A Boyfriend for Christmas

This book
is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or
actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses,
organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Copyright © 2012 by Helen Cooper

This
short story is dedicated to all the readers who have enjoyed my books in 2012
and to all those that will enjoy my books in 2013.

Chapter 1

"Oh shit," Brynn cussed as she dropped her iPod on
the floor as she was driving. Traffic was stopped and she bent down quickly to
retrieve it. Unfortunately, as she went to grab it, she pushed it closer to her
feet and she couldn't quite grasp it at the angle she was bent over. "Shut
up, asshole." She glared at the car behind her that was honking at her.
She put her foot back on the acceleration and bent down with her left hand to
grab the iPod again. She was already feeling nervous because today was her
first day at her new job and she wanted to listen to some of her favorite tunes
to get her into her Zen state of mind.

"Come on David, I need you." She reached down
further and grabbed. David Berkeley was her favorite singer, there was
something about his voice that took her to her happy place and this was a
morning she needed to get to her happy place. She'd had a sleepless night;
Barb's kids had been acting up all night and had come into her room to
interrupt her several times. She sighed to herself; she hadn't minded when her best
friend, Barb had moved in with her two kids a couple of months previously. She
had been happy for the help with the rent, but she was now past that point and
she wanted Barb and the kids to leave. The only problem was she didn't know how
to kick her clueless friend out.

She reached down one last time and accidentally pressed down
on the brakes as she grabbed the iPod. Not three seconds later, she felt the
honker crash into the back of her car. "Argh, impatient asshole." She
sighed, she was sure that this was going to mean another ticket for her. More
money out of her pocket before she even had her first paycheck. She looked in
the rearview mirror and saw a man getting out of the car behind her with a
furious look on his face.

She jumped out of the car and put her hands on her hips
glaring at the man walking towards her, ready to start shouting back at him.
She tried not to notice the gold tones of his hair shining in the sunlight
through the light spattering of grey. The man's eyes were flashing at her in
fury and she tried to ignore the little spark of excitement that ran through
her. This man was pretty hot, well, he would be if he
wasn't
such an asshole, she thought.

"I hope you have insurance to fix my car," she
shouted at him, determined to take the offensive.

"I have insurance but it is you who will be fixing my
car." The man's voice was smooth and angry as he continued walking up to
her. He stopped in front of her and pushed his face towards hers. "In
fact, let's call the police now and see who they think is at fault here."

She swallowed as she looked into his face. He reminded her
of a big snarly wolf and she tried to soften her gaze. "Well that's not
really necessary, is it?" She looked up at him and blinked. Something
about his face looked familiar. "Do I know you?" She cocked her head
and studied him.

"I think not." His face was still hard.
"Where's your insurance card?"

"Omg, just hang on a second." She glowered at him
and reached into her purse. I have it here somewhere, I just changed it
recently." She fiddled around in her bag and swallowed hard when she
remembered. She had meant to renew her policy but her credit card had been
declined. Shit. Not only was she going to lose her new job she was going to go
to jail as well. “Look, can we just settle this fairly?” She smiled up at him
winningly. “I’ll pay for my damage and you’ll pay for yours?”

“Is that a joke?” He looked at her like she was an idiot.
“You barely have any damage and you are the reason why my car has any damage at
all.”

“Look, I’m sorry,” she sighed.

“I don’t care how sorry you are. Let me see your insurance
card,” he growled at her and she resisted the urge to slap him.

“I don’t have it, okay,” she snarled up at him annoyed. She noticed
that he had green eyes, with specks of brown. They were pretty mesmerizing.
 
In other circumstances, she would be
flirting like crazy with him.

“What’s your name?” He sighed and took out a pen.

“Brynn. Brynn Winter.” She watched him writing her name down
and jumped when he looked up at her suspiciously.

“Brynn Winter?” he sighed. “You’re not Lucky Winter’s sister,
are you?”

“Yes I am.” She gazed at him, mouth agape. “How did you know
that?”

“My name is Daz.” He paused. “Daz Harper.” He stared at her
waiting for her to make the connection. She stared back at him, trying not to
think about how full his lips looked before she glared at him.

“Omg, I remember you. You’re the Daz Harper that broke my
sister’s heart.” She pointed her finger at him. “You’re lucky that I don’t kick
your ass right now.” She glared at him and he rolled his eyes.

“I see you’re still as dramatic as ever, Brynn.” He smiled
wryly.

“You remember me?”

“How could I forget you? You were as annoying then as you
are now.”

“And you were as rude then as you are now.” She poked him in
the chest and was taken aback by the firmness of his chest. “There’s no way I’m
giving you my insurance info now, you deserve to pay for far worse.”

He watched her carefully and looked like he was going to say
something to her but stopped himself. “I don’t really have anything to say to
that, Brynn.”

“Yeah, most cheaters don’t.” She glared at him. This was the
man that had dated her sister for two years in high school and then ended up
cheating on her when he went away to college.

“That was a long time ago, Brynn,” he sighed. “And I doubt
you know the whole story.”

“You mean the story of how you deflowered Lucky’s best
friend when she went to visit her brother at college?”

“Like I said, you don’t know the whole story.”

“Yeah okay. Thank God Lucky never slept with you. Who knows
what sort of diseases you may have brought home to her?”

“Who knows?” His voice held an amused tone and she looked at
him suspiciously.

“What’s so funny?” She glared at him. “STD’s aren’t funny.”

“I see you are as full of drama as you always were.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” He grinned. “But I guess today is your lucky day.
I’m going to let you go without asking for what I assume is a non-existent
insurance card.”

“Whatever.” She glared at him one last time and flounced
back to her car. She couldn’t wait to call Lucky to tell her that she’d just
seen Daz. They had broken up over ten years ago but she knew that Lucky had
never really gotten over the betrayal. Brynn couldn’t even imagine what it
would be like to find out that her best friend had slept with her boyfriend.
Especially if she hadn’t even slept with said boyfriend.

She got into her car and heard Daz honk as he drove past
her. She kept her face looking forward. She was glad to see him go. Though it
was a pity that he was such a jerk and that he had dated her sister. She’d
found him quite attractive as they had sparred back and forth.

“Brynn, get it together,” she snapped at herself as she
started her car again. There was no reason for her to daydream about what-if’s.
She needed to concentrate on the here and now. Because if she didn’t get her
butt to the office, she would be out of a job before she even started it.

***

“Lucky, I can’t talk any more right now,” Brynn hissed into
the phone. “I’ll call you back.”

“But Brynn, I wanna know about Daz.”

“I gotta go.” Brynn hung up the phone and smiled at Doug,
her new boss as he walked into her office.

“Is everything ok, Brynn?” He looked at her with concern,
his blue eyes stared into hers intensely and she felt like he could read her
brain.

“Yes, thanks Doug.” She opened a file on her desk. “Was just
getting ready to file these cases.”

“Okay.” He paused. “Let me know if you need any help.”

“Yes, sir.” She smiled and tried to hold in a groan. There
was no way she was going to ask one of the attorney’s to help her file the cases
away. That would look just great. Hey, thanks for hiring me and if you don’t
mind, do my job as well.

“Sorry, what as that, Brynn?” He walked up to her table and
smiled at her.

“Oh nothing.” She clenched her teeth together so that she
could make sure she didn’t mumble any of the thoughts in her mouth. She stood
up and picked up the large stack of files and walked to the large filing room.
She could feel Doug watching her as she walked and she hid a smile. She had a
feeling that Doug had a crush on her but she wasn’t going to complain. She was
pretty sure that he was the reason she’d gotten the job. She had originally
applied to be a legal secretary but had blown the interview because she had no
previous experience. However, he had asked her if she was interested in a file
clerk position. She hadn’t been, but for $20 an hour, she would do just about
anything right now.

“Oh Brynn,” Doug ran up to her as she opened the first file
drawer. “I forgot to invite you to the Christmas party tomorrow evening.”

“Party?” Brynn looked at him in confusion.

“Yes, we have an annual holiday party. All the partners will
be there,” he beamed. “It will be a great way for you to meet everyone at the
firm.”

“Oh ok, if you’re sure.” Brynn’s voice was uncertain. She
felt a bit bad going to a holiday party when she had only been on the job for one
day.

“And bring friends. We’ll have a lot of free booze and we’ll
have food catered from Giovanni’s.”

“Oh I love Giovanni’s.” Brynn’s stomach grumbled and they
both laughed.

“See, even your stomach wants you to come.” He smiled at
her. “It will be held at the Hilton Downtown at around 8pm.”

“Okay, that sounds good.” She watched as Doug walked away
and she smiled. Maybe she could see something happening with him after all.

Chapter 2

“I don’t know if I can get a babysitter for tomorrow night,”
Barb moaned as Brynn told her about the holiday party. “

“You have to come, Barb. It will be a fun. A free fun night
out,” Brynn begged her friend. There was no way she wanted to go by herself.

“What am I going to do with the kids?”

“Hmm, let me think.” Brynn bit her lip and sighed. “We could
always ask Lucky to come over and babysit.”

“Ooh, do you think she would?”

“Maybe.” Brynn grabbed her phone. “I owe her a phone call,
let’s find out.”

Brynn waited for her sister to answer the phone wondering
what she was doing. Her sister was a hairdresser and when she wasn’t dyeing and
setting someone else’s hair, she was playing around with her own.

“Brynn, you took long enough.” Lucky answered the phone
breathlessly.

“You okay?”

“Sorry, just had to run and get the phone.” Lucky paused.
“So did you want to go red or purple, Monika?”

“Lucky, where are you?”

“Hold on a sec, Brynn. I’m just having Monika choose her
hair color.”

“Lucky, do you want to just call me back?” Brynn offered her
sister feeling bad that poor Monika was going to end up with a bad dye job if Lucky
wasn’t 100% focused on what she was doing.