The Boss Who Stole Christmas - Jana Aston Page 0,1

finance. For the kind of takeovers that put mom-and-pops out of businesses and drain retirement accounts.

I'd never have taken this job if I'd met him beforehand. I worked for his uncle for three years. Lovely man. Not a clue how Nick turned out the way he did.

Brooding.

Irritable.

I bet he doesn't even put up a Christmas tree.

We all expected Mr Saint-Croix would eventually retire, of course he would. But it was a bit like Santa himself retiring, it wasn’t like it'd happen in my lifetime, right? Santa stays the same age and works forever and ever. It's the law. The law of childhood and tradition and happiness. Except that Reindeer Falls isn't the North Pole and the senior Mr Saint-Croix isn't actually Santa Claus.

Five months ago Christopher Saint-Croix retired. The Saint-Croixes never had any children, but his brother did. Two of them. Mr Saint-Croix's niece had worked for her uncle since graduating from college six years prior. She’s sweet by the way. Friendly. Approachable. Kind. Nothing like her brother, Nick.

Christopher's other sibling, a sister, runs our Human Resources department. Sara reports to her and will be running that department as soon as Martha is ready to retire.

I can't say I spent much time worrying about who would someday take over the Flying Reindeer Toy Company.

I should have.

Because that's how I inherited the Grinch of Reindeer Falls as a boss.

"I'm coming," I tell him. He slow-blinks at that response and suddenly I'm thinking sex thoughts, like oh-my-God-I'm-coming. "To the meeting," I amend. "I'll be there on time, I promise." I turn back to my desk without waiting for a reply and jab at my keyboard, willing him to go away so that I don't have to walk down the hallway with him.

He doesn't. Instead he picks up the Advent calendar on my desk. It's one I made myself over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend while drinking hot cocoa and watching Christmas movies. My Christmas decorations were up the weekend prior to Thanksgiving as per my tradition, so I had the time to work on a little arts and crafts project near and dear to my heart.

"Interesting," he murmurs, wiggling one of the little cardboard doors. There are only ten of them. Numbered two through six and sixteen through twenty. "Is this some kind of defective prototype?"

"That's personal." I whirl around in my chair and snatch it out of his hand. Does he have to ruin everything? I toss the calendar into my desk drawer and slam it shut. Nick grunts and heads for the conference room.

I wait until nine fifty-eight to get out of my chair. Then, with a long exhale, I grab my laptop and coffee cup and head to the morning meeting. Maybe later I'll go to the mall and sit on Santa's lap, ask him to bring Nick a normal-sized heart without a defective jerk-hole.

It could happen, after all. Anything is possible at Christmas.

Chapter 2

"Next item on the agenda, the Teddy Bear Café."

It's oddly satisfying listening to Nick utter the words Teddy Bear Café because they're so very ridiculous coming out of his mouth. Sometimes I wonder if he's always imagined himself taking over his uncle's toy business or if he had other plans. I know he grew up in Reindeer Falls, just like I did. But he was five years ahead of me in school so we never crossed paths until he returned to ruin my dream job.

His sister was three years ahead of me in school so I was vaguely familiar with her even before I began working for her uncle. Sara was the one who interviewed me when I applied—the only place I applied because I didn't have a backup plan for my dream job.

Sara stayed in Reindeer Falls. Married a nice guy she met in college, had a baby with another on the way.

Nick left.

Now he's back and I'm stuck with his curmudgeonly ass.

For now, anyway. I expect he'll eventually come to his senses and flee Reindeer Falls for the big city. Any big city. That's my long-term dream. My short-term dream is Nick getting run over by a sleigh.

Teddy Bear Café is my project. You understand why I put up with the Scrooge, right? Besides him, this job is a dream. I mean, hello. I get paid to work on projects involving cafés and teddy bears.

"Construction is a month ahead of schedule," I report. "We're on track to open a full month before the summer tourist season in Reindeer Falls." This may come as a