The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment.

  Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  A Little Christmas: Star

  Copyright 2025 by Della Cain and Kaytea Kat

  Digital ISBN: 979-8-89320-264-9

  Print ISBN: 979-8-89320-265-6

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Decadent Publishing LLC

  Sign up for the Decadent Publishing Newsletter and always know when your favorite authors have a new release.

  Table of Contents

  Also by Della Cain

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Epilogue

  An Excerpt from Ocean’s Lost Octopus

  About the Authors

  Most people can avoid the one who got away. Not me. Mine is on every billboard in town.

  Star is my first love, the one I thought I’d be with forever. But one week after I summoned the courage to ask him out, he got the call that will change everything. He dropped out of college and flew across the country to star in his first made-for-TV movie. He promised to come back and finish his freshman year, but that role led to another and another. Our daily calls became weekly calls, became holiday calls, became silence.

  Now, he is one of the biggest names in Hollywood. I’m happy for him. He found everything he dreamed of and more. That doesn’t stop me from thinking about all the could’ve beens.

  When a man barges into my office and begs to be hidden, I recognize him instantly. It’s him, my Star. Is this my Christmas wish come true, or am I headed toward heartbreak once again?

  A Little Christmas: Star is an M/M Hallmark-esque holiday romance set in the world of Found by Daddy. It features a daddy who never forgot his first love, the little who has to hide that side of his life, thanks to his overly public persona, the chance meeting that brings them both together, a second chance at a first love, finding the acceptance they always longed for, enough cookies to make Santa happy, Christmas carol singing filled with joy, not talent, Ms. Lily doing what she does best, true love, Christmas magic, glitter, stickers, adorable stuffies, new beginnings, and two men discovering that the best Christmas present of all is each other. A Little Christmas: Star is part of the A Little Christmas Season 4 holiday shared world and, while each one stands alone, can there ever be enough Christmas daddies?

  Also by Della Cain

  Collared by Love series

  A Puppy for His Little

  A Master for His Puppy

  A Family for His Daddy

  Collared Ever After series

  Litigation and Lace

  Lollipops and Leashes

  Lipstick and Lecture Halls

  Contours and Cuddles

  Manties and Muffins

  Sculptures and Snuggles

  Pacis and Photographs

  City Daddy, Country Little series

  Purple Rein

  His Little Sunshine

  Touch of Gray

  Blue Jean Night

  His Crimson Skye

  Precious Zane

  Faking It series

  Happy Faking Plus One

  Merry Faking Christmas

  Other Titles

  Daddy’s Little Christmas

  Daddy’s Little Christmas List

  His Boss’s Little Christmas

  Daddy’s Little Christmas: Aster

  A Daddy for Christmas: Hermie

  A Little Christmas: Claus’s Secret

  A Little Christmas: Star

  A Little Snowed In

  By Della Cain and Kaytea Kat

  Found by Daddy Series

  Bridger’s Lost Duckie

  Jeremiah’s Lost Paci

  Archer’s Lost Onesie

  Austin’s Lost Fireman

  Easton’s Lost Otter

  Owen’s Lost Hero

  Gordon’s Lost Mitten

  Walker’s Lost Lollipop

  Lane’s Lost Kitten

  Colby’s Lost Binky

  London’s Lost Engine

  Reid’s Lost Cap

  BJ’s Lost Crayons

  Five Little Roommates

  Their Little House Colter

  Their Little House Tristan

  Their Little House Boston

  Also by Kaytea Kat at Decadent Publishing

  A Little Christmas: Timmy

  A Little Christmas: Dash’s Secret

  A Little Christmas: Star

  By

  USA Today Bestselling Author Della Cain

  And

  Kaytea Kat

  Chapter One

  Caelum

  Most people can avoid the one who got away. Not me. Mine is on every billboard in town.

  I understood why he left me—just not why he never came back or asked me to join him. Or maybe I only pretended not to get it. Star and I met on registration day of our freshman year in college. The entire online system crashed, making for a chaotic rush to handle registration the “old-fashioned way.”

  Something the school was 100 percent not ready for.

  I stood in one line after another, coming face-to-face with rattled and sweating instructors and teaching assistants armed with clipboards, pens, and other tools of destruction. Fortunately, by the time the system went down, about 80 percent of the student body had already registered, but even so, it was chaos and I was told again and again that I might not actually end up in the class I chose once they were able to access the online records again.

  By seven in the evening, I was sitting on the steps outside the auditorium, clutching a stack of paper containing information about my possible schedule and classes, when a roar went up from inside.

  “Don’t tell me,” I grumbled.

  “I won’t, but it seems the system has magically rebooted.” The speaker, a male about my age with sun-bleached hair and dark eyelashes and brows that told me the hair might have more than sun in it, plopped down next to me.

  “So, what do we do?” I pulled out my phone. “Start all over?”

  “I hope not. I had to cancel an important meeting today to be here.” He leaned back, elbows propped on the next stair up. He might be angry or frustrated, but his position gave a much more relaxed attitude than his words. And hot. He was the hottest guy here today, and many of those moving in and out of the building cast longing glances or even leers in his direction.

  “I have no meetings, important or otherwise, but I did have to miss a shift at my part-time job, which isn’t helping my budget any.”

  A guy heading for the doors cursed under his breath. “If they wasted my whole day, my daddy is going to have something to say about this. The building has our family name on it.” He stomped inside, while my new friend and I chuckled.

  “What a nib,” he said. “Glad my family can’t afford to donate buildings. The pressure must be tremendous. I’m Star, by the way.” He held out his hand, and I took it.

  “Caelum.” I didn’t let go as quickly as I could have. “What are you doing for dinner?”

  “I don’t know. Where are you taking me?”

  As soon as we confirmed we didn’t have to do anything else with our classes, I took him to the diner, one of my places of part-time employment where I got a discount. And then I took him home to the room I was renting, located over a garage a few blocks from campus.

  He had a dorm room, but for the next few months shared my single bed in my studio apartment. I thought we’d be together for the rest of our lives. We planned on it, talking about finishing school and buying a home together, building a life.

  Growing up, I was different than a lot of the other kids, always thinking things through before doing them, never just leaping first and worrying about the outcome later. It meant I had fewer bruises than many but also, since I had a tendency to point out possible dangers, got invited less and less to hijinks and mischief. I liked to read and travel and learn things.

  Star was everything I was not and yet many things I was. He did well enough at his studies, passing everything in those months, but he was quicker to accept an invitation to go out and have fun, maybe attend a party or a concert. And, of course, he always invited me along.

  That led to some late nights studying, but how could I ever say no to that adorable face?

  As he pointed out, we wer e only young once. And we needed to have a work-life balance. Sometimes I felt so much older than Star, although we were the same age. But with his joy and friendliness, he carried me with him into a much more fun, relaxed way of being.

  And then one day, that important meeting he’d postponed until the next day bore fruit. Star had been up for consideration to star in a made-for-TV movie. My love had done some acting before I knew him. A few small guest spots on shows, commercials, things like that. But as he’d aged out of his young teen years, the offers were few and not growing the way he wanted. So he’d decided to get a degree instead of struggling in a marketplace where there were many talented people and few opportunities. Then, right before registration day, he’d gotten a call and was supposed to meet with his agent. Nothing was for sure, at that point, so he showed up and signed up for classes.

  Which he attended until he got the call.

  The movie was going to start pre-production the following week, and if he wanted the role, he would need to be there.

  “I can switch some of my classes to online,” he assured me. “Then see what happens next term.”

  “Sure you can.” We were curled up in my bed, wrapped in one another’s arms on his last night before leaving town. “You can do anything you put your mind to.”

  He nuzzled my chest. “But it might be hard. Depends on how things go with filming.”

  “Of course, baby.” I stroked his hair, hating anything that would change the happy life we’d built together but wanting the very best for him. “Take it a step at a time. Get a handle on your schedule then see how much you can fit in.”

  He yawned. “Sounds exhausting.”

  “You’d better get some sleep. Are you sure I can’t drive you to the airport?”

  “No. I’m afraid if you’re there, I won’t be able to leave.”

  I cuddled him closer, trying not to think about the next night when I’d have the whole bed to myself. Two of us in the single could be a challenge, but since we slept tangled up together, it had been plenty of space.

  “I’ll call you every day,” he said before falling asleep.

  And he did.

  At first.

  But as the project kicked into gear, it became once or twice a week. Then there was a lot of post-production and promotion and before all that settled down, another opportunity arose. One role led to another and another. Our daily calls became weekly calls, became holiday calls, became silence.

  His career soared, and I was grateful he’d achieved his dreams. I only wished our dreams together could have been part of it all.

  Chapter Two

  Star

  I couldn’t pinpoint the time I decided I actually wanted to be a “star.” The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if I ever really had. Deciding wasn’t an option for me, so it didn’t really matter when it was.

  My father was one audition away from his dream role…one that launched a fellow actor into the stratosphere. Not nailing that part was his one regret in life, and he decided it was up to me to live the life he once wanted. That was how I got the name Star. He thought it would help make it happen. Naming your child after your fallen dreams was messed up. Full stop.

  In some ways, I wished his dreams had been pro football or the Olympic swim team or something just as unattainable. I didn’t like sports, or maybe I did? It was never anything I got to explore. But with sports, you found out younger that you had no hope of a professional future and maybe then, I’d have had some semblance of a childhood. By the time I hit high school, the coach would have been like, “Nah, bro, see ya,” and I would’ve been free.

  But no, my father wanted me to be an actor. I was in dance and acting classes before I could talk. It was ridiculous. My entire life was being thrust toward a career in film. Stage might have been acceptable if it was Broadway, but my father saw me as a movie star, the kind who would walk down the street and everyone would recognize them. In his grand vision, they’d tell that story to their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren for decades to come because it was such a big deal to meet me.

  My father’s dreams were warped. There was no way around it. And I got sucked into them. I had the looks, and that got me far as a child. I got commercials and some teen roles with ease. I never really took off, which was good. I never really wanted to, even the few times I thought I did.

  For the most part, I tried just enough to keep him happy. And then finally, I hit the age—the one where I was too old to play the young roles and too young to play the adult roles. I was in this limbo time of my career, and it was perfect. It got me exactly what I needed, an excuse to go to college.

  I had one last interview, which wasn’t really an interview, although I didn’t know it at the time. My father and agent wrapped it up like an interview and then turned it into a meeting. I was just going to talk to some people, no big deal. When the computer systems went down and everything taking a million years to process at the college, a light was shining down on me. I missed that “meeting,” and I was free. I rescheduled, but I knew how that went. You reschedule, you lose. Full stop.

  And then the best thing happened. I was just a normal guy doing normal college things. Best of all, I met a boy, Caelum. He wasn’t interested in me because I’d done some bit part on a television show or because he recognized me from an ad campaign. We just connected.

  We went to school, hung out together, and I spent most of my nights at his crappy apartment. It was great, until that rescheduled meeting became a role that required me to leave school. More than anything, I wanted to turn it down, but I had made a deal and I couldn’t.

  I slapped on a happy face and did the best acting of my life. I was achieving my dream. It was so great. But leaving Caelum, leaving school, was the hardest thing I ever did. I would call him all the time until I got caught, and then it was down to once a week. My father and agent wanted to change my number and limit my access to technology. If I hadn’t refused to do an ad campaign if they didn’t “treat me like an adult,” I wouldn’t have been able to do that much. I didn’t have a lot of power, but I wielded what little I did.

  But as time passed, it became too difficult to even keep up that much. I was under a close eye, and it sucked. There were still days I wanted to call him, to hope he had the same number. But our time had passed. It was better for him if he moved on, and it was better for me not to open old wounds. At least that was what I kept telling myself.

  Besides, I was officially living the dream. I was on billboards. People recognized me. Life was everything it should be.

  Except it wasn’t. I hated it. The work itself wasn’t so bad. I didn’t mind acting. I liked it, even. It was something I was actually good at. But being famous? I’d do so much not to be famous, not to be micromanaged, to live my life for me and not random fans I’d never have a conversation with.

  I had the day off and, more than anything, wanted to hide away. I dug through my suitcase, pushed aside my stuffie and binky, digging for my hoodie. Maybe that would be my disguise today. I had half a notion that I should stay here, put on my few little clothes, and just hide away from the world. Being little had been my only escape all those years, a side of myself I couldn’t share with anyone.

  But as I was digging, I remembered when I met Marion, the manager at Collared, while doing some research for a project that fell through. She told me about Chained and said it would be a safe place if I ever wanted to go and explore.

  Marion saw through me. She never said as much, but I could tell. When she heard about my connection to this city, she slid the Chained comment in. I don’t know what it was about Marion, but I trusted her. If she felt it was safe, it was, and since I was here, why not check it out? On a whim, I paid for a membership at Collared, although I wasn’t sure I’d ever get a chance to spend time there. It just felt good.

  All clubs like Chained were cautious of who they let in, and they never allowed cameras inside. As long as I made it in the front door without being seen, it didn’t matter who saw me. There’d be no footage to escape. Sure, there might be rumors, but no one would believe them. I was Star. Why would I be walking around with a binky? Obviously, I wouldn’t be or if I was, it was research.

  My mind made up, I put on my best disguise, which was really just to blend in the best I could. Hoodies and caps were my go-to, with big glasses. So cliché, but it worked. My original disguise, a trench coat, had long since stopped working, but my assistant and I still put it to use.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9