Mistletoe Madness

Chapter 4

“Hola.” Elle popped her blond head around the door frame. “Ten minutes. Break room. Time to spread more holiday cheer.”

“Thanks. I’ll be there,” Cole said.

“And Melvin wanted me to check with you on how dinner went last night,” she said.

Translation: when was he going to have his preliminary notes together on the first restaurant? “It went well. I’m working on it now.”

“I won’t hold you up, then. See you in ten.”

“Sure.”

Elle wasn’t holding him up, he was holding himself up. He couldn’t seem to focus…well, at least not on what he was supposed to focus on.

He looked from the blinking cursor on his computer screen to outside his window. The odd snowflake drifted past on the other side of the glass. He’d always thought that was the strangest thing. Where were all the other snowflakes when one lone flake journeyed down? Even though no two in the universe were alike, weren’t they supposed to stick together?

He shook his head. Last night had totally messed with his head. Parker Longrehn could drop off the face of the Earth and Cole would consider it good riddance. No, what was screwing with his mind about Parker wasn’t so much encountering him, although he would’ve gladly skipped that happy experience. No, it was Cole’s reaction to the way Parker had looked at Tatiana. True, he would warn Parker off any decent human being, but when Parker had looked at Tatiana as if she was his for the picking, possessiveness had gripped Cole and squeezed. He, who never felt possessive about anyone, except maybe his sister, because possessiveness required some degree of attachment. And Cole didn’t do attachments.

Nope, that had been one of those early childhood lessons learned the hard way that had stuck with him. You let people know something mattered and they held it against you. If you sought approval, it hurt like the devil when it was deliberately withheld. If you became attached to someone and the person wasn’t attached in return, that pretty much sucked, as well.

He’d adopted a life policy of getting along with everyone and caring about nobody, not giving a crap what they thought of him one way or another. It had worked out well for the most part.

His claim to Tatiana had been as responsive and instinctive as an involuntary muscle. Next thing, he’d be looking for a bush to pee on. But Parker had given her that look, and a single word had blazed through Cole’s brain: mine.

There was no need to wig out about it. Tatiana was amusing, interesting. He enjoyed matching wits and trading barbs. And there was an undeniable attraction that simmered between the two of them. He wasn’t being egotistical or weird-a sexual energy pulsed between the two of them whether she was ready to admit it or not.

Not that it was anything to worry about. His life policy was still strictly in place. Things were simply more interesting with Madame Snark on the scene.

“Admit it. The secret Santa thing was fun today, wasn’t it?” Elle said from the adjacent treadmill in the workout room on the third floor of the JackmanButlerBuilding that housed Connoisseur on three of its fifty-six floors.

Sweat dampened Tatiana’s T-shirt and trickled down her neck. “It was definitely more fun than this,” Tatiana said. Some people loved to exercise for the sake of exercising. Uh…she wasn’t one of them. She dutifully showed up at the workout center five days a week because otherwise she’d blimp up even more. Yep, it was the horror of her butt taking on the proportions of Staten Island rather than a love of the treadmill that brought her here.

“Exercise is your friend.” So sayeth the sylph in size-two spandex running like the Energizer bunny stuck in “fast” mode.

“I wouldn’t go that far. How about it keeps food from becoming my mortal enemy,” Tatiana said with a grin. “And, yes, I was a scrooge at first, but the gift-exchange thing is fun.” She’d been irritated to get Cole Mitchell, but now she was kind of getting into it. “I don’t know how things are at your house, there haven’t been many Christmas surprises at our place the last few years. We exchange a list and then pick something on that list. So this is kind of cool.”

“Cole definitely had the best gift yesterday,” Elle said and Tatiana managed not to preen. “But you won the Best Present award today.” Elle laughed, which always came out as something of a snort. It was a little shocking, considering Elle appeared so elegant and her laugh was anything but an elegant noise. “You should’ve seen your face when you opened the strawberry-and-champagne massage oil.”

Tatiana grabbed her water bottle from the holder and took a swig without breaking stride. Two miles on the treadmill and she was sweating like a pig. She’d never managed that glistening business. She sweated and it wasn’t pretty. She plonked the water bottle back in the space above the treadmill’s digital readout.

“It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting.” And the massage oil had definitely captured her imagination. Along with the tongue-in-cheek typed note attached to the bottle. To ensure your good taste.

“Hey, it’s the unexpected stuff that’s the best,” Elle said. “You’ll have to let me know when you’ve tried it. I might pick some up for me and Teddy.”

Elle and her fiancé hadn’t already been there and done that? Surprising. Elle spilled all kinds of details about herself and Teddy, the wonder hottie in an accountant’s guise. “It won’t be anytime soon. Flavored oil strikes me as a two-party event, and right now there’s no one on my invitation list.”

The frequent travel that came with her job had been the death of her last relationship. Hel-lo. What had Max expected? Connoisseur was a travel magazine that catered to food aficionados, travel being a definitive word. She’d marked Max off the list several months ago and she’d had neither the time nor the inclination to replace him.

And just because Cole Broad-Shoulders Mitchell came to mind now didn’t mean she wanted to taste-test with him. Maybe she’d had the brief, passing thought of his square, very masculine hands-so shoot her that she’d noticed he had rather sexy hands-smoothing the fragranced oil over her shoulders, along her back and to various and sundry points of interest. Heat flashed through her that had nothing to do with her treadmill workout.

She most definitely didn’t have a thing for him. It was just one of those situations where he was front and center, unfortunately, in her world, since she had to buy gifts for him and meet him for dinner and work on those stinking articles with him. And maybe he had a way of looking at her that made her think of…well, things best not thought of. Nope, it was simply a case of him being the most prominent male in her life right now that had her playing him into the love-me-lick-me scenario in her head. And how sad was that?

“Want to trade gifts?” Elle offered.

Tatiana’s treadmill slowed down and then stopped. Two and a half miles.“Your box of biscotti for my flavored massage oil?” She pretended to consider it. “Uh…no. The massage oil should keep for a while until I find someone willing to slather it on and nibble it off.”

Elle laughed. She’d hardly broken a sweat. “That’s what I thought you’d say, but it was worth a try. Aren’t you dying to know who your Secret Santa is and what they have in mind next? Massage oil today…what about tomorrow?”

Tatiana spritzed the treadmill with disinfectant and wiped it off for the next victim. She blotted sweat from her face and neck.

“I don’t know. I’m curious, but it could be anyone. Except Melvin, of course. I don’t think-jiggy meds or not-he’d give me flavored massage oil. Maybe somebody meant it as a joke.”

“Maybe.Maybe not. What if it wasn’t? What if your Secret Santa is actually a secret admirer?” Elle possessed a dramatic streak.

“I think my Secret Santa is someone with a sense of humor,” Tatiana said.

“There were definitely more funny gifts today. Melvin’s was a riot, but I thought Cole’s was a little mean.”

“I thought they were both funny and apropos.” She kept her voice and expression nonchalant. Elle was fishing. Someone had given Melvin a weekly pill organizer with three daily slots, like the one Grandma Rumasky used to organize her meds. Given that Melvin’s medications were public fodder, everyone, including Melvin, had found it hilarious.

She’d found the silver-plated spoon at the second store she’d checked. Once again the group, Cole included, had laughed. She didn’t feel a bit guilty. Well, maybe just a hair. But it had been funny and it was a much-needed reminder to herself that no matter how charming and entertaining a dinner companion he was, he’d still slid into his job without paying his dues. If he wanted to play the family-influence card to get his job, then he’d have to play with the whole deck.