All I Want for Christmas is You, a Holiday Romance (Fate with a Helping Hand Book 1) by Lisa Mondello

Author:Lisa Mondello [Mondello, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: contemporary romance, holiday romance, Christmas story, Christmas Romance, Massachusetts romance, Fate with a Helping Hand, Single Mother, Adoption, foster family, rags to riches, love and romance, family romance, traditional romance, books by Lisa Mondello, free ebooks, bargain ebooks
Published: 2013-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

The sun streamed through the blinds of Lauren's bedroom window, causing long shadow lines to stretch across the room. She forced her eyes open, feeling immediately that something was different. The full night's sleep had done her a world of good, but better health wasn't what she noticed.

The apartment was strangely quiet and it took a moment to register what was odd about this morning compared to every other day. The noise, or lack of it, finally struck her with a sense of urgency. As a rule, Kristen was always the first to be up and about, which gave Lauren no real need for an alarm clock. The absence of morning cartoons filtering in from the television in the living room or the tumbling of toys from the toy box in Kristen's room gave a weird sensation to the morning.

Lauren glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand next to her bed. The red numbers told her it was seven-thirty. After pushing up from the bed, she pulled a white terry robe from her closet and wrapped it snug around her body. The nightshirt she threw on last night when she went to bed was sheer gauze and fell to her upper thigh. It was not the kind of thing to go parading around in with a house guest.

Kyle. Was he even still here? She hadn't heard any signs of stirrings from him, either. Walking over the threshold into the living room, she found her suspicions were right on target. The bathroom door was wide open and the kitchen area empty. A folded blanket lay on the empty sofa. He was gone.

Swept by a sense of abandonment, she pulled the terry robe tighter and looked around the room. She tried to tell herself it wasn't a good idea for Kyle to stay last night. There was no need for him to take care of her. In the end, it had been way too easy to let him take over.

The bottom line was that, despite the need, she wanted him to stay. She liked having him around. For what reason, she didn't want to even think about.

Kyle had been busy last night while she slept, that much was evident as she scanned the apartment. In the kitchen, a bowl with nothing but a few popcorn kernels lay in the middle of the table surrounded by strings of popcorn garland. Somehow he'd managed to find her Christmas decorations in the eave and pulled out her tree stand. The Christmas tree was now clipped and neatly tucked in the corner, filling the space completely. Although the branches were still bare of any decoration, it held the promise of elegance and holiday cheer.

She must have slept like a rock, because she hadn't heard any commotion at all after her head hit the pillow.

After opening a cabinet and grabbing a glass, she poured herself some orange juice and leaned against the kitchen counter, drinking and listening to the quiet. Many times she longed for a morning to sleep, a quiet moment to herself.

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