A Daddy for Christmas: Holiday Romance (Holiday Romance Collection Book 2)

A Daddy for Christmas

Danielle Lee Zwissler©

Firefly & Wisp Books/Midnight Books

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www.fireflyandwispbooks.com

First Firefly & Wisp Books 2014.

All the characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. All work is from the imagination of the author. Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

A Daddy for Christmas

Danielle Lee Zwissler

Copyright 2014

Bonus Story: The Christmas House

Copyright 2011

Dear Reader,

Thank you so much for purchasing this lovely book. I am a huge fan of Christmas, and as many of you already know, cowboys!  This book, “A Daddy for Christmas”, is near and dear to my heart, as it is a story about a man that becomes the father and special daddy that little, Jacob James needs. His father, Jason, has been gone for three long years, and Jacob can barely remember him. This Christmas, all he wants is a dad, and for his mother to be happy.

I think we all deserve a Christmas miracle! I hope you enjoy, “A Daddy for Christmas,” and have a blessed New Year.

Love,

Danielle Lee Zwissler

For Bob Cadle,

Chapter One

M
egan James sat down on the couch, legs crossed, and waited for her son to pick out a book.

“Jacob, did you find one yet?”

Jacob didn’t answer, but came running out from the hallway and plopped onto the couch right beside her instead. He had a big grin on his face. “Mommy, I love this book!”

Jacob’s enthusiasm was at an all-time high. “Wow, we haven’t read this in a while.”

“We read this at school today, Mommy. Mrs. Cantor even had it on a CD.”

Jacob smiled down at the cute cat with the awesome looking shoes. “His voice was
so
funny!”

“I bet.”

Megan started reading.

“Mommy!” Jacob whined.

“You want the sounds?” Megan asked, knowing full well what his problem was. Ever since Jacob was born, Megan had read the voices for every character.

Jacob nodded.

It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep. Megan couldn’t help but smile at her son. He was everything in the world to her. Since Jason Moore, her ex and Jacob’s father, died in Afghanistan, Megan hadn’t thought about dating even once. Well, that was until this past year. Jacob had done nothing but bring up Jason. He talked about his Daddy all the time now, it seemed. Megan had worried about him, knowing that little boys needed their fathers. They needed to know how to grow up to be good men, and to have a good example in their lives. She wanted Jacob to have that. She
needed
Jacob to have that.

Megan smoothed down Jacob’s hair as he slept peacefully leaning against her. She watched as his stomach moved up and down. Still holding Jacob’s new favorite book, Megan placed it on the coffee table,  and then rolled her son into her arms and stood up, carrying the little tyke back to his bed.

After a few minutes of getting him all tucked in, Megan walked over to the bookcase and pulled out one of her family photo albums. It was from when Jacob was just a little baby. Nearly all the pictures were of just her and him alone, with only a few of her son and Jason. She felt the tears fall from her eyes and run down her cheeks. She felt the pain once more in her heart, dreaming about what her life would have been like if Jason were still alive.

She wondered if they would have finally gotten married. She wondered if they’d have lived in the little house that she and Jacob had made their home for the last three years. She wondered a lot of things, it was hard not to.

When she awoke the next morning all of those things still weighed heavily in her mind. Jacob, thankfully, didn’t notice.

“Mommy, are you going to come on my field trip today?”

“You know I am, baby,” Megan said as she packed a sack lunch for her and Jacob. Jacob had done nothing but talk about the field trip his kindergarten class was taking to the local police station. She had to put in for the day off right at the beginning of the school year when the calendars came out.

“I am so excited! I wonder if they will have any prisoners there.” Jacob momentarily lost his grin and a frown formed on his cute little lips. “What if they are really bad?”

“Jacob, they don’t keep the bad guys at the police station. You have nothing to worry about.”

Jacob sighed and Megan couldn’t help but bring him in for an all-encompassing hug. “I’m really excited about spending the day with you, Jake.”

“Me, too, Mommy!”

Three hours later Megan and Jacob were walking into the Clark County Police Station. Megan hadn’t been there herself since she was in elementary school. It was nearly the same for one exception, the walls were no longer the pea green that she remembered. Now they were a bright yellow, and several pictures adorned the walls.

“Now, Class,” Mrs. Ferguson, Jacob’s teacher spoke, “make sure you listen to what the officers tell you, and always raise your hand if you have a question. Chaperones, please stick by your group of kids. We don’t want anyone wandering off this year.”

At Mrs. Ferguson’s speech, Megan smiled. She looked down at her group of four kids, and made sure that they all held hands.

“Hi, this must be Mrs. Ferguson’s group,” a masculine voice sounded. Megan could feel the tiny hairs on the back of her neck. She turned toward the voice, and saw a very good looking man standing to her right. “I am Officer O’Reilly.”

“Hi, Officer O’Reilly,” the kids spoke in tandem.

Officer O’Reilly smiled and nodded at the children. “Has anyone been to the Clark County Police Station before?”

Jacob raised his hand wildly. Megan wasn’t paying much attention until Officer O’Reilly’s gaze suddenly found her own. He paused, then looked at Jacob. Megan swallowed. “Jacob, put your hand down,” Megan whispered. Officer O'Reilly smiled.

“Another field trip?”

“No, my mommy has been here!”

Megan’s face turned red at Officer O’Reilly’s pointed stare.

“I was here when I was in kindergarten,” Megan mumbled. Officer O’Reilly laughed and then looked at the group of kids.

“Ah, well that must have been a
very
long time ago.”

Megan gave him a dirty look and he laughed.

“It wasn’t that long ago,” Megan sneered. Jacob laughed, too.

“She went when she was in kindergarten, too. She told me that they don’t keep any bad people here, and that we are safe with police officers.”

Megan wanted to put duct tape over Jacob’s mouth. Suddenly she didn’t feel that safe. Officer O’Reilly was staring at her, and for some reason her libido decided it wanted to kick on for the first time in years.

***

After what seemed like days, the field trip to the police station finally came to an end. Megan couldn’t help but be relieved. She felt like she was rubbed raw. All day, her group was stuck with Officer O’Reilly. She felt guilty the entire time. While she was supposed to be spending a relaxing day with Jacob, she felt anything but relaxed. Instead, she felt a nervous sort of excitement just being around him. She found herself looking at his ring finger at one point, and of course he caught her. After a wink in her direction, Megan decided that she needed to get some sort of grip on reality. He was a gorgeous police officer, probably never married, and never had kids. What would someone like that want to do with a single mother of a five year old?

As the class boarded the bus to go back to the school, Officer O’Reilly followed, stopping Megan with a tug on her elbow.

“Ma’am,” he said softly. Megan turned and felt the heat envelop her skin.

“Yes?”

Up close, Officer O’Reilly had the most beautiful eyes, dark brown with golden flecks. Megan swallowed, waiting for him to say what he wanted to say.

“Are you free this evening?”

Megan supposed she should have been prepared for this, seeing as they had made eyes at each other all day, but she was really shocked. She quickly shook her head. “No, I’m sorry.”

“Tomorrow?” he asked, as she grabbed the doorway to the bus and pulled herself up. Jacob was already on the bus, and she was the last to board. Everyone was waiting on her.

“No.”

“This weekend?” he asked. He had a cheeky looking smile on his face—one that probably was a hit with every woman in a hundred mile radius.

Megan couldn’t believe this hottie was being so persistent. As she was about to deny him again, she heard Jacob’s teacher talking to the class about how good they were. Megan wanted to crawl in a hole. She knew the teacher and the bus driver heard what the officer was asking of her, and she could feel all the kids’ eyes on her.

“No. I have to go now, Officer. Thank you for showing us around.”

With everything that she could summon, she pulled herself up the steps and walked toward the back of the bus where Jacob was waiting for her with a big grin.

When the bus finally pulled away, Megan looked out the window, and Officer O’Reilly was standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face.