Page 46 of Once Upon a Christmas Beauty

He arched a brow. “Too comfy or too tired?”

“Yes.” She snuggled closer. “Sorry, you’re not allowed to leave tonight. I’m enjoying this body pillow far too much.”

Good, because there’s nowhere I’d rather be than right here.

Alex had known from the moment he’d met her that Mia was special. That she was the sunshine his life had been missing. When he couldn’t have her in college, he’d tried to move on. To find another sun to guide him. But it’d been an effort in futility.

No one had called to his heart like Mia.

A soft snore rang out at his side, and Alex fought to hold back a silent laugh. Instead, he let his eyelids slide shut as he replayed his evening with Mia. Their sexy time in the kitchen, him so incredibly turned on by her boldness that neither had lasted long. Her helping him meal prep afterward, and all the laughter that’d followed. The wine. The slow walk back to her bedroom, where they had succumbed to their desires a second time by the faint glow of a nightlight spilling out from her adjoining bathroom. Seventeen years he’d been dreaming of holding Mia. Of touching her, of being with her. And it’d been well worth the wait.

On the nightstand, his cell phone buzzed. With his free arm, he reached over to make sure it wasn’t anything urgent for work or family. But the alert was for a text from Sally, asking him to please reconsider canceling the Books-A-Plenty gig. Their backup author also had a scheduling conflict, and because of supply chain issues, they were having to cancel their ornament-decorating event.

Alex couldn’t help but wonder if Mrs. Harper had something to do with that. On a grin, he set his phone back down and settled in for the night. Now was not the time to get into a text argument with his agent. The bookstore in South Bend needed to find someone else to bail them out. He’d promised Del that he would sign at Brooks Books, and it was a promise he intended to keep.

Lying there in a bed as comfy as a cloud with the one that’d gotten away in his arms, Alex soon joined Mia in the land of slumber.

But then the creaking started. Followed by abang.

Wait, abang?

Alex propped himself up on one elbow and tried to get his wits about him. The old house had occasionally creaked when he’d stayed upstairs last weekend, but he didn’t recall any banging sounds. About the time he thought he’d imagined it, though, he heard metal rattling. Was someone trying to break into Mia’s house?

Alex slid into his boxers and jeans and crept down the main hall.

Ping. Clink. Rattle.

The sounds were coming from the back door. Alex left the lights off and inched closer to the door, a curtain hanging over its window cutout. From the light hanging on the side of the house, Alex could see the outline of a person. Their silhouette straightened, looked over one shoulder, then bent again. The doorknob rattled as the sound of something small scrapped against it.

Someone was trying to pick her lock?

Alex looked around for something to use as a weapon, grabbed a rolling pin hanging from a nearby hook, and whipped the door open to find a stunned Brooklyn on the back stoop.

“Brooklyn?”

“Alex?”

“What are you doing here?” they asked in unison.

“I live here, remember?” Brooklyn said, pushing her way inside past Alex. “Stupid lock was stuck again.”

He glanced to the kitchen clock. Half past midnight. He had no idea what time curfews were these days, but this seemed later than Mia would want Brooklyn out on the road. He opened his mouth to say as much when she dropped into a seat at the island. From the glow of the nightlight above the sink, he could see she’d been crying, her eyes red and cheeks puffy.

“You wanna talk about it?”

Brooklyn shrugged. He took that as a yes, so he grabbed a small glass from the cupboard, filled it with water, and set it down before her. She sniffled, took a sip, and held the glass in her hands.

“Does your dad know you’re here?”

She shook her head. “Not that he’d care.”

Oh boy.Alex had minimal experience with teens and zero with those of divorced parents. He eased into the seat next to her and leaned onto the counter, mirroring her posture. “Why do you think that?”

“Because he just doesn’t, okay? All he ever talks about is how great Becky is and that I should give her a chance and blah, blah, blah. But I don’t like Becky, and I definitely don’t want to sit around all weekend listening to her talk about their stupid baby on the way.”

And there it was. Apparently, Mia wasn’t the only one struggling with the news that Greg was going to be a father again.

“She’s that terrible, huh?” he asked.

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