Christmas Curvy: A Curvy Girl's Holiday Fling Read online

  Christmas Curvy: A Curvy Girl’s Holiday Fling

  by Kristabel Reed

  Copyright © 2014 by Kristabel Reed

  Smashwords Edition

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  A Wicked ePub® Original Publication

  ISBN 13:

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review.

  This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Formatted by: CyberWitch Press

  Chapter One

  Memorandum

  To: Laura Dixon, Project Manager — Gideon Vermont

  From: Sabrina McKenna-Marquez — Vice President, Gideon International, Project Development

  Date: December 9

  RE: Christmas Break

  Actually take one! As in DON’T WORK. New construction cannot start in December. Look outside, I know I’m right. Therefore, come home to New York. Or enjoy the hotel through the Christmas holiday. Whatever vacation you decide on, I order you to enjoy it.

  Laura, allow the General Manager to do his job because I’ll be assigning you a new project come spring. And he won’t have you to hold his hand. And if you don’t follow my order, I will send Cynthia up after you.

  We’ll talk after the new year. Have. Some. Fun.

  “What does she mean ‘don’t work’? That’s what I do! I work and then I work some more. I like it—it’s fun!”

  Laura Dixon blinked down at the words that should make perfect sense; after all, they weren’t all that difficult to understand, what with the all-caps DON’T WORK screaming at her. Still, a sudden panic manifested at the thought of not having something to keep her busy over the holiday.

  “But what does she mean, have some fun?” Laura mumbled, still stunned. “And what am I going to do in New York? Stare at four walls and the Charlie Brown Christmas tree I’d buy at the corner market?”

  Images of a solitary Christmas with a sad-looking tree and A Christmas Carol playing on repeat in the background did not make the idea of being in New York for the holiday any better. With sudden dread, she realized if she was in New York there was absolutely no real way she could avoid it.

  The dreaded family dinner. She’d have to spend the holidays with her family.

  Dismay moved through her at the thought, and she closed her eyes as if to deny it. Her fingers clenched around the memo, wrinkling the edges. Staring blindly down, Laura carefully smoothed the creases and took a deep breath.

  Christmas was a magical time. She loved the season, all of it: the decorations and scents and music and movies; eggnog and Christmas pudding and the scent of sugary nuts from those vendor carts scenting the cold air. The colorful lights and brightness that lightened up the dark December days. She listened to Christmas songs for months and never tired of them.

  She loved every single aspect of the holidays—so long as she didn’t have to sit through endless familial lectures on her weight, her job, and her singleness. Singledom?

  And the Oh, you have such a pretty face if only you lost a little weight. Because of course thinking about losing weight made it magically happen.

  And the When are you going to give up that job with the hotel for the family business? She’d always wanted to build things or at least see her vision of them built, and wasn’t fond of the restaurant business. No one seemed to understand that.

  And the If you just lost a few pounds, you’d have men all over you. Yes, naturally, she wanted men who chased after her for her body—just her body.

  And her favorite—When are you going to have a baby? You’re not getting any younger and if you lose weight now, it’ll be easier to lose the baby weight after.

  No, Laura absolutely, positively could not and would not spend her beloved holiday with her family. She loved them, she did. She loved her parents and her dad’s extended family and the regulars who came in every Christmas to the restaurant. But she loved all of them with the distance of work and the very busy job she loved securely between them.

  Then there was Sabrina’s threat about Cynthia coming up. Laura knew it was no idle threat—one did not invoke the name Cynthia without backing it up. Sabrina’s assistant scared her. Nice as Cynthia was, no one said no to her. And if one tried, she’d start a betting pool about who’d win the war of wills!

  Resisting the urge to bang her head against the desk—she knew from past experience it wouldn’t do any good—Laura ignored the memo and turned her chair to look out the office windows. She swallowed a disgruntled sigh at this unexpected turn in her plans. No, the construction workers weren’t working, not with these temperatures and not in that snow. They didn’t have to.

  She did.

  The Christmas music she normally enjoyed faded to a background buzz of meaningless white noise. The scent of hot chocolate from the freshly made mug on her desk churned her stomach unpleasantly.

  “Don’t work.”

  Desperation moved through Laura as Sabrina’s words echoed harshly, repeating not with the kindness she knew her boss meant them, but with the sharpness of dread. She had to work, didn’t Sabrina understand?

  Laura needed to work, needed to stay here and see to all those last-minute details of The Gideon Vermont Hotel’s first Christmas.

  The Cynthia threat was no joke, however. Tapping her fingers against her desk, Laura stared blindly out of the window. Maybe she’d book a couple spa treatments. Easy enough. And relearn to skate around their skating rink.

  That way she could safely tell Sabrina she took a vacation—it just happened to be at the hotel. No one could fault her for spending the Christmas holidays at a Christmas hotel.

  And if she happened to meet a guy here and have a quick fling, all the better. No muss, no fuss that way—simply a lovely Christmas affair. Hmm, she sounded like a movie. Her own little Christmas fantasy movie of a fling to remember. Laura snickered, but really, there were definite advantages to that.

  A little holiday affair, dinner, skating, hot monkey sex in her hotel room. Then back to their separate real world lives.

  Sounded perfect to Laura. But then it always did in her imagination. When she actually did it, when she worked up the nerve to do something, it never really worked out the way it did in her head. Dreaming it up was always much better, and much more interesting, than it was in reality.

  And a lot more fun than those awkward moments when she tried to figure out how to turn off the lights before they had sex.

  Opening her eyes, Laura stared out the bank of windows and picked up her hot chocolate, wrapping her fingers around the rapidly cooling mug. She pressed it against her temple for a moment before sipping its creamy froth.

  Plus, she’d already told her parents she’d be in Vermont for the holidays and had given her usual justifications for not being in New York. Her closest friends had already made plans and wouldn’t be in the city over the holidays. They had their own careers and lives.

  What was she supposed to do with four weeks off? She supposed she really could enjoy the spa here. She’d been curious about a few of the services, and this was definitely her chance to try them out. Plus, she co
uld be a bit more hands-on with the day to day.

  And the specs on her newest project were due to arrive in the next week or so. Once they arrived, she planned to get a jump start on it. Really immerse herself in the Napa Valley project. The office was going to be empty for the holidays anyway, so she’d have the place to herself.

  A nice, quiet, empty office. It reminded her of another quiet, empty office, the unused one over the top her parents’ restaurant, and the Christmas she’d taken Jeff home for the holidays. And how she’d wanted to take Jeff up there where no one could find them. She’d thought about it, had planned it—hot office sex on the desk.

  Pushing the items scattered on the desk until they clattered to the floor. Jeff’s mouth on hers, his hands sliding under her skirt as she unbuttoned his shirt. He’d tease her until she couldn’t stand it anymore and begged him. The hard quickness of sex, the knowledge they could be caught at any minute all fueled this particular fantasy.

  She’d wanted it so badly and had plans to drag him up there, but…she’d never gone through with it, hadn’t even taken him upstairs.

  Just as well, considering what had happened later with her family and then with Jeff. Laura sighed and set her mug down. Her head banged against the back of her office chair.

  Every year she remembered that Christmas. Always that stupid Christmas. Why couldn’t she forget that particular one and simply remember the fantasy? But oh, no, all she remembered was her humiliation.

  Typical.

  That had been the only time she’d brought her current boyfriend with her to Christmas dinner at the restaurant. Laura liked to think she’d been young and naïve in dragging Jeff along, but she’d been in college and his family had been across the country, so he’d stayed with her instead.

  The entire thing had been a disaster from the moment she’d happily told her family she was bringing a date to the moment, three weeks later, when Jeff broke up with her.

  That was when it had started, the questions about settling down and having children, and her career choices. Poor Jeff hadn’t been spared any of those questions, either. It became immeasurably worse when he’d broken up with her after New Year’s. Then her family went on and on about her weight and how she could’ve kept Jeff if she’d shed the extra pounds.

  Annoyed, Laura threw the pen across the room and combed her fingers through her hair. Damn it! She’d been doing so well, too. Laura did not need insecurities rearing up and threatening to swamp her. Not now. Her career was exactly where she wanted it, with a fantastic company and long-term prospects. One stupid, measly memo about taking time off and she went from confident executive to…she didn’t even know what—annoyed chubby girl?

  Glaring down at the pages, she tried to push her memories and fears aside. She needed to work on the report.

  With a resigned sigh, Laura stood and retrieved the pen from across the room. Her feet dragged across the carpet, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Then again, she thought as she bent down to pick up the pen, it could be worse. Her family could be coming to Vermont for the holidays.

  Yes, this was definitely the way to go.

  Falling back into her desk chair, pen clutched in her fist, she leaned back and looked at the ceiling.

  “Laura.” Sam Woodford, her very efficient and slightly OCD assistant, entered her office.

  She eyed him warily. He’d been trying to get her to take time off this holiday season, too. If Laura could resist Sam’s more immediate, and less gentle, prodding, Laura was confident she could resist Sabrina’s memo. She just wouldn’t think about Cynthia.

  “Tyler Kamari is here,” Sam added with a significant look she didn’t really understand.

  Laura sat up straighter in surprise. “He’s here?”

  “Yeah, just showed up.”

  “Send him in,” she said.

  Laura had met the insanely attractive Tyler Kamari—he of the smooth mocha skin and stunning blue eyes—several times over the course of this project. Each time he smiled at her, her legs weakened and her blood heated.

  This visit was totally unexpected. At least she’d get to see him and maybe indulge in a little private objectification.

  He’d asked her out several times, but she’d always said no. Oh, she’d been tempted to say yes more than twice, but couldn’t risk it. They were coworkers, maybe not at the same company, but they still worked closely together on several major projects, and she couldn’t risk souring their relationship.

  Could she?

  No. Laura shook her head and pushed it aside. She needed to forget it. Laura had kept things strictly professional with him and would continue to do so. Even if she wanted to forget professionalism and…

  Ah, no.

  Sure, it’d worked out for Sabrina, but generally, Laura didn’t think office romances were a good thing. They got in the way of too much.

  Kamari walked in, dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, with his suit jacket unbuttoned. Laura found that semi-casualness unbelievably sexy, and indulged in that thought for just a moment. He had a shaved head and a neatly trimmed goatee, and he held her gaze as he shook her hand, his focus totally on her, never wavering.

  He didn’t look around the office, or acknowledge Sam, or even look at the papers he held. He simply smiled at her. A delicious smile she’d love to taste. She wouldn’t dare.

  Laura answered with a smirk. She knew he was attracted to her, but refused to let it stand in the way of their professional relationship. Never in her life had Laura so much trouble being a grown-up professional as when she worked with Kamari.

  “This is a surprise,” Laura said and hid a wince. Not her smoothest opening. Swallowing, she added, “What brings you up here? Any problems with the plans, Mr. Architect?”

  “I heard about this really great hotel and I thought, you know?” He shrugged, but his eyes sparked with amusement. “It might be fun to spend the holidays there. Get some work done surrounded by good food and a Christmassy atmosphere.”

  Her smile felt more relaxed now, but she looked at him and waited.

  “I thought I’d catch you before you left on your vacation,” Kamari added and gestured to the briefcase he carried. “Go over the Napa Valley plans.”

  “Ah, yes, Napa Valley!” Did she sound as thrilled as she felt? Real work? Yes!

  “Actually,” Laura said with a smile she couldn’t control, “I’m going to spend the holidays here, too.” She nodded and rounded the desk. “Having a project to sink my teeth into is welcomed.”

  More than welcomed, but Kamari need never know that.

  His smile was slow and he’d never taken his eyes from hers. Laura’s toes curled, but she ignored them.

  “Excellent. We’ll be able to get a lot done, since I also came with a punch list from Sabrina.” Kamari leaned against the table, his arms folded over his chest. “The final revisions to the lodge plans, the expansion to the ski lift, something about the skating rink. And of course Napa Valley.”

  He smiled again and Laura wondered if he looked at everyone that way, as if they were his sole focus, or if it was just her.

  “We’re going to be very busy.” He paused and tilted his head to the side, just a little. “If you want to be.”

  Busy? Oh, yes, did she want to be busy. Busy was good. Busy was very, very good. “Oh,” Laura agreed with possibly more passion in her voice than was strictly necessary. “I want to be.”

  His hand touched her arm, the briefest of brushes, as if to gain her attention. But her attention was totally on him, as it usually was. Just because she’d turned him down for a date, or more, didn’t mean she was capable of ignoring his charm.

  “It is Christmas,” he reminded her, his tone friendly and even. “And we don’t want to come off as a couple of Scrooges. So how about we work, hang out, and have some fun, too?”

  Laura thought she caught a note of hopefulness in his voice, but he’d kept his tone even. No innuendo or sexual connotation, no deeper meaning or double e
ntendre.

  Which was good. Yes, that was good.

  “I’m not sure,” she hedged. Because as much as she wanted to work, she didn’t want to cross the line with Kamari from work into personal; she didn’t want to make the situation awkward because she refused to mix business with pleasure.

  “What’s the harm, Laura?” he asked. But his voice was lower now, and though he hadn’t moved, Laura felt as if he had. As if he’d somehow moved closer to her. “We’re just a couple of friends enjoying the holiday together.”

  Had he come up to Vermont with an ulterior motive? Kamari was an extremely handsome man who could easily find a date, even if it wasn’t her. Or maybe he did have a date, and she was already tucked away in a hotel room. Didn’t matter, she assured herself.

  She wanted to get her hands on the Napa Valley hotel plans he’d brought up. Laura nodded and offered him a little shrug of agreement.

  Kamari’s smile widened. “Then why don’t we have our first meeting? We won’t call it a date,” he added then said quickly, “because it’s not, of course.”

  Of course, she almost repeated, but refrained.

  “Let’s check out the skating rink.” Kamari straightened from the table and grinned down at her. Laura had never realized how tall he was until then. “And see what Sabrina means by ‘add more atmosphere.’”

  Laura found herself nodding before she realized it. “All right,” she agreed, and wondered where that agreement came from.

  What harm was it to hang out with Kamari over the holidays? to work with someone who mirrored her need to work? to look around this hotel they’d built together and take pride in it?

  A little voice laughed at her, but Laura firmly shoved it to the background. She didn’t need little voices in her head, especially not ones that laughed at her. She already had enough voices in her head and right then all she heard was, He doesn’t really like you—he just wants to copy off your paper.

  Laura shut that insidious voice up. She didn’t need to be reminded of that. What she needed was her coat for their walk to the skating rink. And the start of holidays with a business associate.