An Unexpected Christmas Read Free Page A

adorable dogs.
    'The one with the blue collar is
Toby and the other is Milly,' she told me, and I gave them one last stroke then
stood and watched as they danced around me then wandered through a door off the
hallway to the left.
    'Hello?' Ella called out towards
the back of the house.
    'In here.' called a deep voice
from the room the dogs had disappeared into. Ella grinned and hurried down the
red tiled hallway towards the voice as I followed behind.
    I watched as Ella strode around a
large, plush, leather sofa and embraced a tall dark haired man. I didn't get a
chance to see his face as he hugged her close so I just waited and took in the
room; it was a spacious living room with a huge fireplace which was blazing
away and keeping the room at a toasty level of warmth and was decorated with a
beautiful garland of holly and fairy lights. The furniture looked old but well
looked after and, as well as the large dark brown leather sofa, there was a
plush armchair in the space between the fire and two large windows; one of
which faced the front of the house and the other facing the garden. Beside the
fireplace there stood a huge Christmas tree decorated in gold and rich reds.
    As Ella pulled back and turned
towards me I saw who she had embraced and it knocked all the air from my body;
Nate Hamilton was standing right in front of me. I was in the same room as Nate
Hamilton, breathing the same air as him. My brain fired in to overtime; ‘What
do I do? What should I say? What should I do?’ I was starting to panic and
breathing was becoming difficult; I took in a deep breath to calm me a little.
Nate stood smiling at me, a smile I had seen so many times in magazines and on
TV, and more recently on the big screen.
    He stood next to Ella and I
noticed that he really was quite tall, much taller than I had imagined him to
be but his hair was that dark chocolate he was known for and even from a
distance I could see his shining blue eyes. Nate Hamilton was breathtaking and
could probably have any woman he wanted but if the gossip mags were to be
believed had been single for the past year.  He was dressed casually in a dark
blue wool sweater and soft jeans that were worn in all the right places.
    'April, this is my pain of a big
brother Nate. Nate, this is April,' Ella gestured towards me and I watched as
Nate made his way around the sofa and held out his hand to me.  I wordlessly
slipped my hand in to his and was mesmerised for a moment at how long and
strong his fingers were. I looked back up into his eyes and swallowed and saw
his smile turn up slightly at one side.
    ‘Hello,
it’s nice to meet you,’ he said, but I was still noticing his hand and how warm
and soft it was but his handshake was confident and friendly. I finally managed
to snap myself out of the trance that just the sight of Nate had put me in and our
handshake broke naturally whilst I finally found my voice.
    'It
is nice to meet you too.' It came out a little formal and I cleared my throat
hoping to give myself a moment to think of something else to say to him, 'You
have my car.' He looked adorably confused and I couldn’t help but smile at him,
'Not my car obviously, but my dream car. I have drooled over pictures of
the Jaguar F-type for months and have only seen one in real life once until we
pulled up outside and there it was, just sitting in the drive.'
    I
was babbling, I knew I was babbling, but I had been thrown for a loop; I really
needed to find a quiet space and maybe bang my head against a wall a couple of
times to just make sure I wasn't dreaming. I glanced around the room quickly
scoping out a flat surface for such a thing but my attention was brought back
to Nate. He had a small smile on his face and he glanced out of the window and
back to me.
    'She
is a beauty. I haven't had her for long but she is a dream to drive.' He
broadened his smile, 'Ella didn't mention she was bringing a friend home.'
    I
dragged my eyes away from him and over to where Ella