A Christmas Song Read online

  Table of Contents

  A CHRISTMAS SONG

  copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  About the Author

  Trademarks Acknowledgment

  A CHRISTMAS SONG

  IMARI JADE

  Passion in Print Press

  www.passioninprint.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright 2012 by Imari Jade

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  Published by

  Passion in Print Press, LLC

  3052 Gaines Waterport Rd.

  Albion, NY 14411

  Visit Passion in Print Press, LLC on the Internet:

  www.passioninprint.com

  Editing by Lawan Williams

  ebook format ISBN#978-1-60820-830-2

  Issued 2012

  This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines and/or imprisonment. This eBook cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this eBook can be shared or reproduced without the express permission of the publisher.

  Chapter One

  “What do you mean Three-Ringed Circus is going to perform at the Christmas benefit?” Denise Stewart asked her best friend and boss, Bernard Douglas, as she sat in his office. She was in charge of the benefit to raise money for the Huntington Orphanage but no one told her.

  Bernard continued to flip through a stack of bills on his desk. “It’s a surprise. Trent and the guys are coming in for the holiday and volunteered to help out.”

  She supposed she could book a plane out of San Diego before they arrived. It would cost a pretty penny at the last moment, but it would be well worth it not to see Trent and his band, ever.

  “Three-Ringed Circus is scheduled to start their world-wide tour after New Years, so they’ll be out of the country for several months. We’re lucky we know them and they want to help out.”

  Denise glared at him. “You mean you’re lucky you know them and having them perform at the benefit will boost room rentals at your hotel.”

  “I won’t deny it. Having Three-Ringed Circus perform for the benefit will surely put us on the tourist map.” Keisha, a gorgeous brunette called into the office from her desk in the hallway.

  Denise and Bernard shook their heads at the receptionist’s eavesdropping.

  Bernard had inherited the once five-star hotel from his parents and had been doing everything he could to make it popular again. The hotel had just been remodeled and he’d poured almost every cent he had into the renovation and advertising.

  Raising money for the local orphanage where she grew up was a good thing, but Denise couldn’t help but feel something bad might happen when the media found out the heavy metal band would be performing.

  She could just picture the mob scene once everyone found out. Young people would be camping out on the lawn outside the hotel, trying to get a look at the four sexy rockers. Maybe she should hire more security before she fled the scene.

  “Are you listening to me, Denise?”

  No, she was too busy trying to figure a way out of this situation. “Yes.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re probably plotting a way to put as many miles as you can between you and Trent. It’s been seven years since you broke the man’s heart and refused to marry him.”

  Sure, sure, make everything her fault. She didn’t want to be dragged all over the country while the band performed. And she certainly didn’t want to watch young women and men fawning over Trent and trying to get him to sleep with them. No, she had done the right thing and refused to marry him. Hopefully he wouldn’t even remember her. “When are they arriving in town?”

  “This afternoon,” Bernard answered. “They’ll be staying in the top floor suites.”

  How in the hell could she be the assistant manager of a hotel and not know any of this? Maybe Trent wouldn’t recognize her since she was no longer eighteen and she had put on a little weight. Well, not a little. Her ta-tas and her ass had a growth spurt and now Bernard teased her unmercifully when she wore anything low-cut or tight. Denise relaxed a bit. She didn’t have anything to worry about. Trent had women throwing themselves at him and she’d heard he was dating some pop singer. What would he want with a twenty-five year old spinster black woman when he had his choice of almost any woman or man in the world?

  This afternoon? Did he say, this afternoon? “We need to hire extra security.” She wondered if Bernard heard the urgency in her voice.

  “Relax. I’ve taken care of everything. You just need to concentrate on getting the Christmas tree decorated.”

  He spoke of the ten foot artificial fir tree originally owned by his parents and displayed in the main ballroom every year since his family owned the hotel.

  “Keisha had some of the guys haul it out of storage, but it probably needs more balls and garland or something.”

  Denise rolled her eyes at him. She wasn’t some peon he could task with mediocre work. She’d literally been running the place since he found himself a new boy-toy. Enrique was this hot little leader of a Latin singing group Bernard had been swapping spit with. “Don’t have me hurt you, pretty boy.”

  Bernard put down the mail and tossed his bangs at her. “Like you could. Look at it like I’m doing your mean ass a favor. When was the last time you’ve been out on a date? Maybe seeing Trent again might melt your frozen heart and wake up the old Dee we all know and love.”

  Denise frowned at him. She didn’t need some rocker to do anything for her. She wasn’t some starry-eyed teenager, or the little girl at the orphanage who Trent and M. J. protected from the bullies. She considered herself confident and fearless, and she didn’t back down from bullies any more. If she could put up with Bernard’s arrogant ass, she could put up with anything. Denise and Bernard had been friends since junior high school when he developed a big old school boy crush on M. J.

  He had begged her to introduce him to the tall red-head. M. J. didn’t like Bernard at first, but the two of them soon became close friends when M. J. learned Bernard lived in a big fancy hotel. To an orphan, living in a hotel was far grander than staying in a dorm and sleeping on a cot.

  That was around the time M. J. and Trent decided to form a singing group. Piss poor, but talented, M. J. and Trent talked the music teacher at school into loaning them two guitars. Her job was to pass out flyers for their impromptu concerts in the park and to get them snacks. They added Dante and Vince to their group in high school. Dante was a drummer and Vince was a percussionist who could make a keyboard hum. She was the one who came up with the name of the band and became their first official manager. Bernard was her second in command and resident groupie.

  Three-Ringed Circus performed at high school dances, half-time at football games, and won every talent show they entered. Their big break came when a talent scout attended one of their park jam sessions. Denise remembered it was on a Saturday. When word got out about their performance, the park had to enlist the San Diego Police Force to control the crowds and the traffic. The talent scout approached the members of the band after the concert and flew them to New York to audition for G & M Records. The rest could be considered history. Three-Ringed Circus was now one of the best rock bands in the world, and had won six Grammys this year.

  “Do you t
hink they’ll remember us?” Denise asked Bernard.

  “I don’t know about you, but I’m unforgettable.”

  Denise rolled her eyes at him again. “If your ego gets any bigger your head will explode.”

  Bernard chuckled. “Don’t worry, you’re still little Dee Stewart, the girl with the big heart and saucy temper.”

  At least he didn’t call her a bitch like he normally did. Maybe the approaching holiday had him in a good mood. “Do I need to do anything special for them? Do you remember that Trent only drinks imported water and he can’t have salt in his food?”

  “Yes,” Bernard answered. “I’ve already informed the chef to prepare him salt-free meals, which I’m surprised you remembered.”

  She and Trent had been friends since they were two years old. He’d been the first friend she met at the orphanage and she’d been right there at the doctor’s office when he got the news his constant headaches were caused by hypertension. The two of them had been inseparable all their lives. Even the orphanage director gave up trying to get her to sleep in the girl’s dorm. Trent couldn’t go to sleep without her cuddled up next to him. Of course, this caused a problem once they hit puberty and Trent discovered his dick could be used for other things besides urinating. And she had willingly given up her virginity to him on his sixteenth birthday. Back then she was so in love with the sandy-blond-haired teen she couldn’t see straight. He was her best friend, big brother, lover, and protector. She really missed his friendship, but in the end, she felt she’d made the right decision.

  “The temperature in M. J.’s suite has been set to North Pole since he still likes to sleep in the cold. Dante’s suite is stocked with classical movie DVDs. Vince is bringing along his masseuse and hair stylist, who is the same person, and with whom he may or may not be sleeping with. So his suite is stocked with towels and toiletries for two.”

  “Still a bunch of divas, I see.”

  Bernard laughed. “And just think you were once the lover of one of those divas.”

  Denise stopped laughing. “That was a long time ago. I’m glad they’re a success and hope they continue to dominate the charts. But while they’re here, I’ll just be the assistant hotel manager and you’ll stay out of M. J.’s bed.”

  M. J. came out of the closet several years ago, which broke the hearts of thousands of young women, but made his fan-boys very happy.

  “What are you talking about? I would never throw myself on M. J.”

  “I’m glad to know this since you’re supposed to be in a relationship with Enrique.”

  Bernard fanned his manicured hand in front of his face, like he was suffering from a case of the vapors. “Didn’t I tell you? Enrique and I broke up.”

  “No. When?”

  “Recently. Anyway, he and I had an open relationship.”

  This was something else she didn’t know. “So if M. J. invites you into his bed, would you go?”

  “If Trent invites you into his bed, would you?”

  Denise frowned at him, and Bernard frowned back at her just as stubbornly. “No,” they both answered.

  “You’re both lying,” Keisha said, entering Bernard’s open office door.

  Keisha managed the front desk and had worked with them long enough to know them.

  “What do you know?” Bernard asked her. “I don’t go flitting from one man to another.”

  “I know you’re both crazy, and you’d be foolish to pass up a chance to be with the people you love.”

  Denise shook her head. “I am not in love with Trent.”

  Bernard didn’t deny or confirm the allegation.

  “You two can deny all you want, but I know better.”

  “Bernard is right. What do you know? Just because you’ve been happily married for two years don’t make you an authority on the subject.”

  “I don’t know why in the hell it doesn’t,” Keisha said, flipping the end of her brown weaved hair at Denise. “I fell in love with Jerome, married him, and we’re still screwing like bunnies two years later. Don’t pass up on the opportunity again. Love doesn’t often give second chances.”

  Keisha was lucky they were such good friends or Denise might have slapped the smug look from the other woman’s face. “I’m perfectly happy being single and if Trent was interested, he would have stayed in contact with me all these years. So it’s safe to say his little infatuation with me is over.”

  Bernard chuckled nervously.

  Keisha turned on him. “And what about you? Are you going to let the possibility of getting a broken heart again stop you from being with M. J.?”

  Bernard snarled at Keisha. “We were fifteen years old back then. Like Denise said, too much time has passed. What did you come in my office for anyway?”

  “I came for Denise. The workers are waiting for her directions for decorating the tree.”

  Denise looked down at her suit. “Let me go change. Tell them I’ll be there shortly.”

  Keisha nodded and waved goodbye to them.

  “Ooh, I hate her so much,” Bernard said. “I can’t stand the fact that she thinks she knows me.”

  Denise tried to keep from laughing as she headed toward the door. “You’d die without her putting you in your place at least once a day. We might as well face it, when it comes to love, Sista has it going on.” She waved goodbye to Bernard, left his office, and went up to her suite of rooms to change.

  § § §

  Denise changed into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and left her room. She walked through the busy lobby once she exited the elevator and headed to the main ballroom. She stepped into the room. Where are my helpers? There was supposed to be two or three guys assisting her. Fortunately, they’d left her a ladder.

  The decorations were in boxes sorted by colors. Tinsel and garland had its own boxes. The string of colored lights peeped out at her. Oh my gawd. It was going to take the rest of the afternoon to untangle the mess. Maybe she’d mention to Bernard just to leave the tree decorated at the end of the year instead of stripping it. That way she wouldn’t have to tackle this next year.

  She decided the best way to handle such a project was to start at the top and work her way down. Denise grabbed a box of red bulbs and headed up the ladder. Several hours had passed and she still had a long way to go. A loud bang, like a car backfiring outside the window scared her when she started down the stairs. She lost her footing and her life literally flashed before her eyes on the way down. Denise closed her eyes, prepared to hit the hard floor below. She landed on something solid.

  “Hello, darling?”

  Denise slowly opened her eyes. “Please tell me I’m dead.”

  “Great catch,” someone said.

  Trent stared down into her face. “When you fall for a guy, you fall for the guy.”

  His lips were on hers before she could scream. Trent’s tongue plunged into her mouth, tasting like Wintergreen peppermint and trying to unloosen her fillings.

  Denise tried to wiggle out of his arms, but Trent held on tightly. He did finally remove his tongue from her mouth.

  “Hey, babe, bitchin’ boobs. Did you miss me?”

  “Put me down.”

  Trent put her down on her feet.

  Egad, he’d grown taller since she’d last seen him, and more handsome. Ooh, so not fair.

  The rest of the dude squad stared at her like she had something on her face.

  Vince came forward. “Dee, is that you?” He pointed to her boobs.

  Denise slapped his hand away. “Yes.”

  Vince gawked. “They must have cost you a pretty penny.” Vince had shoulder-length dark brown hair, blue eyes, and the cutest baby face.

  “They’re real.” She marched past them and headed out of the ballroom in search of the other workers. She heard several comments about the size of her behind as she stalked away.

  Bernard appeared. “Have you seen the guys?”

  “Yeah, why weren’t you there at the desk to greet them? They’re in the
ballroom.”

  Bernard grabbed her hand and dragged her back toward the ballroom. “Is M. J. with them?”

  Denise shook her head. “Yeah. Ooh shit, you’re hurting my hand. Slow down.”

  He didn’t stop walking fast until they were in the main ballroom again.

  The four larger-than-life musicians stood near the Christmas tree holding their carry-on bags. Hopefully the rest of their luggage had been delivered safely to their suites.

  Trent was the first to move, coming forward to greet Bernard. Instead of shaking his hand, Trent picked the smaller man up in a bear hug.

  “What the hell have they been feeding you guys?” Bernard demanded.