that sent desire curling through a place in her belly Anna had ignored since the breakup.
Desire! Who got such a mad crush on her own boss? Or colleague—whatever he was.
“We’ll stay at my family’s luxury ski resort for the holidays. It’s one of the nicest, most sought-after places in the country for winter vacations. There will be tons of Christmas traditions, like carols and cocoa and the whole nine yards. Lights on the trees—everything. And we can talk about your dream.”
“What dream?” She wrapped a hand around her wine glass and took a sip. They’d traded dreams back and forth over the many hours they’d been working together, but it had always been lighthearted and joking. For the life of her, Anna couldn’t remember what she’d told him.
“Of owning your own conference consulting firm. There are ways I can help you with that.” Gabe’s mouth curved up in a smile so attractive that she felt a gravitational pull toward it and had to keep herself firmly planted in her seat to resist it.
Anna would never have dreamed of asking him to give her a hand up. She’d worked hard all her life to overcome the lousy hand she’d been dealt—the father with the criminal record, the mother who married four times and couldn’t ever decide when to come down to earth. Holidays had been nothing like the picture Gabe was painting of his family’s resort. No cocoa, no carols, just fighting and bitter silences. Then there was the year her parents had finally split but decided they wanted to spend Christmas Day together. It had not been in the holiday spirit, suffice it to say.
Not that she was going to tell Gabe all of that. Getting that deep into her history would be way across the line for two people who worked together, no matter how close they’d been over the past few weeks.
“And...” Gabe sat up, looking her square in the eye. “Don’t forget, my grandmother is dying.” The confident look on his face slipped. “Please. Do it for me. It would mean the world to me if she knew I was engaged to someone wonderful and had my life all sorted out.” He let out a breath. “There. That’s it. That’s all my cards on the table.”
Anna felt like she was still holding a fistful of cards with things like a criminal father and her mother’s four marriages in her hand. But none of them could top the pleading look on Gabe’s face, or how incredibly handsome he was. She’d stolen so many glances at him while they were working together at the conference, trying to ignore the twist of want in her chest. Up until now, she’d been pretty successful at it. It was her job, after all.
And beyond that, the offer was one of the most attractive she’d ever received. Christmas at a luxury resort, far from anywhere she’d ever lived. No tense hours spent trying to calm high emotions with her parents. No new husband showing up with her mother. It would be like stepping into a different world for the holidays—the kind of world she saw in Hallmark movies.
“For how long? Fly out Christmas Eve, come back Christmas morning?”
“Oh, no. My family wants me there as soon as I can get there. Tomorrow morning at the latest.”
Her breath caught. “You want me to spend two weeks with you out there?” Suddenly Colorado seemed like a vast state of forests and wildlands, Anna trying to picture a luxury mountaintop resort they’d need snowshoes to get to.
Gabe shrugged. “Three. We’d leave in the morning and come back after the New Year.”
“But my job...”
He gave her a look. “You and I both know there’s nothing scheduled from now until after the holidays. No big conferences. Everybody’s going home for Christmas.” His eyes twinkled. “Honestly, Anna, no pressure. If it doesn’t seem like something you can do, then I’m not going to hold it against you. But it would be nice if I could show you off as my significant other.”
“I know you wouldn’t hold it against me.” She heard the sincerity in his voice as clearly as she felt it. Gabe moved fast when it came to making plans, but he was flexible, too. It was why they’d managed to put together such an excellent presentation. It was why they’d hooked all those international clients on his app. It was another success in his portfolio, but he still wanted more.
If that was how he was when it