Unwrapping The Holidays

Desire is rising—and hearts are melting—in these sizzling holiday stories

Hot Coded Christmas by Nana Malone

Nothing says Christmas quite like...computer coding? That’s how CEO Jamie Reed plans to spend the holidays, holed up in an upstate New York guesthouse, desperately trying to save her company. She didn’t count on sharing this secluded wonderland with her business rival, Cole Nichols. But the sexy tech billionaire just might be the one to make all Jamie’s winter wishes come true...

Be Mine for Christmas by Sheryl Lister

After her dream Christmas wedding is canceled, Maya Brooks aims to revive her spirits with a little holiday fling. Ian Jeffries finds the gorgeous bakery owner as luscious as her desserts—and wants more of both. But Maya’s trust is shattered when she discovers that Ian’s real-estate firm is trying to buy out her shop. Can he prove his passion isn’t a ruse and that her love’s the only gift he will need forever?

Hot Coded Christmas

by Nana Malone

He reached for her and took her hand. “One dance, Jamie. Call a truce and it’s one dance. And you don’t even have to leave your spot. No one is watching you here in the corner.”

She stared at his hand for a moment, then lifted her gaze up to meet his. With a sigh, she slid her hand into his and let him pull her into his body. “Fine. If it makes you go away. Just one.”

He nodded and pulled her closer against him, relishing how they fit together. “How about for a little while we just forget everything?”

Be Mine for Christmas

by Sheryl Lister

The moment the sexy stranger wrapped his arms around her, sensations Maya never experienced coursed through her body.

Her nerves were already on overload from his verbal play at the table. She tried to pull away, but he tightened his arms around her and held her closer to his hard body. She resisted for a short moment, then brought her arms up around his neck and melted into his embrace.

At length he said, “My apologies. I should have introduced myself first. I’m Ian Jeffries...and you are?”

She lifted her head. “Maya. Maya Brooks.”

NANA MALONE is a USA TODAY bestselling author. Her love of all things romance and adventure started with a tattered romantic suspense she borrowed from her cousin on a sultry summer afternoon in Ghana at a precocious thirteen. She’s been in love with kick-butt heroines ever since. And if she’s not working or hiding in the closet reading, she’s acting out scenes for her husband, daughter and puppy in sunny San Diego.

SHERYL LISTER has enjoyed reading and writing for as long as she can remember. She writes contemporary and inspirational romance and romantic suspense. She’s been nominated for an Emma Award and the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award, and named BRAB’s 2015 Best New Author. Sheryl resides in California and is a wife, mother of three daughters and a son-in-love, and grandmother to two very special little boys.

Unwrapping the Holidays

Nana Malone

Sheryl Lister

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Table of Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Authors

Title Page

Hot Coded Christmas by Nana Malone

Be Mine for Christmas by Sheryl Lister

Extract

Copyright

Hot Coded Christmas

Nana Malone

To Erik, thank you for that long-ago Christmas in London. I will forever remember my gift of apple jelly. You’ve always known how to make me happy.

Dear Reader,

Thank you so much for reading Hot Coded Christmas. After over a decade in the software world, I have a soft spot for my computer geeks. Hot Coded Christmas was a chance to revisit my old teams. Though I don’t think any of my old engineers were nearly as hot as Cole!

Next up for me, I’ve got many more books. So sit back, relax and happy reading!

If you want to chat with me, I’m pretty easy to find!

Nana

www.nanamalone.com www.Facebook.com/nanamalonewriter www.Twitter.com/nanamalone

Contents

Dedication

Dear Reader

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 1

Jamison Reed loved everything about Christmas.

From the decorations, to the songs, to the food, and yes, even fruitcake. She embraced it all. But now, as she watched her employees enjoy the Christmas party she’d catered, a long shadow cast a damper on her holiday.

How long would she be able to keep them all employed? Thanks to what she called the great screwup of her existence, she had fifty people she needed to take care of, and going into next year, she had no idea how to do it. No, that wasn’t true. She had a Hail Mary plan, but what would she do if it didn’t work? This was what she got for believing in love. A shattered heart and a drained corporate bank account.

Her head of marketing, Becca Long, sidled up to her, carrying two cups. “Eggnog for your troubles?”

Jamie gave Becca a small smile. “Thank you. Are you having fun?”

“Of course I am,” she said, tossing her glossy dark hair over her shoulder. “I love the annual Christmas party. I love seeing who’s drinking too much. I’m starting a pool on who’s going to have the biggest hangover tomorrow. And I’m taking bets on who’s going to lose their decorum first, once the music gets pumping.” She shrugged. “There’s at least one every year who forgets that this is a work party. But, yeah, I’m having fun. Way more than you. You look worried, boss lady.”

Jamie sighed. That’s because she was worried. Her small gaming company, Cyberpunked, had been having serious financial troubles. Their latest game had done extremely well, especially as it captured an audience of strong, sassy girls. But not exceptional enough to pull them out of the red. They had an investor in the wings willing to drop a ton of cash into the coffers, contingent on the potential of the next game. They’d evaluate everything based on their demo product.

They were willing to take a gamble if Cyberpunked’s demo of the game garnered strong reviews and excitement. Only problem with that was, the demo was scheduled for mid-January and there was still a lot of testing to be done.

Jamison forced a smile for Becca. “I’m good, I promise. Just a little worried...” Becca was more than a friend though. She was a long-standing employee at the company. Over the years they’d grown close. But still, Jamie tried to shield her from the worst of it. From her epic blunders.

“If this is what good looks like, then I don’t want any part of it. You look exhausted, girl. When was the last time you slept?” The petite brunette spread her arms open in front of the converted warehouse that served as Cyberpunked headquarters. The abundance of decorations made the space look like Santa had relocated the North Pole to their offices. “This is all great and everything, and I am so grateful that you did all this for us. I know you’ve been bending over backward to take care of the team, but you have to take care of yourself too. Don’t think I missed how late you’ve been going home, or the midnight emails. Or how early you get up in the morning. I know you’re killing yourself. And it pisses me off when I think about why.”

Jamie shook her head. “No, Becca. Don’t worry about me. Don’t stress about anything. I promised to keep this place running and I will.”

“Come on, Jamie, level with me. At least tell me how bad it is.”

Jamie sighed. The truth would have everyone running for the unemployment line. “It’s not good. But I don’t want anyone to worry about it. When you guys all decided to stay, I can’t even tell you what that meant to me. So, I’m going to handle it. You just focus on enjoying your Christmas holiday. We still have a couple of days to do everything we can for the game release, but then I want everyone to go and enjoy their two-week holiday. I’ll take it from here.”

Becca pursed her lips. “You do too much. But I know you’re not going to listen to me.” Her friend crossed her arms. “At least do me a favor and promise me you’re going to do your best to enjoy the holiday?”

“I’ll definitely try,” she lied smoothly. She would enjoy her time off. It would just be a working holiday.

Becca didn’t look like she believed her, but still her friend gave her a bright smile. “If you say so. Now, you drink your eggnog. I’m going to see if I can find a single hot guy in this crowd and some mistletoe.”

Jamie had to laugh. With her good looks, Becca would have lots of takers.

“Enjoy.” If the only thing Jamie had to worry about was finding someone to kiss for Christmas, her life would be so uncomplicated. It was kissing that got her in this mess in the first place. Matter of fact, mistletoe kissing had gotten her into a lot of trouble.

She took a sip of her eggnog, letting the cinnamon do its job to perk her up. Otherwise, she’d be groaning. She’d been an idiot, letting love enter into a business relationship. She and Brandon had started Cyperpunked over four years ago before they graduated college. By the time they were ready to don the cap and gown, they’d already put out a hugely successful game.

She’d thought they were on top of the world. How wrong she was. The two of them had met at Carnegie Mellon University their freshman year. She’d been one of the few women in her engineering class, and he’d been one of the rare attractive, sociable guys. And that year they’d had nearly every class together. They’d gravitated toward each other and bonded over their love of gaming. He’d always called her his sexy, cute gaming girl. Well, that had only lasted for so long.

After school, they’d moved to New York, where the start-up community was huge and funding was everywhere. They’d had a good run, but things had eventually fallen apart and it seemed Brandon had found another attractive, tech-savvy girl, because he’d left her for one of their interns. She’d come home from South by Southwest Festival to find him gone. He’d left a note. He’d wanted more excitement out of his life. What he’d really meant was he wanted an upgrade in girlfriends.

And to add salt to the wound, instead of just letting her buy him out, there’d been a fight over their clients. Since he was in charge of sales and marketing, he’d managed to convince some of their biggest clients that he was the brains behind the shop.

His leaving hadn’t been her fault. She was self-possessed enough to know that. But putting her company in a vulnerable position, that was her fault. She hadn’t made him sign a freaking noncompete, the legal document that would have protected her stake. And she’d paid dearly for it. Not only had he taken their clients, but he’d also taken a good chunk of their employees with him. While she’d been building the business, he’d been polluting the well. When she’d fallen in love with him, she hadn’t seen him for the master manipulator he was. And it had cost her too much.

Jamie had taken the high road, and refused to address the negative comments swirling on social media and around the building. Since she wouldn’t respond, so many of them thought she wasn’t in it to win it. They also worked with him directly, so why wouldn’t they believe what he’d said? They’d eventually left with him.

With the team she had left, they’d managed to survive for the last year on the residuals from old games and revenue from some new games, but they were struggling and everybody knew it.

Especially Teched. The tech giant was breathing down her neck, eager for a takeover. They’d offered her a buyout, but she knew they would dismantle her company and fire half her employees. That was the general strategy of takeovers. She’d made her team a promise to keep the company going and she intended to keep it.

She wasn’t ready to give up yet. Their last game had been hotly anticipated and the critics had loved it. It was doing well, and had stemmed the bleeding, but she needed a major infusion of cash pronto or there was no way she could keep the doors open.

She’d vowed that she would streamline her lifestyle before she would cut her team, but that promise was looking like a mistake. She’d eventually moved into the room at the back of the office to save on rent. How had she let this happen?

Stop it. You can do this. You can do anything. Besides, it’s Christmas and you believe in miracles. So all you need is a miracle at Cyberpunked.

And her wish she would get. In two days, she would leave for her hometown in upstate New York. Since her family was away in France for her cousin’s wedding, she’d hole up at Mountain Villas Lodge and work. She’d always wanted to stay there when she was a kid. She’d concentrate on the game and enjoy herself as much as she could. Her prayer would be answered, she knew it. It had to be. Because she wasn’t going to give up on her company or herself.

Chapter 2

Cole Nichols pulled his Range Rover into the paved driveway of Mountain Villas Lodge.

The outer log facade gave the lodge a country effect, but he knew better. Inside, every room was state-of-the-art with the most modern of amenities. The main building housed two restaurants, a bar, a giant heart and seating areas.

They were nestled at the base of the mountain and when the snow fell thick, guests were immediately transported to a winter wonderland beautiful enough to rival any Disney could create.

A good portion of upstate New York had already seen its first snow. His family had bought into the lodge when he was a kid, so they always stayed in the owners’ suite. He’d grown up just thirty miles from here, but this tiny town seemed like a lifetime away from the suburban hub he’d known. Or the urban setting he’d moved to. Out here, in Mills Spring, it was miles to the nearest neighbor. And deer, foxes and rabbits often made an appearance on the premises.

This year though, he’d be without his family or his would-be ex-fiancée. And right about now, he preferred it that way. Alone time with his laptop and the finest Scotch on earth was all he needed at this point.

The biting winter air snaked its way into his peacoat and he shivered. He’d left his damn scarf on the train from the city. But he’d survive. It wasn’t like he was going to be leaving the property much.

He was taking a break from people. He needed solitude from everything. His Thanksgiving proposal hadn’t quite gone according to plan so he was still smarting from that.

He wasn’t a big lover of the holiday seasons and he wasn’t going to miss not being with his family. His mother and stepfather had gone to Europe to ski this Christmas and he wasn’t really in the mood for social-climbing ski bunnies at the moment.

He tried to shove the thought of his would-have-been fiancée out of his head. But he couldn’t let go of the burn of rejection. She’d turned him down. Him. Cole Nichols. No one turned him down. But it wasn’t so much that she’d turned him down, it was the reason she’d given him. That with all his money and connections, and his business, that she didn’t think he could give her the lifestyle she wanted.

She wanted carte blanche to the accounts. And that wasn’t going to fly on any day with him. She’d run through the monthly allowance he’d set up for her in a matter of days.

She liked to shop, and party and she wanted to look the part of a billionaire’s girlfriend. He was generous, but it didn’t matter how much he gave her, it was never enough.

Everyone had warned him about her. But like a fool, he thought he could change her. Control the situation.

She’d already replaced him with someone richer...older too. Someone who wouldn’t bat an eyelash at her gold digger tendencies.

Fine by him. He wished her a lifetime of saggy butt wrinkles. Good riddance. He had work to do. And one day, she’d regret walking away from him. Truth was, he was more excited by the thought of his business goals right now anyway.

Teched was in the process of acquiring a small gaming firm that was bucking the system. Normally, he let his VP of acquisitions handle the takeovers and buyouts, but this damn CEO had been rejecting their offers for over a year. So Cole had gotten involved.

At first he thought it was funny that they declined. He knew the company was struggling, but somehow the owner had managed to keep Cyperpunked moving along. Cole would have preferred to avoid a messy situation, but all attempts to acquire them had been refused.

Fine by him—he liked a little fight anyway. Sooner or later they would buckle. He was going to spend the next two weeks gaining some leverage and applying some pressure.

He wasn’t a fan of the word no. When it came to business, his father had taught him that someone who said no hadn’t yet learned the benefits of saying yes. His father had also instructed him that when the cost outweighed the benefit, to walk away. Never get into a fight simply because someone irritated you. Maybe he hadn’t learned that lesson so well.

In business, it was rare people said no to him. And when they did, he usually was able to make them see things his way. There had been some deals he walked away from that became problematic, but not often. Cyberpunked was falling into that category. But for some reason he couldn’t let it go.

He’d spent a year pursuing the company and so far, they’d rejected every offer he’d come up with. It equal parts infuriated as well as intrigued him. He’d found them out a few years ago with their game Spyder. The gaming kids had gone crazy over the realistic design and 3-D-level graphics. When he’d played it himself, he’d fallen in love with the labyrinth of scenarios and challenges in the game. The designers were smart. And they were playful and innovative too.

He’d made an attempt to secure the company then, but they’d refused to be bought. Six months later one of the partners took off with some of the major clients. The newly formed company built their own games and components for large game manufacturers as well. But the games they put out weren’t as appealing as Cyberpunked’s were. They were missing some of the nuance and complexity. Despite having the better product, Cyberpunked had limped along ever since.

The only logical conclusion was that the creative force behind that operation was the one left running the shop. And Cole wanted the shop. Well, mostly he wanted that key person on his team. The rest of the employees would probably be let go, or placed somewhere in his firm, but he didn’t care about that. Cyberpunked thought they could fight the inevitable. But he knew better. He didn’t give up on anything. And he wasn’t going to start now. Come January, Cyberpunked was going to be part of Teched. They just didn’t know it yet.

Chapter 3

As soon as Cole opened the door to his suite, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He grinned when he saw who it was. “Jake, what’s up, man? Tell me you have good news.”

“Define ‘good news’,” Jake replied.

“Why is it every time you sound like that, I get the kind of information that puts me in a bad mood?”

His VP of acquisitions gave a humorless chuckle. “Because it’s usually something comprised of the word no.”

Cole ground his teeth. He at least wanted to do some skiing this afternoon before the work began. “What the hell is the matter now?”

“The latest offer to Cyberpunked was denied.”

He pinched his nose. “Seriously? What the hell is their problem? The last package was beyond generous. Hell, it was practically a Christmas gift. I even made concessions for the engineering staff to be hired on.”

Jake was silent for a moment. When he finally spoke, his words were slow, as if he’d measured each one before speaking. “Cole, maybe it’s time to think about letting this one go. At least for the time being until they fall apart on their own. The terms are better for us if they come crawling for a bailout. I don’t like this version of Teched, us chasing after a nothing game company. Hell, they have less than fifty employees. They aren’t worth the effort. This is all ego to them.”

Give up? The hell he would. “No, Jake. J.L. Reed is a genius. You played the game. You should understand.”

“Look, I’m not saying the designer’s not good. I’m just saying, we’re getting nowhere. Right about now, the resources you’re expending trying to get that company to pay attention to us are far outweighing the benefit. You don’t usually get so stuck on something. This is going a step above and beyond. Maybe—”

Cole was quick to jump on the hesitation in his friend’s voice. “Maybe what?”

“I’m just saying that maybe some of this has to do with Clarissa. You weren’t able to hold on to her, good riddance by the way, but now you’re desperate to attain this company. Maybe because the owner is female you think she should fall in line just like every other woman in your life.”

Jake had been spending too much time with his psychologist girlfriend. That’s what Cole thought. “You know, I appreciate the concern, but I know what I’m doing. We’ve been talking about a game division for years. This is the best foray into that.”

Jake sighed. “I hear you, but what about the company that split from Cyberpunked? They are one-half of the outfit. And maybe they’ll be less of a pain in the ass.”

Cole was silent for a minute as he poured himself a glass of Scotch. Most guys his age were indulging in craft cocktails. He had zero patience for adding basil and egg whites to a drink. And his tolerance was low for Jake right now. “Jake, have you ever known me to take less than the best?”

His friend sighed. “No.”

“Then why would I take second best when the real brains are at Cyberpunked?”

“Okay. I hear you. I’ll have another offer drawn up. Maybe it’s time you asked for a personal appointment. Persuade the CEO to meet with you. Maybe she’s old-school and needs a face-to-face. I know she declined to meet with the proposal team. But a meeting request from you directly could tip the scales.”

For the first time in the conversation, Jake was saying something that made sense. Cole could really state his case then. And in person, there were few people who would tell him no. “Best thing you’ve said to me all day.”

“Okay, I’ll get on it. And Cole?”

“Yeah?”

“For once, try and enjoy the holiday.”