Page 65 of A Holly Brown Christmas
“I’ll be right there!” she replied loudly. Turning to Lucas, she shook her head. “You can explain your plan to Kat, but I still don’t think it’s going to work and I’ve got things to do. I’ll be downstairs if anyone needs me.” Then she turned to Kat. “You can double check the bottles down in the wine cellar, just so we can check it off the list.”
“Will do!” she said, but before Holly was out of earshot, she heard Kat ask, “Now, what’s the deal with the wine cellar?”
It was ridiculously late, but Lucas felt really good.
Fantastic, really.
They had gone over the schedule for tomorrow and were all confident that it was going to be amazing. Fortunately, Holly’s cousin had been gracious enough to bring over a tasting for everything on the menu so his sisters could relax about that one aspect.
The decorations were perfect.
The house looked amazing.
And the menu was better than it had ever been.
He knew his mother was going to scoff at all of it, but he knew the truth.
Now, as he walked around the guesthouse shutting off the lights, he was seriously impressed that they were going to pull it all off.
His Christmas tree was still lit, and he stood there for a few minutes admiring it. It had been meant as a joke, but he and Holly turned it into something pretty cool. Hopefully next year he’ll get a bigger tree that the two of them could make just as magical.
Next year. Wow. He was already planning next Christmas with Holly. Long-term relationships weren’t normally his strong suit, but he’d never felt this strong of a connection to anyone else before. It was probably because she was so different from him and willing to accept him for who—and how—he was, even while opening his eyes to different experiences.
Like Christmas tree shopping and decorating.
She showed him what it was like to have traditions that were about people and not appearances, and how your family could be quirky, but still loved. And now that he’d experienced it, he wanted more of it.
With her.
I just need to get through the next forty-eight hours…
“Lucas? Are you coming to bed?”
Smiling, he unplugged the tree. “Yeah. I just needed to unplug the tree. I’ll be right there.”
Walking down the hall, he spotted Shmoop in the dog bed Lucas had ordered for him. It was big and fluffy and set up in the guest room. As much as he loved the dog, he loved his and Holly’s privacy more.
For a moment, he just stood there, embracing the stillness of the house. Outside, snow was lightly falling, blanketing the world in quiet. After all the noise and chaos of the last few weeks, it was a welcome reprieve.
When he got to his bedroom, the peacefulness continued thanks to the soft, warming glow of a single bedside lamp, which cast golden shadows on the walls. And a faint instrumental Christmas melody hummed from a speaker across the room, almost like a lullaby.
Holly was standing at the dresser, untying her ponytail and shaking her hair out, already wearing one of his old t-shirts that hung just past her thighs. She looked peaceful, almost dreamy—her cheeks still faintly pink from the cold walk across the property.
In the room, he stripped down to his boxer briefs before pulling back the covers, watching her from the corner of his eye like he was still a little stunned that she was there with him, like this.
“You always look at me like that,” she says softly without turning, meeting his gaze in the mirror.
“Like what?”
“Like I’m going to disappear.”
He crossed the room, stepping up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. “I look at you like I’m grateful,” he murmured into her neck. “That’s different.”
She melted into him, their bodies swaying just slightly, their breath syncing up. No rush. No noise. Just them.
After a long pause, she turned in his arms, her hands resting against his chest. “You know,” she said, looking up at him, “this might be my favorite part of the whole day.”
“Because we’re finally away from my family?” he teased lightly, and she laughed, resting her forehead against his chest before looking back up at him.
