Holiday Hearts Read Online Free

door.
    “What? No I’m not staying at your place! Why? I have a house, remember?”
    “Yes, I remember,” he said walking beside her as she tried to wiggle out of his grasp. “You live in a nice single family house in Shelby Township, which is a forty-minute drive from here. It’ll be at least an hour before you get home, considering how slow you’ll have to drive to avoid skidding off the highway.”
    “But—” she tried to object.
    “I,” he interrupted, “live in an overpriced condo on Riverfront Drive, just five minutes from here. It makes more sense, for your safety, that you stay in town tonight.”
    They were at the elevators now and he’d pushed the down button and stood directly in front of her.
    “Then maybe you should drive me home with your four-wheel, all-terrain SUV,” she said, unwilling to admit that he was making sense, and hating every second of it.
    He cupped a hand to her cheek and gave her that half smile that always made her weak in the knees. “Maybe I’m supremely thankful to Mother Nature for these freezing temperatures and icy roads. I’ve wanted to get you to stay at my house since the day I first saw you.”
    He pulled her closer, his fingers firm at the base of her neck. “No, I’m not going to take you home in my clunky all-terrain SUV. I’m taking you home with me—a very special Christmas present to myself.”
    Then he kissed her. She knew he would. And she secretly wanted him to. His lips touched her softly, Ian always started off slow, soft. She loved it, felt her heart beat wildly the second his tongue touched hers.
    She didn’t want to be his Christmas present—didn’t want to enjoy Christmas or fall in love. It would be a betrayal. Wouldn’t it?
    Then his soft and slow turned to hot and fevered and she leaned closer into him, opening her mouth wider, sighing. Whatever the answer was she couldn’t figure it out just then. She couldn’t think of anything besides Ian.
               

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    FOUR
    Dinner was more than she’d bargained for. Actually, she’d assumed they’d stop and pick up fast food, but Ian had other ideas.
    His condo was gorgeous—white walls, high ceilings and floor to ceiling windows that stretched along one side of his living room. The dining area was connected, actually divided by a long marble and glass console table with an ebony sculpture in the center. On one side was the living room with sleek deep-cushioned black leather chairs, an octagonal-shaped glass coffee table and a deep chocolate-colored rug that formed the perimeter of the space. The leather sofa faced the windows with a panoramic view of downtown Detroit. To the far left was a fireplace with a mantel filled with photographs.
    Keysa instantly gravitated to the pictures. This was her first time being inside Ian’s condo. On one of their dates she’d met him there, but he’d been in the lobby when she’d arrived. At that time a part of her had desperately wanted to know more about him, yet was still resistant.
    The mantel was lined with framed pictures, some large, some small like oversized lockets with wallet-sized photos inside. Starting at one end she looked at each of them, a deep yearning in the center of her stomach began to form. Ian had a family, and from the looks of it, a big one.
    “That’s my Mom and Dad,” he said from behind her.
    She hadn’t heard him approach, but she’d felt he wasn’t far away.
    “Do they live here in Detroit?” she asked her eyes resting on the old wedding photo. The woman’s complexion was just a shade darker than Ian’s. The man was a little lighter, his skin more tinged with an orange tone, but his eyes were dark like Ian’s.
    “Yes. Mom was born and raised in Wayne County.”
    “But your father, he’s from the Dominican Republic, right?” She’d remembered that was one of the first things he’d told her about himself.
    “Yes, Santiago to be exact. He’s one of twelve children, only