Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 18896 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 94(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 63(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18896 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 94(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 63(@300wpm)
“Hello, Max.” Stephan walked up beside him.
“Hey, little brother.” Catching the scowl on his twin’s face, Max grinned, feeling on safe, sibling-sparring ground. “‘Little brother’ is a figure of speech. You know that. But you also know I got sprung first.”
“Three minutes isn’t enough to hold it over me our entire lives,” Stephan said with characteristic grumbling. “But I’m glad you made it.”
“Thanks for inviting me.” It gave Max hope he’d leave here with more than he’d arrived with.
At the very least, a renewed connection to his twin and at best, a new woman in his life? Possible, Max thought, unless—he glanced at his brother. “Who’s the elf?”
Stephan folded his arms across his chest and glanced around the tree to where the woman who’d kissed Max senseless now tried to feign interest in her bag of toys and not the Corbin brothers. Max stifled a smile.
“Who, Brandy?” Stephan asked.
“Brandy.” Max tested the name on his tongue, liking the sound.
“She’s the office manager I’m taking over for,” Stephan said.
“Any interest?” Max asked, needing to lay his cards on the table.
Stephan shook his head. “Maybe when I first started working here, but that was a while ago. And once we became colleagues…” He waved his hand in dismissal. “No interest.”
It was obvious to Max that she didn’t feel the same—at least she hadn’t before kissing the wrong twin, but no point in informing his brother now. “You sure?”
“No interest. Not that way.” Stephan glanced at him, surprised but obviously certain. “Field’s clear.”
And so were his brother’s words. Nothing stood between Max and his elf.
He turned, determined to stake his claim, but she was talking with a female colleague, and then without warning the conference room was overrun with scampering, chattering children. “What’s this?” Max asked over the din.
Stephan laughed. “This is Brandy’s contribution to the annual firm Christmas party. We always made a cash donation to a charity, but she insists we do something more personal, too. Now we buy gifts for the kids at one of the local women’s shelters and Santa hands them out—with her help.”
“Santa?”
“Our old, other head partner.” His voice darkened at the words. “But not this year. He’s been gone awhile.” He shook his head. “Not something I want to talk about but there is something you should know.”
Max raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
Stephan drew a deep breath. “Samantha, the owner of the firm, encouraged us to invite family and since Dad’s office is around the corner… he’s stopping by.”
Shit, Max thought. He had seen his parent when he’d been in the hospital recently, and again when he’d been released. Yet apparently the stroke had prompted a renewal in the man’s determination to get Max back into the family fold because their last conversation had begun and ended there. “Does he plan to hammer home the notion of me going to law school at this late date and then taking over the firm? Because I’m not a lawyer and never will be.” Their father lost Stephan to PR and Max to the investigation side of things.
“I will say he’s determined enough for four men but hopefully you drove your point home last time,” Stephan said.
Max winced and decided to think of other, more pleasurable things.
He looked over. His elf—Brandy—was kneeling down with kids beside her, tickling one, laughing with another. Not only did she have an altruistic streak but from the looks of things she was a natural-born nurturer, too. Add that to her sexy-as-hell appearance and her knock-out kiss and Max knew he’d found a gem. Getting to know her would be a pleasure.
“Who’s replacing your old boss as Santa this year?” Max asked.
“Even cash couldn’t sway any of these uptight jokers to do the job and I wasn’t sure I’d make it on time, so Brandy’s handing out the gifts herself,” Stephan said.
“Really.”
His brother chuckled aloud. “You sound awfully pleased. Aren’t you too old to be telling Santa what you want for Christmas?”
Max grinned. “Hell, no. Especially not if it’ll let me get close to his sexy emissary.” And as soon as the children were finished, he planned to tell Santa’s helper exactly what he wanted for Christmas.
Chapter Two
Brandy was one part mortified and two parts completely turned on. She was in a sweat that had nothing to do with the crowded, overheated room and everything to do with the man watching her out of the corner of his eye. With hindsight and the rush of adrenaline to act on impulse gone, she saw the differences in the brothers more clearly. This man had slightly longer though equally black hair, and razor stubble gave him a more rugged, less clean-cut appearance. He exuded a raw masculinity that appealed to her on a deeper, more carnal level. One she hadn’t known existed inside her until that kiss.