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    Vermont Christmas
    Vermont Christmas
    Vermont Christmas
    Ebook93 pages1 hour

    Vermont Christmas

    By Tracey Pedersen

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Can she save Christmas with hot chocolate and s'mores...?

    Cherie West's Christmas plans included snow, a romantic mountain ski chalet, and a giant white diamond on her waiting third finger. Instead, she got a cheating boyfriend, a solo vacation, and new plans to drown her sorrows all festive season.

    That holiday in Vermont couldn't come fast enough. She called all her friends, but a trip to the USA at Christmas was way outside their budgets. She'd paid, though, and it was non-refundable.

    Now Cherie is alone and looking for adventure on the most meaningful holiday of the year.

    After three seasons in Vermont, Brant Bryant has learned an important fact. City slicker couples who come up the mountain with no idea how to manage, make his caretaker's life hell. His newest couple is no exception. Who doesn't know how to start a fire?

    When the events strand his right-hand man, it's up to Brant to make the one-mile trek to the chalet next door. You'd think the drive there and back would be simple, right? By the time he arrives, the blizzard of the century threatens. By the time he's ready to leave, there is no leaving. No one with his deep fear of falling off the mountain would risk it.

    To complicate matters, his city slicker couple is just one well-padded woman. As the fire warms the room, her layers peel away. They talk. She flirts. He warms to her. When she presents her version of hot chocolate, he's lost.

    They only have to survive one night together. How bad could it be?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTracey Pedersen
    Release dateDec 19, 2019
    ISBN9780648584087
    Vermont Christmas
    Author

    Tracey Pedersen

    Tracey Pedersen is an Australian USA Today Bestselling author who has finally accepted that she is meant to write, write, write! In 2016 she released her first romance novel and hasn't looked back. Now writing full time, and fighting the urge to write every second of the day, she loves travel, crocheting, replying to reader emails and spending WAY too much time on Facebook!

    Read more from Tracey Pedersen

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      Book preview

      Vermont Christmas - Tracey Pedersen

      Chapter One - Cherie

      Greg’s office is on the tenth floor of the reflective glass building before me. On a normal day security would call upstairs and give me access to his level. I forgot about that when I dropped in here on a whim. I haven’t visited Greg at work in years.

      I slide my phone from my pocket, but there’s no need to call ahead. His secretary appears beside me, somehow, and ushers me toward the elevator. She’s carrying Chinese food. Hi there, Cherie. It's nice to see you, again.

      Thanks, Sheila. I’m just here for a minute to see Greg before I go out for dinner with the girls. Can I assume I’ll find him in his office?

      Oh, a girl’s night. One of my favourite things. You should invite me next time. I'm totally the life of the party. She ignores my question about my boyfriend’s whereabouts and punches the button for the top floor.

      Greg’s secretary would be an unlikely match for my girls.

      She’s kinda fancy.

      I’ve never seen her in shoes other than towering stilettos, and I swear every shirt she owns is low cut, flirty, and very sheer. She has an air about her, like she knows a secret, or three. Her confidence is intimidating, even when it’s just the two of us stepping into the elevator. If I showed up for dinner with her, my girlfriends would immediately turn inward. Of our group, I’m the most extroverted, and even I’m intimated by Sheila.

      I placate her as I watch the floors rush past on the digital display. I’ll keep that in mind, Sheila. For next time.

      I smile at her and we both look up as the elevated dings. When we exit, she goes left, and I go right, heading for Greg’s office at the end of the corridor. I once asked him why he didn’t move closer to the elevator and he explained he liked the privacy. The corner office gives him a great view of the city, and it’s tucked away, meaning less people wander past and stop for a chat during the day. Not that anyone would be that brave, without a specific reason. If Sheila is intimidating, Greg is the master of stand over tactics.

      His office actually takes the space of three separate offices in the corner. That means he has room for his own closet and his own bathroom—which frankly seems like overkill. My own office in a building twenty minutes away is pretty fancy and I earn a teensy bit more than my big-shot accountant boyfriend. I don’t have a bathroom adjacent to my office.

      The corridor is dark as I make my way toward his closed door. I can just hear his muffled words and for a moment I hesitate on the threshold and look toward Sheila’s desk. Normally she’d announce my arrival, but she hasn’t come back yet. If he’s on the phone, no problem, I can slip in and wait for him to finish. But if he’s in the middle of a meeting, my interruption could be unwelcome.

      I nibble the edge of my nail and glance at the clock on the wall. I have to be at the restaurant in half an hour, which means I don’t have much time to spare. I sigh and raise my hand, my quiet knock echoing in the deserted offices. I’ll just make my apologies, say a quick hello, and be on my way.

      I open the door, peering through the gap to see the back of his chair facing the door. He’s still talking quietly, and it seems he didn’t hear my knock. At least there’s no meeting. I open the door wide and close it behind me, before settling myself in one of his plush visitor’s chairs.

      The wide padding of the armrest is soft under my fingers. I’ll have to look into getting some of these. They’re comfortable and luxurious and I’d bet Sheila picked them out. They seem like they’d suit her. Greg turns in his seat, sees me and raises one finger to promise he’ll only be a minute. I take the opportunity to stare out the window at the city lights and almost exactly a minute later he disconnects and gives me his full attention. He rises from his chair and comes around the desk, taking both my hands in a formal manner.

      It’s the one thing that annoys me about Greg.

      Why doesn’t he grab me and spin me around, just once? Maybe a grin from ear to ear could be something different. But no, his style is to be serious and sensible at all times, even when we’re intimate. I can’t remember the last time I heard him giggle or laugh out loud at something. Not even at one of the jokes I tell him every weekend when we’re sharing the newspaper.

      He’s more a reserved kind of guy. Always on the right path. Always doing just what’s expected. Happy to have a partner with a career, who’s also a homebody with a side interest of baking. He never fails to compliment my latest cookie experiment, and I know it fills him with pride when I send boxes of them for the office.

      Which is why I’m pretty certain there’s an engagement ring in my immediate future. We have a date tomorrow night, and he insisted that it just be us.

      I know what that means. The white diamond I’ve dreamed of is about to become a reality.

      I have a surprise of my own, though. To celebrate the wedding I’ve been planning in my head forever, I’ve booked us the cutest chalet in the snow in Vermont. The cost was extraordinary, but we’re worth it. It’s been two years since we took a holiday together. Celebrating our engagement three years since we met seems like the perfect excuse for a blowout holiday to me.

      Cherie. He kisses both my cheeks. So like him.

      I laugh at his formal greeting and match it with my most serious voice. Greg.

      I thought you had an evening planned that did not include me. He drops my hands and leans against his desk, his hands stretched out to the sides.

      I do. I wanted to stop in and say hi, though. I didn’t see you this morning, or last night. If we’re not careful we could go all week and not know if the other was still alive. I grin and press against him, my fingers playing with his tie. It’s a very fancy tie. Not like the ones he usually wears to the office.

      He sighs and covers my hand with his, stilling my fingers. We have dinner planned for tomorrow.

      I know. I kiss his mouth. I’m only here for a minute, just to check in. He kisses me back, but his mind is elsewhere. Maybe on the call he just took, probably cut short when

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