“What?” she demanded.

He grinned.

“You’re thinking of something dirty,” she accused. “I know it.”

“It was that old-age thing you just laid on me. I was wondering if you’ll still want me when we’re really ancient.”

“I don’t want you now!”

“Oh, sweetheart, don’t tell a lie I can disprove with one touch of my mouth to yours. You know you want me, don’t you?”

She glared at him as if he were no better than pond scum, which pretty much gave him his answer.

10

IT WAS THE DAY before Christmas and not a creature was stirring.

Except Katie.

She was more than stirring, she was frantic. Somehow she’d fallen woefully behind in all her paperwork, not to mention year end preparations.

Somehow.

She knew exactly how. She’d wasted the past few weeks making an idiot of herself on a regular basis. Then yesterday she’d spent most of the afternoon in the air.

In the air.

It gave her a secret thrill even now. It worried her, how she’d acted. One smile from Bryan and she’d followed him wherever he’d wanted to go.

So much for being the grown-up, mature one.

The airport was hopping with travelers. The staff watched the clock, and for some reason they all looked so darn merry it drove Katie crazy.

“You may not have heard,” Julie said halfway through the morning, “but we’re about to have one of those happy holidays. Lots of hugs and kissing and making jolly. It’s called Christmas. You might have heard of it?”

“Funny.”

Julie studied her for a moment. “You need another Christmas party,” she decided. “More mistletoe.”

When Katie’s head whipped up, Julie’s eyes were sparkling with amusement. “You could have told me you kissed Santa. I had to hear it through the grapevine. Was it yummy?”

“Who told you?”

“Holly. She said-”

“Don’t tell me.”

“-that you jumped Santa.”

“Oh, my God.”

“Did you really try to kiss him again? Is that how Matt got a concussion?”

Katie closed her eyes and groaned.

“Cool!” Julie grinned. “You’re a goddess among us office women, you know. We’re all trying to figure out what we’ll use at the Valentine’s Day party to kiss whoever we want.”

Katie sighed and bore the moment. But as soon as she was alone again, she picked up the phone and dialed her mother. “Hey, Mom. Yes, I’ll be there tomorrow night for ham, wouldn’t miss it. Oh, and, um, Mom? Why didn’t you ever marry again?”

Her mother was silent for a full ten seconds. “Well that’s a loaded question.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Katie said quickly. “I don’t mean to pry, I know Daddy really destroyed your heart-”

“Damn right he did. No one should die that early.”

“I meant because he was never there for you.”

“What on earth ever gave you that idea?”

“Well-” Katie let out a little laugh “-he was always flying.”

“Because that was his passion. But I was his passion, too.”

“You…were?”

“I loved him heart and soul, no one else ever came close to giving me what he did.” She sighed. “What a beautiful man he was.”

Had she really gotten it wrong all these years? How could that be possible? Her mother had accepted her father, faults and all, and had loved him with a fierceness few ever experienced.

Could she do the same?

She said goodbye, and stared at the phone for a good long time. Finally she rose and headed down the hall toward the soda machine.

She needed caffeine, lots of it, especially if she was going to finish by a decent time. Tomorrow she’d go to her mom’s house, maybe they’d even talk more, but tonight she wanted to be home with her pretty little tree, her adoring cats-okay, not exactly adoring-and her annual video of A Christmas Carol.

She wanted to be alone to think.

Unfortunately Holly was standing at the soda machine, a huge cinnamon bun in one hand, delicious-smelling hot cocoa in the other, a secret smile on her lips.

Katie put in her three quarters, pushed the button for orange soda and eyed her nemesis. “Ruin anyone’s life today?”

“Now that hurts.” But she didn’t look insulted. “We could be friends, you know.”

Katie laughed. “Yeah. Right. Friends.”

“I care about you.”

“Don’t take this personally, Holly, but I find that really hard to believe.”

“Why?”

“Why? Gee, maybe because you’re always making a fool out of me?”

“You’re still upset about that fiancé thing.” Holly actually stuck out her lower lip in a pout. “I did you a favor. He was a quiet, mousy man.”

“So quiet and mousy he dumped me the moment you flashed him some cleavage.” Katie had thought it still hurt, but she realized as she said it out loud, nothing happened. No little pang in her heart, no resentment twisted her nerves.

Nothing.

“Well it took more than just a little cleavage-” Holly broke off at Katie’s frown and cleared her throat. “The point is, I was just saving you some heartache down the road.”

“And what about the Barbie vacation house? When we were six? You told my mother I didn’t want it, that I hated it, when it was all I really, really wanted. She gave it to you instead.” God, she couldn’t believe that popped out of her mouth.

Holly couldn’t believe it, either. “You’ve been holding a grudge for nearly twenty years? Over a-a Barbie house?”

Apparently so. How pathetic. “Never mind.”

“No,” Holly said slowly. “I think we should talk about this. What else is going on in that mind of yours?”

“The Christmas party.”

“Oh, jeez…are you going to harp on that? Get over it, would you? You ended up in the right man’s arms.”

“How can you say that?”

“Bryan Morgan is hot, hunky, smart and funny-not to mention in-your-face magnificent-and he can’t keep his eyes or his hands or his mouth off you. I have no idea what you’re complaining about.”

Funny thing was, suddenly neither did Katie. But this confrontation needed to be handled, and now that she’d started, she might as well take it to the end and make a total jerk out of herself. “You didn’t know it would work out this way. Why did you encourage me to kiss the wrong Santa? I’ve been over it and over it, and it doesn’t make any sense. Why would you willingly let me kiss Bryan, when you want him for yourself?”

“But I don’t want Bryan, I want-” She broke off, looked down at her roll, then took a large bite.

“You want…who, Holly?”

In a surprisingly open moment, Holly looked at her, her gaze guileless for once. “Mmhphmm,” she said around her mouthful.

“Who?”

But Holly just took another large bite, then suddenly tipped her head into flirty mode as her eyes focused on someone coming down the hallway behind Katie.

Katie glanced over her shoulder, saw Matt, and winced. He’d been avoiding her, ever since The Incident, as the staff lovingly referred to it.

She whipped around to tell Holly she needed to hightail it back to work, mostly because she was a chicken, but Holly had flattened herself next to the soda machine so that Matt couldn’t see her.

Katie’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, but before she could speak, Matt saw her.

The expression of pure terror on his face as he realized he was alone in the room with her might have been comical, if Katie had any sense of humor left about the situation.

“Oh,” he said, stopping abruptly. “Hello,” he added, polite to the very end.

Katie wished just once he’d say what was on his mind, but then again, since what was on his mind undoubtedly involved her early demise, maybe his political correctness was good thing.

Katie took a step forward, intending to go around him and back to her office where she would once again willingly drown herself in work.

Matt jerked back.

“I’m just going around you.”

“Oh.” He let out a shaky smile. “Sorry.”

At that moment, Holly peeked out and sent Matt a sultry smile. “Hey there, stranger.”

Matt looked at Holly. Holly looked at Matt.

The air seemed to thicken.

“Well, this is fun,” Katie muttered.

But Matt didn’t so much as glance at her. Instead, every ounce of his concentration was on Holly, and how she ate her roll as she slowly walked toward him, making a big production out of licking her fingers clean. “Mmm,” she said with a secret smile. “Mmm, good.”

Matt’s eyes widened, and when Holly did it again, sucking her first finger into her mouth, the poor man nearly fell over in his haste to get closer. He recovered his balance, then walked directly into the wall.

The calm, restrained, quiet Matt blushed wildly, straightened and jammed his hands into his pockets, all the while staring at Holly’s mouth.

“You okay?” Holly asked him, her eyes half-closed, smiling sexily. “You hit pretty hard there, maybe I should…kiss it and make it better?”

“I- You- Well.” Matt closed his stuttering mouth and blushed some more. “If you’d like,” he finally said, his voice a little husky.

Holly’s smile spread across her face as she moved toward him. “Where should I start, Mr. Vice President? Where does it hurt the most?”

“Everywhere,” Matt said fervently.

Katie couldn’t believe it! She knew for a darn fact she’d never come close to making Matt lose his composure, and she’d pulled out all the stops! She’d certainly never, ever, seen him flirt, and he was most definitely flirting now. “What’s going on?”

Katie didn’t realize she’d asked the question out loud until Holly, her gaze still on Matt, said lightly, “You had your Christmas wish, and I have mine.”

Holly wanted Matt.

Holly had always wanted Matt.

It had never been about Bryan at all, but making sure Matt had been free for Holly. “Oh,” she said, but neither Holly nor Matt spared a glance for her. The two silly fools were staring at each other with stars twinkling in their eyes.