AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I haven’t since…never mind,” Jarik muttered. “Come on. Let’s eat.”
He immediately opened the door to the restaurant, and Maria couldn’t help but smile. He might toss his money around like confetti, but someone taught him manners.
The inside of the restaurant was just as decked out and festive as the outside. Motion-activated figurines lit up, danced, and sang as they walked by. Even Maria, who loved Christmas, thought it was a little over-the-top, but the annoyance on Jarik’s handsome face was too good to ignore.
She half expected him to order someone to take them all down.
Instead, he glared as they took their seats in the corner. His eyes scanned the area.
“Looking for someone?”
“Just looking,” he muttered.
“Why do you hate Christmas?”
Jarik gave her a pointed look. “I don’t hate Christmas. At least, not the sentiment behind it.” He paused, seeming to weigh his answer. “I find that the older I get, the more the holidays seem to become about how much money people can throw around on useless items that will only end up broken in a matter of hours. Personally, I can think of far better ways to spend money than on silly…animatronics,” he finished, as he waved his hand at the dancing figurines.
Maria grinned as she watched the look of utter disdain sweep across his face. That was definitely not the response she expected. “You’re jaded.”
“Just figure out what you want. I’m starving.” He dropped his head to look over the menu refusing to make eye contact until after the waiter took their order.
Maria nearly purred when their waiter poured their wine. Although she was nervous about Tessa going to Syria without her and the fact that her brother hadn’t called her back yet, she knew there was nothing that she could do, and after a long day of dealing with a dozen little catastrophes, she was more than ready to let her hair down.
Hopefully, the wine would help her relax.
“Explain something to me,” she asked after she’d downed half a glass. “How is it that a member of the royal family is flying without security?”
“I can take care of myself,” he said easily.
“What’s in Lebanon?”
Jarik shook his head. “Inquisitive little thing, aren’t you? I would think you could dampen that curiosity for the amount of money that I’m paying you.”
Maria immediately stiffened. “I would think that you’d be a little nicer considering that I am your only option for getting to Lebanon.”
“I could have taken the other flight with Tessa.”
“And yet you didn’t.”
“No,” he agreed, “I didn’t. For what it’s worth, I don’t think the refugees are going to mind if the crates get there a little late,” Jarik said with a soft smile. “But I think it’s nice that you want to get everything ready by Christmas.”
Maria shook her head. “It’s not just that. There have been some bumps in the road over the past couple of years. Many of my donors are threatening to pull out if things don’t go well this year. That kind of scandal would shut down Christmas Crates forever.”
He leaned back and stared at her. “I did some reading on you. You started the international charity when you were eighteen. That’s a huge undertaking for someone so young.”
“You did some reading on me?” Maria echoed. “How long did you have this planned?”
“Your charity was listed on your flight manifest,” Jarik said with a half-smile. “From there it wasn’t hard to decide if you would be a security threat.”
That made sense. Why was she being so paranoid with him? “I’d just gotten my pilot’s license and I was looking for a way I could help others. I started with crowdfunding to help get it started. After that, my brother had plenty of connections from school. It wasn’t as hard as you would think. I love Christmas, so it felt like a natural fit.”
“And that’s your ideal way to spend Christmas?” he asked skeptically. “In a refugee camp?”
“Yes, if it means I can make a difference to people,” she answered.
“But if you could spend Christmas anywhere,” he pressed, “do anything you wanted, just for yourself—where would you go?”
“I…” She paused for a second to give the question due consideration. “No one’s ever asked me that before,” she mused. “Okay, I guess if I didn’t have Christmas Crates and I was just picking a place for me…I think I’d want to be on a beach.”
