Hot Item by Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward
Getting into a fight with a sexy stranger over the last hot toy on the shelf was not the way I intended to spend Christmas Eve. And I certainly didn’t plan on spending hours more trying to win a contest to decide who would get to buy it. But when our time is up, would the toy be the only hot item I wanted to take home?
One Night Only by Lucy Score
After a Christmas Eve concert mishap, divorced Brooke finds herself snowed in with the silver fox retiring rocker she’s been trying to interview. Will it take a Christmas miracle to get him to open up to her or does the tattooed bad boy of punk rock have other ideas on how to pass the time?
A Kellan Holiday by Tijan
Humans are so simple with their holiday traditions.
They are ignorant of the powerful and majestic creatures among them, like me.
I am the most powerful demon above the surface.
Nothing can stop me...except, well, some stupid prophecy.
Holiday Swing by Kennedy Ryan
For our five-year wedding anniversary, my husband decides he wants another woman.
The traditional gift is wood, but okay.
After trying everything with little improvement, our marriage counselor suggests we experiment to reignite our sex life. A swing party is my husband’s adventure of choice.
Once inside, I can’t go through with it. Seeing him walk off with someone else, I realize we want very different things. Our marriage is over, and I have no intention of having a random hook up with a stranger.
But then away from the noise and revelry, I find him.
It’s one illicit encounter. A night with no names and no inhibitions.
I don’t hold back, knowing I’ll never see him again.
And I don’t…until my parents’ Christmas party…
Nochebuena by Marie Force
Nochebuena is the Cuban community’s Christmas Eve celebration, and in this short story, the cast of Marie Force’s Miami Nights Series comes together to mark the holiday after a year of change that’s touched nearly every member of the family. Catch up with the characters from How Much I Feel, How Much I Care and How Much I Love and get a sneak peek at the couple that will headline book 4, How Much I Want. If you haven’t read the books yet, you’ll still enjoy this short story set in the Miami Nights world!
Holly
“That’s mine!”
“Really? Because I don’t see your name on it, and it’s in my hands.”
I pointed to the cart next to me. “I was making room for it.”
Ugh.
Figures.
Turning back, I got my first good look at the guy.
Dark hair, tanned skin in December when the rest of us look pasty, a chiseled jaw, and bright eyes that were annoyingly blue.
Gorgeous.
Of course.
And a jerk.
Aren’t they all?
He peeked around me, and his brows shot up. “Is that all for one kid?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Trust me. Your kid isn’t going to miss this one toy with all that.” He started to turn away and I just…no. No. No. No! Five hours of shopping on Christmas Eve was enough to make the sanest of people snap, and I wasn’t one of those to begin with. I lost it.
“Give me that!” I attempted to yank the box from the guy’s hands, but he had too good of a grip on it. “I have been searching for that damn robot for weeks. You aren’t going to just walk away with it when I had it first. Give it to me!” When he didn’t relent, I started to scream—like a lunatic. “Security! Security! Someone help!”
The guy took a few steps back and held up his hands. “Did you forget to take your meds this morning, Ma’am?”
My eyes widened. “Ma’am? Did you just call me Ma’am!”
Security came running over. “What’s going on here?”
I pointed to the guy. “He stole my toy, and now he just called me Ma’am. I’m thirty-one!”
The guard’s brows pulled together. “You purchased that toy?”
“Well, no. I couldn’t. Because he took it from me.”
“So, he didn’t steal the toy…”
“Well, he stole it out from under me! Tell him to give it back!”
“Ma’am…can you please keep your voice down.”
Oh. My. God. “Can you stop calling me Ma’am, too!”
The guard put his hand on his walkie-talkie, which was holstered to his hip. “Ma’am.” He shook his head. “I mean, Miss. You need to calm down, or I’m going to call the police.”
“I will. As soon as you make him give that box to me.”
The guard looked at the thief. “Sir, did you take that box from this woman?”
He shook his head. “It was sitting on the shelf, and I walked over and picked it up. She wasn’t even touching it.”
“Is it the only one or something?”
I answered. “It’s the only one in the state of New York. I’ve been searching for it for a month.”
The security guard pointed at the man. “I was speaking to him. What’s your name, sir?”