whisper to myself as I cross the street and go to her building.

The buzzer on the door is new, and that’s because I called her superintendent to get it replaced when I noticed it was broken and anyone could walk in. I even paid him to do it. Luckily, someone is coming out of her building just as I approach, and I slide inside.

She’s on the top floor, but there’s no elevator so I have to climb four flights of stairs before I’m outside her door. I have no plan of how this is going to go or what I’m going to say, but I just know that I have to tell her it’s going to be okay. Even if it won’t make sense.

When I get to her door, I hesitate, unsure of what to do. I decide to press my ear to it and listen. Maybe she’s cooking, or god forbid, in the shower. The image of suds running down her rich curves fills my mind, and I squeeze my eyes shut tight. I can’t have my dick sticking out right here in the middle of an empty hallway.

It’s then I hear something on the other side of the door, and it sounds like she’s crying. Shit. My heart sinks, and I raise my hand to knock. Just then I hear her say something.

He’s an asshole, I hear her say, and I don’t know if it’s to someone on the phone or if there’s someone in her apartment. Leaning closer, I try to hear every detail. You’re right. You always know how to make me feel better.

She doesn’t have any family or a roommate, so who the hell is she talking to?

Come here and give me some love, big guy.

Big guy? I pull away from the door and look at it like it’s offended me. Who the fuck is ‘big guy’? I look up and down the hall like it’s going to give me answers. I’m the only big guy in her life.

Clenching my fists at my sides, I know that busting in there right now is not part of the plan. Me being here isn’t part of the plan, and I need to go. Her work starts tomorrow, and so does mine. I plan on being at every single appointment she has, starting bright and early.

One thing is for sure: If there’s a man in her life, he’d better start packing his bags. She’s officially off my payroll as of today, and there’s nothing standing between me and the woman that’s mine.

Three

STAR

"W ow" is all I can say to the web consultant on the other end of the line. She called me late last night and offered me a web domain after she’d received some alert when I’d gotten my business license.

I was sure she was going to sell me all kinds of crazy stuff when she started talking about making me a website and stuff for it. I’d gone along with it at first because it was so cheap, but I was sure that not much would come from it. I’ve never been so wrong. The website