Page 27 of The Naughty List Agreement

Which totally wasn’t fair.

She’d invited him in.

A smile spread over her face at the thought of Nick as some sort of otherworldly vampire who couldn’t cross her threshold without an invitation. But he was far too cheery, too smiley, his blue eyes too twinkly to be an eternal bloodsucker. The ripped body, though, that fit the idea of an immortal being. But a vampire in a plaid flannel shirt⁠—

“What?” His question startled her.

“Nothing. So … cocoa. I’m afraid it’s not very upmarket.”

His eyes crinkled in the corners as he stepped closer to her. “I’m a traditionalist myself so cocoa’s perfect. I’m just surprised you are too.”

“Why’s that?” she asked to cover the fact that she was imagining him as a sexy vampire. She busied herself with gathering the ingredients to make the hot chocolate.

“You’re always pushing something new.” He drifted around her kitchen, looking at her things, and eventually stopping at the table nestled under the window that overlooked her backyard.

“And you’re welcome. ‘New’ is going to make you a lot of money once I take your WonderHaus on The Today Show.”

His mouth twisted and he shook his head, shoving his hands into his pockets which had the knock-on effect of drawing his shirt tight against his biceps. Turning away, she focused on the milk she was heating up and the melting going on inside her.

“My ‘new’ toy is really just an update of a classic dollhouse. They’ve been around for hundreds of years.”

“Exactly! The same but … new. That’s what I’m looking for each year. Something that feels familiar but isn’t necessarily tied to old, negative emotions.”

Stop talking, Cora! She’d already admitted her Christmases weren’t great growing up. The last thing she wanted was to unload her baggage. Normally she had no problem keeping herself to herself, but Nick … he made her want to open up.

Danger, girl! Make the damn hot chocolate and get Mr. Dark and Sexy out of your house.

“What about Santa? How do you propose to make him the same but new?” he asked as she brought the hot chocolate over to the kitchen table. She’d skipped the marshmallows on his but added them to her own. She had put some whipped cream on his and added one shake of Christmas-themed sprinkles.

He held a chair out for her and then took a seat across from her. She smiled at the gesture.

“Santa? I’m not bothered by him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t believe. My mom was practical. I didn’t even know there was a Santa until I started school. It’s just not part of Christmas for me.”

“What?”

Nick’s shock kind of surprised her. Like he was personally offended by her non-belief. “Come on, it’s not that big of a deal. Everyone stops believing when they are, what, like, nine or ten. I’d cut him completely from Winter Wonderland but parents and the board would revolt.”

Nick shoved his hand through that thick chestnut hair of his, mussing it up adorably, as he stared at her as if she’d grown an extra head.

“Sorry. I-I’m not sure what— You don’t … still believe?” she asked gently, trying to keep her tone light.

“Where do you think the magic of the season comes from, if not from beliefs like Santa Claus?”

“The stores, my festival, marshmallow mochas,” she said with a wink at him.

“I can’t believe you’ve never received a present from Santa,” he said.

“This is really a big deal for you, I can tell. The truth is, one year … I think I was ten or eleven … there was a present on the coffee table in the living room from Santa. My mom was ticked off and said it was from my dad,” Cora admitted.

The image of that Christmas was a strong one. The present stuck in her mind because they normally hadn’t exchanged them. Her dad was remarried by then, and Cora’s mom was bitter that he might have found some happiness.

“Was it from him?” Nick asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. When she’d called her dad to ask, his new wife Lee had answered the phone and Cora had hung up. “Doesn’t matter. Santa’s just not really that important to the holiday celebration. There are a lot of parents that don’t even bother with the lie of Santa. It creates mistrust in kids when they get older and realize their parents deceived them.”