How Nick and Holly Wrecked...Saved Christmas Read Online Free Page A

thanks.”
    The glow from inside illuminates his face as the door bumps against his leg. He studies the carton as it dangles from two fingers and I hold my breath. If he drinks that whole thing, I’ll have a situation. I don’t want a situation, Lord. I just want my Starbucks...
    “OK,” he says. The bottles clank as he puts them back. “There’s other stuff in here.”
    “Something diet,” I say. “Or water.”
    He kicks the door closed and hands me a can. “C’mon. I want to show you something.”
    I follow him closely up unfamiliar stairs. We arrive on yet another level of this monstrous house. He leads me to a near-dark space.
    Nick brushes my arm with his hand. “Hang on a minute.”
    His shadow crosses in front of me. He touches a lamp in the corner and soft light wakes up the room.
    My feet sink into the carpet as though I’ve stepped on warm summer sand. “This is a bedroom,” I say stupidly.
    “Yes. It is.”
    He opens the drapes across a wall of glass and nudges an oversized leather chair into position.
    He motions for me. “C’mon.”
    I don’t move. It’s a bedroom. Clearly not his bedroom. It’s much too perfect, too neat, too... too... It’s a bedroom . “This is your dad’s bedroom. Should we be here?”
    “Geeze, Holly, don’t be such a spaz. You should see your face. And here I thought we’d reached a new level in our relationship after that whole chicken incident at the grocery store. Get over here.”
    I go like a dutiful puppy.
    “Have a seat,” he says.
    I hesitate.
    “ Sit ,” he commands and takes the drink from my hands. “C’mon, you’re gonna miss it.”
    I sit. He rushes to turn off the lamp and then squeezes in beside me.
    “Watch,” he says.
    I blink as my eyes adjust to the dark. Suddenly the world opens up before me through the glass doors. I see the water, the sky, the moon. A million stars twinkle and kiss the shadowy tree tops across the lake as they take turns exploding and streak across the night sky. Piles of undisturbed snow on the deck outside frame my new view of the mountain. I suck in a breath and hold it, knowing I’ve lived on this ridge my entire life—and I’ve never appreciated it quite like this.
    I cannot speak.
    Nick Zernigan’s warm body is pressed against mine. I smell his masculine scent and feel him breathe beside me. My own heart flutters too loud and too hard and I am aware of the lack of space between us.
    “Does this happen every night?”
    “No.” He stretches and moves in the chair. “It depends. I have an app that tells me when the conditions are right for meteor showers or visible planets.”
    “It’s a great view.”
    “Yeah, it’s pretty decent. In the spring you can watch nesting pairs of hawks or bald eagles. My dad and I actually posted a YouTube video of that. OK... That sounded lame.”
    “No it didn’t. Where is your dad, anyway?”
    “He’s with his girlfriend in The Bahamas. I was supposed to be with my mom for the holidays, but her husband’s mother got sick in Germany so they had to go there. My dad already made his plans so here I am. Me and Aunt Ivy for Christmas.”
    “Where does your mom live?”
    “California.”
    “And you choose to live here?”
    “Yeah. Why not? I like it here.”
    “Wow. I thought everyone who had a chance to get off this mountain would take it.”
    Nick wiggles in the chair again and twists his body as though he’s trying to look at me in the faint light. “Not everyone hates it here, Holly.” He scoots up and rests his arm across the back of the chair. “Why do you?”
    “I guess I don’t hate it, but it’s all I know, and I want to know more. My dad’s not a surgeon like yours, and I don’t live in a house with a view like this. I don’t have a car, I don’t have a passport, and I’ve never been as far as California. So let’s just say I’m anxious to get to college and see what else is out there.”
    Nick is quiet and I want to disappear into the