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“You’re trying to kill Christmas.”
Someone dropped a stapler. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his administrative assistant picking up several sheets of paper from the floor.
“You’re being ridiculous.” He couldn’t kill Christmas if he tried. Damn holiday insisted on existing whether he wanted it to or not.
“Am I? I know what those displays meant to you. How much you loved them...”
His assistant dropped her stapler again.
He closed his eyes. “Noelle, this is neither the time nor the place for us to have this conversation.”
“Fine,” she replied. “When and where would you like to have it?”
“How about nowhere and never?”
“Nice try, but I flew across five states to talk to you so I can say what I have to say now or I can say it later, but I’m not leaving until I speak my piece.”
He expected her to fold her arms after her speech, but instead, she looked up at him through her lashes, and added, “Please?” Her plea totally threw him a curveball. No way he could resist those cornflower eyes.
“Fine. We’ll talk.” Opening his office door, he motioned for her to step in first. “But take off that hat.” No way was he rehashing Saturday night with her looking adorable.
Unfortunately, she looked more adorable with tousled hat hair. He went back to clasping his hands to keep from combing his fingers through it.
Nodding to one of the chairs, he walked around to the other side of his desk and sat down figuring a three-foot cherrywood barrier would keep him from doing something stupid.
“Okay, you’ve got the floor,” he said. “What was so important that you had to fly all the way to Boston to say?”
“Aren’t you going to take off your coat?”
“No. I’m cold.” Although that status was rapidly changing, thanks to his heart rate. It had started racing the second he saw her. “Now, what is it you wanted?”
“Why are you closing down the window displays?”
“Because they’re a financial drain on the company.”
“Funny how you didn’t think so before,” she replied coming toward the desk.
“Well, I saw them with a new perspective. I realized we were spending a lot of money trying to sell a concept that no longer resonated.” Was she coming around to his side of the desk? “My decision shouldn’t be a surprise,” he said. “My feelings about this kind of kitschy Christmas marketing were hardly a secret.”
She stopped at the desk corner. “You didn’t think them so kitschy on Saturday night when you told me about the polar bear.”
“That’s because I was trying to charm you into bed. And it worked. At least for a little while,” he added. If she was going to stand so close, he was going to wield sarcasm.
God, but he wished she’d back away. It was easier to be furious with her when he couldn’t smell orange blossoms.
“It was wrong of me to run out like that,” she said. “It was stupid and childish.”
The earnestness in her eyes left him aching. With his hands gripping the chair arm, he pushed himself closer to the desk. “Congratulations. We agree.”
He didn’t have to look to know his words hit their mark. “I don’t suppose you’d let me explain,” she said.
“Would it make any difference?”
“Maybe. No. I don’t know.”
“Thank you for summarizing everything so clearly.” He didn’t want to hear any more. Didn’t want her orange blossom scent interfering with his anger. “I think you should go,” he told her.
* * *
Noelle twisted her hat in her hands. This wasn’t going at all the way she’d envisioned. Seeing him again reminded her how intimidating a presence he could have when he wanted. It also reminded her how much vulnerability there was beneath the surface. Icy as he sounded, she could see the flashes of pain in his eyes. She wanted to hug him and tell him how amazingly special he was. Only he wouldn’t believe her. Not until she cleared the air.
Which was why she stood her ground. She came to explain and make amends for hurting him, and she would.
“I freaked out,” she told him. “Saturday was...it felt like a fairy tale with me as Cinderella. You had me feeling all these emotions and suddenly they were too much. I felt scared and guilty and so many things. I needed to get some air.”
“All the way back in Michigan? What, New York air not good enough?”
She deserved that. “At first, I only meant to stand outside for a little bit, maybe get a cup of coffee. But then there was this homeless man and these women and... It doesn’t matter. Bottom line is, I got scared and ran home where I knew I’d be safe.”
