Page 153 of Her Boss, Her Rancher: Sunrise On The Ranch

“Where’s mistletoe when you need it?” he asked, leaning in.

“You don’t need it, Jared.”

And then his lips came down on hers. She closed her eyes and relished the feel of his kiss and the tiny bursts of joy popping around inside her. But too soon it was over and he lifted Sienna and kissed her cheek, too.

Sienna hung her arms around his neck and a glimmer of something beautiful entered his eyes.

He reached into his jacket pocket. “Here, this is for you,” he said, handing Bella a gift wrapped in red paper and tied with raffia.

“For me?” she asked.

He nodded. “I just saw it and it reminded me of you.”

He took out another gift, one much smaller, and handed it to Sienna. “One for you, too.”

Bella untied the bow and opened the paper on the first gift. It was a Christmas ornament. A gold-rimmed, white-porcelain angel holding a basket of red-and-green flowers in her hands. Written on the angel’s wings were the words Joy and Faith.

“This is beautiful, Jared.”

“Sienna’s is a smaller version. She’s an angel, too.”

“Thank you,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. She helped Sienna open her little package. “Look, Sienna. A baby angel. Can you say ‘thank you’ to Jared?”

“Tank you.” She held on to the angel like it was the most precious gift she’d ever received. “Pretty.”

“It is pretty. Let Mommy take care of it for you while you drink your milk.” She took the angel out of Sienna’s hands and replaced it with a milk bottle.

“Bella, you’ve brought me joy and helped to restore my faith in life. I know you don’t like me saying it, but to me, you and Sienna are angels.”

“Jared, you give me too much credit.” Holding the ornament in her hand, touched by his generosity and thoughtfulness, she still felt as though she didn’t have any right to him, not in a way that mattered.

“You know what?” Jared said, ignoring her comment. “How about we finish our cookies and find a nice big tree to bring home to Stone Ridge.”

“I think we can do that.”

And they went in search of the perfect tree to decorate with their new angel ornaments.

“Don’t let me distract you,” Jared said, sitting on a kitchen stool facing her workstation.

Was he kidding? He was a total distraction. It was almost 2:00 a.m. and Bella was hard at work perfecting a new recipe. “That’s like saying don’t let the sun shine.”

She looked away from her notepad to gaze into his gleaming blue eyes. The twinkle in them sped up her heartbeats. Jared, barefoot, wearing a pair of dark sweatpants, filling out a white T-shirt with a solid chest and muscular arms, his hair sleep-tousled... All combined, it was enough to make her forget to add tomatoes in her tomato soup recipe. Not good.

“I can leave, Bella,” he said, as if it was the last thing he wanted. “Let you do your work.”

It was thelast thingshe wanted, too. “Actually, stay.”

“Because I inspire you?” He was teasing.

She smiled and nodded.

A groan lifted from his chest. “Bella.”

“I mean, uh, I like having the adult company.”

“And I likebeingyour adult company.”

She smiled, not allowing her mind to go there. If she did, she wouldn’t get any work done tonight. “It was awfully nice of you buying a little Christmas tree for the kitchen.” She took her eyes off him to view the five-foot Douglas fir sitting in the corner of the room, waiting patiently to be decorated. They’d actually left the tree farm with two trees.