Page 17 of Holiday Loss

“I understand.” His hand rubbed at the back of his neck like it was stiff, then dragged down his face. “I'm sorry for being a little distant over the weekend.”

Jessica didn't offer him any acceptance.

It wasn't okay to play with her feelings.

“It’s not what you're thinking. It’s not that I got sex and lost interest, or that anything changed. Well, it did change, it made me crave you more, but that’s not why I was distant. When I got to my office after leaving here on Saturday I got a text from my stalker. They told me that I didn't get to date.”

Over dinner Friday night he’d told her about his stalker, so she knew about the former employee who had been stealing money, denied it, then wound up losing his wife as well as his job. It would make sense that the stalker wasn't keen on the idea of Donovan dating when his own wife had taken her life.

“I'm scared,” Donovan admitted. “Not for me, but for you. You and Freddie. I don’t want to pull you into this mess, and you wind up getting hurt. I've spent all weekend debating whether I should just end things with you so you’ll be safe, or trust the cops to keep you safe.”

Now that she knew his reasons for putting distance between them she could relax. Jessica got his position, it sucked, he wanted to make the right one for everyone but didn't know what it was. Offering him a smile she reached out and took his hand. “Have you forgotten Iama cop. Thank you for worrying about me and my son, but I can look out for us. Now that I know there could be a threat, I can take extra precautions, but I don’t want you to walk away, Donovan.”

“You don’t?” He seemed genuinely surprised by her decision.

“No. Of course not. A relationship is supposed to be two people together working on solutions to problems, not one person trying to handle things on their own. I've been there and done that, and I have nointention of going through it again. I want a partner who will work with me, not against me.”

Wrapping an arm around her waist, he tugged her up against him. The tension she’d felt emanating from him when she opened her door had melted away and the smile she was used to seeing on his face was back. “How did I get so lucky that a woman like you would take a chance on a guy like me?”

“We’ll get this issue sorted, I’ll help however I can. We’re not going to let your stalker steal our chance at happiness, because I feel pretty lucky, too,” she admitted, resting her cheek against Donovan’s chest and soaking up the feel of his arms wrapped around her.

She’d pushed aside her fears and taken a chance on a man even though her history urged her to play it safe. There was no way she was letting some criminal stalker take away a man who was quickly coming to mean a lot to her.

No way.

Chapter

Twelve

December 17th

6:03 P.M.

“Did you know that I got to meet Santa one time when no one else was here?” Freddie babbled excitedly from the backseat.

“You did? For real?” Donovan asked, managing to keep a straight face when all he wanted to do was chuckle. He hadn't spent a whole lot of time around kids. None of his siblings were in a relationship, none had kids, and his only friends who had kids employed nannies who did ninety percent of the work so he never really saw them. While he’d worried a little at first that Freddie wouldn't warm to him, or he wouldn't know how to talk to the kid, it seemed like he shouldn’t have worried.

Jessica had done a great job raising her son. He was confident and polite, open and engaging, curious and excitable, full of energy, and had a lightness to his soul that told Donovan that Jessica had shielded him emotionally from the fallout of his dad leaving and having no part of his life.

“For real,” Freddie assured him. “Claire’s new mom owns this wholeplace, and one day when I was staying at Adam’s house we got to come here, and Santa was taking a break, and I got to talk to him. I mean, he’s not the real Santa, you know?”

“He’s not?”

“No, course not. The real Santa is too busy to come and work here and meet all the kids, so he trains special Santas to do that for him. They listen to the kids tell them what they want for Christmas and then they go to the North Pole and tell the real Santa. So even though he wasn't the real Santa he works for him.”

“That’s definitely cool,” Donovan agreed, loving the way the Christmas Farm had set things up in a way to keep the magic for kids alive. He’d never been to this place before, although, of course, he’d heard about it, and he was as excited as Freddie to visit tonight.

Although she’d been a little reticent about this school night excursion, Jessica had given in prettily easily when he told her that he wanted to spend time together with the three of them. While he didn't expect her to just allow him to step right into the role of dad, he also knew that since Freddie’s dad was not in the picture, he would eventually be filling a role that had been left empty, and he wanted to do a good job of it.

“Super cool,” Freddie corrected, practically bouncing in his seat as Donovan managed to find them a parking spot in the almost full lot. With just over a week before Christmas, the place was packed with happy families, and he relished the opportunity to be one of them.

“What do you want to do first?” he asked once they’d all climbed out of the car and rugged up in coats, scarves, beanies, and gloves.

“Snowmen then reindeer,” Freddie announced before his mom could get a word in.

Unsure if they were following along with the kid’s plans or if Jessica was in charge, he glanced at her as he took her hand, and they headed for the front gate.

She shrugged. “Unless there’s something you really want to do it’s fine with me to do what Freddie wants.”

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