Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 58211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
“Move your clothes? What are you talking about?” I say innocently.
“I left my clothes here.” He nods to the table by the door. “The extractor fan is on the fritz. It gets steamy as hell in there.”
He’s not wrong. Steam is still rising from him like he’s burning up, like the sight of me is making him hot—probably not.
Do I want that? Should I? I decide not to answer either of those questions.
“I moved nothing,” I tell him.
“Hmm, guess it was a Christmas ghost, then.” He turns away, showing me his broad, muscled back. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve got more than one suit.”
He walks down the hall. Only when he reaches the end, turns, and faces me do I realize I’ve been standing here ogling him. I quickly dart down the stairs of the two-story high-rise. Dan is sitting at the kitchen island, playing one of his self-improvement podcasts.
“Are you okay, Holly?”
“What? Why would you ask that?” I squeak.
He looks at me strangely. “You look startled. I thought you’d have a big smile on your face. It’s our special Secret Santa announcement today. Two weeks to go before Christmas. This is usually when you put the spirit into overdrive.”
“I’m fine. Just need my morning coffee.”
“Okay,” he says, but I can tell he’s suspicious.
Nothing happened. I just played a funny trick—a prank. I was getting payback for all those comments when I was a kid. Sure, it didn’t go to plan, but it’s not like I’m sitting here, thinking of his muscular body and his eyes, the same blue as the northern lights in the Alaskan sky.
No way. That would be Christmas-cracker nutso.
Asher joins us, wearing the same suit I hid in the library. I guess he must have gone looking for it. He seems even more infuriatingly handsome when he’s clothed. Dashing, that’s the word.
“Sorry for taking so long,” he says, walking to the coffee machine. “A Christmas imp moved my suit into the library.”
Dan looks at me. “The library?”
“What are you looking at me for?” I mutter.
“Well, Holly, because I know I didn’t move his suit, and there’s nobody else here.”
Asher smirks at me as he sits next to my brother. The years melt away. He makes me feel like a kid again. Just like back then, the smile doesn’t reach his eyes. He’s never had much Christmas cheer.
“Don’t worry. I’m a big boy. I can take a few pranks,” Asher says, smirk firmly in place.
Dan rolls his eyes. “Sorry, Asher. You know what kids are like.” It’s an unsubtle dig.
“Yeah,” I say sarcastically. “Twenty-three-year-old kids who keep your video marketing alive.”
“I was only kidding, Holly,” Dan quips.
I smile. “So was I.”
I don’t want Asher to think of me as a kid. He’s thirty-three, the same age as Dan. Mom and Dad took their time between kids, hesitating about the issue until fate decided for them. I was seven when he was seventeen, eight when he was eighteen, nine when he was—
Okay, there’s no need for the math lesson, but it’s good to remember that this can never work.
What’s this? What am I even letting myself think?
“Time to get moving,” Dan says. “Lots to do today. Asher, are you coming with us or taking your car?”
“I don’t mind riding with you. Unless you do.”
Dan answers, “Nah, that’s cool.”
But Asher wasn’t looking at him. He was looking at me with that same tempting smirk on his lips.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” I say, looking out the window as snow swirls in the air, the bright lights of decorations shining from storefronts. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
“It’s all right,” Asher mutters.
Dan chuckles. “You will not get very far with the whole holiday thing with Asher, Holly. Unlike you, his parents didn’t somehow know that their kid would be Christmas-obsessed and didn’t give him a name to match. Unlike you, seeing children build snowmen doesn’t make his week.”
“It’s a time of year like any other.” Asher shrugs. “I’m here to work on making your next cell phone sleeker, more user-friendly, more appealing. Add all the buzzwords you can think of. I’m not here to ‘ho ho ho’ my name into the office.”
Wow, he genuinely is a Grinch. I decide not to let him get to me. He’s done enough of that this morning with the steam rising off his body. I wish I could get that image out of my head. It’s stuck.
I drink in the sights of Christmas, letting the spirit fill me up, ignoring the black hole of good cheer in the car.
Soon, we’re at the office. When we walk into the lobby, Dan looks at Asher and laughs. Asher is gaping at the decorations hanging from the ceiling and then sees the giant tree dominating the center. “You’ve got Holly to blame for all this, too.”
Asher looks at me. “You truly are obsessed.”
“It’s the one time of year where everybody collectively agrees to be happy. Sue me for enjoying it.”