Page 62 of Holding Out For A Holiday Hero

“You-you brought me home with you that first night because you wanted me?”

“You weren’t staying in that low-rent motel. It was dangerous.” An exhale. “But at that point, I had no clue if your story was real or not. I just knew you were a fantasy, and for the first time, I was close to you.”

“Jake, I?—”

Her words were interrupted because some jerk was pounding on his door. What. The. Hell? Now?

The pounding continued.

Her eyes were on him. He didn’t want to move. He needed to—hell, Jake wasn’t sure what he should do. Ask for forgiveness? Tell her that he was insanely in love with her? Would she even believe that? He’d just fully figured that shit out himself. She’d walked into his life less than what—forty-eight hours ago? Seventy-two? Who would believe love happened that fast?

It wasn’t fast. I think part of me has been in love with her since we were sixteen. Since the first time I didn’t have that damn, fancy-ass calculator for math class because the last thing I’d wanted to do was ask mom for more money. I was in the middle of the class, glaring around, and True shyly passed her calculator to me. She’d shared with him every day and never said a word about it.

So, yeah, he’d been falling in love with her for a very long time.

The pounding came again.

His jaw clenched. “Stay here.” Because they’d set the trap for the perp. And though he seriously doubted the SOB would just show up and knock on the door, he didn’t want to take chances with True’s safety. Jake jumped to his feet. He marched for the front door, and as he did, he pulled his phone from his back pocket. A tap on the screen had him getting a view of his front porch via his doorbell camera.

And he could clearly see the jerk pounding away so hard. Hell. Not what I need right now.

Jake wrenched open the door. “What are you doing here?”

A perp wasn’t at his door. His brother Tommy was.

Tommy frowned at him. “Uh, hello to you, too, brother dearest.” He didn’t wait to be invited inside. He just strode right over the threshold. Like he owned the place. He didn’t. “And I’m here for our annual we-hate-Christmas-so-let’s-get-drunk-and-complain celebration. I’m here because—” Tommy broke off. He pointed. “You have a Christmas tree in your den.”

“Astute of you to notice.”

But the tree wasn’t the only thing Tommy had noticed.

True was on her feet. Standing beside the massive tree, she had her hands tucked behind her back.

“And you have…you have a True beneath your tree,” Tommy loudly whispered. Loud whisper, yep, that would be Tommy. “Damn, bro.” Tommy cut him a glance. “You must have been extremely good this year. I mean, to finally get that wish you’ve had for so long? Are you delirious right now? Hey, do you remember when I found that old photo of her that you used to carry in your wallet? I swear, you took that thing half-way around the world with you and?—”

“Thank you, Tommy.” That wasn’t a whisper. But Jake’s words were loud. Very, very loud. Loud enough to cut through his oversharing brother’s ramble. “I do remember that, thank you. Thank you so much for bringing it up. Right in front of True.” Jake cleared his throat. “Now, how about you just scoot on out, and I’ll catch up with you tomorrow?”

But Tommy wasn’t scooting anywhere. Well, actually, he was. He was scooting closer to True. Jake shut and locked the front door and followed his brother back to the den.

As he closed in on True, Tommy removed his black gloves and shoved them into the pocket of his billowing coat. Tommy was a clotheshorse. Probably because they’d grown up with secondhand items, Tommy now only bought the most expensive things he could find. Custom fits, most days. He was always ragging on Jake to up his style game, but it wasn’t like you needed a fancy suit when you were running down bounties.

Tommy extended his hand to True. “Do you remember me?” he asked her. “I was two years behind you in school. Thomas Hale, at your service.”

She took his hand. Gave it a quick shake. “I remember you. No one ever forgets the Hale brothers.”

“Aw, right. Back in the day, we were the Raising Hales, weren’t we?” A shake of his head at the old nickname. Yes, they had raised plenty of hell. So the nickname fit. “But we settled down since then,” Tommy assured her. “Or at least, I have.”

He hadn’t let go of True’s hand.

“You are even more beautiful now,” Tommy murmured. “Has my brother told you that? He’s not big on compliments, so he probably hasn’t.”

“True is fucking gorgeous. She always has been.” Jake hauled his brother—and his brother’s hand—away from True.

“How did you get True here?” Tommy squinted at him. “You always got tongue-tied around her in school. Do you remember how you used to just growl and—hey! Stop!”

He did not stop. In fact, Jake shoved his brother toward the front door even harder. “Time to go.”

“But it’s our annual we-hate-Christmas?—”

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