St. Nick's Christmas Wish (Holiday Hunks Book 7) Read online

  Holiday Hunks:

  St. Nick’s Christmas Wish

  Hot Hunks-Steamy Romance Collection

  By Tamara Ferguson

  Praise and Awards

  #1 INTERNATIONAL &

  USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

  TAMARA FERGUSON

  6 Time Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards Winner

  Short Story Fiction, Romance Suspense & the Bronze, Silver & Gold Medal Winner for Military Fiction (2018, 2016, 2015)

  2018 New Apple Solo Romance Medalist (Two Hearts Find Christmas)

  2018 Top Shelf Finalist (Two Hearts Surrendered, Two Hearts Unbroken)

  9 Time Independent Authors Network Book of the Year Finalist (2018, 2017, 2016)

  Romance, Mystery, Women’s Fiction and Novellas

  #13 Best Indie Book of 2017

  (Two Hearts’ Christmas Wish)

  2 Time Romance Reviews Reader’s Choice Award Winner

  New Adult Romance & Anthology Romance (2016 & 2015)

  New Apple Romance Selection for Literary Excellence (2016)

  National Indie Excellence Awards Romance Finalist (2015)

  4 Time Pinnacle Book Achievement Award Winner

  Tamara creates stories that are so enchanting, they will make your heart stop-

  Faridah Nassozi For Reader's Favorite

  Tamara Ferguson has a deft hand when it comes to writing romance. She chooses her words and scenes carefully so that the reader never forgets that romance doesn't always come easy in the real world. Sometimes it may need a little help from a magical setting, a good friend, or an innocent child-

  Ray Simmons for Readers’ Favorite

  The exciting and heart-warming romantic novel Two Hearts Find Christmas by Tamara Ferguson has an unexpected military aspect that is enlightening as well as entrancing. As the story unfolds, some of the dilemmas the soldiers have to face when they return is brought to the surface and lightly addressed. It is a touching and unforgettable tale of a damaged body and soul learning to thrive and love. The romantic facet of the plot is delicately woven into a web of suspense tinged with a sense of danger, giving the reader a feeling of excitement and mystery. Love and suspense are combined with the menace of an unknown threat, making this novel a gripping and spectacular read for those who are romance fans~

  5★~Susan Sewell for Readers' Favorite

  Two Hearts Find Christmas is a well-written and engrossing story that combines romance and the holidays with some serious issues including PTSD, war injuries and child abuse. I've enjoyed every one of the Two Hearts Wounded Warrior books and was pleased to have the opportunity to read and review this one. As with the others, I soon found myself happily involved with life in Crystal Rock and Dragonfly Pointe, and the remarkable people who live there and work to help returning veterans heal and start new lives. Josh, his brother, Luke, and Nina are marvelous main characters and learning of their early struggles and challenges gets the reader deeply involved in their present day lives and aware of the problems adults, who still bear the scars of abuse, face in living fully. I also loved seeing how Josh finds his dog, Ralph, who, while not entirely suitable as a service dog, seems to succeed quite well in making his new human companion smile. I'm looking forward to the next Wounded Warrior military romance book. Two Hearts Find Christmas is most highly recommended~

  5★~Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

  Josh and Nina, as characters, were easy to identify with and to root for. Both had had difficult, traumatic childhoods and Ferguson dealt with some potentially horrific subject matter with sensitivity and grace. Some might argue the romance plot is fairly formulaic, but Ferguson gives much more depth to the stories with her complicated backstory and continuity of history through the years. Definitely Two Hearts Find Christmas is a chilling reminder of the evil that does exist out there among us, but also a sweet reminder of the sanctity and power of true love, plus the indomitable human spirit that triumphs over adversity and works for good.~

  5★~Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite

  Wow. Just wow! How’s that for a review? Author Tamara Ferguson has done an absolutely wonderful job in creating characters that her readers will relate to, care about and continue to think of long after the novella is done, and if that isn’t the hallmark of a great author, I don’t know what is—

  Tracy Slowiak for Readers' Favorite

  Also By Tamara Ferguson

  TALES OF THE DRAGONFLY

  ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

  In Tandem

  In Flight

  Extended Flight

  Emergence

  KISSED BY FATE

  NEW ADULT ROMANCE

  That Unforgettable Kiss

  That Unexpected Kiss

  That Unbelievable Kiss

  TWO HEARTS

  WOUNDED WARRIOR ROMANCE

  Two Hearts Surrendered

  Two Hearts Unspoken

  Two Hearts Undone

  Two Hearts’ Christmas Wish

  Two Hearts Find Christmas

  Two Hearts Unbroken

  Two Hearts In Accord

  Two Hearts Under Fire

  Two Hearts Unlikely Heroes

  Two Hearts Home For Christmas

  Two Hearts’ Christmas Promise

  Mistletoe Kisses & Christmas Wishes Set

  (Includes Two Hearts Christmas Wish)

  DAYDREAMS & DRAGONFLIES

  SWEET ROMANCE

  A Kiss Upon A Star

  A Kiss Beneath A Christmas Star

  A Kiss Beneath A Strawberry Moon

  A Kiss Under A Blue Christmas Moon

  TALES FROM DRAGONFLY POINTE

  SHORT STORIES

  Revelations

  ANTHOLOGY ROMANCE

  Magical Weddings

  A Touch of Passion

  Mother’s Day Magic

  Annie Acorn’s 2016 Romance Treasury

  Love In Times of War

  Hunks To The Rescue

  Sweet and Sassy: The Best Kind of Romance

  Hotshot Charmers: Men Women Love

  Sweet Heat: Where Romance and Suspense Meet

  A Christmas She’ll Remember

  Sweet and Sassy Christmas: A Time for Romance

  Sweet and Sassy Valentine

  A Valentine She’ll Remember

  Unforgettable Thrillers

  Sweet and Sassy Weddings

  A Wedding She’ll Remember

  Sweet and Sassy At The Beach

  Unforgettable Thrills – Passion & Power

  Love, Christmas – The Movies You Love

  2018 Pink Anthology (Benefits Breast Cancer Research)

  Christmas Heartwarmers & Holiday Smiles (Benefits St, Jude Research)

  Love Under Fire

  Heart of A Hunk

  Unforgettable Passion

  A Romance She’ll Remember

  After Hurricane Nina – Rand’s Resolution

  Incredible Women’s Fiction

  Irresistible Heroes

  Do No Harm – 17 Medical Thrillers

  FREE AUTHORS’ BILLBOARD BOOK BITES 9

  FREE AUTHORS’ BILLBOARD BOOK BITES 10

  FREE AUTHORS’ BILLBOARD BOOK BITES 11

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products if the author’s imagination or used factiously.

  Copyright © 2019 by Tamara Ferguson.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored or transmitted electronically, mechanically or recorded without express permission from the author.

  Holiday Hunks:

&n
bsp; St. Nick’s Christmas Wish

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Praise & Awards

  Other Books By Tamara Ferguson

  Copyright

  CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  EPILOGUE

  A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Excerpt Two Hearts Surrendered

  Prologue

  Richmond, Virginia

  Thirteen-year-old Nicklaus Hanover watched in awe as his new buddy Mike whacked the baseball hard, sending it flying deep across the outfield over the fence surrounding the park.

  Mike grinned, turning back to Nick.

  Nick shook his head dazedly. “How in the heck…?”

  “I’ll show you,” Mike murmured, handing over his bat to Nick, while stepping behind him and running through the motions.

  Mike was probably a couple years older than Nick and was a member of the neighborhood junior baseball league, whose team was practicing in the park today.

  Mike called out to the team’s pitcher, “Send Nick a couple of pitches, Manny.”

  “Will do, Mike,” Manny answered, winding up. “Ready, kid?”

  Nick grinned. “Sure.”

  The first few pitches flew by Nick, but he managed to connect hard with the third and sent the baseball flying through the air.

  “Not bad,” Mike murmured, watching the flight of the ball as it landed in the outfield inside of the fence. “Maybe if you get a little more practice in, you might want to join our team?”

  “I’d like that,” Nick answered in excitement. “But I’d have to ask my dad first.”

  “Alright. You’d still have to try out, but I think the guys want you in. Your size alone will give us an advantage.”

  Mike and the rest of the team had been sitting in the bleachers last week waiting to use the field after Nick’s legion game was finished, when Mike had approached Nick and had asked if he was interested in practicing with them during the week. It was the end of July, and Nick’s team had only a few more games left to play. Mike’s league began their games in August and continued into fall.

  Nick was a little taller and broader than most kids his age. In fact, he and Mike were about the same size.

  Watching as the team began wrapping up practice, Nick asked, “You really think I could be a power hitter?”

  “I do,” Mike answered. “And we’re about the same size. We really need another hitter since we lost one of our best players this year, when his family moved out of state. I also like the looks of one of the pitchers you used last month. I think his name is Rand McAllister.”

  “He won’t be back in town until fall,” Nick murmured, as he walked with the team toward the parking lot. “He spends time with his father during the summer in Wisconsin.”

  Mike asked, “Maybe he’d be interested in being a backup?”

  “I can send him an email?”

  “Go ahead and do that,” Mike answered. “Want to come with us for pizza?”

  “Sure. Let me just let my mom know that I won’t be home for an hour or two and she doesn’t have to send someone to pick me up,” Nick answered, pulling his phone out from his bag.

  “Manny can drop you off when we’re done.”

  “Alright.”

  * * *

  Despite the fact that Mike was two years older than Nick, that summer was the beginning of a great friendship. And even though they grew up in completely different circumstances and didn’t attend the same schools in Richmond Virginia, Mike proved to be a great mentor. Nick had been born privileged, his life mapped out by his father, while Mike was part of the Latino community and was being raised by a single mom.

  That fall, when Rand returned home from Wisconsin, he ended up as a backup pitcher for their team. Rand’s true love was football though, and he eventually hoped to be able to convince his father, who he still didn’t spend much time with when he was in Wisconsin, to allow Rand to begin staying home in Virginia for the summer, where he lived year round with his grandparents. Rand wouldn’t be able to play high school football unless he was home to practice with the team at summer’s end.

  “You know,” Rand said one day, as they were walking off the field after a satisfying win, “you guys look enough alike to be brothers.”

  Mike blinked, and grinned. “Come on.”

  “No, seriously. Except for Mike’s slightly darker skin and hair,” Rand murmured. “Sometimes while I’m pitching and the sun’s shining bright, when I turn around and look in the outfield, I have trouble telling you two apart.”

  “That’s seriously strange,” Nick said, shaking his head.

  As Mike headed toward the parking lot, an attractive Latina woman stepped out from a older model car. “Mike?”

  “Hey, Mom. What’s happening?”

  “I managed to get off work a little early today, and thought I’d come and watch the game. You guys were great. I was impressed with all your home runs.”

  “Thanks,” Mike murmured. “I’d like you to meet a couple of my friends. This is Rand McAllister and the other guy is Nick, the one I told you about. Nick Hanover.”

  As Mike’s mom was reaching out with her hand to shake Nick’s, the smile she had on her face suddenly froze. “Hanover? Is your dad by some strange chance named Michael?”

  Puzzled, Nick shook his head in agreement. “He is. I guess you might know him?”

  But Mike’s mom looked seriously distressed, and her face had gone pale, even beneath her tan, and she hadn’t seemed to hear Nick’s question.

  Mrs. Morales seemed to be studying Nick hard, finally acting like she’d come to a huge internal decision when she asked, “You guys have become close, huh?”

  “We have,” Nick answered. “If it weren’t for Mike pointing out the problems with my batting stance and swing, I wouldn’t be having the great year I’ve had.”

  Mike was looking at his mom strangely. “How about going out with us for some burgers, Mom?”

  “Are you sure you want to be seen with me?”

  “I think I’m willing to take the chance.” Mike snorted, glancing at Nick and Rand. “You two don’t mind?”

  “Of course not,” Nick and Rand answered in unison.

  They were only going for fast food to a place nearby to meet the rest of the team. They usually discussed how well they’d played and talked about ways to improve their game.

  Mrs. Morales glanced back at her vehicle.

  “I’d offer to take you boys in my car, but I don’t have air conditioning.”

  Mike lifted an arm and sniffed. “No problem. I’m definitely kind of ripe. We can walk.”

  Mike’s mom grinned. “Where are you guys off to? The sub shop?”

  “Yep,” Mike answered.

  “Okay. I’ll meet you there,” she said, stepping into the driver’s seat of her car.

  * * *

  Mrs. Morales was super nice, and Nick could understand why Mike didn’t have a probl
em hanging out with his mom. Apparently, it had just been the two of them since Mike had been born, and there was never a word said about Mike’s father during the next couple years when Nick, Mike and Rand became close friends.

  There was something going on with Mrs. Morales though. Nick could tell by the thoughtful looks she’d been giving him regularly when he was around.

  “Don’t your parents ever come to your games?” she’d asked Nick once.

  Nick had shrugged. “Nah. Mom is busy with my two younger sisters, and she’s not really into sports. My Dad travels a lot for work, otherwise he’d probably show up occasionally.”

  Actually there was a lot more to it than that. Although Mom and Dad lived together in the same house, they barely spent time together unless it was for a social event or a company function related to Dad’s work.

  Sometimes Nick felt like they were strangers, and It made him sad, to see how disconnected his parents seemed to be from each other. The truth was, his parents were loaded, and when he was younger and had desperately wanted his father to be there for him, he never had been. It wasn’t like Nick felt unloved, as much as ignored. If Nick stayed out of trouble and got decent grades, he more or less had the freedom to come and go as he pleased, as long as he was home by curfew. What Mike and Rand didn’t know was that Nick always had a bodyguard nearby, who tried to remain inconspicuous.

  Because when Nick had been eight years old, he’d been kidnapped.

  Chapter One

  Two Years Later.

  Two years later, Nick was ready to enter his sophomore year of high school, while Mike Morales was going to be a senior. Mike had been trying to decide what to do with his life once he graduated from high school. No way could he afford college. His grades were good, but not quite good enough for a scholarship, since he’d worked part time to help his mom with expenses after turning sixteen. His mom didn’t really agree with that, and had refused to let Mike quit baseball, since it meant so much to him. Plus, the friendships he made were valuable, she claimed, and it was important for him to enjoy his youth before going out into the real world and earning his living.