“You swore you’d never clean my office again after last time.”
“Oh yeah,” he said, blushing slightly. “That was…traumatic.”
“I swear the butt plugs in the bottom drawer aren’t for me,” she said. “Mine are in my bedroom. The ones in my office are for a client.”
“That really doesn’t make it better, Nor. And I don’t even want to know why you store them next to your spare printer cartridges.”
“It’s the bottom drawer. Of course I store them there. Where do you store your butt plugs?”
“In my butt. Duh.”
“Why didn’t I think of that?”
Nora knelt on the floor in front of Wesley’s mess of wrapping paper, ribbons, tape, and bows.
“So no office cleaning. What can I do for you?” Wes asked, taping the ribbon to the bottom of his box. The wrapped box looked legitimately awful and absolutely adorable. She would teach him how to wrap a present the right way this week.
“You came back from Christmas with your family early to spend it with me. You don’t have to do anything else. Nothing. You didn’t even have to do that.”
“I like giving big Christmas gifts. I can’t buy you a new car or a house or anything, not like you need another car or another house. But I can give you me for Christmas. If you want me. You know, my company.”
“Right,” Nora said. “Your company.” She was already picturing their Christmas together. Ice skating. Christmas present shopping. Going to the Nativity play at St. Luke’s down the street. He hadn’t just given her his company for Christmas. Now that she wasn’t going to be alone, he’d given her Christmas for Christmas.
“You have to give me something to do or I’m a liar,” he said.
“Telling men what to do is my specialty, kid. Go and get your guitar,” she said. “You can sing for your supper. I need some Christmas music.”
He brought out his guitar and quickly tuned it. “Any requests?” he asked as he picked out a few stray notes.
“Anything you like.”
“Anything?”
“Anything but ‘O Holy Night.’”
“Why not?”
“Because it makes me sad.”
Wes narrowed his eyes at her and then nodded. He had learned by now that “makes me sad” was code for “makes me think of Søren.” That was the last thing either of them wanted tonight.
“No worries.” Wes grinned at her and all the sadness went away. “I don’t even know how to play that one. How about this?”
Wes leaned back against the couch and stretched out his legs. Nora put a pillow on his shins and laid her head there, curling up like a child. With the tree lights lit and evening draping itself over the house like a black silk sheet and Wes here with her, it finally felt like Christmas. Wes began to play “Silent Night.”
Silent night. Holy night. All is calm. All is bright.
And it was beautiful.
The End.
Acknowledgments
My deepest thanks to Bethany Hensel, Karen Stivali, and Kristi Falteisek for their help editing A Winter Symphony (especially Bethany, who had to read it twice when we sent her the wrong version). I couldn't do it without you, ladies. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
About the Author
Tiffany Reisz is the USA Today bestselling author of the Romance Writers of America RITA®-winning Original Sinners series from Harlequin’s Mira Books.
Her erotic fantasy The Red—the first entry in the Godwicks series, self-published under the banner 8th Circle Press—was named an NPR Best Book of the Year and a Goodreads Best Romance of the Month.
Tiffany lives in Kentucky with her husband, author Andrew Shaffer, and two cats. The cats are not writers.
Subscribe to the Tiffany Reisz email newsletter and receive a free copy of Something Nice, a standalone Original Sinners ebook novella:
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More Books by Tiffany Reisz
The Godwicks—Standalones
THE PEARL
THE RED
THE ROSE
Gothic Romances—Standalones
THE BOURBON THIEF
THE HEADMASTER
THE LUCKY ONES
THE NIGHT MARK
The Original Sinners—Series
THE SIREN (Book #1)
THE ANGEL (Book #2)
THE PRINCE (Book #3)
THE MISTRESS (Book #4)
THE SAINT (Book #5)
THE KING (Book #6)
THE VIRGIN (Book #7)
THE QUEEN (Book #8)
THE PRIEST (Book #9)
The Original Sinners—Standalones
THE AUCTION (previously published as DANIEL PART TWO)
THE CHATEAU
THE GIFT (previously published as SEVEN DAY LOAN)
THE LAST GOOD KNIGHT
LITTLE RED RIDING CROP
A MIDWINTER NIGHT’S DREAM
MISCHIEF
THE MISTRESS FILES
PICTURE PERFECT COWBOY
THE RETURN (THE CHATEAU sequel)
SOMETHING NICE
The Original Sinners—Collections
ABSOLUTION (Australia exclusive; out of print)
THE CONFESSIONS
MICHAEL’S WINGS
SUBMIT TO DESIRE/IMMERSED IN PLEASURE (duology)
WINTER TALES
Men At Work—Standalones
HER HALLOWEEN TREAT
HER NAUGHTY HOLIDAY
IAN’S FORBIDDEN DREAM GIRL (ONE HOT DECEMBER prequel)
ONE HOT DECEMBER
Cosmo Red-Hot Reads—Standalones
MISBEHAVING
SEIZE THE NIGHT (out of print)
More Winter Tales
Return to USA Today bestseller Tiffany Reisz’s Original Sinners series with Winter Tales, a collection of three fan-favorite Christmas novellas plus a brand-new novella exclusive to this anthology.
eBook, Paperback, Hardcover, and Audio 8thCirclePress.com and Tantor Audio
More Winter Tales
A companion collection to The Angel, featuring a new novella and five previously-published short stories starring the Original Sinners’ Michael and Griffin.
Stories include “Griffin in Wonderland,” “Gauze,” “The Theory of the Moment,” “A Better Distraction,” the holiday story “Christmas in Suite 37A,” and a brand new erotic novella guest-starring Mistress Nora!
“Trademark Tiffany Reisz... I loved every minute of it.” — TotallyBooked
eBook, Paperback, and Audio | 8thCirclePress.com
More Winter Tales
This holiday romance short-story collection features the Original Sinners story “A Christmas Maggie.”
All Daniel (The Gift) wanted for Christmas was to spoil his new girlfriend, Anya, make love under the tree, and ignore all his old heartaches. But the ghosts of Christmas past aren’t so easily forgotten…