His Unexpected Christmas Gift

By Kali Hart

Mia

I can't celebrate Christmas without a tree.
It's the only reason I drive into the mountains two days before to get a real tree.
I waited too long on the wrong guy, and everywhere else is sold out.
What I didn't plan on was getting snowed in with Conner Thorton—the crazy hot man I thought ran the tree farm.
Turns out I was wrong.
Best wrong turn I ever took.
I know it's only temporary, but I plan to enjoy every minute of this snowstorm.
Too bad real feelings start to get in the way.

Conner

All I want for Christmas is to spend it alone.
But the snowstorm has other ideas.
I try to fight my attraction to Mia, but it's not a fight I can win.
We can't seem to keep our hands to ourselves or our clothes on.
If only she'd stop pushing me about Christmas.
I don't do Christmas.
But Mia doesn't seem to understand that.

Sweet & steamy short Christmas story instalove romance with an alpha mountain man and younger curvy woman with an HEA. NO cliffhangers. NO cheating.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jackie M. Wallick
• Release date: Dec 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9798223770619

Book preview

1

MIA

Only a crazy person would drive into the mountains in a snowstorm.

So I guess that makes me crazy.

But only a Scrooge would celebrate Christmas without a tree. And I’m no Scrooge.

Thick snowflakes splatter against my windshield, melting on impact. The winding road—the only road that’ll lead me to Benson’s Tree Farm—is wet and slushy. A couple of degrees colder and these roads will turn into skating rinks. Something my worn all-season tires won’t handle well.

It’s all my fault. I waited too long on the wrong guy. If I’d just gone tree shopping on my own, all the tree lots in town wouldn’t be sold out. Two days before Christmas! What was I thinking?

Approximately two hours and twelve minutes ago, I ended the relationship that was going nowhere fast. Rhett could never be bothered to show up for anything important to me. I don’t know why I kept lying to myself. I thought he would change.

My GPS announces my turn is only half a mile ahead. It’s impossible to see road signs with the fresh snow covering them. It leaves me dependent on the little map on my phone screen. Is there a road or will it drive me into a lake?

To be honest, a part of me has known for weeks that Rhett and I were not going to make it. Probably why I haven’t shed a single tear over him. I think I was just trying to get through the holidays before I faced the inevitable.

A freshly plowed road winds its way gradually uphill. Masses of pine trees line either side of the narrow road. A wooden sign only half covered with snow suggests the tree farm I’m seeking is a mile up ahead. I slowly follow the only passable path to a log cabin.

Aside from a red truck with a plow attached to the front, the parking lot is completely deserted—if the two and half open spots can really be called a parking lot. I really must be the only crazy one venturing out today for a tree. For a beat, I worry that this place is closed, too.

I’m not leaving without a tree, I say out loud before I get out of the car. If they’re closed, they’re just going to have to make an exception. I did not drive all this way to leave empty handed. They’re my last hope.

I approach the log cabin style store with a covered porch that spans the full length of building, crossing my fingers that there’s at least one tree remaining. Just one. I’ll even take one they threw out. I’ll Charlie Brown the shit out of this Christmas tree if I have to.

I’d feel better if there was at least a sign posted with their hours. Or any signs at all. But this has to be the place. The road didn’t lead anywhere else.

Can I help you?

The deep voice startles me, and I nearly stumble over my own two feet. I catch myself on the log railing.

The