he's caught me reading a personal email on company time. It's nearly the same—we're here for work, I remind myself for the third time since the plane landed.
Nick hands me one of those tiny cardboard folders hotels slide room keys into, his fingers brushing mine with the transaction. I know we have two rooms, but suddenly the idea of sleeping at the same GPS coordinates as Nick feels like too much. The brush of his fingers against mine is too much. He's too much. My eyes drop to his lips and I swallow, quickly averting my gaze to the handle of my rolling suitcase. Sweet heavenly Yule log, why does he have to look so good? Everything about him is delicious and I'm so exhausted by it.
"See something you're interested in?" His voice is low, his tone as warm and seductive as those Christmas markets are to my mistletoe-encrusted heart. His voice sounds like sex. The good kind.
My gaze flies back to his. I’m blinking rapidly as I wonder if my expression gave me away. If I was so obvious in my appreciation of his stupid perfect face. If he knows that beneath my clothing I broke out into goosebumps when his finger brushed mine.
"No, nothing interesting," I finally manage. He glances between me and the rack of advertisements and back again.
"You look tired," he says after a long pause. And then, I'm not sure what happens, but I swear on Santa's life he nearly touches me, his hand lifting to within a few inches of my cheek before I flinch in surprise and he stops himself. "If you're not up for the meeting this afternoon I can attend without you."
"I'm fine!" I object immediately. If he's able to make the meeting, I'm able to make the meeting. Besides which, I don't know what to do with him when he's not being Scrooge-ish.
He smiles ruefully and shakes his head. "Of course you are." He gestures toward the elevators, guiding me in that direction. "We'll meet back in the lobby at two o'clock." His tone is back to the brisk coldness I'm used to and I find myself relaxing. Grinch Nick I know how to deal with.
Chapter 7
On day three of the trip, Nick surprises me.
"Change into something comfortable and meet me in the lobby in thirty," he says once we've returned to the hotel after a day spent with the Bavarian Bear company—an incredible experience and I have to admit Nick was correct in insisting I come. I was able to meet with the production staff and tweak the design for a new Bavarian Reindeer in development as well as see their bear café first hand and learn about the takeaway business. The manager was very forthcoming with information and ideas and I learned that pretzels are referred to as bretzels in Nuremberg, which gave me the idea to add a bretzel window to our takeaway storefront because it'll be an adorable nod to our German roots. Adorable and profitable. We'll capitalize on the foot traffic on Main Street looking for a quick snack in late afternoon or evening while using the same ovens from the café.
I can't wait to update the revenue forecasts and show them to Nick. I spent the entire cab ride back to the hotel filling him in on the idea, my mouth moving a mile a minute as the concept poured from my brain to my lips. I hadn't seen him most of the day as he'd had meetings separate from mine and I was more excited than I care to admit to run it past him.
This trip hasn't been what I expected, and in truth, maybe Nick isn't quite what I thought either. I actually felt guilty when I ate yesterday's Dickmas chocolate. I mean Advent chocolate. I mean—never mind. The point is, Nick's been decidedly un-Grinch-like on this trip. He hasn't baited me about anything or even mentioned Santana again. Outside of the office he's far more relaxed than I'm used to. Or maybe I'm the one who's more relaxed?
Either way, my guard is down.
Changing quickly into a pair of jeans and a cozy sweater, I pull my hair into a low pony before grabbing my scarf and jacket and heading back to the lobby. I'm zipping my jacket when Nick steps off the elevator. He's changed into a pair of jeans as well, a light down jacket zipped over his chest and a navy scarf looped perfectly around his neck. He's on