CHAPTER 1
KAYLEIGH
All I wantfor Christmas is to be anywhere but on this godforsaken ranch begging for a favor. I’d also take the twenty-five grand my piece-of-shit ex-boyfriend stole from me before he skipped town so I didn’t have to resort to such drastic measures to make my final tuition payment.
But I don’t think Santa’s delivering any gifts to my house this year.
Serves me right. I haven’t exactly made a lot of effort to stay on the Nice List.
Showing up to the Bishop Ranch is a last resort—one of two really shitty options that both suck balls.
Option A: Elliot Bishop, Adam’s ruthless father whom I’m pretty sure hates my very existence, gives me the money his son took from me—highly unlikely.
Option B: Sign my name on the dotted line and offer myself up to the highest bidder like my older sister Alida once did—my most likely fate.
She’d kill me if she had the slightest clue I was even considering the Naughty List Christmas Auction.
She was lucky, as she often reminds me. Her now husband, Fox—our late brother’s best friend—swooped in and saved herfrom a number of gross, rich men fighting over her on stage. Any one of those disgusting men could have easily made her their plaything in what she described as an elaborate and disturbing sex dungeon for a night.
No one’s coming to save me.
My only hope to avoid that horrid fate is to convince one of the most intimidating men I’ve ever met to pay a debt for a son he barely claims.
Yeah, I’m fucking screwed.
My car weaves through the freshly plowed driveway toward a ridiculously massive house deep on the property, positioned at the top of the tallest hill. Of course it is. The house that can only accurately be described as a log-style mansion is beautiful in a haunting sort of way. As though its potential splendor is drowned out by immense sadness.
The money doesn’t care about emotions, though. Because the Bishop Ranch is one of the most successful in the area, as evidenced by its thousands of acres, dozens of barns, cabins, and equipment—all state of the art—and countless number of animals grazing in its fields. I had once hoped to someday secure a job here.
I was so fucking naïve it makes me sick.
Just as I’m climbing the last hill toward the house, my gas light flickers on. It’s another reminder of what I can’t afford should this unsolicited meeting go poorly.
Tears threaten the corners of my eyes, and I grip the steering wheel tighter.
I promised Alida I’d make it to Evergreen Pass for Christmas. And any other year, I’d be excited for a long holiday trip out there. A much-needed breath of fresh air before my final brutal semester of my doctorate program begins.
Ever since Alida crashed their family Christmas as Fox’s fake girlfriend five years ago, they’ve accepted me as one of their owntoo. I can just picture Grandma Lola working on a batch of her famous cherry muffins right about now, bantering with Grandpa Eddie who’s sitting at the kitchen table reading his paper while she bakes. The littles, who aren’t so little anymore, are probably outside building a snow fort, possibly starting a snowball fight with their Uncle Fox while Jazzy and Alida are out Christmas shopping.
And I’m missing it all.
Is there really an internship opportunity that goes until December twenty-third I just couldn’t pass up? No. But the thought of being surrounded by this loving family for an entire week before Christmas while I’m sitting on a terrible secret was too much to bear. If Alida didn’t figure it out, Grandma Lola would. That woman can sniff out a lie ten miles away.
“It’s okay,” I tell myself, forcing a deep, calming breath. “I’ll fly out to them on Christmas Eve.AfterI’ve fixed this fucking mess.”
I would ask for a loan, but I can’t bear the thought of Fox and Alida knowing I allowed a stupid boy to rob me blind. Especially since the money he stole from me was the tuition moneytheygave me for my final semester of my DVM program. One more fucking semester, and I’ll be Dr. Kayleigh Kingston.
But if I don’t come up with the tuition payment in time, there will be no final semester. No fancy veterinarian title. No impossibly perfect internship that I’m currently a shoo-in candidate for once I graduate.
Without the money, none of it happens.
It’s the thought I cling to as I put my car into park behind a lifted truck that is no doubt worth six figures. One that could pay for my tuition five times over. Were it not for the wisps of mud above the tires, I’d think the brand-new super cab was dropped into place via helicopter. It makes my used sedan look like a dirty toy.
It’s a glaring reminder that I don’t belong here.
There aren’t enough deep breaths in the world to calm my erratic pulse. A voice in the back of my head urgently whispersturn around. And for a moment, I consider doing just that. One night as a stranger’s sex toy seems less terrifying than facing the intimidating cowboy once again. The last and only time I met Elliot Bishop, Adam drug me along hoping I’d win him some brownie points with dear ol’ Dad.
Needless to say, his plan backfired.
