“We’re doing this one together.”
“I’m not singing,” I warned. “My voice doesn’t carry a tune well.”
“It’s just us, and I’m not judging.” She sang anyway, for the first stanza. Then, she aimed an imaginary microphone at me for the chorus.
“Fa-la-la-la-la-I-can’t-wait-to-get-you-alone-in-bed.”
She howled, clearly not expecting my silly songwriting expertise to make an appearance. By the second and third verses I’d made up more lines likeFa-la-la-la-la-Your-tight-pussy-makes-me-moan,andFa-la-la-la-la-My-cock-is-harder-than-a-ceramic-Christmas-gnome.She snorted and giggled so hard she missed half the lyrics for the rest of the song.
“The clear victor in car karaoke is none other than the bosshole himself.” I held up my hand, and she gave me a high-five.
Stuck at a stoplight, I caught her hand and kissed the back of it, happier than I could recall being in some time.
“Nice to see you relaxing, Mr. Bellamy,” she teased.
“Told you I could be fun now and then.”
“Don’t you worry. I brought plenty of fun for us in my packed case back there. I’ll coax it out of you with sexy lingerie if it’sthe last thing I do. By the time you get back to work on Monday, you’ll be sick of me.”
“Not possible.” I shifted in my seat. Fuck, I was hard, thinking about what she had in mind. With a few hours’ drive yet ahead of us, it could get pretty uncomfortable sitting with a steel rod between my legs.
The light turned green, and the outside world crashed our date. The car’s AI pinged a new email coming in. She squeezed my fingers before letting go so I could focus.
“Message from: Holden West. Subject: Follow-up,” came the robotic voice from the dash.
“Play it,” I called out.
Holden’s voice-to-text came through smooth and noncommittal:Appreciate the proposal. Still reviewing options. Will circle back soon.
I groaned. “If ‘circle back soon’ were a contract clause people would pay for in this business, it’d add another million to my bank account.”
“Still no commitment from him?” She chewed her cheek.
“None. And Caleb’s been quote-sick-unquote all week. Convenient timing.”
“He called Maya and told her it was the flu bug that’s been going around. Thought he caught a chill on the ski lodge trip.”
“Right. The kind that only infects ambition. I worry about what you overheard at the lodge. Perhaps he is trying to steal Holden’s business away.” I eased around a cab, breathing deeply in and out, trying to keep my pressure down. “Maybe it’s for the best. Honestly, Holden would’ve been a handful. I don’t know. Lately I’ve been thinking my company takes on too much, spreading my people too thin.”
“You might not be entirely wrong.” She hesitated, twisting in her seat, careful with her words. “I’ve overheard some staff grumbling about hours.”
I shot her a sidelong glance. “My little spy.”
“I prefer the term ‘field operative.’”
“What else are they saying about me?”
She pretended to think, her pointer finger on her chin. “Hm. That you’re the best bosshole anyone’s ever had.”
I barked a laugh. “I want that on a mug. And a T-shirt.”
“Guess I have your Christmas present figured out then.” Her chuckle slid to a grin and softened. “You really like your work, don’t you? You care about your company.”
“Sometimes too much,” I admitted. “But lately I’m remembering why I started. Building things that last. Connections that mean something. I’ve been at this now for some time, partly with Brooks, then on my own. It’s becoming more tempting every day to slow down and enjoy the ride… with someone special.”
I let it hang there, the unspoken ‘with you’ between us.
Light snow fell, and she gazed out at it, quiet for a minute. I started sweating. Was it too soon? Had things been moving too fast? Hell, we went from thinking we’d wait a year to be together, to ignoring that and falling right into temptation.
