All I Want For Christmas by Liliana Hart Read Free Book Online

barely had time to scream before she fell through to the icy waters below.
     
     

 
     
    Chapter Two
     
     
    Annabeth Martin never thought of Christmas as anything more than another day of the week. Her parents had died in a car crash when she was thirteen the week before Christmas, and the only family she’d had left was a great aunt that made Ebenezer Scrooge look like a spendthrift.
    So after her thirteenth year, Christmas had ceased to exist. There were no gifts, no decorations and no big family dinners. And when her aunt had died the month after she’d graduated from high school, she saw no reason to keep doing anything differently. Christmas only meant something to the people who had someone to share it with. She didn’t believe in it, and she certainly didn’t hold stock to the miracles people and songs were always going on about.
    Her best friend, Darcy MacKenzie, always invited her over to celebrate the holidays with them, but Annabeth could never bring herself to say yes. Not when he would be there. Every time she saw Grant MacKenzie her tongue tied itself into knots and she became the shy, reserved girl she’d been all through junior high and high school. She suspected Darcy knew her feelings, but Darcy was a loyal friend and had never approached the subject.
    It didn’t matter anyway. Grant had never once looked her direction, and it seemed more and more that lately he’d been bent on avoiding her. But it didn’t matter. Those were the foolish dreams of a girl. There was no way in hell that any of the MacKenzies were ready to settle down, especially since she’d heard Darcy and Cade and Declan all lamenting on tying themselves down that way. She was perfectly content with her life, and she was used to being alone. She certainly didn’t need Grant.
    She’d made her mark in Surrender, and she was happy with her accomplishments. The little dress boutique she’d opened after college was doing well, and she’d saved money by converting the upstairs of the shop into an apartment. The women in Surrender were more than enough to keep her in business since they’d have to drive all the way into the city to get the latest styles if her shop wasn’t there, but she’d picked up a lot of business from the other small ranching towns that surrounded them too.
    When she’d rolled out of bed that morning, the heat of Grant’s body still burned onto her skin and the climax that had torn through her dreams shaking her down to the core, there had been a moment of weakness inside of her that made her hope. She’d seen the last light of the fading stars and made her Christmas wish. She’d never asked for anything before. Never hoped for anything. So shouldn’t that make her wishes more important to whoever was listening?
    But the stars had faded and reality had settled in. Anger at herself had her sticking to her normal routine and opening her shop, even though she hadn’t expected to get much business. But what the hell, Christmas Eve was just another day of the week.
    It turned out opening the shop was a good idea. She made several last minute sales to men who’d forgotten to get their wives something. Fortunately, she kept records of sizes and preferences every time a client bought something, so she was able to help them out. But when the customers had stopped coming in a little after noon, she’d finally given in and closed up shop. There was nowhere to go except upstairs to her apartment—the bars and restaurants were closed, and her friends were with their families.
    Annabeth’s customers seemed to enjoy the trappings of Christmas, so she went through the motions and wished them all a happy holidays. She turned off the Christmas lights that decorated her front windows, blew out the candles, and turned off Nat King Cole in the middle of singing about chestnuts roasting on an open fire. But when she walked upstairs, her apartment was barren of any ornamentation. Not one Christmas item could be found in