“I’ll be fine.” Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. My heart—and cock—lurched when she added, “But I appreciate you stopping by,Austin.”
Fuck, I loved the way she said my name, all soft and breathy. I would have been lying if I said I hadn’t envisioned Nellie whispering my name—or better yet, screaming it—at least a dozen or so times since we’d met, preferably while I pounded into her or ate her gorgeous pussy. None of those fantasies had included a cold, sterile hospital room. Not that I wasn’t above doing a little bit of doctor-patient roleplay . . .
“See you around, Santa.”
“Right,” I answered. “Please let me know if you need anything. Seriously, anything at all.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Nellie said, a hint of playfulness behind her words. “I know where you live.”
Chapter Two
December 2nd
Nellie
Ihad never considered myself a “romantic” person. I wasn’t a fan of cutesy couple nicknames, hand holding gave me the ick—especially on a first date—and even after a year of reading my sister’s favorite romance novels, grand gestures still made me cringe.
That being said, nothing warmed my heart quite like Frank Capra’s masterpiece,It’s a Wonderful Life.
Long before the days of twenty-dollar movie tickets and Netflix subscriptions, my sister and I had spent many Saturdaynights picking out tapes—that was right, tapes—at the local video store. Whereas she always gravitated toward the latest rom-com releases and I preferred a grizzly horror flick, there was always one genre we could agree on—Christmas movies.
White Christmas, Meet Me in St. Louis, Elf—basically, anything featuring Bing Crosby and/or at least one song and dance sequence that had absolutely nothing to do with the plot. But if you asked me, none of them held a candle toIt’s a Wonderful Life.
For twenty-ish Christmases, I had watched Jimmy Stewart dance himself over the edge of the school swimming pool, lasso the moon for Donna Reed, and race through the streets of Bedford Falls, shouting merry greetings to passersby. Personally, I liked to believe that there was a lost alternative ending out there somewhere—one where Mr. Potter got his ass handed to him by the rest of Bedford Falls—but even without it, the movie was damn near perfect.
Sadly, due to recent events, I had taken a wrong turn on Sunset Boulevard and had ended up in a different Jimmy Stewart movie.
Rear Window.
Stuck in my apartment with a fractured foot, I watched as the rest of my neighbors—including the sexy Santa who’d run me down—go about their lives. The only thing missing was Grace Kelly. Instead, I had Tabitha.
“Please, Tabitha,” I said, wincing at the desperation in my voice. “A small fracture isn’t going to stop me from coming into the office.”
The intimidating woman on the other end of the video call blinked back at me. Tabitha Treger could give lessons in the art of resting bitch face. Seriously, Mona Lisa had nothing on Tabitha. She was the only senior partner at the firm with experience in both intellectual property and corporate law, andeven though she was one hell of a shark, something told me that if she ever gave up her career, she could make a killing as a professional poker player.
She also scared the ever-loving reindeer shit out of me.
“Honestly, Janelle. There’s no reason for you to come in.” She tucked her crisp blonde bob behind her ears. “We’ve got everything covered around here. I can have one of the interns drop off your files later today, along with anything else you might need from your desk.”
“But what about—”
“Besides, isn’t it your driving foot?”
I stared down at the heavy black Aircast weighing down my right foot. Black had never been my color.
“I can always Uber.”
“We’ll be fine. Just go ahead and focus on your current accounts.” She passed a stack of papers to somebody off screen. “Geoffrey here can handle any new leads for the next few weeks.”
Over my dead—
“Nellie Belly! How’s the foot?”
I lurched in my seat when his face popped into frame, sending a wave of pain shooting down my leg. He certainly had a knack for popping up at the most inopportune moments, and why did those always seem to coincide with me sans makeup?
I clenched my fists at my side and smiled. “Perfectly fine, thanks.”
“That was a pretty bad fall you took.”
