Page 28 of Santa’s Lawyer

Avery gasped and jumped up, hastily buttoning up her shirt and collecting her jacket.

“Oh, no. Ander,” Louis moaned. “How long have we been in here?”

“You left the Break Room almost two hours ago.”

“WHAT?” they demanded in unison.

“We’ve been searching for you. You’re due in court in fifteen minutes, Ms. Hoarfrost.”

Avery made a run for the door before stopping short at the entrance.

Louis was pacing, running a hand over his mouth. “Oh, it’s all come back. Oh, Avery, please forgive my behavior, that damn powder, it—”

“It let me forget about the NDA for a minute. A few times,” Avery said quietly, finishing for him. She leaned against the doorframe for a moment, her back to him. “I don’t know, if—”

Tears blazed a trail down her cheeks.

Glancing halfway over her shoulder, she said, “How much more love am I expected to lose, and keep going?”

Louis took a step toward her.

Avery shook her head.

She sniffed, wiped her face, and set off down the hallway for the library.

As she passed by the Break Room, she barely registered Tilly and Gregory huddled closely together, giggling and whispering. They hastily separated as she walked by.

“See you in court,” she said flatly, not bothering to wait for a response.

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE NORTH POLE, AVERY'S LIBRARY

When she returned to the library, Avery collapsed on the big leather couch in front of the fireplace. Resting her feet on the coffee table, she stared at her notes about the private equity sale, still hanging in the air.

An argument she didn’t want to make.

A case she didn’t believe in winning.

And if she went home instead, she lost everything that mattered.

Even factoring in the come-down after rolling on Christmas Magic for the last two hours, she estimated this was the lowest she’d felt since her mother’s funeral.

How was it possible to be surrounded by Christmas and still be so miserable?

Avery considered going home and having to forget it all. How many of her favorite memories with her mother and grandmother would be lost forever? She would still remember who they were—their love went well beyond December—but it beamed the brightest at Christmastime. And when she arrived back at her apartment, would her wall of portraits with her mom and the candle store Santa just be a blank space? Christmas would still be happening around her. Would she still get to see the lights? Smell the cookies? Decorate a tree? Or would she not even comprehend it?

And Louis…

The moment he called and asked her to dinner, everything changed. She’d never felt anything like the electric current that had been coursing through her veins since their first touch. She was supercharged, even before she arrived at the North Pole. Every time he was near her, she could feel the magic vibrating inside of her, spring-loaded to burst forth and swirl around him, to charm him, to pull him closer.

And when they kissed, it was like Christmas morning. It was the smell of pine wafting from the tree. It was Ella Fitzgerald’s voice, golden retrievers in wicker baskets, candlelight, warm cinnamon rolls, and velvet robes. It was a hug from her grandmother. Her mom bringing her a blanket before she even realized she was cold. It was all the comfort and joy she had been sure she’d never get to feel again.

It was love.

The magic dust had finally left her system, and her temporary amnesia subsided. She could now recall every silly, stumbling, salacious moment from the last two hours. She heated at the memory of his hands, his chest, his breath, his lips.

She loved him. And she needed him again.