AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her compliment raised my confidence. “I wanted to look different. Be sure no one mistook me for Frannie.”
“The only person people are going to mistake you for is Colton’s girlfriend if he doesn’t stop staring at you like that. He looks about ready to scoop you up and carry you over his shoulder like some caveman.”
I snuck a glance at Colton. He was indeed still staring at me. His brother was talking to someone else next to him, and while Colton was close, he might as well have been a thousand miles away. He didn’t even pretend to be listening to their conversation. He sipped his drink and watched me.
A zing of power raced through me at that moment. I held the attention of the most ruthless man in the room. Someone who could take over corporations with less thought than most people put into choosing their clothes for the day. He intimidated almost everyone in this office, including me. But right now, I felt like I held his attention in the palm of my hand.
I must have stared back for too long. “He’s coming over here,” I whispered to Erika.
“Oh, lord,” Erika groaned just before we both turned to face his approach.
“Ladies, thank you both for coming this evening. The social committee has done a spectacular job.”
Erika’s mouth fell open, so I jumped in.
“Yes. They really have. It’s better than—”
Erika pressed her foot over mine. “It’s better than anything I’ve seen before,” I said before I could tell him it was better than last year’s.
“Can I get you anything to drink?” he asked.
Erika held up her glass. “I’m good. But thanks.”
“Ava?”
“Sure. That would be great. Thank you.”
When he walked away, Erika pulled me aside. “That was close, Frannie.”
“I know.” I blew out a breath. “I just can’t think straight when he’s around.”
“Maybe you should just quit before you say something and he realizes the truth.”
“I can’t. Not yet. I’ve made it through the first five days. I can do another five.”
“I hope you’re right.”
I smoothed out the creases I knew were certainly on my face and pasted on a smile by the time Colton returned with my drink. “Here you go,” he said, handing me a glass of eggnog.
“Thanks,” I said and took a sip.
Still watching me, he asked, “Care to take a photo with Santa?”
I watched as people lined up to take a picture with Clive and knew he probably wouldn’t recognize me, but I didn’t want to tempt fate.
“I’d rather not,” I said. Then, noticing a group from the mailroom walk toward us, I added, “How about we take a photo in the photo booth instead?”
I grabbed his hand and pulled him away from my downstairs colleagues. He stared at our clasped hands and I immediately let go. “I’m sorry,” I said.
“Don’t be,” he whispered and interlaced his fingers with mine.
Oh, god!Why did that feel so good and so right?
He sat down in the photo booth first and kept his legs wide open in typical male fashion. He patted his thigh and I laughed.
“If I didn’t sit on Santa’s lap, what makes you think I’d sit on yours?”
“I’m hoping it’s because you want to. And despite being prim and proper, I’m praying that you want to be bad right now.”
