Six months after his wife leaves him, Bob Jansen finds himself spending the holidays with his parents in the town where he grew up. With him is his seven year old daughter, Jenna, who sometimes seems to be handling her mother's absence better than Bob is himself. But he's worried that, in her letter to Santa, Jenna has asked the jolly old elf for something Bob knows he can't pull off. He's afraid she wants her mother back for the holiday.<br><br>While shopping for his daughter's Christmas presents, Bob runs into Dave Knarr, an old friend. They used to be best buds in high school, before Julia, Bob's soon-to-be ex-wife, came between them. The two men catch up over drinks, and before the evening ends, Dave makes his real feelings for Bob known.<br><br>If Bob is shocked to learn Dave has always been attracted to him, he's more surprised by his own reaction. Even if he's willing to take another shot at romance, what will his daughter think of his old friend?

A Present for Daddy

Quickly I roll onto my stomach, away from the warmth of his body, away from the arm on me and the lingering press of skin and the sudden recollection of the taste of his lips on mine. Away…but I’m already on the edge of the bed, and when I move away from him, I roll off onto the floor with a solid thud


I hug my knees to my chest—I’m wearing nothing but a pair of underwear. What did we dolast night? God, my head


“You okay?” Dave peers down sleepily at me from the bed. Hair disheveled, chest bare, a childishly owlish expression on his face. The only difference between him now and the him I remember from high school are those faintly defined abdominal muscles and strong arms. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t quite so built then.


Running a hand through my own messy hair, I muttered, “God, what…” I don’t really know where to go with that, what to say. We kissed last night, I’m sure of it. Or was that just a dream?


Chapter 13