HOLIDAY CLAIM
CHAPTER 1
AVA
"I'm backk!" I called out as I pushed open the front door, dropping my duffel bag with a dramatic thud in the entryway. The house smelled like it always did—clean laundry, faint coffee, and that warm, masculine scent that was just... Grant.
From the kitchen, his deep voice answered, steady and warm like it had been my whole life. "Welcome home, Ava."
I kicked off my sneakers and padded toward him, heart doing that stupid little flip it always did when I heard him say my name. Grant stood by the counter, tall and broad in a simple gray t-shirt that stretched across his chest and arms, jeans hugging his thighs. He looked up from the mail he was sorting, and his dark eyes softened the second they landed on me.
"There she is," he said, setting the envelopes do
