The Billionaire's Christmas Son - Leslie North Page 0,22
the family—his brothers, their significant others, and Tana’s daughter, Lindsey—had gathered around the big table in the dining room. The tension went out of Jonas’s shoulders. Oddly, he liked these kinds of meals—the ones that happened in the space between events. There was something more relaxed about them. Not so much pressure.
He introduced Scott to the group, and then the three of them sat at one end of the table near Tana and Lindsey. His sister-in-law immediately struck up a conversation with Rachel, hoping she’d get some action shots of Lindsey on the hills.
“I could try.” Rachel laughed. “I haven’t done much sports photography, but if we get a chance, I’ll take some photos. I’m sure we can get a few decent ones.”
The conversation flowed smoothly through the lunch. His brothers reminisced about Christmases past. Gabe told a story about the Christmas he got his first game system and stayed up all night playing it, only to feel so sick from lack of sleep the next morning that he didn’t play again for two weeks. Chase talked about sneaking out early to ski before it was light and falling over a divot in the snow.
Through it all, Jonas caught a few thoughtful looks from his brothers, and his grandmother propped her chin on her hand, watching Scott with interest as he ate.
Rachel held Scott on her lap and listened, a soft smile on her face, not seeming to notice any of the interest she was garnering.
“What do you normally do for Christmas when you’re not on last-minute jobs?” he asked her in a low voice while the others chattered on about favorite gifts and Christmastime treats.
“Oh—” Rachel snuggled Scott in close. “We keep it pretty low-key. This year Scott opened a gift early and then we headed here.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” she said lightly. “I don’t visit my parents at Christmas anymore, and the friend group was celebrating on the evening of Christmas, so we missed it. But we’ll go next year.”
Scott picked up a crouton from his plate and chewed at it.
“No, that’s not good enough.”
She whipped her head around, eyebrows raised. “What’s not good enough?”
“You need a real Christmas.” Jonas had never been surer of anything in his life. She’d spent the day working for him.
“I hate to cut this short,” his grandmother said, regret lacing her voice. “But I’m tired—I think I need to rest.”
They all got up in a chorus of reassurances. Rachel thanked everyone for the meal and the company. She headed for the door with graceful speed, but Jonas caught her by the elbow.
“Meet me at my place in an hour?”
A curious light came to her eyes, and she glanced behind him to where the rest of his family was beginning to filter out. “All right,” she said. “One hour.”
It was the busiest hour of his life. Starting with a mad dash into town for supplies, and then a quick meeting with some of his staff members to coordinate the details for the crazy idea he wanted to put into action. He rushed back to his house to prepare things on his end with only fifteen minutes to spare.
Jonas barely made it, Rachel’s knock at the door announcing their arrival just as he put the star on the top of the new artificial tree he’d bought downtown.
“Come in,” he hollered. “It’s unlocked.”
Rachel came in on a stiff breeze, Scott in her arms, his cheeks pink from the cold. “I’m dying to know. What did you—oh.”
She’d come into the living room, and all the decorations he’d set out reflected back to him in her eyes. The tinsel on the tree. The little pile of gifts underneath. The soft Christmas music playing from his sound system.
“It’s a few days late.” He held out a hand to her, ushering her farther into the room. “But I hope this will do.”
“Jonas,” she said in hushed tones. “You didn’t have to do this. Our Christmas was completely fine. It was—”
“Down,” Scott said. “Down!” He struggled out of Rachel’s arms and went to the tree, his little face shining with awe. He cupped one of the lights on the branches in both hands, then crouched down to look at the wrapped gifts. Scott reached out with one hand to push at the paper, then spun to look questioningly at Jonas.
“Go ahead, kiddo.” He dropped to the carpet next to Scott, and Rachel followed. The three of them were sitting in the glow of the tree while Scott tore into the gift that Jonas