Page 63 of The Naughty List Agreement

On Monday, Winter Wonderland was jam-packed with people as soon as the gates opened. Cora showed up dressed in a pair of tartan cigarette pants and a fluffy white sweater with a pair of cute snow-boots to deal with the weather conditions.

“Morning.”

A frosty glare was the only response Nick received. She was pissed and he understood why. After their snowball fight, she had asked him to stay but he’d felt too guilty about not telling her the whole truth about who he was. Things couldn’t get serious between them until she knew everything. Cora was way softer than she wanted the world to see, and she would consider his omission a betrayal.

He’d spent a lot of time last night staring at her knot in the Yearweave, which was still just as tangled and dark. The wins he’d had with the Magic Coffers were great but hadn’t moved the needle as far as Cora was concerned.

“Where do you need me?” She directed her question to Buddy instead of Nick.

“Uh, wherever the boss decides. We’ve mostly been busy fielding questions and taking orders for the WonderHaus so far,” Buddy explained.

“Let’s go in the backroom and I’ll give you a brief overview,” Nick said.

“I think I can handle it. I’ll take the left side.”

Cora’s cold shoulder was leaving him with frostbite, but his bestie was Jack Frost so he was used to the cold. What he wasn’t used to was her rejecting all his attempts to smooth over this tension between them.

Bari Toys had pride of place in the toy village and theirs was the largest shop. He’d set it up much like his shop in Hearthvale. His elves blended nicely with the mortal employees he’d recruited to help with sales. It didn’t escape Nick that everyone was giving him and Cora the side-eye.

“Cora—” She stiffened. “Cora, I need a word.”

Her lips tightened but she joined him in the backroom where he’d taken time to install a portal back to Hearthvale so his elves could get to the workshop for more stock if needed.

There was a seating area where people could take breaks, a line of desks against one wall, and a coffee station stocked with freshly baked cookies.

“What?” she demanded as soon as they were alone.

“I’m sorry about last night.”

She looked everywhere but in his direction. He admired that about her. Cora might be icing him out but there was no way she’d make a scene. She was too controlled for that. “There’s nothing to apologize for. Is there anything else?”

“No, just that. And I do need to apologize. I hurt your feelings⁠—”

“Ask around, Bari, I don’t have any.”

“But you do, Cora. Despite that thick layer of ice you like to wrap yourself in, you care. A lot.”

Her eyes fluttered closed and her face looked even more stern. “So what? That has nothing to do with us working together. I’m not going to discuss my feelings with you, so could you please just ignore them the way I plan to?”

Except he couldn’t. Oh, he wanted to, but it was too late for that. His emotions swirled all over the place where she was concerned. It would be better for everyone in Hearthvale—for all of humanity, in fact—if he could ignore them, but he couldn’t.

She had her arms crossed under her breasts, her hip out to one side as she waited for his response. Frustrated with himself, with her, and with the entire situation, he stalked over to her, put his hands on her waist and slammed his mouth down on hers.

That frustration melted away the minute their lips met. The anger that had driven him was really just a mask for his own guilt—the shame of making her hurt so badly that she’d pulled that thick coat of ice back around herself.

She met him with the same energy, sucking his tongue deep into her mouth and biting his lower lip as he pulled back.

“This is going to be a problem. Lust and anger aren’t exactly conducive to a peaceful work environment,” she said, but the heat was gone from her tone. Even her face was more relaxed.

“Have a lot of experience with it?”

“Only from watching Moonlighting.”

“What’s that?”

“A really old, sexy, workplace romance TV show that my neighbor Sarah got me hooked on when I was a teenager.”

He rested his forehead against hers.