The Winter Boyfriend: A Stand-Alone YA Contemporary Romance Novel (The Boyfriend Series) Read online

  The Winter Boyfriend

  Christina Benjamin

  Crown Atlantic Publishing

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

  Copyright © 2018 by Christina Benjamin

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Crown Atlantic Publishing

  Version 1.1

  November 2018

  To those who never give up on the idea of family.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Epilogue

  Note from the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Christina Benjamin

  About the Author

  The Practice Boyfriend Info

  The Almost Boyfriend Info

  The Goodbye Boyfriend Info

  The Holiday Boyfriend

  The Stand-In Boyfriend Info

  The Maybe Boyfriend Info

  The Accidental Boyfriend Info

  The Summer Boyfriend Info

  The Wedding Boyfriend Info

  The Winter Boyfriend Info

  Prologue

  Chloe

  September 3rd

  Dear Journal,

  Today is first day of senior year!

  I can’t wait to see Brady.

  This is going to be the best year ever . . .

  Chloe Price stood outside the red double doors of Westerly High. She inhaled the crisp fall air. Maple leaves tumbled by in the breeze, carrying with it the faint scent of pumpkin spice, which seemed to be everywhere this time of year. It wouldn’t be long until the fall leaves were covered in snow and the smell of pumpkin spice was exchanged for pine wreaths and mistletoe.

  Bah humbug, Chloe thought grumpily. She hated Christmas and how it took over her life. Christmas to Chloe meant long hours working at her family business, a chore she didn’t look forward to.

  The only thing keeping her spirits up was the fact that this would be the last year she had to spend in her tiny, uninteresting corner of the world, working at her family’s Christmas tree farm. In a few months she’d be graduating and moving to New York City for college. She couldn’t wait to escape upstate New York.

  Ever since Chloe’s older sister Margot moved to the city, Chloe had been counting the days until she could join her. It’s not that Chloe didn’t love her parents. She did. They were disgustingly in love and annoyingly involved in her life. But that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that they owned and operated a Christmas tree farm and lodge. And for as long as Chloe could remember, she’d been forced to do her family duty and work at the farm as well.

  Eighteen years of Christmas as a year-round holiday had made Chloe desperate to escape the small town of Pine Island. The only thing making her slightly less desperate was her boyfriend, Brady Jones. Chloe had never had a boyfriend for the holidays before. Maybe dating Brady could help Chloe fall back in love with Christmas?

  Chloe couldn’t help grinning like an idiot as she let the promise of a new year fill her with hope. Thinking about her boyfriend made her giddy. With thoughts of kissing Brady making her feel she could float away, Chloe pushed through the double doors to find him. This was going to be the best year ever.

  1

  Chloe

  December 22nd

  Dear Journal,

  Tomorrow is the first day of winter break.

  I can’t wait to have ten days without seeing Brady.

  This has been the worst year ever . . .

  Chloe lurked outside the red double doors of Westerly High. She gulped frigid winter air into her lungs as she peered around the icy parking lot to make sure she didn’t see Brady’s SUV. Icicles clung to the bare, frostbitten trees, sending a shiver racing up her spine with each gust of blustery wind.

  The weather in upstate New York was unforgiving in December. Chloe always hated this time of year and even though in just a few short hours she’d be able to escape the halls of her high school for winter break, she couldn’t manage to feel hopeful. Not in a tiny town like Pine Island, where she was constantly surrounded by Christmas cheer and happy couples.

  A frown hardened her face as she realized perhaps the only two things she had to look forward to this winter break were not seeing Brady and not having to tell her sister they’d broken up.

  Margot was three years older than Chloe, but this year was the first the sisters had ever spent apart. Margot had gone to a community college for two years before transferring to a university in New York City.

  Chloe missed her like crazy. Margot, Chloe and Brady had been inseparable growing up. And it had only been because of Margot’s meddling that Chloe had even managed to get a date with Brady in the first place. They may have grown up together, but Chloe didn’t run in the same social circles as her popular older sister or her gym class hero crush, Brady.

  But by some miracle Margot’s plan of Chloe bringing Brady lemonade while he was cutting the grass at their family tree farm over the summer had actually worked—mostly because Margot kept making Chloe wear her bikini tops when she did so.

  Chloe was about six inches shorter than her gorgeous older sister. And though they shared the same hazel eyes and chestnut hair, Chloe always felt like the less pretty version of her glamorous sister. It didn’t help that the six inches that Chloe lacked on Margot in height, she made up for elsewhere—mostly in boobs and butt.

  Chloe always said if they were both dancers, Margot would be a ballerina and Chloe would be J-Lo. Of course Margot said she’d kill for Chloe’s curves, but what did she know? She didn’t have to try to shove those curves into all of Margot’s model-sized hand-me-downs. But Chloe had done it, because Margot had said the magic words. ‘Trust me.’ And that was one phrase the sisters didn’t throw around lightly.

  So every day last summer, Chloe squeezed herself into Margot’s skimpy bikinis and tight jean shorts and hiked through the rows of Christmas trees to bring Brady an ice cold lemonade while he worked on her parents’ farm. And despite how terribly uncomfortable Chloe felt putting herself out there, Brady must’ve seen something he liked because by the thi
rd week of lemonades and flirting he pulled her up onto the tractor and kissed her.

  Chloe remembered it all perfectly. How Brady’s lips tasted like cherry chapstick, how she could feel the warmth of his skin against hers for hours afterward and how she’d run back to the house to tell Margot all about it.

  But that was all in the past now. Margot had gone away to college and shortly after, Chloe’s summer romance with Brady had crumbled. It’d been three months since she caught her supposed perfect boyfriend making out with the head cheerleader, Maci Martin, but it still hurt like it had been only yesterday.

  It didn’t help that Chloe had to watch Brady and Maci making out in the halls of her high school every day since. They were the perfect couple—the basketball star and the cheerleader.

  They made much more sense on paper than Chloe and Brady ever had. But even knowing that did little to soothe the pain of having her heart broken. Chloe always thought her first love would be something to look back on fondly, and maybe it could’ve been if she hadn’t been made to feel like such an utter fool by being the one to catch Maci and Brady making out. Everyone had seen them. It was beyond humiliating.

  All Chloe wanted to do was cry and call her sister to tell her everything. Margot always knew exactly what to do in a crisis. But catching up with her wasn’t as easy as walking across the hall anymore. Chloe had to catch her sister between classes or sorority parties. And by the time Chloe got Margot on the phone she didn’t feel like dredging up the painful details of Brady’s betrayal anymore. Plus, Margot had news of her own. She’d met a boy!

  Chloe could hear the excitement in her sister’s voice when she told her all about Owen Hall and their amazing first date in Manhattan, so when Margot asked about Brady, Chloe hadn’t wanted to dampen her sister’s spirits.

  Chloe had stupidly said, “We’re good.”

  That was the only lie Chloe could remember ever telling her sister. And though it had started out innocent at first, it had grown over the past few months into an unstoppable monster. Chloe couldn’t believe she’d managed to keep the truth from Margot for this long, but somehow she knew telling her sister what happened would only make it hurt worse.

  Chloe’s parents knew she and Brady had broken up, but not the details of how and why. But Margot would want to know it all. Which is what prompted Chloe to keep avoiding the truth. But now, for about the millionth time since her sister left for college, Chloe found herself missing Margot.

  Margot wasn’t only her sister, but her best friend. Maybe telling Margot the awful truth about how Brady broke her heart would help Chloe find a way to heal. If anything Margot would certainly find a way to distract Chloe for a while. She always knew how to fix things. Like when Chloe’s bike got stolen in fourth grade or when she didn’t make the cheerleading team in fifth or when her favorite cat ran away in seventh. Margot always made Chloe a piping hot mug of hot cocoa and then spent hours in front of the fireplace with her concocting over-the-top s’more creations with everything they found in the pantry.

  When they were done, Margot would say, “Feel better now, Co-Co?”

  And she always did.

  Chloe smiled at the memory. She didn’t really know which had come first, her love of cocoa or her nickname, but either way both seemed to stick. Just like Margot’s nickname of Go-Go, born out of Chloe’s toddler talk.

  Margot was pretty much the only one who still called Chloe, Co-Co. She hadn’t realized how much she missed hearing her nickname until that moment. Chloe’s eyes welled as it fully hit her that this would be the first Christmas she wouldn’t get to spend with her big sister. Margot was going on a trip to Italy with her sorority over winter break. That meant, not only would Chloe not get any sister time this holiday, but she would also be picking up the slack at the family Christmas tree farm all on her own.

  She grimaced at the thought as her boots squeaked down the hallway leaving little puddles of melted snow in her wake. Maybe she would just sleep through winter break this year.

  Brady

  Brady Jones flashed his all-star grin as he jogged past a group of gushing girls. He’d never get used to it—being so popular. Not that he wasn’t before, but this year was a whole new level of awesome. Being the starting quarterback and captain of the basketball team had raised his hall cred tremendously.

  Since basketball started two weeks ago it seemed like flirting was the new hazing in the hallways. The girls’ pick up lines hit harder than his linemen.

  “Are you gonna ask me out soon or do I need to call ‘delay of game’?” one of the girls called after him, sending the rest of her friends into a fit of giggles.

  Brady just smiled. “You know I’m with Maci.”

  “For now,” one called back.

  “Yeah, you could always Chloe her,” another called. “We won’t tell.”

  Inside, Brady cringed, but he gave the girls a salute and continued down the hall. He still felt bad for the way Chloe found out about him and Maci. He hadn’t planned to hurt her. But when Maci Martin kisses you, it’s not like you could say no.

  Speaking of Maci . . . Her gorgeous silhouette was leaning against Brady’s locker waiting for him. “Hey, hot shot,” she purred, stretching up on her toes to kiss him. “You ready for the ski trip?”

  “You know it,” he replied, sweeping her off her feet.

  As she kissed him a group of guys walking by started to applaud. Brady smirked between kisses. Senior year was so awesome.

  2

  Ethan

  “Come on, bro. It’s my year to pick,” Owen argued.

  Ethan Hall growled at his brother as he continued stuffing board shorts and t-shirts into his duffle bag. “Yeah, but this wasn’t really your choice, was it?”

  “It’ll be fun, E.”

  “For you maybe, but I don’t really care about going to some cheesy Christmas wonderland to meet your girlfriend’s parents.”

  “If you gave her a chance you might like her,” Owen argued.

  “Brother, I could give her a million chances and I’m still not going to like her. She’s like an over-caffeinated Chihuahua.”

  Owen got that stupid giddy smile on his face that Ethan loathed. It was the same lovesick expression he always got when thinking about his girlfriend. “Yes, but she’s my over-caffeinated Chihuahua and I want you to like her, E.”

  Ethan rolled his eyes. “She took Bermuda from me so she’s not off to a good start.”

  “We’ve been to Bermuda the past three Christmases,” Owen replied.

  “And what’s wrong with that?”

  “Variety is the spice of life, little brother. You should try it sometime,” Owen said with a peppy wink. “Besides, we can go to Bermuda next year.”

  “Damn straight we will. Next year I get to pick where we spend Christmas.”

  Owen laughed. “Fine. But this year, I’m in charge and I say we’re going to the Everett’s Christmas Lodge and Tree Farm. So if you don’t want to freeze to death, you should probably pack something other than shorts and t-shirts.”

  Ethan shrugged. “We’ll see.”

  “I’m not going to change my mind, bro. You need to get on board or you’re not going to enjoy Christmas.”

  “When is Christmas ever enjoyable?”

  Owen’s face softened. “That’s what I’m trying to change, Ethan. Maybe it’s time you try, too.” With that, he walked out of their dorm room.

  Ethan sighed heavily. He hated when he pushed his brother too far. He didn’t mean to. Owen was the only other person on the planet who understood why the holidays were so hard for Ethan. Usually, they were on the same page and commiserated together on some far away beach with sunshine and cocktails to help them forget why they hated Christmas, but everything was different this year.

  Owen’s new girlfriend had brought a happiness back to him that Ethan hadn’t seen in years. Ethan should be happy for his brother, and for the most part he was, but not during the holidays. During the holidays, Ethan
wanted his brother to himself so he had someone else to share his pain. He was the only family Ethan had left, so the fact that Owen’s girlfriend was stealing him was another strike against her.

  “Maybe it’s time I try?” Ethan muttered to himself. “How can he even say that?” Ethan grumbled as he continued to slam vacation attire into his duffle bag. “I try every single day.”

  And he did. But no amount of trying would make him forget he’d lost his mother on Christmas Eve all those years ago. Ethan knew his brother was in love and that was why he had a new, shiny attitude about the holidays, but Ethan didn’t see the point of love. It didn’t last. He’d loved his mother, but cancer didn’t care about love or family or holidays. It took what it wanted, when it wanted. It didn’t make exceptions for love. If it had, their mother would still be here because Ethan couldn’t imagine another woman being loved more than he’d loved her.

  He finished packing and sat down on his bed with a tired sigh. He hated how easy it seemed for everyone but him to move on. His father had moved on, remarrying and starting a new family, and now Owen was moving on with his energetic new girlfriend from the middle-of-nowhere New York.