Page 10 of Santa’s Lawyer

Avery stared at the absurd pair before her. Emily Post’s Etiquette did not prepare her for this moment.

“Not at all,” she said at last. “You have both been most welcoming.”

Gregory tilted back his head and honked approvingly. “Now, if you’ll follow me, love, I’ll show you to your study room.” He waddled ahead, flapping his flippers as though trying to take off.

Ander rejoined Tilly at the reception desk, while Avery followed Gregory down the hallway.

“Third time’s the charm?” Avery heard Tilly ask in a hushed voice.

Gregory turned a corner, and then another. The hallway terminated at a bookcase. He tugged on a lever on the first shelf, causing the bookcase to rotate on a hinge, opening a passageway to the most beautiful library Avery had ever seen.

CHAPTER FOUR

THE NORTH POLE

Avery gasped.

There was a massive fireplace and desks and books, of course. But everything else dissolved into the background when she laid eyes on the world's most inviting couch: it was leather, well-worn and covered in plush pillows and throws. She had to stop herself from grabbing the first book within reach and diving onto the oversized cushions in front of the crackling fire.

As she made her way into the room, Gregory launched himself two inches into the air beside her, furiously flapping as he attempted to delay his inevitable flop on the carpet.

“Nearly there,” he muttered as he pushed himself up by his beak and fins, shaking his head. “Make ya-self at ‘ome, Ms. ‘oarfrost,” he then invited. “Some reading materials here tah get ya started. Your tutor should be here right quick.”

“Thank you, Gregory,” Avery said, as the delusional penguin waddled out of the room.

A moment later, she heard a familiar voice in the hall.

She looked to the doorway to see none other than Louis, immaculately dressed in a deep red silk suit with a gold-and-red tie, buttoning his suit jacket.

“You!” she exclaimed, running toward a beaming Louis. With great effort, she stopped short of throwing her arms around him.

“Why, Ms. Hoarfrost,” he said, looking at her appraisingly, “the North Pole suits you.”

“So that settles it,” she said. “This isn’t a dream. I’m in the North Pole.”

“Indeed, you are.”

“It was a bit disorienting waking up here this morning,” she admitted. “A little heads up might have been nice.”

Louis furrowed his brow. “I do apologize, I thought we had made that clear enough in the terms and conditions accompanying the NDA you signed with your application.”

“Right, of course,” Avery said, reminding herself that she was there for a legal job interview, so this probably wasn’t the right time to admit that she might have scrolled through the terms and conditions of a legally binding document a little too quickly. “I suppose that slipped my mind in the excitement of the morning. This has been a lot to take in. And I’ve met quite a few new people. Well, not people,” she added.

“That’s understandable,” Louis said. “Perhaps now is a good time for me to get a bit more specific about why you’re here.”

Avery sighed with relief. A conversation with a human would be a refreshing change of pace. “That would be great, yes, please.”

Louis walked over to the leather couch and gestured for her to sit. She took a moment to drink in the sight of him: the most captivating man she’d ever met, inviting her to sit beside him on a luxurious sofa. The firelight danced across his face, and Avery found herself right back where she was the night before: butterflies swarming in her stomach, enchantment clouding her judgment.

She sat down very close to him. He did not move away.

“Ms. Hoarfrost—”

“Avery,” she corrected, draping her arm on the back of the couch between them.

“Avery,” he repeated with a softness that undid the last scrap of professionalism she was trying to maintain.

“The job you're interviewing for,” he paused, turning his head slightly, as if bracing himself against a strong wind, “is to be—”