You Had Me At Christmas: A Holiday Anthology(54)
“That’s right. I have a boyfriend,” Kate said proudly. “Now get back to work!”
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The Bad Assassin
Zeke Rodgers, the government’s deadliest agent, is known only as the Poltergeist. He’s on the run, and getting lost is the only way to stay alive. Luckily Hope’s Point Alaska, is the end of the world. Now he’s living a quiet life, his past a memory.
It’s all about to go to hell.
When Eve Donner stumbles into Hope’s Point to do research, she’s the only woman in a world of uncivilized men. One man has decided she’s worth protecting – but Eve has no idea her new bodyguard is one of the most badass killers alive.
Zeke’s past quickly catches up to him and bullets start to fly. However, he can’t keep his mind – or his hands – off the sexy scientist.
He’ll have to find away. Because he can protect her, or he can trust her.
He can’t do both.
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Twelve Kisses Until Christmas
by
Jennifer Lohmann
About the Book
Selina Lumina wants nothing more than to escape her small hometown in Idaho and her abusive stepfather, and fulfill her dream of working in the art world. But things like that require money, and that’s something she just doesn’t have. But when a handsome stranger sits down in her section at the local diner, he might be just what she needs. Software developer Marc Murcowski recently made millions selling an innovative app and, bored and lonely now that he seemingly has no purpose in his life, makes her an offer she can’t refuse.
As they travel together across the country and their desire for each other grows, Selina must decide if she’s willing to throw away the life she’s always dreamed of for a chance at happiness with Marc.
About the Author
Jennifer Lohmann is a Rocky Mountain girl at heart, having grown up in southern Idaho and Salt Lake City. When she’s not writing or working as a librarian, she wrangles three cats and one elderly dog. Fortunately, the boa constrictor is better behaved. She lives in North Carolina with her own personal Viking.
Dedication
To the Ginger Viking. I quite literally could not have done this summer without you. You make it all possible.
Chapter One
Out of the small gap between the dirty, cheap, cream-colored curtains, Selina Lumina watched her stepfather park in the driveway, leaving both left wheels on the snow covering their front lawn. She let the curtains fall closed and contemplated her possible exits. The Christmas lights her mom had strung on the front stoop the Friday after Thanksgiving would make it easy to watch Gary stagger up the front walk before he stumbled on the ice on the stairs, but there was no way he was drunk enough she could slip past him unnoticed.
Her heart beat a little faster, fear making it difficult to swallow, slowing her movements, and clouding her ability to come up with a plan. Two facts lingered at the front of her mind, shoving out everything else, even as she tried to take deep breaths and think: Gary was drunk. And her mom was at work.
The hard fall of Gary’s boots on the front step broke through the panic that had frozen her in place, and she bolted for her room. She shoved every piece of furniture she passed into the path between the front door and her room, tripping over her own feet as she hurried. She banged her shin against the coffee table and took the corner so quickly that she smashed her hand into the edge of the wall.
“Ouch.” She cradled her hand to her chest, swallowing her holler. Tears welled in her eyes at the pain in her wrist bone, but she didn’t slow down. Terror burned through her body, propelling her forward. She burst into her bedroom just as she heard Gary slide his key into the lock at the front door. Both doors slammed shut at the same time. Selina twisted the small lock in her doorknob while Gary ran into the stool by the front door.
His first obstacle.
The stool had stopped him once before. A kitchen chair had stopped him another time. And the ironing board yet another. As she sank against her bedroom door, her back against the hard wood, she knew that no piece of furniture she put in Gary’s way would stop him forever.
Her cheeks were wet as she dropped her head between her knees. Gary had always been a creep, but he’d gotten worse since losing his job. To make up for the lost income, her mom had started working more, and he’d come to Selina for company. A couple of strange touches, some innuendos that had made her cringe, and then he’d grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him.
Yelling and kicking had worked that time. Gary had been apologetic the next morning before going out to the library to apply for jobs. He’d even gotten one and worked at it for a month, going out and drinking with his buddies while her mom worked nights, and then he’d gotten fired again. The drinking started earlier and earlier in the day, and her mom worked later and later. Innuendos had changed to outright statements about needing to “get some” and her mom not being around.