All She Wants for Christmas by Jaci Burton

She’d worn her hair down. It swept her shoulders in loose waves and all he could think about was how good she’d smelled the other night when he’d held her close and kissed her and touched her. And oh, man, he was sitting next to his mother and thinking about having sex with Riley.
    He was probably going straight to hell for that.
    At least this time she wasn’t singing about him. It was all Christmas songs, and Zoey couldn’t help but sing along, despite his mother’s best attempts to admonish her to stay quiet. But Riley smiled down at Zoey, since his daughter wasn’t exactly a quiet singer. Fortunately, she did have a great voice and Riley finally motioned to her to join her on stage. And since his daughter didn’t have a shy bone in her entire body, she got to stand with the choir and sing her little heart out along with Riley and the choir.
    His mother took approximately ten thousand pictures. Plus video.
    Ethan had to admit he was pretty excited about it, too, though it wasn’t like he thought of Riley as a celebrity. She was just Riley. But he was always thrilled to see his daughter happy, and Zoey was grinning from ear to ear, especially when one of the choir angels put her halo on Zoey head.
    Zoey probably wouldn’t touch ground from her happy place for at least twenty-four hours.
    After the concert, Zoey jumped into his arms. “Did you see me, Daddy? I got to sing on the stage.”
    “I saw you. You were awesome.”
    “Did you hear me? I sang really loud.”
    He laughed as Riley joined them. “I had no problem hearing you.”
    Riley rubbed Zoey’s back. “This young lady has a beautiful voice, just like her mama did.”
    Zoey frowned. “Did you know my mama, Riley Jensen?”
    Riley lifted her chin and Ethan could tell she fought tears. “I did. She was my best friend in high school.”
    “Wow.” Zoey turned to Ethan. “I didn’t know that, Daddy. Did you know that?”
    “I did.” He put Zoey down and lifted his gaze to Riley. “You did a nice job out there tonight.”
    “Thanks. I’m just glad all this is over with.” She swept her gaze over the camera crews who were packing up.
    “Everyone leaving?”
    “They are.”
    He frowned. “You’re not?”
    She shrugged. “I’ve sprung my people loose. Figured I’d hang out here until after the holidays and write some music.”
    “By yourself?” his mother asked.
    Riley smiled. “Yes. Everyone has their families to go home to. I plan to stay and enjoy the solitude. I do my best songwriting that way. No one to hover over me and no place I have to be.”
    What she hadn’t said, Ethan noted, was that Riley had no family to go home to for Christmas.
    “You’ll come to our house for Christmas,” his mother said, taking the words right out of his mouth.
    Riley’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “Oh, no. I couldn’t. I wasn’t trying to wrangle an invitation. I really do intend to just spend a couple weeks alone and write.”
    “That’s just fine, dear. You do that. On Christmas Eve you’ll come over for dinner and games. Christmas morning we have pancakes for breakfast, turkey for dinner. You won’t be spending Christmas alone.”
    Riley slanted a helpless gaze his way.
    “No use arguing with her. You know how she is. If you don’t come over she’ll just send one of us to fetch you.”
    She inhaled and let out a sigh, then smiled. “Of course. Thank you, Stacy. I’d love to come over for Christmas.”
    Ethan wondered how many holidays Riley had spent alone the past ten years. She’d never come home before so he had no idea where she’d spent her Thanksgivings and Christmases.
    It would be…interesting spending Christmas with her. And okay, maybe he was thinking about carving out some time to be alone with her.
    They might not have a future together, but they had right now.
    He looked down at Zoey, who leaned against his mother and yawned. “Mom, why don’t you and Dad take Zoey home? She looks tired. I’d like to