Chapter One
“Oh, and I’ll take the Santa hat cookie with sprinkles, too,” I say, smiling at Nancy as she packs up the ridiculous amount of cookies I’m taking with me today. I couldn’t just pick one, and I know I’ll need them later when I start to feel a little down.
“Someone is going to have a sweet Christmas.” Nancy gives me a wink as she closes the lid on the cookies before handing me the box.
“How much do I owe you?”
“It’s on me. Merry Christmas.”
“Oh, I almost forgot!” Setting the cookie box down on the counter, I dig through my purse until I find the small present. I pull it out and hand it to her.
“You shouldn’t have!” she says as her eyes light up and she rips off the wrapping. She opens the small box to reveal a silver rolling pin. I’d gotten ornaments for everyone this year. Last year I got hot chocolate cups and filled them with sweets. I always try to do something, even if it’s small. It is my favorite holiday, after all.
The mall comes to life this time of year—all the kids running around and the smell of cookies and pine in the air. The only thing missing is snow, and I’m praying for it. The weather said it was going to come, and I know if it does, it will cheer me up tonight when I get home.
“I love it,” Nancy says, coming around the counter and giving me a hug. The smell of sugar wraps around me before she pulls away. “I better hurry up and close. My honey is waiting for me, and I still need to wrap all the presents for the grandkids.”
I give her a small wave, wish her a merry Christmas, before I head back to my office area. Almost everyone is long gone. The Christmas lights are already turned off, and a feeling of sadness washes over me. This is the time of year when I miss my mom the most. Even though it was just the two of us, we always celebrated big. I fight the melancholy threatening to take over and keep a smile pasted on my face as I walk.
It felt like Christmas went so fast this year. I blinked and the holiday was over. I always get a little sad when each holiday comes to an end, but Christmas always hits me the hardest. Going home to an empty apartment to spend the day alone makes my heart sink. It’s the only day of the year the mall completely shuts down, so I don’t have work to distract me. Even on Thanksgiving we’re open in the evening.
Rounding the corner, I take the back hallway to my office area to grab my keys. I see my manager Krista sitting at her desk still, and I’m confused because I was sure she’d be long gone by now.
“Hey, what are you still doing here?” I ask, setting down the box of cookies.
“I need a favor,” she sighs, looking up from her computer. I don’t know how she stares at that thing all day. I love being around people, and I love making people smile even more. It’s why I enjoy this job so much. I get to do all the holiday decorations and events at the mall. I love seeing people’s faces light up with excitement when they get to see Santa or even the Easter Bunny. Their smiles are infectious.
“Anything,” I tell her, making her lips pull into a smile as the worry lines on her face fade away.
“I need you to go to an event tonight.”
I pause, then look down at my outfit. I’m still dressed up as one of Santa’s little helpers. I love it because it makes me feel super festive, and because I made it myself. I couldn’t find anything that fit me right, so I pulled this together. But somehow, I feel that this might not be appropriate for something Krista wants.
“I’ll have to run home and change. Do I have time?”
“No, I need you to go like that. It was requested.”
“It was requested?” I ask, wondering what that means.
“It was, and so were you.”
“Oh,” I say, and feel excitement start to bubble inside me. I don’t have to go home yet. I can go to a Christmas party. The stirrings of happiness start to fizz in my tummy at the prospect of something to do other than wallow in my own self-pity. “I was requested personally?”
She nods and smiles. I must have made a really good impression on someone if they want me to come to their Christmas party. I wonder if I’m a guest or if I’m working.
“What do I even do?”
“It didn’t really say. Just that they wanted you, and to dress like you do when you’re Santa’s helper.”
I clap excitedly, but Krista doesn’t seem to have my enthusiasm.
“Why so glum? This sounds like fun!”
She shakes her head, stands up from behind her desk, and comes around to the front of it. She leans up against it and looks at me. “It’s at Nicholas Light’s mansion.”
That makes me pause, but not because I’m scared. I’m curious. I’ve only heard rumors about him. He owns everything, or so they say. I know for a fact he own
s this mall, and I’m sure a dozen others.
“I didn’t think anyone was ever allowed at his house.” It’s another rumor I’d heard, along with the one where he never leaves his home and never lets anyone in. They say all kinds of things about him. That he’s mean and broody, and I wonder if it’s all true. I also wonder if I could make him smile. It sounds like a challenge, and I love a good one.
“I’ve worked here five years and I’ve never seen him. I’ve also never received an email from him, either. Until today.”
“This is exciting.” I can feel myself smiling so big it almost hurts.
“There is something else I wanted to talk to you about.” She folds her hands across her chest. It’s something I’ve noticed she does when she’s really worried. “There’s talk about him shutting the mall down.”
I gasp at her words. Close the mall down? I love this place. I don’t think I could ever find a job like this one, one where my sole focus is spreading joy and laughter. I need this job. When my mom passed away two years ago, I was lost and lonely. When I got this job, I found myself smiling again and wanting to make others smile, too.
“You want me to try to talk to him?” I edge. Either way, I’m doing it. No way am I letting him shut this place down. There are so many people with businesses here. I’ve made a little family here, and now this place is all I have.
“Christmas.” She takes a breath, letting her hands drop. “Shit. I feel like I’m sending a lamb to a tiger.”
I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion.
She shakes her head. “Everyone around here loves you, Christmas. You’re a breath of fresh air. You have this innocence about you.”
I feel my cheeks warm, not sure what she is getting at.
“He requested you specifically. He wants you.”
I feel myself warm even more. No, that can’t be right. He doesn’t even know me.
“I don’t think—”
She cuts me off. “See? Innocent.”
“So what are you saying?”
“Be careful is all, and maybe if you get his ear, you can see about saving the mall.”
I grab my jacket off my chair and pick up my box of cookies.
“I got this,” I tell her, suddenly feeling like I have a major purpose. I want to save the mall and all the future Christmases it might have.
Chapter Two
There are people everywhere, and I’m trying not to let the anxiety squeeze my chest. The irony is that I’m upstairs, away from it, and it’s as quiet as if I were alone. When I set this party in motion a few weeks ago, I was nervous at first that no one would come. But then I should have known that most people are curious about me and any excuse to come to my house would be jumped at. I had my assistant Richard invite anyone who was anyone and made sure there was a good turnout.
My place is on a hill in the middle of a forest, but it’s not so far from town. I’m close enough to a major city to enjoy the convenience of that, but I prefer the solitude out here. The house is three stories tall and way too palatial for just myself. It’s an old castle that my family had built generations ago, but now I’m the only one who lives here. Well, other than my staff. The place requires a lot of maintenance, but I don’t really need that much care. I keep to myself and stick to my wing of the house, closing off the rest of it as it’s unnecessary. But the past few weeks have been filled with the opening of rooms, including the ballroom and grand balcony. Richard even hired a band, and from what the bill shows, he’s got a hell of a buffet laid out, too. The cameras show Christmas trees in every room, every branch decorated to the hilt. There’s not a corner of my home that hasn’t had some sort of holiday cheer stapled to it, and even I have to admit, it looks like a dream. It’s some sort of winter castle come to life, and I can only hope it’s enough.
There’s a small knock on the door, and I turn to see Richard enter, closing the door behind him and sealing me once again in my office.
“Mr. Light, Miss Winter is on her way. She should be here in about fifteen minutes.” He gives me a kind smile, and I nod, thanking him for following up.
Richard was my father’s right-hand man, and when the company was given to me, he stepped to my side. My mother died in childbirth, and my father raised me on his own afterward. He was a kind man, even if he was often busy with work. He took me to work with him almost every single day, so when my father passed a few years ago, it was an easy transition of power. I own over thirty malls in the United States and a list of real estate so long that even I’d have to look up what I don’t own. I was given a fortune before I was even born, and I’ve managed to increase that many times over in my time as CEO. There’s nothing I haven’t accomplished as far as work goes, but there still a part of my life that is incomplete.
The only thing missing is an heir, a child to whom I can pass on my legacy, someone to create the future of Light Corporation. I’ve made enough money to last a hundred lifetimes, but it means nothing if when I die, the Light legacy dies with me. I’ll never forget my father’s words when I held his hand on his deathbed. He told me that I had to have a child to carry on our name, and without it, it was all for nothing.
I had thought it over a thousand times and planned different scenarios. At first, I’d planned to marry someone Richard picked from a list of potential competitors, thinking that combining businesses would be a good idea. But then I changed my mind because I didn’t want to be married to someone without passion. I never knew my mother, but I knew the look on my father’s face when he talked about her. And I knew that I wanted that, too. I wasn’t sure how to get it, but Richard said I would know when I saw her. Just like my father did.
I’m someone who doesn’t get out much, so it left my options pretty limited, but I wanted to give it time before I settled on someone who was basically marrying me for money and status. In hopes that I could find someone who wasn’t after that.
Doing routine checks on my businesses a few weeks ago, I spotted her. She was decorating the center plaza of the Mall of Light and getting it ready for Christmas. I remember seeing her blonde curls trailing down her back as she reached up to hang a star on the tree. I was so struck by her beauty, I didn’t realize what I was doing until my finger traced her image on the cold screen in front of me. In that moment, I wanted to crawl through the camera and pull her into my arms. I’d never before seen someone so beautiful and so pure, and I had to have her. She was dressed as an elf, and I remember smiling as I watched her all day. I switched from camera to camera, getting the best angles as she moved around the space. I became obsessed to the point of near insanity, and finally I had to call Richard. I had him bring me all the information he could, and I nearly laughed when I saw her name was Christmas Winter. I thought it was some sort of joke. But with her rosy cheeks and a smile that could melt the North Pole, I saw that it suited her.
I’d never heard her speak a word, and yet I knew she was kind. I’d never felt her touch, yet I knew she was tender and sweet. I’d never kissed her lips, yet I knew that she was the one. That she was going to be the mother of my heirs and the wife at my side. I knew all of that, and so I created this party and made sure she would be here.
“Are you ready, sir?” Richard asks, shaking me out of my thoughts.
“Yes, I think I’ve waited long enough,” I say, standing and straightening my tie.
As Richard leads the way, I can think only about what it’s going to be like seeing her in real life. I’ve wondered if a mere camera could possibly show her true beauty. I somehow don’t believe that’s possible.
We walk down the long hallway to the enormous staircase. Richard steps off to the side and I walk halfway down to the microphone stand there. My guests are congregated around the base of the staircase.
“Welcome,” I begin as I scan the crowd. “Thank you all for coming tonight. I know this isn’t something I’ve done in recent years, but my father loved to have parties and welcome everyone into our home. Tonight I begin anew as I try t
o continue the traditions my father laid before me. The ones that have been difficult to celebrate in recent years.”
The crowd is silent, but I see that everyone has their eyes on me as I speak about my reclusiveness. I watch as there is slight movement in the back and a few people move to make way, but I’m unable to see who the new arrival is.
“But that is changing now, because I’ve grown to understand that no man is an island, even if it’s a well-decorated one.” The crowd laughs, and I’m handed a champagne flute. “A toast,” I say, raising it. “To the single most important thing to me from this day forward—to Christmas.”
As I say the words, the woman I’ve been dreaming of steps through a cluster of people, and her dark green eyes land on mine. I take a sip of my champagne without breaking eye contact as the crowd repeats my words. To Christmas. They have no idea how powerful the words are as I stare at the woman who just became mine.
Chapter Three
My face warms when I stare at the most handsome man I’ve ever seen. My breath catches as his stare holds mine with eyes as dark as night. I don’t know what I thought Mr. Light might look like, but I can see why people find him intimidating. The only thing that’s soft about him is the smile he’s giving me right now.
Not only is he big all over, but he’s dressed completely in black to match his dark hair and eyes. I take a step toward him, but someone moves in front of me, blocking my view of him. When I step around the man, Mr. Light is gone.
I glance around the room, trying to find him, but it’s hard to see with so many people. Everyone is so tall. Even the women in their high heels make me feel like a true little elf. I feel a pang of disappointment that he’s gone, leaving me wondering if he would come back.
A waiter with a tray of champagne glasses stops to offer me one, but I decline, even though the decorated glasses look festive.