“Neither had I. But then again, I didn’t plan to fall in love with you, but it strikes me as a very good thing.”
“I love to travel. But, you know, it’s always scheduled. Anticipated.Part of business. I’m not packed. It’d cost a fortune. And who would watch for Mrs. Abramonoff’s pears?”
He smiled, and if she hadn’t been watching so closely she might’ve missed the flash of disappointment in his eyes. He leaned over and kissed her on her nose. “It’s fine, babe. I don’t really care where we are as long as I’m with you. And at the risk of coming across as an insensitive man, I’m kind of hungry. I missed lunch today and my dinner date stood me up.” He grinned at her. “Mind if I heat up that chicken soup? Considering you’re ill, I’ll be glad to bring you a bowl in bed.”
“Works for me.”
Cole padded out of her bedroom and she heard him rustling around in the kitchen. She should be ecstatic…well, she would be ecstatic if she hadn’t seen that quickly masked moment of disappointment in his eyes.
She had a lifetime of warm holiday memories surrounded by a family that adored her. Cole had been shuffled from one parent to another, and wanted by neither. Had anyone ever asked him what he’d like to do for Christmas? She’d bet her last dollar that had never happened. But he, who never got too close to anyone, had just told her what he wanted, and she’d shot it down for a host of ridiculous reasons that all went back to one thing-she didn’t know how to have fun outside of work.
But by God she was about to learn. It was time for her to start building a Christmas tradition of her own and time for his Christmas tradition to take a step up.
She stood and pulled on her pink chenille robe-he’d seen her in it and out of it, so what the heck. She padded into the kitchen and found him testing the soup in a pan on the stove.
She wrapped her arms around him from behind and pressed a kiss to his naked back. He turned and nuzzled the sensitive spot beneath her ear. A delicate shiver chased over her skin. Of course, she seemed to have a multitude of sensitive spots with him.
“Sorry it’s taking so long, but a microwave ruins the noodles,” he said.
“Well, this sucks, but I’m sick.”
He leaned back and peered at her. “What’s the matter?”
“I’ve got the travel bug.”
“What?”
“Someone mentioned Christmas in Corfu, and at first I thought it was crazy. But now I’ve caught the travel bug and I think there’s only one cure for it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
He picked her up and swung her around in a circle, looking for all the world like an elated little boy who’d just been presented a gift from a Santa he didn’t believe in anymore.
Which reminded her…“When you came earlier, you had a present. Was that for me?” It wasn’t as if she had a whole lot of gifts to look forward to.
Cole grinned at her. “It was your last Secret Santa gift. I volunteered to bring it over and check on you. It gave me a good reason to come by.”
“Okay. At least it got you over here. Let me fire up my laptop and we’ll book our tickets while we eat.”
“Aren’t you going to open your present?”
“Yeah.Later. I want to get the tickets booked first.”
He picked up the box on the counter wrapped in Santa Claus paper topped with a big red bow and handed it to her. “Go ahead and open it now. Might as well get it out of the way.”
She tore off the wrapping and lifted the box top. Nestled in white tissue paper was a pair of sheer red bikini panties…with a sprig of mistletoe embroidered on the front.
She looked up, laughing. “You. You’re my Secret Santa.”
He spread his hands, palms up. “Hey, you don’t always have a sprig of mistletoe handy when you need it.”
“I believe I’ll have to pack this along with my massage oil for Corfu.”
“Why don’t you come sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what else you’d like for Christmas.”
“Well, Santa, I’ve been a very good girl all year-except maybe I’ve been a little testy with this guy at work.” She nuzzled his neck. “But I can’t lie, Santa. I think I’m about to be very naughty and I think I deserve to get Cole in my stocking this year.”
Jennifer LaBrecque
