Page 27 of Mishaps and Mistletoe

“Kevin! Fancy seeing you here.”

“Mr. Stevenson, you’re back. How was California?” Judging from his boss’s tan face, he’d enjoyed a much sunnier and warmer week than Kevin had. Not that he was complaining. But wasn’t it supposed to snow when it got this cold? The little kid inside him who’d never seen snow before couldn’t wait much longer.

“Well, I found some pockets of time outside the conference to play a couple rounds of golf, so you can’t beat that.”

“No, sir. You can’t.”

“Everyone making you feel welcome at the office? Getting all settled in and ready to take over the Oglebay account in a few weeks?”

Kevin’s hand froze above a package of milk chocolate morsels.Seriously, how many varieties were there?The mention of the resort made him think of Josie—not that he needed help in that department. Most of his thoughts these days circled back to her. He couldn’t help it. But the thoughts swirling in his brain right now didn’t give him the warm fuzzies. No, they made his stomach flop.

“I’m settling in just fine. Thanks.” He offered a smile as uncomfortable as he felt, but if Mr. Stevenson noticed, he said nothing.

“I knew you’d fit in with our company.” He leaned over to scan the contents of Kevin’s cart. “Looks like someone’s getting busy in the kitchen tonight.”

He didn’t mean it like that, Kev.

Still, Kevin’s face, neck, and ears burned hotter than chestnuts on an open fire.

“Cookie exchange, baking tonight,” he answered like a cave dweller, his sentence without verbs or much sense.

“Well, I can’t wait to see what you cook up.” His boss rubbed his ample tummy as he chuckled. “Have a fun night.”

Kevin blew out a tense breath as his boss left him alone in the baking aisle.

Fun—that’s what tonight was all about. He’d overheard some colleagues meeting for drinks, dinners, and sporting events with contracted clients. Technically, he wasn’t in violation of any ethics clauses at work by spending time with Josie.

But imagining her kissable neck, pure white and sloped as elegantly as a swan’s; her smile, so bright and honest and something he’d only seen her give to him—well, those thoughts would get him on HR’s naughty list faster than a child pushing kids around on the playground.

He definitely needed to keep Josie in the friend zone. No doubt about that. Besides, like him, she admitted that she didn’t date. She didn’t need him ogling her and reimagining the shortest, most memorable kiss of his life. She needed a friend. And acting on these feelings would not only cost him his job, but they’d also cost himher. He’d waited twenty-five years to be back in her orbit. He wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that.

Plus, he’d made a promise to himself. If he’d learned nothing else from his past, that reason was enough to behave—because he wasn’t enough for her. He hated that he felt that way. He hated that years of therapy hadn’t eradicated this mantra that stuck like a splinter in his brain, poking himjustwhen he’d forgotten it was there. He hated that he had a learning disability that not only made his work more difficult than it was for most people but also affected his ability to remember details or think on his feet. A disability that no matter how many times he pumped himself up, was always waiting in the wings to pop even the tiniest bubble of confidence he could muster. But he couldn’t fully extinguish the belief, something he’d been told at a very young age.

He wasn’t worthy of the good things that came into his life. And that included Josie.

He checked his watch. Josie was expecting him in ten minutes, and he was no closer to picking a pack of chocolate chips than he was when he’d started this adventure. He grabbed a package of each variety and brand and threw them into the cart. No one had ever complained they hadtoo muchchocolate.

* * *

The frenzied feelingpumping through Kevin’s body melted faster than the frost on his windshield this morning when Josie opened the door.

“Welcome to my humble abode!”

He stepped into her apartment. “Your place looks amazing.”

“Ah, it’s not much compared to your place.” Square-footage wise, that was true. His eyes took in the cozy throw on her overstuffed couch, candles bright and flickering on the coffee table, and the framed photos of friends and family artfully arranged in collages on the wall. True, her place was smaller than his, but it was bigger in all the ways it mattered. She’d taken the sterile, cookie-cutter apartment and made it a home.

“It’s perfect,” he said. And then his eyes caught on something he’d never expected to see. He placed the grocery bags on the floor at his feet and picked up the Christmas frame off the end table.

“I put that out every year around the holidays,” she said with a shrug, her eyes glued to the floor.

He looked at the photograph of Courtney and Josie and their beloved sandman they’d made on their beach vacation. And in the background, popping out from behind the masterpiece was Kevin.

“You were photobombing before photobombing was even a thing,” she said with a soft chuckle as she stood behind him. Close enough that he could feel the heat emanating from her body and her breath tickling his neck.

“Looks like I enjoyed wrecking photos more than I enjoyed hitting the gym. My arms look like tiny pipe cleaners.”

Her eyes slowly trailed down his arms, and the heat of her stare ignited his whole body. “A lot has definitely changed since we took that photo.”

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