A Billionaire Boyfriend For Christmas - Holly Rayner Page 0,14

centers would be well worth it.

“There is no budget,” he decided.

Predictably, her eyes widened. “You must really want to impress the office.”

He started to answer, but she made a face. “I’m sorry. That was inappropriate. I shouldn’t have said it.”

He chuckled. “It’s fine. Just put everything together and then send me a rough estimate, although I can tell you now that I will okay it. I want this to be the most impressive Christmas party this town has ever seen. The whole state needs to be talking about it for years to come. Do you think you can do that?”

That marvelous smile was back. “I know I can.”

“Good.” He nodded, confident that he had found the perfect woman for the job.

Chapter 9

Adison

When she left the coffee shop, Adison’s head spun from the multitude of ideas floating around in there. Ken had gone ahead, telling her to stay at Drip and take as much time as she needed brainstorming.

She’d only taken a couple minutes, though. She hadn’t wanted to neglect her work responsibilities, but she’d felt odd about walking back to the office with Ken.

He’d swooped into one of the most uncomfortable conversations of her life, literally becoming her knight in shining armor. Fast-forward fifteen minutes, and he was offering her the kind of job she’d fantasized about for years.

Her heart was full of gratitude, joy, and excitement. Along with something else she wasn’t sure she should be feeling.

When Ken had wrapped his arm around her shoulders, his touch had felt so right. It stole her breath and shook up her world. Walking back to the office now, her stomach was still full of butterflies.

It was a feeling she couldn’t trust. She’d just left a relationship; for all she knew she was only reacting to the need to be close to a man.

Seeing as Ken was her boss, she couldn’t screw things up by entertaining fantasies about a personal relationship. She’d just have to throw all that pent-up energy into planning the party of her career.

She’d planned on giving event planning up in order to focus on her new job, but now that she had a party to throw, she realized how much she already missed it all.

By the time she reached her cubicle, she’d already decided the theme would be “Winter Wonderland.” Since The Montoya Foundation was an umbrella charity, they could have a Christmas tree with ornaments that had names of families or nonprofits in need. Any guest who wished to could select an ornament and make a donation to the name on it.

These, along with numerous other ideas, kept her energy going through the rest of the day. She still had her regular work to focus on, though, so she couldn’t actually do any party work until after she clocked out.

“Taffy, where are you?” Adison called, as she let herself into her apartment. The joyous voice echoing in the main room surprised her. It was, quite possibly, the happiest she’d sounded since moving into the place.

After pouring Taffy a fresh bowl of cat food, she settled onto her air mattress and started looking up venues. The Montoya Foundation had a hundred and fifty employees total. Add a plus-one for everyone, and that was three hundred people.

The thought of planning a party for that many people didn’t unnerve her. She had long ago developed a methodical approach to big events. It was the swiftly approaching date that had her nervous.

Typically, companies booked venues for events like this months in advance. They were only a few weeks away from the twenty-third. If she were going to pull this off, Adison needed to get a venue fast.

“Sorry, nothing is available,” said the first place.

“Try back next year,” said the second.

“This late?” The rep for the third place actually laughed out loud.

She called seven more venues, managing to get someone on the phone for all of them except one. For that place she left a voicemail.

Not that she had much hope. As she stared at a list full of crossed-off names, her heart sank. She’d called converted warehouses and barns, a ballroom, a tearoom, and several hotels. If the downtown event space she’d left a message with called back with bad news, she was out of options.

Which sucked. It wouldn’t be her fault, but it sure would feel that way.

Someone knocked on the front door, making her look up from the notebook.

“It’s me!” Corinne called through the wood.

Adison wasn’t surprised—since she’d chosen to relocate back to the apartment complex she’d lived in