It's Not Christmas Without You (The Holloway Series) by HelenKay Dimon Read Free Book Online Page A

know. “Do you need something?”
    “Sorry to break up the lovefest, but we have about a thousand people out here wanting trees.” Spence focused all of his intensity on Austin. “I think I spied a bus of gawking women waiting for a sighting of you, so let’s go.”
    Austin didn’t look at his brother. “I need a second.”
    Spence stepped inside and closed the door behind him, trapping them all in the small space. “You’re not getting me here, little brother. If you don’t get out here I am going to kill you. Probably with one of our Christmas trees.”
    That time Austin broke eye contact with Carrie and turned to Spence. “We’ll be right out.”
    “You’ll go now while I take two seconds to warm up.”
    Before Austin blew up, she put a hand on his forearm and nodded. “We’re okay. Go.”
    He grumbled something about wishing he was an only child and stomped out of the shed. He slammed the door on his way. As if they needed another sign of his anger.
    “Grumpy, isn’t he?” Spence smiled as he dug into the bag she brought.
    Amazing how all that outrage disappeared as soon as Spence found the food and Austin got pushed into the cold. Carrie shook her head in reluctant respect over Spence’s calculating plan. “That outrage thing was fake?”
    “The threat and forcing him out of here? Yeah.” Spence held up the thermos and shook it. “Soup?”
    “Chicken noodle.”
    “Homemade?”
    “Only if you want to be poisoned.”
    “Still a fine chef, I see.”
    She refused to spend one second feeling guilty. Finding pre-prepared dinners in the upscale grocery stores in town was not a hardship. “I can order with the best of them.”
    Spence poured a cup and then blew on it. It took another few seconds for him to stop eyeing up the food and look at her again. “What?”
    “Your brother is not happy with you.”
    Spence’s eyebrow lifted. “Are we sure I’m the problem?”
    “He didn’t threaten to kill me.”
    “Actually, I did the threatening, but if you’re worried you go out there and help him.”
    Realizing she wasn’t going to win this argument, or any Thomas argument for that matter, she pulled her gloves back on and headed for the door. She stopped right before she opened it. “May I ask you something?”
    “Anything.”
    “Where are you two staying while you’re in D.C.?”
    “Spent one night in a total dive off New York Avenue and are lucky to still be alive. The rats had claimed the shower, so we went without.” Closing his eyes, he took a long and savoring drink of the soup. “Now we’re staying in the basement of a guy Austin knows from the Forest Service. He’s in the middle of a divorce and needs the cash.”
    Sounded like more money Austin couldn’t afford to spend. “It’s an odd arrangement for grown men.”
    “Austin will do anything for you.” Spence toasted her with the thermos cup. “Even if it means sharing a ratty old sofa bed with me. Way I look at it, you both owe me.”

Chapter Six
    Austin watched Carrie walk around the lot the next evening. The lights danced against her hair as she studied the branches and dodged the icy patches in the grass.
    Unlike some other ladies looking at trees, Carrie wore her sturdy West Virginia weather gear and had her hands tucked into her jacket pockets. She had the unapproachable and uninterested thing down, but he knew the warmth blooming under all those layers. The blank expression didn’t fool him.
    “This is the fifth day in a row she’s been here. I guess you are irresistible.” Spence looked Austin up and down then scoffed. “You hide it well.”
    “She must not be sold on my charm either since she’s still fighting me so hard.”
    “Did I miss something? Because when I walked in on you guys yesterday in the trailer you were all over each other.”
    What Austin wouldn’t give to be over her, under her, next to her. He’d take any part of her at this point. Any sign that he had a shot and wasn’t wasting his