Claire

The office phone nestled between her shoulder and her ear was giving her neck a cramp. Everyone in the office had come up with excuses to not help with wrapping all of the gifts for charity, so she was forced to work on gift wrapping all damn day by herself while also doing her job as Devin’s assistant.

And who knows where he was. He hadn’t shown up for work yet that day. So, not only did she have to do her job arranging his travel plans to visit a new client down in Kansas, but she also had to deal with every call coming in to Devin.

“Yes, ma’am,” she said, scraping the tape dispenser against her thumb for the seventieth time that day, “Devin—I mean, Mr. Halpert is all set for his trip to Kansas the day after tomorrow…no, he hasn’t checked in with me yet today.”

Wynn sounded impatient on the other end. “Claire, I need you to make sure he knows you are his assistant, which also means you are his handler. He is flying blind. He hates using his cell phone, but make sure he is giving that number out to our clients and investors so they know they can call him personally, do you understand that?”

She finished taping up some shiny red paper over the Xbox One. “Yes, ma’am.”

Claire hung up with Wynn and fastened a handmade green velvet bow onto the shiny red package. She was nearly done and she hadn’t seen any of the gifts meant for her siblings. Just as well, she thought. She had just been paid and she would have no trouble finding those simple gifts for the kids. She might not be able to afford new winter boots for herself or get the snow tires put on the car, but she’d be damned if those kids didn’t have Christmas.

She boxed up all the wrapped gifts and logged off her computer. She could grab a quick lunch after she dropped off the gifts at the agency.

But first, she had to call Devin, per Wynn’s instructions. But there was no answer.

She huffed, hung up the phone and grabbed up the box along with her purse. She was relieved he didn’t answer the phone just as much as she was disappointed.

Claire had been waffling between these two feelings—relief and disappointment—all day. She really did not want to come face to face with him after what happened last night while they were shopping. And yet…she did want to see him swagger into the office in his cowboy boots, walk past her desk in jeans that fit his backside perfectly snug. She missed watching him sneak into the conference room first thing in the morning to cram two donuts into his mouth and sneak back to his office with that cute grin on his face, his mouth covered in powdered sugar.

Get yourself together, woman. A guy who doesn’t call you the next day and explain his reaction to you never having been kissed before does not deserve this much brain space.

Claire hauled the huge box through the office toward the exit, none of the other workers offering to help. She couldn’t even see over the top of the box.

Just as she carefully pressed the bar on the double doors, they moved outward and she tripped, nearly dropping the whole box of gifts there in the vestibule.

“Oh!” she cried.

“Whoa there, darlin’.” The voice was attached to a set of two strong arms that lifted the box away from her.

“Mr. Halpert!”

He laughed, towering over her with presents as she dusted herself off and adjusted her purse.

He insisted carrying everything for her.

She followed him out to the parking lot. “Thank you. Let me pop the trunk for you,” she said, rustling her keys out of her purse.

“No need, Claire. I got this. We’ll take my truck.”

She shuffled along behind him with her arms out for balance. “Speaking of enough to do, where have you been all morning? Wynn is not happy that I’ve been the one fielding all the client phone calls.”

She watched as Devin set the box down carefully in the bed of his truck and then nimbly walked over and offered her his arm. “Lunch?”

“Yes, I was going to lunch, but you just got here and there are like 10 messages, not including five from Wynn. You need to call people back.”

But instead of answering her, he walked her over to the passenger side and opened his truck door. “Get in, I’m taking you to lunch.”

“But…work!” The air was numbing her lips and they were about all the words she could get out.

“If anybody asks, it’s a working lunch.”

The truth was, Claire was hungry. She hadn’t packed herself a lunch, hoping to work straight through lunch to help save money over the holidays. She could use a good hot meal. And the company was a bonus, even though he wasn’t good for her. He still gave her a thrill just by inviting her to sit in his truck.

But no, she was resolved to not let him use his charm to get away with shirking work and leaving her high and dry.

All that resolve went right out the window the moment he slid into the truck next to her and parked a massive kiss on her.