A Billionaire Boyfriend For Christmas - Holly Rayner Page 0,2

it. Our new charity administrator.”

Adison struggled to find her voice. Her pulse was racing, and she couldn’t get it under control. “Yes, sir. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

His eyes flicked to the advent calendar. “What’s that?”

“A calendar counting down the days till Christmas. See?” She rolled her chair over and flipped open the first flap, which revealed a little piece of chocolate in the shape of a candy cane. She popped the chocolate out and handed it to Mr. Montoya.

He held it between his thumb and forefinger, thick eyebrows knitting together and a frown pulling on his lips.

Adison’s cheeks warmed. “You know what? I think that’s from last year. It’s probably bad now, anyway.”

She plucked the chocolate from his hand and tossed it in the trash can under her desk. Still, he continued to frown.

Panic overtook Adison. Clearly, she was messing up somehow. If only she knew what she’d done wrong, she’d be able to fix it.

Ken Montoya took a step away from her cubicle. “It was good to meet you. I look forward to working together.”

He gave both women another nod of his head before turning and going through the double doors located at the other end of the open space. These Adison hadn’t been through, and if the boss had access to them, she was willing to bet most people didn’t.

She sighed. “Did I just mess up? He doesn’t seem to like me.”

“It’s not you.” Jazzie rolled her eyes. “Ken is a nice enough guy, but he hates Christmas. And I mean hate with a capital ‘H.’”

“Why?” Adison was aware her mouth was hanging open, but she couldn’t seem to get it shut. Who hated Christmas? Not celebrating it was one thing. Preferring other holidays was also understandable. But why hate a day that brought the world so much joy?

Jazzie shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Is that why there are no decorations around the office?” Adison whispered, afraid she’d already broken some unspoken rule.

“He’s never explicitly told us not to decorate the place, but…” Jazzie trailed off.

“Gotcha.” Adison bit her bottom lip. She certainly didn’t want to get on the boss’s bad side.

She also didn’t want to take the decorations down, though. Not only did they bring her joy, she was certain they would do the same for at least one other person in the office.

“If I kept them up,” she said, “do you think that would cause any problems?”

“I don’t think so. It might start some waves, sure, but no earthquakes.” Jazzie winked.

Then it was settled. The decorations stayed.

Jazzie went back to her desk several cubicles down, and Adison did her best to focus on work. All afternoon, though, her mind kept coming back to the expression on Ken Montoya’s face when he saw her decorations. For lack of a better expression, he looked like he’d been told Christmas was canceled.

It made no sense, but it was also none of her business. Everyone was entitled to their own opinion. Still, the man’s frown stayed on her mind.

Or was it him in general she kept thinking about? Just his physicality had been a shock. With his strong jaw, high cheekbones, and straight nose, he looked more like he belonged on the pages of a magazine than in an office.

Not that she should have been noticing. She had a boyfriend, and Mr. Montoya was her boss. There were so many other things she needed to think about.

Like work. And where she might be able to find poinsettias on her way home.

Chapter 2

Adison

“I’m sorry you’re leaving early.” Corinne planted her fists on her hips and pouted dramatically.

“I know,” Adison laughed. “Same here.”

They were standing by the front door of Corinne’s apartment, Corinne’s other guests laughing in the living room as they played cards. They’d just finished Thanksgiving dinner, but Corinne still wore the checkered apron she’d had on all day. Add that to her blond hair that she’d twisted into two cinnamon roll buns, and she was almost too cute to handle.

“I want to stay all night,” Adison said, “but Danny will be tired when he gets home, and he’ll appreciate me having some dinner for him.”

Corinne made a “hm” noise. She made no secret of her feelings about Danny; she thought he didn’t give Adison near enough time as he “ought to,” and that he had “the emotional maturity of a hamster.”

To be fair, it was a best friend’s job to critique boyfriends. Adison didn’t fault her for that. On the other hand, there were reasons why Danny wasn’t always