AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A mission of sorts.
Something special that Holly would find hard to resist.
A few ideas were already swirling through his mind. One in particular that he considered rather clever and thought Holly would appreciate. But first, he needed to gather everything necessary to pull it off.
“You okay?”
Holly’s voice jerked him out of his thoughts. “Yeah. Sorry.”
“We should go catch up with the girls,” Holly suggested.
“You’re right.” Kissing Holly may have to wait, but there was one other thing Chace had longed to do the day before, and he could easily do that now: hold Holly’s hand.
So when she began to walk out of the field of firs, Chace reached out and linked his fingers through hers as they went to find the twins.
The minute she spotted them, Emme pounced. “What took you so long?” she demanded, emphasizing the question with a cocked head and her fists planted on her hips.
Jeesh. No more than three minutes could have passed since they’d taken the picture. Of course, for a seven-year-old, that probably equated to three hours when an entire winter wonderland awaited.
“Sorry.” Chace made a production of rolling his eyes before smiling and handing the ticket portion of the tree tag to Patrick the Elf.
“We’ll get everything taken care of for you,” Patrick assured him.
Chace turned his attention back to his nieces. “Well? What are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
Emme and Wren dashed ahead, each giving her opinion on what they should do first, none of which coincided with the other. Rather than intervening, Chace draped his arm across Holly’s shoulders, and she surprised the hell out of him by slipping hers around his waist as they followed Emme and Wren toward the Winter Wonderland village.
“You know this is going to cost a fortune, don’t you?” Holly inquired with a smile.
Chace didn’t give a tinker’s damn about how much this outing might set him back. All that mattered was spending the day with his nieces. Spoiling them beyond measure. Delighting in the excitement and joy they were bound to enjoy as they raced from one activity to another, not missing a single one.
And sharing every thrilling moment with Holly by his side.
For that, Chace would gladly pay a king’s ransom.
“It’s only money,” he replied with a grin. “Besides, we’ll be creating memories that’ll last a lifetime, making everything about today priceless.”
At least, that was his plan.
“C’mon, slowpokes!” Wren shouted. “We want to take a train ride around the farm to be sure we see everything there is to do.”
“We’re gonna be here all day, aren’t we?” Chace asked.
Eyes gleaming, Holly nodded. “Oh, you bet we will. So when they’ve run you ragged, remember,this,” she twirled her finger to include everything around them, “was allyouridea.”
Chace scoffed at her insinuation that he couldn’t hold his own against two first graders.Him, a highly-trained former special forces operative turned senior security specialist for an internationally renowned and sought-after private security and investigative firm. Yeah. Right. “C’mon, Holl, how much work can having fun actually be?”
13
Afew hours and quite a few activities later, Chace realized what a rookie mistake he’d made by underestimating the never-waning stamina his seven-year-old nieces possessed. The more they did, the more energy they seemed to generate. Like characters in a video game that powered up the further they progressed.
Too bad the same wasn’t true for him.
Not that he ever planned to admit how right Holly had been. No, siree. Especially since he’d come up with an idea to not only help him power through the day’s activities with Emme and Wren but also how to use the holiday season to rekindle the relationship he’d once had with Holly McCade.
For lack of a better term, Chace decided to call itOperation Mistletoe.
The idea began to germinate this morning after his conversation with Holly when he’d told her he wanted to hold her hand and kiss her under every sprig of mistletoe. That’s why he hadn’t given in to temptation back in the field of firs—no mistletoe.
