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Joy’s voice broke on the word, and without thinking, Kian put his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder a few times. He was so shocked that she didn’t shrug it off that he slowly removed his arm before she got upset.

“Bittersweet, I suppose,” he said, his voice catching. “But at least Mom got to see her graduate. I know it meant the world to her, even if I never knew she was doing any of this.”

“That was Lorelei for you,” Joy said. “She didn’t want people to know how much of a philanthropist she was in the community.”

When she said that, it brought to mind her favorite thing, playing Mrs. Claus for the children at the hospital. He wondered if that was on Joy’s radar for the season. Well, of course it was, but he wondered what she planned to do. When he gave her the coat, she said she wouldn’t do it this year, which meant she’d hopefully hired someone else. He stopped himself from asking, because he was enjoying their time together too much to ruin it.

“Speaking of her philanthropy, the Snowcap Ridge Winter Light Show is setting up boxes for the food pantry each night of the event in Mom’s name. Apparently, she was their largest benefactor for years. That will continue, but they wanted to do something to show how much she did for the community.”

“Will you be continuing it?” she asked, a brow raised.

“Mom left instructions in her estate will for the charities she wanted to receive a large endowment. That’s been completed. But I will continue to support the food shelf, and a few others, each month.”

Joy was silent, watching Kian closely. Her eyes darted back and forth as though she were thinking something through. “What if,” she started to say, then stopped, as though she had more to work out.

“What if we?” he asked, hoping to help her work through it.

“I was thinking about putting boxes in the mall, but they’d get wet and get in our cleaners’ way.” Joy fell silent again, and he waited, certain she’d come up with a solution. She snapped her fingers and smiled. “We’ll set up a box by Lorelei’s statue every Saturday. If they bring a nonperishable food item, they’ll get a coupon for a free small beverage from Center Court Coffee.”

“How will Boyd feel about that?” Kian asked curiously.

“I’ll reimburse him, so he’ll be happy as a clam. They’ll get a free drink, but they probably won’t be alone, so he’ll pick up extra sales. He can keep the coupons, and I’ll pay him each Monday.”

“It raises the question: if the mall is paying for it, why not just donate to the food shelf?” Kian asked, perplexed.

“Did I say the mall was paying him?” Joy asked, finally turning to drill him with those gorgeous green eyes he could get lost in for days.

Whoa, take a step back, man.

“Yeah, you just said you’d reimburse him on Monday.”

“I said I’ll reimburse him, meaning me, Joy Brady, not Snowcap Ridge Outlet Mall.”

“Seriously? Why? You could just donate to the food shelf.”

Joy stared at him for a moment, doing nothing but blinking. By the time she finally spoke, he was growing uncomfortable with the silence and wondering if he’d said something wrong. “They told me you have a business degree from Wharton, so I thought you might come up with the reason if I gave you enough time. Apparently, not everyone is born with critical-thinking skills.”

“Hey!” Kian exclaimed, laughing at her smirk. “I don’t know whether to be offended or to admit you’re right.”

“The latter,” she said immediately. “I’m teasing, really. You spend your days with your head in a spreadsheet, not out in public learning about human nature. Humans love to help, as long as it doesn’t require going out of their way. We also love nothing more than having our pot sweetened.”

Kian’s mind went directly where it shouldn’t have at that moment. Joy spread eagle on his bed as he tasted her sweetness for hours. He waited for that voice to tell him to back the hell up, but nothing came. Wait, was that cheering? Who was cheering?

“Kian?” Joy asked, and he forced his attention away from her imaginary naked body on his bed and back to the matter at hand. That little daydream would never come true.

“Sorry, was following along. Sorry. Sweeten the pot.” He tried not to groan as he repeated the line, praying his expression stayed neutral.

“Right. We love rewards. Remember when we were kids and got a gold star for a good grade? Same idea. They give something, and they get something in return.”

“What if they give more than one item? Do they get more than one coupon?”

“They get one coupon a week,” she said, as though she were planning it as they talked. “If they bring ten items the first time, they get one coupon. If they bring three items three times, they get—”

“Three coupons.”

Joy nodded. “You’ll have those who bring one item for one coupon on one Saturday. You’ll have those who bring one item each Saturday for three coupons, and you’ll have those who bring bags of food and don’t care about the coupons. What they care about is that we made it easy during a busy time of year.”

Gently, Kian shoulder bumped her. “I like the way you do business, Joy Brady.”