“Your hat,” said Connor, plucking the Santa hat from Noel’s hands. “Here.”

Connor quickly put it on Noel’s head. He saw Noel’s expression drop. Had he made a mistake? Should he have just kissed her, like he’d wanted?

Noel looked around the park and sighed.

“What’s wrong?” asked Connor.

“It’s…” Noel started, but then, she thought against saying what was really on her mind – about how she’d thought Connor was going to put a kiss on her lips, not a hat on her head.

“It’s what?” asked Connor.

“It’s too bad we can’t do this again,” said Noel. “You know…because of the whole harem thing.” After all, Connor had a harem – there was no way Noel was going to join a frikkin’ harem.

“Yeah, it’s too bad, but I guess Fate works in weird ways,” said Connor. After all, Noel had a harem – there was no way Connor was going to join a frikkin’ harem.

“Guess we weren’t fated,” said Noel.

“You don’t have to say it like that,” said Connor. “Ouch.”

“What? It’s the truth, isn’t it?” asked Noel. “Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a harem.”

“You don’t think I know how harems work?” asked Connor. “I’m a shifter – I know more about Fate than you’ll ever know.”

“Whatever,” said Noel. “I knew this was a mistake – letting myself get close.”

“Yeah, you did make a mistake,” said Connor. “After all, you knew there was a harem.”

“No, I didn’t,” said Noel, confused. After all, she’d only just met Connor’s harem a few days earlier.

“Don’t lie to me,” said Connor. “At least give me the courtesy of that.”

“Believe it or not, Connor, the whole world doesn’t revolve around you,” said Noel. “As a pilot, I thought you’d know that.”

“And just because you’re a pretty girl, that doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want to hurt people,” said Connor.

“You think that’s what this is? Me, trying to hurt you?” asked Noel. “What about the harem?”

“What about it?” asked Connor, who was met with silence. “Exactly. There’s nothing to discuss. It is what it is.”

“I guess it is what it is,” said Noel. “Merry frikkin’ Christmas, Connor. I hope you have a good one. I hope you get what you want for Christmas.”

Connor walked away before Noel could say another word.

Noel got in the car and drove back to the bakery. She entered the bakery, where her seven brothers were hanging out with the seven shifter women. If her brothers wanted to make the same mistake she’d make with Connor, she was going to let them. After all, she would be a hypocrite to try and stop them.

“Hey, where’s Connor?” asked Annie.

“Dunno,” said Noel. “He left.”

“Aww, did the two of you have a fight?” asked Bonnie.

Noel looked Bonnie and the other six women over. The seven women were lovely – but Noel had no interest in joining their ranks. She wanted to say something rude, something cutting, but she knew that whatever fight she had was between her and Connor. After all, the seven out-of-towners had been nothing but polite to her – even though they were the constituents of Connor’s harem.

“Yeah, kinda, but it’s not a big deal,” said Noel.

“Do you want to talk about – “ started Cassie.

“No,” said Noel. “Sorry. That was rude. No thanks, Cassie. I think I just want to go check in with Avery and head home.”

“Hey – no need to apologize,” said Dellie. “We all deal with stuff in different ways.”

Noel wanted to shout. Even when she was rude to the ladies in the harem, they were nice to her!

“Yeah, we, of all people, know that Connor can be a real handful,” said Ellie. “This one time –”

Before Ellie could continue, Noel nodded out gracefully, making a beeline for Avery’s office. Avery was working at her desk, facing away from the door.

“Hey, can you uh, meet me outside in a few minutes?” asked Noel. “And, uh, can you bring two cups of the Christmas tea?”

“Hey now, you’re my employee – shouldn’t I be the one ordering you about?” asked Avery. Avery turned and saw that Noel’s eyes were starting to get red and puffy.

“Oh, no, honey, if you need me to make the tea, I can do it!” said Avery. “I’m sorry if I was too sassy, I just –”

“It’s not that, but ‘this’ whole situation is why I need someone else to make the tea out there,” said Noel, motioning to her face.

“Give me two minutes,” said Avery.

Noel headed outside and in one minute and nineteen seconds, was met by Avery, who was carrying a tray with two cups of Christmas tea and a big plate of Christmas pastries. There was also a box of tissues on the tray.

“Now, what’s wrong?” asked Avery.

“It’s…” Noel started, but, as she looked across the lake and saw the blinking rainbow lights strewn over Krampus’ cabin at Camp Kringle, she lost her words in her mouth.

“Oh, honey,” said Avery, looking backward to see what Noel was looking at. “Let’s switch spots.

“No – I don’t want anyone from the bakery seeing me cry,” said Noel, taking a tissue and dabbing her eyes. “I guess, my issue is, I let myself get distracted by Connor.”

“And you think I’m mad about that?” asked Avery. “Honey, I always tell the temp workers to stay away from the lumberjacks – because it’s some reverse psychology trick. I know that if I make the bad boys seem off-limits, it’ll make them more intriguing…and I always hope a bit of my girls’ goodness rubs off on Krampus boys, making them a bit more Nice and a bit less Naughty.”

“That’s not what this is about, but, from the looks of things, Connor has plenty of girls who want to ‘rub off’ on him,” said Noel.

“You mean…” Avery started, looking to the bakery and back to Noel. “Honey, that’s his…?”

“Harem, yes,” said Noel.

“I thought they were into your brothers,” said Avery.

“If my brothers want to mess around with another shifters’ harem, that’s on them,” said Noel. “I know one thing – I’m not interested in joining a harem. Nothing against harems, they’re just not for me.”

“So you’re heartbroken, on Christmas Eve Eve,” said Avery. “Well. Noel. I applaud you for two things – number one, getting this whole Christmas delivery thing organized, and number two, keeping things professional while your heart was breaking. Do you need to take tomorrow off?”

“I want to play through the pain,” said Noel. “Trust me – I won’t let my tears get in the eggnog lattes.”

“And the Christmas party,” asked Avery. “Oh, I forgot to tell you – there’s a company Christmas party up at The North Pole, at Santana’s Workshop. Do you want to come with us? There’s, uh, just one catch.”

“Oh, great, a catch. Who is ‘us’?” asked Noel.

“Me and Krampus…and your brothers…and the harem,” admitted Avery. “I wouldn’t have invited them if I knew that I could either invite them or you.”

“I think I’ll pass,” said Noel. “I don’t think I want to do anything that reminds me of Connor tomorrow.”

“Christmas at The North Pole is really magical – and it’s a once in a lifetime experience,” said Avery. “Trust me. The Workshop is huge – you won’t have to see Connor or his mates at all if you don’t want to, but, I do recommend watching Santana’s take-off and landing.”

“If I agree to call you if I change my mind, will you take that as an answer?” asked Noel.

“Honey – you don’t have to go if you don’t want to, but here,” said Avery. She pulled a notepad out of her pocket and a tiny pen. She wrote a number and passed it to Noel.

“Call this number if you change your mind,” said Avery.

“Fine, but don’t hold your breath,” said Noel. “I think this Christmas, I just need to be alone.”

Noel wiped her eyes. How could she have been so naive? By playing in the snow, Noel had been playing with fire.