Page 75 of Santa Baby

“It was just a lot of work.” I cleared my throat and sipped my champagne. “It’s not even that it was a lot of work, per se, just I thought I wanted to do this. I thought this—” I swept my arm, motioning to party, “was what I wanted to do with my life, but it took every waking minute of my time, all of my brain space. I barely remember anything that happened over the last few days.”

“Do you still want to be an event planner?”

“Yeah but there has to be some balance. I guess that’s where I’m conflicted. I can’t imagine doing this all year around, you know? My dream…” I laughed to myself, looking down at my sparkly red shoes. “My dream would just be doing events like this around Christmas and continuing to be a photographer the rest of the year, but that’s not really feasible.”

“Why not?”

“I’d have to own my own business. I don’t have the funds for that. I don’t have an office space, storage… And don’t look at me like that,” I teased, shaking my head at him. “Don’t you even dare offer me money right now.”

He licked his lips. “I’d invest in you, Fia. If you’re serious about it, bring me a business plan, and we’ll talk.”

I turned to him, clutching his tuxedo. “I don’t want to get tangled in business with you again.”

“Again?”

“You know what I mean. I want a relationship with no paperwork.” I tilted my head toward the crowd, toward familiar faces I remembered from all the events we had to attend this season as a fake couple. Things definitely weren’t fake now, that was for sure. “I just want us to be us, no strings attached. If you invested in this silly pipe dream, we’d have that hanging over our heads and I just want you.”

His eyes darkened and his hand slid up my side. It felt like we were the only people in the room for a single, delicious moment. Then, he brought me back to reality. “Why do you believe you wouldn’t be able to pull off the kind of schedule you’re talking about?”

“Because this is the only party I have in my portfolio as of right now. I’d need to work for a bigger firm for a few years and make the right connections, you know, to start landing my own clients.”

“I guess it’s been a while since I was in your shoes.”

“Building a business in your head?”

“Having a dream,” he answered, and again I felt like the party was fading, leaving just me and Mason in the ballroom, his hands on my body, his fingertips gliding toward the low-cut back of my dress, over my skin. I held his gaze and felt an intense desire to get out of there and go home with him, or to find a secluded closet, anything, where I could kiss him without wandering eyes watching our every move.

“Do you want to go home?” I asked, stepping into him.

He tightened his grip on my waist. “Are you done here?”

I nodded. “It’s almost midnight. Heather told me I could leave whenever I wanted. I hired the cleanup crew, after all. And technically I promised her I’d come as her guest, not an employee, so…”

“So, you’re free?”

“Yes.” I smoothed my hand over his jacket, the finely made black buttons. He wore a tuxedo tonight, something Italian, I guessed. I was so used to his well-tailored suits, so this was a treat, and I’d been drooling over him since he walked into the ballroom for the first time.

I wasn’t the only one looking at him tonight. A group of women around my age walked by, tittering like little birds as they glanced at us over their shoulders, obviously disappointed Mason’s attention was locked on me.

“Let’s get your coat,” he said with a wry grin, and within minutes we were out on the street, and he was holding the limo door open for me as I slid into the backseat. He joined me and shut the door behind us.

“Where to, boss?” Rex said from the front seat.

I looked around. This wasn’t his usual car. I’d never been in a limo before.

“The long way back to Fia’s apartment,” Mason said breathlessly as he shut the door. His eyes met mine in the dark as he reached for a switch, and the partition rolled up.

A single beat of time passed between us before he was on me, clutching me around the hips and flattening me to the seat.

“Mason,” I rushed out, breathless. My eyes fluttered shut as his hand slid down my side to my thigh.

“This is all I’ve been thinking about since I first saw you tonight. This dress?” He groaned, his hand sliding through the slit of fabric to come up and cup my ass. “I think it’s my favorite so far.”

He nipped my neck as I writhed beneath him, my mind going blissfully blank. “What’s gotten into you?” I whispered, then rushed out a surprised breath as he hauled me upright, onto his lap. I straddled him, my dress bunched up around my waist.

“You,” he admitted breathlessly. “You take up all of my thoughts. I can’t get you out of my head.” He pulled me in for a kiss so deep my toes curled. He pulled the pins holding my hair in an intricate updo loose, tossing them onto the floor. My hair cascaded over my shoulders. One of his hands snaked up my neck, his fingers tangling in my hair and tugging ever so slightly.

I gasped out a breath at the pleasure rolling through me in waves. His mouth pressed kisses against my jaw, then my neck, down to the bodice of my dress where he stopped, panting, and slowly looked up at me. “I’m going to rip it off of you if you don’t tell me to stop.”