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“I won’t.”
After hanging up, I googled a delivery service. Mother loved flowers and chocolate. I placed the order before going back to work. Two hours later, she called again.
“I ju
st got your gifts,” she exclaimed. “This is not a replacement for you not coming to dinner, young man.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Also doesn’t mean I’ll pester you less.”
I grinned. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” Checking my schedule, I made a spur of the moment decision. “I’ll drop by the house this week in the evening, but not for dinner. Just a glass of wine.”
I could practically feel my mother’s joy.
“I knew I’d guilt you into it eventually.”
Chapter Five
Sienna
The next day, I arrived before anyone else at the office, so I could take care of the meeting room. It wasn’t that hanging decorations was frowned upon... but the way I did it might raise a few brows. I didn’t just hang them. I made an experience out of it.
Case in point, I put a Christmas playlist on my phone, not bothering with earbuds because my floor was empty anyway. I tapped my foot along to the rhythm, mouthing every line to every song: “Jingle Bells,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and even some commercial Christmas songs that I loved: Mariah Carey’s “All I want For Christmas,” Bill Nighy’s “Christmas is All Around Me,” and my all-time favorite, “Santa Baby,” the Kylie Minogue version. Eh, that one was more sensual than Christmassy, but hey, grown-ups needed to have fun on Christmas too.
I kept that one for last and put it on repeat as I hung the last of the twinkling lights along the windowsill. There, the room looked so much better now. I could see myself spending two hours a day in this little box.
“What’s going on here?”
I froze mid hip shimmy, drawing in a deep breath.
Shit, shit, shit. Winston was here. It was still only seven thirty. No one arrived before eight.
Slowly, I turned around, wishing I could turn off the music by sheer force of will, because Kylie was just singing a particularly suggestive lyric.
My face was red, I was sure of it. It felt on fire. Damn it. My goal was to impress him so he’d hand me more responsibility. Dancing unrestrainedly around the office was not going to help. How was he going to take me seriously from now on?
I’d been expecting him to be looking around the room with disapproval, but his gaze was fixed on me, and those green eyes seemed darker than I remembered them from yesterday. He looked down my body slowly and then back up. His eyes were smoldering. Oh my God. Was he checking me out?
I broke out in a sweat at the mere thought.
“Ms. Hensley, what is all this?”
“Christmas decorations.”
“I see that. What are they doing in here?”
“Thought this place could use some Christmas spirit. This was the only meeting room without decorations.”
“Did it occur to you that maybe that’s why I chose it? The entire floor is overflowing with twinkling lights and whatnot.”
Wait a second... was he picking on my decorations? He was losing all the points he’d earned yesterday evening.
“It’s not against company rules to decorate the workplace. I checked.”
“No, but blasting music isn’t appropriate.”
“You don’t like Christmas carols?” I countered. I had no clue why I was so riled up all of a sudden.
