Jennifer Labrecque - Mistletoe Madness

There was something so…well, sweet and downright gallant about him trying to protect her from Parker that she found herself at a loss for words. And God knows that didn’t happen often. “Uh, well, I can take care of myself, but thanks anyway. He was easy to spot with that trail of slime he left behind him.”

“I wasn’t taking any chances. I was responsible for what happened to Bethany because I brought him home with me.”

It was a disconcerting glimpse into his character. Parker was a creep and Bethany’d made a mistake, but even Tatiana couldn’t fault Cole. And she never had any problem faulting Cole. “Did you encourage her to sleep with him? Did you throw a wild party and invite her? Did you ply her with alcohol?”

He shook his head, but the look in his eyes didn’t change. “No. But he showed up with me. I was the reason he crossed her path. So now I don’t take any chances.”

This just sucked. Why couldn’t it have been some maligned ex-girlfriend who’d recognized him and dropped by to vilify him? But no. Now not only did she know he wasn’t vacuous but she had to discover he possessed a damn conscience.

“Why not just tell him to drop dead and get lost?”

Cole offered his familiar grin. “Why give him the satisfaction of knowing he has any impact on my life?”

Hmm. She’d never thought of it from that angle. Yet another insight into Cole Mitchell’s gray matter. “Well, thanks for protecting me from the big, bad…slug.”

Cole laughed and it did funny things to her insides. “Parker wouldn’t mind being called a big, bad wolf. I think he likes to think of himself that way. But a big, bad slug? You know how to wound a man, Tempest.” Now why in the world would that make her feel all fluttery and flushed? “And thanks for jumping in there and backing me up.”

Rather an odd position to find herself in, having his back as opposed to stabbing it. “Don’t get used to it.”

“Certainly not,” he drawled. “It must have been almost painful for you to look at me as if you-” he adopted a horrified expression “-liked me.”

“It was a stretch, but I managed.” She pretended to preen. “Rather well, if I do say so myself.”

“You were brilliant, darling. You almost had me convinced you-what was it?-oh, yeah, adored me. I could get used to being adored.”

“I wouldn’t if I were you. I’m sure it would be all too short-lived.” God help her, but she was enjoying herself. “Maybe if this job doesn’t work out for me I might consider a career in acting. That wasn’t a bad stab at improv considering I didn’t get what was going on. Especially at the end.”

The waiter appeared and cleared their appetizers and refilled the water glasses. Mediocre calamari, excellent bruschetta and flawless service so far.

She looked pointedly at Cole. “So what was that all about at the end?”

“Let’s just say holidays were awkward when we were kids. The new steps weren’t thrilled to have the leftovers from the first marriage show up on the doorstep. Once we were old enough to make our own choices, Connie and I started doing our own holiday thing, just the two of us. Now she has a husband and a munchkin and I get together with them.”

That knocked her notion of him as a pampered daddy’s boy for a loop. She might not be spending Christmas Day in the house she grew up in Yurgash, but it’d still be there whenever she was ready for a trip home. A hint of vulnerability lurked beneath Cole’s droll pronouncement, which he’d probably deny with his last breath.

The waiter served their entrées. Pork medallions for Cole and roasted chicken for her.

“What about you?” he asked. “Are you gearing up for a big holiday?”

“It’ll be quiet.” She gave him the brief overview of her parents’ trip and Grandma Rumasky’s impending nuptials.

“They sound like nice people.”

“They are.” Dammit. Now she felt guilty because he’d obviously been shortchanged in the parental department while she’d grown up with great parents.

“No brothers or sisters?”

“Nope. I’m a lonely only,” she quipped.

“It’s just as well. I don’t think the world could handle another you running around.” His smile crinkled the corners of his eyes.

Without thinking, she stuck her tongue out at him. Like the dimming of theater lights signaling the beginning of the next act, the mood shifted, intensified. The look in his eyes sent a shiver through her. “So are you?”

Breathing? Yes. A woman?Definitely.Capable of standing with him looking at her that way? Not so sure. This was different from his earlier flirtatiousness in her office. This was quiet and intense…and all the more powerful. “Am I what?”

“Lonely?”

She could easily blow him off, but considering he’d just had one of his own vulnerabilities exposed by Parker the Slug, she answered him truthfully. “Sometimes I wish I’d had a sister. But then I see how many siblings despise one another and I think it’s just a crapshoot.”

“I wasn’t talking about a brother or sister.”

Oh. Her parents had given her a firm foundation. She knew the value of a dollar, hard work and herself. Even though sometimes she longed for something more, it wasn’t loneliness. “No. I’m not. I’m content with my own company.”

Her mind shouted for her to leave it there, but her mouth didn’t seem inclined to cooperate. She plowed forward even though she really shouldn’t ask. She knew too much already. “What about you? Are you lonely?”

“I’ve known a moment or two.” A quiet truth underscored his offhandedness.

This was turning into a true disaster. Not only was she horribly aware of how devastatingly sexy Cole Mitchell was, but now she’d discovered he was a nice guy, as well.

“Hola.” Elle popped her blond head around the door frame. “Ten minutes. Break room. Time to spread more holiday cheer.”

“Thanks. I’ll be there,” Cole said.

“And Melvin wanted me to check with you on how dinner went last night,” she said.

Translation: when was he going to have his preliminary notes together on the first restaurant? “It went well. I’m working on it now.”

“I won’t hold you up, then. See you in ten.”

“Sure.”

Elle wasn’t holding him up, he was holding himself up. He couldn’t seem to focus…well, at least not on what he was supposed to focus on.

He looked from the blinking cursor on his computer screen to outside his window. The odd snowflake drifted past on the other side of the glass. He’d always thought that was the strangest thing. Where were all the other snowflakes when one lone flake journeyed down? Even though no two in the universe were alike, weren’t they supposed to stick together?

He shook his head. Last night had totally messed with his head. Parker Longrehn could drop off the face of the Earth and Cole would consider it good riddance. No, what was screwing with his mind about Parker wasn’t so much encountering him, although he would’ve gladly skipped that happy experience. No, it was Cole’s reaction to the way Parker had looked at Tatiana. True, he would warn Parker off any decent human being, but when Parker had looked at Tatiana as if she was his for the picking, possessiveness had gripped Cole and squeezed. He, who never felt possessive about anyone, except maybe his sister, because possessiveness required some degree of attachment. And Cole didn’t do attachments.

Nope, that had been one of those early childhood lessons learned the hard way that had stuck with him. You let people know something mattered and they held it against you. If you sought approval, it hurt like the devil when it was deliberately withheld. If you became attached to someone and the person wasn’t attached in return, that pretty much sucked, as well.

He’d adopted a life policy of getting along with everyone and caring about nobody, not giving a crap what they thought of him one way or another. It had worked out well for the most part.

His claim to Tatiana had been as responsive and instinctive as an involuntary muscle. Next thing, he’d be looking for a bush to pee on. But Parker had given her that look, and a single word had blazed through Cole’s brain: mine.

There was no need to wig out about it. Tatiana was amusing, interesting. He enjoyed matching wits and trading barbs. And there was an undeniable attraction that simmered between the two of them. He wasn’t being egotistical or weird-a sexual energy pulsed between the two of them whether she was ready to admit it or not.

Not that it was anything to worry about. His life policy was still strictly in place. Things were simply more interesting with Madame Snark on the scene.

“Admit it. The secret Santa thing was fun today, wasn’t it?” Elle said from the adjacent treadmill in the workout room on the third floor of the JackmanButlerBuilding that housed Connoisseur on three of its fifty-six floors.

Sweat dampened Tatiana’s T-shirt and trickled down her neck. “It was definitely more fun than this,” Tatiana said. Some people loved to exercise for the sake of exercising. Uh…she wasn’t one of them. She dutifully showed up at the workout center five days a week because otherwise she’d blimp up even more. Yep, it was the horror of her butt taking on the proportions of Staten Island rather than a love of the treadmill that brought her here.

“Exercise is your friend.” So sayeth the sylph in size-two spandex running like the Energizer bunny stuck in “fast” mode.

“I wouldn’t go that far. How about it keeps food from becoming my mortal enemy,” Tatiana said with a grin. “And, yes, I was a scrooge at first, but the gift-exchange thing is fun.” She’d been irritated to get Cole Mitchell, but now she was kind of getting into it. “I don’t know how things are at your house, there haven’t been many Christmas surprises at our place the last few years. We exchange a list and then pick something on that list. So this is kind of cool.”