Eva opened her eyes and was hit with excitement she hadn’t felt in years. If ever.
Growing up, Eva’s Christmases with her stressed out and overworked single mother—who she realized looking back most likely had undiagnosed depression—wasn’t a big affair.
It was more of a high stress situation that Eva waited out.
As an adult living on her own, it had been just another day. But a day that managed to make her feel exceptionally lonely when she didn’t feel that way the rest of the year.
But Christmas with the Wilder family was pretty much the opposite of all that.
She hated to admit it, since she hadn’t wanted to enjoy this whole family group celebration thing, but Christmas on Roan Mountain with the Wilders was magical. And waking up Christmas morning in the lodge felt especially so.
The sun had risen, illuminating the snow-covered trees she could see through the window of Linc’s bedroom.
The air in the room had a slight nip to it, but she was warm and toasty beneath the covers next to Linc’s hot body. He wasn’t just sexy, but also literally hot. The man was like a furnace next to her, radiating heat from his bare skin.
He was motionless, rolled on his side facing away from her. He’d been in that position since last night’s sex after the Yule Log celebration—which they’d nailed. Everyone loved the lodge decorations and the food. Winning this Christmas challenge was in the bag.
Linc stirred and she smiled. Leaning low, she whispered, “Merry Christmas, sleepy head. It’s morning.” And she couldn’t wait for this morning’s gift exchange at the mansion. Not to mention the bagels.
He groaned, rolled onto his back and pulled her down onto him. “Merry Christmas.”
His voice sounded gruff. It was sexy as hell. So was his bare chest, warm beneath her.
She felt him hard against her leg, telling her what was on his mind. “Nope. No time for this. Come on. Get up. We have to get to the mansion.”
“It’s not a mansion. It’s my family’s house.”
“It can be both. Come on. There’s presents,” she prodded, dying to give him his even if it was anonymous and she’d had to sneak it under the tree without anyone seeing.
“We have time.”
“Do we? What time do you usually open gifts?”
“I don’t know. Whenever everyone is awake.”
“Darcy probably had them up at dawn so we’re already late.” She felt him sneaking his hand between her thighs and suddenly she wasn’t in such a rush to get to the mansion. “Unless you have something for me before we leave.”
He groaned again and pulled her down toward his mouth. “It so happens that I do.”
Rolling them both over, he hovered above her, staring at her as if he was trying to see inside her head. Then the moment was gone and so was his sleepiness as he attacked her mouth and parts lower.
A bit later she had to shower—they both did. Then it was a rush to get up to the mansion, without even having coffee first, because now they were really running late.
Everyone was there waiting more or less patiently as they blew through the door.
Darcy had been allowed to open her gifts from “Santa” so she wouldn’t lose her mind waiting. And Poppy had put aside bagels and jelly sticks for her and Linc before they were all devoured by the hungry crowd of Wilders and guests who’d woken up in the mansion that morning.
Eva didn’t feel left out or jealous she hadn’t been in on the big sleepover which included everyone except her and Linc. There were benefits that came exclusively with the lodge—such as Linc’s bed. And Linc in it.
Speaking of Linc, he was back to being inexplicably silent and surly. She chose to ignore him. For now. It was Christmas, dammit, and this year she was going to enjoy it.
Armed with coffee and an oh so messy but absolutely amazingly good jelly stick, Eva plopped down on the floor near the fire not too far from the tree and said, “Okay. Presents now.”
Wyatt glanced around, feigning confusion. “I thought Darcy got her gifts. Oh, wait, that was Eva demanding presents. Not my five-year-old.” He grinned, looking relaxed and happy for the first time in a while.
Olivia smiled. “I’m ready to see everyone open their gifts too. Heck, I’m so happy to be out of bed I don’t even need a present.”
Wyatt rubbed her back as she rested her hands on her own stomach. They were the picture of marital and maternal bliss…and Eva still wanted to move on to the presents.
She clapped her hands together once. “So how do we do this, Wilders? Does someone crawl under the tree and distribute them? I vote Darcy do the crawling. Wait, can she even read the tags?”
“I can do it.” William said, bracing one hand on a nearby chair as he slowly kneeled down.
That made Eva feel bad she didn’t offer to do it instead. But when no one else jumped up to help, including his children, she decided not to worry too much about it and focused on what William had pulled out from beneath the tree.
It was an envelope, small and square and red and she could see it wasn’t her gift to Linc.
Breathing deep with impatience, she settled back to wait.
“Okay, this first one is for Olivia,” William announced, handing it to her.
“Thank you.” Olivia pulled out a card, then smiled, glancing between Poppy and Eva. “It’s a complete makeover and spa day—hair, nails, toes, massage, scrub, wrap, food, drinks and a night at the hotel for me and two friends. And it comes with a day and night of babysitting services for Darcy and the baby, courtesy of Grandpa.” She leveled a smile at William. “Thank you, Grandpa.”
“Don’t thank me. That’s from your Secret Santa.”
“I enjoy that Santa included us.” Poppy smiled.
“Hey, you don’t know that. Maybe Olivia will take me and Wyatt for a spa day instead,” Ethan suggested.
“Not a chance. Sorry, baby. No offense.” Olivia shot her husband a look.
“None taken.”
“Okay, next. Ethan.” William handed his middle son a large thick envelope.
“It says Star Registration,” Ethan read from the outside. “Let’s see what this could be.”
He tore into it with less care than Olivia had hers and grinned when he pulled out a colored brochure and an official looking certificate.
“Secret Santa named a star for me. Two actually. It’s called a binary star, which is two stars that orbit each other and they’ve been named Poppy and Ethan.”
“Aw.” Poppy, teary-eyed, pursed her lips together. “That’s so sweet.”
Eva glanced at Linc, who she remembered had become quite a star gazer lately. She’d bet anything he was the giver of this gift. Which was impressively thoughtful and had made Poppy—tears aside—just as happy as Ethan.
“Dad, is there something behind the tree? The card says there should be—" Ethan’s instructions were interrupted by Wyatt standing up.
“I see it.” Wyatt disappeared behind the tree and emerged with a telescope bedecked with a big red bow and a large gift tag that read Ethan. “I believe this is yours too.”
“So we can see the stars.” Now Poppy actually was crying.
“Aw, jeez.” Ethan stood saying, “Thank you, whoever. And, baby, there’s no reason to cry.”
“I know.” She sniffed.
Paine dismissed his sister's tears with a wave of his hand. “You should see her watching old Christmas movies. It’s a real sob fest. She even cries over the sappy commercials.”
Eva snorted out a laugh. “Oh, I’ve seen. Believe me. We were roommates. She had to have a tissue box all of her own.”
“I know. It’s true.” Poppy tried to wave away her tears as Ethan wrapped her in his arms.
“Okay, moving on.” William came out from beneath the tree with yet another envelope.
“What’s with all the envelopes?” Eva asked. “I figured you ranchers would go big and give like a tractor or a bull or something.”
“Hard to get those things under the tree, but I think there might be something a bit bigger coming.” Wyatt grinned.
“When’s mine, Grandpa?” Darcy asked, obviously bored with watching other people get gifts and not her, even if she was surrounded by a pile of discarded wrapping paper and toys.
“Soon,” Wyatt said patiently.
“Wyatt, this is for you,” William said, handing the envelope in his hand to his eldest son.
“Thanks, Dad.” Wyatt opened it and his eyes widened.
“Well, what is it?” Ethan asked.
“Two weeks paternity leave for after the baby comes. My Secret Santa has even arranged to bring in Caroline to help handle my management duties during that time,” Wyatt told them.
Caroline, former spa manager, also former nemesis to first Olivia and then Poppy, had turned around and saved the day when someone tried to steal Poppy’s ideas and her job this summer.
It looked as if all of Caroline’s past deeds had been forgiven now as Olivia looked very proud of herself, making Eva believe she had contacted the woman to arrange for Wyatt’s time off.
“Wait, there’s one more.” William handed Wyatt a gift bag out of which he pulled a T-shirt that read Dad on Duty.
Wyatt chuckled. “Very cute.”
“You actually going to take off or just be on the phone the whole time with the hotel?” Ethan asked while Linc remained quieter than usual.
Wyatt met Olivia’s gaze. “I think I’ll actually take the time off.”
“I’d like it noted that I could have filled in for Wyatt at the hotel but I wanted to be free to be here in case Olivia needed me,” Poppy said.
“Noted.” Wyatt nodded. “Enough about me. What’s next, Dad?”
William read the next envelope. A big square pink one. “Hm. This one is mine. Whatever could it be?” William eyed the pink square in his hand suspiciously until he read the contents. He grinned. “It’s a suite at the Van Clief Hotel in Vegas plus two tickets to next year’s stock show and rodeo.” He lifted his gaze to Poppy. “Thank you, Santa.”
Poppy smiled.
“Which one of us are you going to take?” Ethan asked.
“I might have an idea of someone else I might want to take.” William said it with such a gleam in his eye, Eva had to wonder. Did the old dog have a girlfriend no one knew about? Maybe, since his sons looked as surprised as she was by their father’s comment.
“Okay, next,” William said, moving the focus off himself. “Linc.”
Eva perked up as William presented her gift to Linc. She watched as he frowned, reading the legal papers for what felt like a full minute, before his eyes widened.
“Well? What the heck is it?” Olivia asked.
“I’m no lawyer but I think it’s the paperwork for a not-for-profit organization named The Wilder Foundation with me named as the head of it. And it’s got a one-million-dollar endowment.” Linc glanced up, looking shocked.
“Jeezus, we really should put a limit on the amount we can spend on this Secret Santa thing,” Ethan said, wide eyed.
Ha! Ethan should talk. The endowment might have been a bit over the top but Eva had never seen such extravagant Secret Santa gifts in her life. Of course, she also wasn’t used to hanging with rich families like the Wilders or the Van Cliefs at Christmas time.
Linc continued to read through the paperwork before looking at Eva. The intensity of his gaze said he suspected her, even though she had put the endowment in a bank on Long Island to throw him off the trail. She’d thought she could pin this gift on Poppy, since the girl’s family probably had a million dollars lying around for a rainy day.
“Grandpa, can we give him to her now?” Darcy hopped up and ran to her grandfather.
“Yes. Can you get him yourself?”
“Yes.” Darcy scooted from the room as Eva tried to not look guilty of being the giver of the gift that had everyone so amazed.
But the focus soon shifted when Darcy came in barely able to carry the puppy spilling out of her arms. “Auntie Eva. He’s for you. Because you never got to have one.”
Now it was Eva’s turn to get misty eyed. She reached out and rescued the little yellow dog from Darcy’s precarious grasp. “Wow. I don’t know what to say.”
“There’s a dog bed, food, food bowls and toys in the other room. And a one-hundred-dollar donation was made in your name to the animal shelter,” William elaborated since the secret was already out that Darcy, with his assistance, had given her the gift.
“I’m thinking she had a little help with this. Or you’re giving her way too big of an allowance,” Eva said as the warm little puppy laid his head over her shoulder and sighed.
“Told you we take Christmas seriously.” Ethan grinned.
A puppy. She’d never even had a houseplant. What was she going to do with a dog? One thing she was sure of was that she’d have to figure it out because she wasn’t going to give it up.
“What are you going to name him?” Darcy asked bouncing in front of her.
As the dog repositioned itself, falling asleep in her arms on its back with its round little puppy belly in the air, Eva said, “I don’t think it’s a boy, sweetie. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s a girl.”
“How can you tell?” Darcy asked, accompanied by a few chuckles around the room.
Eva was not getting involved in a puppy penis conversation with a five-year-old. Her family could handle the birds and the bees talk.
“Grandpa or Daddy will explain that. But I think I’m going to name her Holly. Do you like that name?” Eva asked Darcy.
The girl nodded her head enthusiastically. “Yes.”
“Now, I think it’s time for Darcy’s gift from Secret Santa,” William said.
“Yay! Where is it?”
“Out in the barn,” Wyatt answered. “Get your coat. I’ll come out with you.”
“Okay!” The girl took off.
When she was out of earshot, Eva asked, “What’s in the barn?”
“A damn pony.” Ethan laughed.
“What can I say? She wanted one.” Wyatt shrugged.
Eva shook her head. This family truly was serious about their gifts. Good thing she hadn’t taken the easy way out by buying Linc a pair of gloves. Jeez.
“Wait. I’m not seeing another gift.” William glanced up, looking concerned. “We haven’t gotten to Poppy yet.”
“That’s because I’ve got it.” Ethan stood and reached his hand into his pocket, pulling out a box that could only be one thing. “I know it’s against Secret Santa rules, but I figure we can make an exception this one time if I give it to her myself.”
Everyone in the room held their breath and sure enough, Ethan dropped down on one knee.
“Holy shit,” Eva breathed.
“You can say that again,” Paine agreed.
Ethan, cocky as ever, just stared up at her with the ring box open and said, “Well? What do you say?”
Poppy covered her mouth but couldn’t seem to say anything. She did however nod her head enough there was no mistaking her answer was yes. Then her tears really started to fall.
“Here go the water works again,” Paine mumbled.
He stood and moved toward Ethan and Poppy.
“Congratulations, sis. And welcome to the Van Clief family, Ethan.” He wrapped his sister in a hug, then extended one arm toward his future brother-in-law.
Ethan shook his hand. “Thanks, bro. And welcome to the Wilder family. But I’m warning you. Things can get a little crazy.”
Paine laughed. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Good thing that was the final Secret Santa gift because Eva didn’t think she could take any more surprises. Or any more changes.