Page 2 of A Not So Casual Christmas

“I need a drink,” she told him.

“Do you want to go home and change?”

“If I go home, I’m not coming back,” she warned. “Besides, I don’t need to impress anyone.”

Wilson coughed politely.

“What?” she growled.

“Santos Industries sent a representative over. He’s their security guy. He’s going to want to talk with you before the implementation, double check your safety protocols.”

“Fuck him. I’m not on the clock.” Tessa snagged a bottle of beer and had tipped it up to her lips before Wilson could hand her a glass. It was a craft beer from a brewery that she had never heard of. But it had a nice kick and went down cold and crisp. She probably should eat something too. Her gaze caught the buffet table and she made a beeline for it, Wilson dogging her heels.

“Brant wants to make sure everything goes smoothly.”

Brant Starrett, aka Scrooge McShitheel, could kiss her ass. Tessa managed not to voice that opinion, but only because her mouth was full of mini quiche. Wilson seemed to be waiting for a response, so she chewed slowly. When he didn’t go away, she said, “Vedasto didn’t mention a security guy. I talked with him last night.” She closed her eyes, doing the time zone math. “Which was eight a.m. this morning for them. In any case, he thought we were on track with the preparations. What changed?”

Taking another long sip of beer, she looked around the room. Tessa was annoyed she was talking business during non-work hours. She should be home right now eating takeout and watching The Bachelor. That was her version of Netflix and chill. Wilson droned on, but she had stopped listening to him. This was a really nice place. It was huge and spacious and almost like a museum. She’d expect Brant to be living here, not his number one fast talker. Maybe he let Wilson live here when he was overseas.

She caught movement coming towards them out of the corner of her eye, and she glanced over, hoping it was a waiter with more of the crab puffs she saw Kelly from HR stuffing into her mouth.

It wasn’t a waiter.

Tessa did a double take. Ben?

Tessa blinked and stared down at her beer. That was one powerful drink. She was going to buy a case of it. She looked again and sure enough, Ben was bearing down on her like she was the quarterback at the last play for the Homecoming game. He didn’t look like his army portrait anymore. His dark hair was still shaved close to his skull, but his face harder and his bearing more intense. Tessa felt a pang of loss for the boy he once was. But she had no complaints on the man he had become. He was still built wide and powerful and he looked lethal as sin in a black T-shirt and khakis.

Happy holidays! She was going to get laid tonight!

Swallowing hard, she resisted the urge to run to him and jump into his arms. What was he doing here anyway? Did her parents know he was in town and that’s why they didn’t sweat that she wasn’t coming home? How did he find her? How did he know that she would be here instead of at her apartment?

“That’s Vedasto’s guy,” Wilson said, his irritating voice interrupting her thoughts. “Some ex-army thug who doubles as a body guard.”

“Ex-army?” Tessa whirled her head to Wilson. Her parents were still friends with the Stevens. They would have told her that Ben was out. This didn’t make any sense.

But then Ben was there and she would have hugged him, except he thrust his hand at her before she could move. “Benjamin Stevens.”

No shit, Sherlock. Tessa was stopped from saying it, by Wilson nudging her. She shook Ben’s hand and said, “Nice to meet you?” She raised her eyebrow at him, wondering where he was going with this.

“I was hoping you had a few moments to talk with me about the upcoming implementation.” He looked at Wilson. “Is there somewhere Ms. Kennedy and I could speak privately and without interruptions?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. What was he up to?

“Of course. Follow me.” Wilson led them up a spiral glass staircase to the second floor.

Tessa saw her boss and Nina, one of the programmers, in a cozy corner. The rest of the office and some guests that she didn’t know were laughing and dancing, not paying them any attention. Wilson opened up a door to a small office. “It’s not sound proof, but with the music on no one should be able to hear your conversations. Lock the door behind me and no one will disturb you.”

Tessa felt a tingling along her spine and held her breath in anticipation.

“This should be sufficient.” Ben nodded and closed the door after Wilson left. He locked it.

“What the hell? —” was all Tessa got out before Ben grabbed her and kissed her hard.

Her back hit the door as his mouth slid across hers.

Five years? Could have been five minutes the way her body responded to his. She could feel his hardness grinding against the soft fabric of her silly leggings. Groaning, she opened her mouth wider for his tongue and strained to get closer to him. He tasted like home and she fell into the kiss like they were in the back seat of his car, making out after a football game. Ben’s hand slid up her sweater and cupped her breast. Running his thumb over her nipple, he broke away from her mouth to kiss across her cheek and suck on her neck.

“Don’t you dare leave a mark,” she gasped, going up on her tiptoes as he hit her sensitive spot.

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