He choked on his drink, but recovered quickly, a grin already spreading on his face. “Hi.”
“I see the ornament bandit is up to his old tricks.”
His head tilted. “Would he really be a bandit if he’s bringing a gift and not taking anything?”
“I’m not sure what the opposite of a bandit is. This still feels sneaky.”
“A holiday philanthropist? It’s only because I feel sorry for this tree not being shown to its full potential.”
She wouldn’t dare tell anyone, let alone Mason, she’d already spent an enormous amount of time with the tree in the morning, checking the water levels in the stand, and spending a few blissful moments with her face pressed into the branches to smell it. Putting on a bunch of ornaments would simply get in the way of Natalie’s face-pressing time. She didn’t know how to explain becoming obsessed with a Christmas tree and the man connected with it.
“So, Mason, I was thinking…” and that’s when she saw the newest ornament. It was an inner tube with a reindeer reclining in the center. On the side of the tube, it read,Snow Fun at Lake Tahoe.
While Placerville was a city many people traveled through on their way to Lake Tahoe, it was still an hour and a half away with good traffic and clear roads. Any local shops selling ornaments could possibly have souvenir-type ornaments, but they would read Placerville or, if they were more tacky and played into the town’s infamous history, Old Hangtown. Finding one specific to Lake Tahoe had to be less likely.
“You were thinking what?” Mason said.
“Where did you get that ornament?”
“Just from a small shop.”
“In Tahoe?”
His smile had disappeared and he appeared perplexed. “Yeah.”
She realized all of her earlier justifications were a ridiculous exercise, because the man she imagined for a fling wasn’t him. It would never be Mason because he wasn’t like the typical guys she usually had flings with. There was no way she could start something with a man who’d drive all the way to Lake Tahoe in order to buy her a silly sentimental ornament like a reindeer in an inner tube. All she could think about was how charming Stephen had been until he deemed her unworthy of any effort, and she had gone a lot further with him than she ever intended to go with Mason. The whole thing had gone too far and it was her fault for not making her line with Mason clear from the beginning and sticking with it.
She grabbed the newest ornament, pushing it into his chest until he claimed it. “Don’t bring any more ornaments. I don’t want them. You’re wasting your time driving all the way to Tahoe. Nothing will ever happen between us.”
His brows knitted together. He was clearly taken aback at her abrupt reaction. “What?”
She wasn’t going to wait for him to accept her explanation because it would be pointless. At the end of the day, Mason would always be Prince Charming and Natalie would be the fairy-tale villain breaking hearts. But at least that heart wasn’t hers. She strode away from him.
“Natalie, wait,” he said, following.
“No! I have work to do and this has gone too far.” Natalie would rather be angry than depressed, and she was well on her way.
Much to her dismay, this didn’t discourage the guy even when she tried to escape into her office. He entered with her, shutting the door behind him. The office wasn’t larger than a closet but, with Mason inside, the walls were closing in on her, like a booby-trapped room.
She pushed her hair from her face, lifting her chin in defiance, ready to be the strong one. “I don’t think continuing to work around each other is a good idea. I’m going to ask my uncle to get someone else to run the truck. It’s only for a couple more weekends so it’s not a big deal.”
She realized this would put her partnership at risk, but she’d rather try begging her uncle for some other way to prove her abilities. At the moment, she didn’t care. It was better this than to keep torturing herself with something that could never be.
Mason’s stance was loose with his hands on his hips, but his eyes held onto hers with a glint of something she couldn’t read. “Do you want to tell me why you don’t want to come back? Because it seems like a pretty big reaction to something like an ornament.”
“I don’t owe you anything, let alone an explanation. I’m not your employee. I don’t answer to Poinsettia Paradise. I’m only telling you that I’m not coming back because…it’s common courtesy.”
“Common courtesy?” He laughed but it wasn’t his usual good-humored one. “Is this about the way you kissed me?”
Her mouth jarred apart at his bluntness. “The way…I kissed you?” It wasn’t about that. It wasn’t about anything except how she didn’t want to work at that damn Christmas tree lot and have to stare at his goddamn kissable lips…like she caught herself doing at this moment, but only because she had trouble maintaining eye contact.
She made a concentrated effort to raise her gaze. “No, it isn’t and, excuse me for getting caught up in some goddamn winter wonderland moment. I’m not a damn robot, you know. And I was just…cold. Dammit.” Her control was held together by the barest of threads.
Much to her surprise, one side of his mouth lifted as though he found her tantrum amusing, which she hated. If she was going to be mad, why should he get off so easily? She considered stomping his foot and shoving him from her office. She didn’t want to see his eyes soften as though he was truly attempting to figure her out. “I noticed you like to use the word ‘damn’ a lot whenever you’re feeling frustrated.”
Natalie’s hands went into fists, jerking them downward in agitation. “Stop noticing things about me! I have work and family and stuff. I don’t need anything else right now.” She pushed a finger into his chest as the final period to this whole topic, but he covered it with his big, warm hand, pressing it to his chest and the rest of her train of thought flew off the track.
He dipped his head nearer, his voice becoming softer. “Do you not need anything right now or do you notwantto need anything right now?”
