Her Secret Santa - Miley Maine Page 0,16

not looking at me as I approached her. She was talking with Barb, one of the leads in her department. Barb was checking me out very obviously and looking me from head to toe and back again. She’d had a thing for me for a while, and while I’d entertained the idea of dating her, nothing had ever come from that more than just a passing fancy. She was attractive, but we didn’t really have that extra spark.

“Hello, Julie,” I said as I approached.

Julie looked up at me with a bit of surprise and then she relaxed with that beautiful smile of hers. I could never get tired of seeing that. The way her eyes lit up brightly, the way she slowly spread her lips in that ever so sexy manner, and then finally, the way she leaned back into the smile and owned it so confidently.

“Hey,” Julie said.

“Hey, boss man,” Barb greeted the same time.

“Hello, Barb,” I said politely. I wished Barb would go away. I really wanted to get to know Julie a bit one on one. We hadn’t really taken that time yet. But we were here at this party and it was a much more socially acceptable thing to do now. “Are you ladies having a great time?”

“Oh, yeah,” Julie replied. “Thanks so much for inviting me.”

“Of course. You are one of us, now. You belong to the team.”

“You hear his choice of words?” Barb asked Julie. “He owns your ass.”

I smiled at Barb’s joke trying to put Julie at ease. Barb was known to make outrageous comments from time to time, and she was usually the life of the party for that very reason. Julie didn’t seem put off by her comments at all. I sensed some jealousy from Barb right then. She wanted me badly and she could tell that I was very interested in Julie. I shouldn’t have been interested in anyone who worked for me. It was a huge conflict of interest and professionally it was very improper. But I was just so damn drawn to her.

“Doesn’t that mean he owns yours, too?” Julie asked.

Barb was right on it. “Oh, he doesn’t want mine,” she said. “I think he is out for some new blood at the moment. Isn’t that right, Tony?”

I played dumb. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, now he is playing games,” Barb teased. Just then something caught her eye. “Hey, is that Roy Diehl? Hey, I’m going to let you alone with this one for a bit. I’ve got to talk to someone.”

Julie nodded. “Ok.”

“You be nice to her,” Barb said giving me that disapproving eye before grinning widely. Yeah, she knew better than to stand there running interference for Julie. It was not Barb’s responsibility to care who I was interested in. And if I wanted to express my romantic interest in Julie, then I would. After that it was up to Julie. But I wanted to keep things as professional as possible between us. That was important to me.

“So, what is this Secret Santa thing?” Julie asked. “I heard something about it when you were up there, but I was talking with Barb, so I missed quite a bit of it.”

“Well, basically I am your Santa. That means I will take care of your every whim, every need, and give you anything you desire from now until midnight. So, you have four hours to tell me exactly what you want, and I will make it happen.”

Julie’s eyes widened. “Ah, that is very interesting. I think I like this game.”

“It does turn out to be one of the favorites. So, what do you want?”

She thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I don’t need that much.”

“Well, you can think on it for a while. I’m at your beck and call. I think you should take full advantage of it.”

“I’ll try to do that, but I’m pretty independent.”

“Oh, I know that. It’s one of the things I find most irresistible about you.”

Julie’s eyes lit up and I saw her blush. She put her head down and smiled weakly. The confident woman I saw a moment ago had withdrawn into a shy, young lady. I wanted to comfort her, hold her, and tell her that I would make sure that everything would be alright for her. Nothing bad would happen to her on my watch; that I could assure her. In fact, if she’d asked for it, I would have given her the moon right then. I existed for her desires.